East

When a friend suggested this place for lunch before a matinée, I thought but, but but, Chinese food? Chinatown is literally down the street! I have to say, on a rainy day it is nice to not have to leave the building. The food places in International Village have stepped it up to get movie-​goers in the door, I must say.
Please note it is cash only.
We had a party of six so we went for the six-​dish combo, which included rice, soup, half a chicken plus six main dishes. It was way too much food! Everyone went home with leftovers for dinner.
The soup was a nice pork broth with vegetables… very comforting. The chicken that is included in the meal is braised and I didn’t like it that much. For the main dishes…
Rice noodles fried with beef and bean sprouts — very standard, not overly greasy or salty
Gai lan with beef and satay sauce — tasty, fresh gai lan
Buddha’s feast — really good… the deep fried tofu pieces were bursting with flavour and the veggies were tasty
Mapo tofu — a really good version of this dish
Prawns fried with broccoli — it was an extra $ 2 but a nice seafood dish… prawns weren’t the freshest ever but it was fine
Pork spare ribs in black bean sauce — good although I’m not a big fan of black bean
I think in the future, I’d stick with the noodle house selections to keep the price in line with the food court offerings. I saw many people eating the wonton noodle soup. I would never come here if I were not in the mall for a movie but it’s a solid choice.
One thing that was a pleasant surprise was the gracious service. My expectations were low but the servers were very polite and made sure to announce each dish and even grabbed an extra table for us to keep our rice and soup on so we had more space. Also, since we had loads of leftovers, they were kind enough to pack it all up and keep it in their cooler so we could pick it up after the movie.

Mediocre Chinese food, right beside Chinatown.
Other than the English menu, I can’t fathom why anyone would eat here instead of the other wonderful shops on Pender. Food at Kam Gok Yuen down the street, even New Town, is better than this place, hands down.
The service was seriously lacking, and awfully rude. Maybe I was there on an off day.

Took my daughter and met up with a friend for lunch, showed up at 5 after 12 and the restaurant was fairly quiet/​empty. However it filled up very quickly within 5 minutes. I would have given it 5 stars given the tasty food and lunch special prices, my daughter loved eating my food, portion sizes were enough that my friend and I simply shared our food with her. The star that is lacking is because I felt ignored right at the very beginning, I was waiting to be seated, standing there with my daughter, a few people came up from behind me and were waiting too, once a staff member came over they ignored me and spoke with the people behind me. Maybe it was because they were wearing suits and I was not, maybe it was a language issue as I did not speak the language they spoke with those behind me, or maybe it was simply they knew them so ignored me in favour of more repeat customers.
After writing this I just dropped it to 3 stars re-​living that part of the experience, I have been there before and never had that type of experience, it was disappointing.

Came here for dinner after it being suggested by a local Chinese shop owner.
Small location attached to a mall. The service was great, very unusual for «china town» type locations. Waitresses were attentive, and helpful.
We got a seafood rice dish, which was very good, And a large family size portion. We also got noodle Soup bowls. We did the «pick 3» soups, which listed an assortment of contents for your noodle soup (ie BBQ pork, BBQ duck, chicken, brisket, etc). Also a good meal.
Overall, good food. Nothing spectacular. Great place for a good lunch or low key dinner!

This is the best place to eat in Tinseltown hands down!
I went with a friend who was craving some good ol’ greasy Chinese food, so we decided on East. Yes, it’s fusion, but it’s close enough. We ordered the Pepper beef with onions, green/​red peppers and pineapple Chow Mein along with a congee and shared everything.
Pepper beef with onions, green/​red peppers and pineapple Chow Mein — comforting, flavorful and not too heavy.
Sampan congee — congee with shredded pork, octopus and squid. I love the combination of carbs, meat and seafood — can’t believe I’ve never eaten this before.
Cheap, fast and tasty, but don’t expect top notch service. Overall a 3.5 /​5 from me, — loss points for service, but added points for accepting credit cards.

We had heard about the cheap wonton soup so had to check it out.
Impressive to say the least… I always forget this place exists. Even though I live in gastown… somehow I over look it when thinking of warm broth… cilantro. chives and of course… wontons. The lady friend had a nice bowl of decked out congee.
Overall, it was a good time, good food and fast service. I’ll be back.

Beats the food court offerings upstairs.
For $ 9.99 go for the dinner combo. Choice of soup, veggie spring roll, and entrée. I went with their hot and sour soup and curry prawns with rice.
Soup was pretty decent, spring roll was a tad oily, prawns was standard Glico curry quality.
I got stuffed. For the price, you can’t complain.

