Dinesty Chinese Restaurant - Richmond, BC

Dinesty Chinese Restaurant is rated #1 for restaurants in the Richmond Central area of Urbanspoon and won several awards through the years (2011 HSBC Chinese Restaurant Awards Best Northern/Shanghainese and 2012 Chinese Restaurant Awards Best Xiao Long Bao to just name a few).  So how good is it?  Well, the restaurant is full on a Thursday night and it's not just your typical Richmond crowd either - I see hipsters, elderly folk, non-Asians and Asians alike.  Let's see what the whole Piglet household thinks!

Nice interior!  LOVE the teapot display in the entrance and the open concept kitchen in the dining area.  Enough of the decor and onto the food!

Chinese Spinach and Bean Curd - $4.50

This looks like cat food but it's garlicky and the cold and crunchy spinach is balanced out really well with the bean curd.  I'm loving this dish and it came out first so it's a tough act to follow!

Marinated Beef with Soy Sauce Wrapped in Pancake - $5.50

We had to order this since we had a really good version just a few weeks back and we wanted to compare it - verdict?  It's good but it doesn't compare - the green onion isn't cut up so when you take a bite the whole piece comes out, the beef isn't as flavorful, it's greasier on the outside and the portion size is much much smaller.  PASS!

Simmer Chicken With Basil Spice Sauce - $10.95

More widely known as the three spice chicken, I enjoyed this dish as the balance of flavors are quite nice and the basil and ginger offset the the three spice sauce.  The Piglets also appreciated that the chicken was not fatty and didn't have a lot of skin.

Stir-fried Rice Cake with Pork Chop "Shang Hai" Style - $8.95

This was probably the most fail dish of the bunch.  The texture was just off as everything was soft - the rice cake was overcooked and a bit more mushy than chewy and the pork chops were also soft.  Mommy and Auntie Piglet commented that there was a funny taste to the sauce, possibly from the oil used to fry the pork.  The pork itself was not very good - very fatty and again, the taste of old frying oil was present.

Spicy Beans with Minced Pork - $10.95

The beans were crunchy despite sauced and it was a bit salty but is great accompanying plain white rice.  However, this dish also highlighted the fact that the majority of the dishes came out warm/lukewarm, not hot.

Fried Homemade Noodle with Seafood and Pork - $9.95

A bit greasy but all the Piglets agreed that this was a tasty dish - the noodles were all different sizes but also very tender, the sauce encapsulated that umami flavoring really well.  I would definitely order this one again.

Noodle Soup with Beef Tendon - $7.50

The noodles are cooked well and the tendon still has a nice chew to it but the broth is a tad salty and also arrived lukewarm so that kind of ruined the dish for me but Mrs. Teddy still really enjoyed it.

Deep Fried Chicken Rolls with Asparagus & Ham - $9.50

This was the wildcard dish and it was...  weird at best.  Why is this being served here?  The asparagus really did nothing being lost within the roll, and the ham was your standard packaged stuff and it's rolled up in chicken, covered in panko and then deep-fried.  And we're supposed to dip it in mayo?  Bizarre.  No one at the table really cared for this and we wouldn't order it again.

Stir-Fried Beef with Spicy Tomato Sauce - $9.95

Although you couldn't detect any hint of tomato sauce, the spicy saucy beef was tender and the accompanying gui lan was crunchy and a nice way to cut the heat.  This was very good as leftovers the next day.


The dishes from Dinesty ranged from excellent to forgettable - I'm glad we came here to try it out but I am also not convinced that it should be ranked #1 in Richmond Central as there are many other restaurants in the area more deserving of that title.  Having said that, the food in general was ok, the xiao long bao are supposed to be excellent and many other appetizers looked so enticing so the Piglets may be back one day to try more of it out.  Bon appetite!


Pros:

• Moderate pricing
• English and Mandarin friendly
• Free parking - and it's one of those rare lots in Richmond that are decent
• The handmade noodles and spinach with bean curd were excellent

Cons:

• Majority of dishes were only ok
• Disorganized service - forgotten dishes, we tried fruitlessly to get someone's attention for several minutes several time, etc
• Dishes were lukewarm