Inside Tinseltown across from Mcdonalds.
Wonton noodle soup for $ 3.29 — has large fresh shrimp!
Their house special noodle soup has everything in it — see their photo — it’s quite accurate — and you can ask for the soup on the side too :)
They have other typical chinese dishes also at reasonable prices.

I’ve always walked by here but never given it a chance until now.
They have a wonton noodle special (dine-​in only) for less than $ 4. This is the cheapest wonton dish I know of in the city.
I had the house special ($ 7). It is noodles with a «sampler» of maybe 8 different items. One beef ball, fish ball, squid ball, wonton, beef brisket etc. served with a bowl of soup on the side. To change the noodle, you have to pay regular price. Just a heads up.
My friend had a prawn + noodles dish for $ 9. This thing was HUGE. Should be easily enough for 2 people.
Service was friendly. They kept topping up our tea all the time.
One last thing: minimum $ 10 charge before they’ll let you use your credit card.

Hong Kong Food plain and simple. You know how authentic the Staff, Food and Setting are when you can notice everyone looking up at the TV while eating their HK Café Food. The Food itself is decent overall but I don’t get their Deep-​Fried Spring Rolls which came as one of their Appetizers on their Dinner Special Menu.
Seafood Corn Soup, Black Bean Chicken, Spicy Salty Pork Chops.
All were decent except Seafood really means Squid but no big deal as it was a good portion as a Starter Soup while waiting for the Deep-​Fried Appetizers and the Mains. The pricing on most Menu Items are reasonable which is why they are A-​OK at the Tinseltown which is fairly close to Rogers Arena.

Asian Fusion is tacky! Wait, isn’t that the kind of food I do? Lol
East, Asian Fusion… I really don’t see how the menu is Asian Fusion besides the typical North America Chinese food on the menu. Pretty much a more posh looking wonton noodle joint.
So as I was sitting here after we ordered, I decided to take a look at Unilocal on my phone. Next time I’m never doubting the powers of Unilocal!
Ron M. — «Wonton noodle for $ 3.29?» What? I how did I miss that?! Can I change my order please?
I wasn’t able to get the wonton noodles for 3.29, but I ended up getting beef noodle soup instead for $ 5 – 6? The beef could be braised a little more and in a more seasoned braising liquid. Noodles are a touch more al dente than most places. The broth was really good, but for some reason it was really oily. I got a oily feeling in my mouth after every bite.
Oh, the fried tofu definitely worth a try if you like it or getting congee. Perfectly crispy on the outside and still soft and moist on the in. It came out fresh and piping hot.
Not the greatest bowl of noodle, but definitely cheap to fill your belly.

I wanted to share my experiences with their service.
Food: 3*
Food is decent/​not bad. I’ve had better but too far from Richmond to care ;)
Ambiance: 3*
Simple, clean décor. Pretty small space so not a lot of room to move around. But every time I’ve been there it wasn’t too busy.
Service: 4*
Most of the staff there are ok (not friendly but not rude either) but I want to give a shout-​out to 1 waitress in particular. One time I came to grab take out with my dog. I tied her up outside and ran inside quickly to order and went back outside to wait with her. I told the waitress that I will come back in 10 mins to get my food. But she actually came out and brought the food to me when it was done! Not a huge deal but I still appreciated it. Another time, I was also ordering take out with the same girl. I paid, then when I came back later to get my food (btw Yokoyaya is right across the restaurant, perfect for these occasions), she actually told me she had erroneously over-​charged me by a dollar and gave me $ 1 back! I don’t think most people would do that, especially if they knew they could get away with it! I know it’s just a dollar but I appreciate her honesty.
Price: 3.5*
Good price for what you get.

I had to run an errand in Chinatown during lunch hour on a day with frigid temperature so I thought I would dash into the restaurant in International Village for lunch before hopping on Skytrain back downtown.
I ordered scrambled egg with beef on rice — a very common rice plate in Hong Kong style bistro. If it were just the mediocre flavour of the sauce, I would have given it a 2 star rating. The followings knocked my overall rating of the restaurant all the way to 1 star:
1. Service — It was lunch hour. It look 20 minutes for my plate to come. Again, it is a very common rice plate. Every one of the wait staff carried an attitude.
2. Microwave Heating — I personally witnessed a kitchen staff brought a plate of rice out from the kitchen, stuck it in the mircowave behind the bar counter and nuked it. When it was done, he took it back to the kitchen. 5 minutes later, my plate came. How did I know that it was mine? I deliberately remembered the shape of the mound of rice when it came out of the microwave. When my plate came, despite the sauce on it, the shape was the same. In addition, the texture of the rice (tough and dry but extremely hot) obviously suggested that it was reheated. Are you _​_​_​_​_​_​kidding me? Even Chinese take out in a food court does not serve nuked rice!
3. Burnt Rice — My plate has slightly burnt rice scraped up from the bottom of the rice cooker. While burnt rice is expected and treasured when you order rice in claypots, burnt rice on a rice plate is beneath what hawker stands in Asia would serve!

I have a rule of avoiding places with the word «fusion» in their names at all costs. But I was forced to go here once against my will. I was pleasantly surprised when I posed the following questions:
Wonton noodle for $ 3.29? Are you serious? Are the wontons made fresh with real whole shrimps? These wontons are larger than most places aren’t they?
All of the above questions are appropriately answered with «YES.»

This place is a real disappointment. It is WAY too expensive for what they offer: sub-​par Chinese food right next door to Chinatown. I ordered chow mein, and it was just bland noodles covered in gravy with one slice of a Chinese mushroom, and 4 of 5 small pieces of chicken, also completely unflavored except for the excessive gravy. Chow Fun was equally as disappointing and lacked all of the smokey flavor I’m looking for in a good chow fun. The vegetables big chunks of broccoli, boy choy and the like, also drowning in gravy. Just very disappointing, especially for $ 60.
That being said, they are the best at one thing: Dry Garlic Spare Ribs. I will give them that.

This is a 3.5 star rating.
Come here for the following reasons
1. If you’re on a budget. You will get the best bang for your buck here without sacrificing the volume of protein, ingredients and taste like you usually do when the deal seems to good to be true. For $ 3.88 plus tax, you get their Shrimp Wonton Noodle Soup (comes with 5 huge wontons with lots of REAL shrimp). The noodle has the right chew and the broth is light, but flavorfu. For $ 8.95 plus tax, they have a combo deal that includes a choice of soup, appetizer, and entrée. Seriously, we thought our portions were going to be small, or lacking somehow, but we were pleasantly surprised that it didn’t!
2. The best hot and sour seafood soup – ever. I’ve tried many hot and sour soups all throughout Vancouver/​Richmond and the soup is too sour, or too hot, or just lacking in flavor or ingredients. It’s very disappointing for a hot and sour soup afficionado like me. HOWEVER, you won’t find that here. Finally, a chef who understands balance… each spoon is full of flavor and a lot of goodies! The soup itself is quite expensive on its own $ 3.95/S or $ 7.95/L…so just get a bowl of it when you order it as a part of your $ 8.95 combo deal. *wink*
3. FREE INDOOR PARKING underground validated for up to 2 hours.

Our dining choices were pretty limited in this mall and East seemed like a much better option than anything we could find in the food court.
I ordered a rather large bowl of won ton soup (I could only eat about of it) and the veggie fried rice. The rice was also a very large portion so I’m guessing everything here is supposed to be served family style. I ate a ton of it, but only managed to get halfway thru it. And technically I am eating for a family of 2 these days.
While it wasn’t the best Chinese food I’ve ever had, it did the trick of filling us up before we had to work a big bash. Their prices are also super reasonable and you can get a ton of food for their special in the $ 8 range. Crazy!
I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here, but would definitely stop in again if I was hungry and shopping in this mall. It sure beats any of the food court options.

Drycleaning pick up yesterday and a busy day of meetings means I was STARVING by the time I hit Tinseltown Mall @ 2pm. So, into East it was for yet another steaming bowl of Shrimp Wonton Soup.
The broth is quite light, with a trace of oil, noodels and a handful of green onions thrown in. Amending my previous review… there are actually 5 HANDMADE SHRIMP WONTONS in the bowl. With real shrimp inside! Bubba, Forrest and The Capt’n would be soooooo impressed!
For $ 4.07 (including taxes), well you can’t even buy wontons @ T&T for that price, let alone make them yourself!

This place is tucked away in the questionable neighbourhood of Tinseltown. It’s Chinese food, through and through. Wonton, udon, etc. Pretty standard fare? But amazingly dirt cheap. Like, $ 3, $ 5, that type of cheap. Of course, it’s Chinese-​run so don’t expect impeccable kissing-​your-​hand-​and-​feet service, although it’s pretty fast and I’d say damn clean as well.
Usually if I’m paying $ 5 for noodles, I have to rinse off the chopsticks/​utensils with hot liquids like how they roll in China. With this place? Not so much. Therefore, I am impressed on that fact alone!

Outside of the fact that I forgot to save room for popcorn, I’d say East meets most of my criteria for pre-​film dining.
The menu, on chloroplast (the same stuff that political lawn signs are made of) was difficult to navigate. Choose noodles and an ingredient or a sauce, huh? The «fancy» red writing on black, closely spaced and in a small font made choosing a «Specialty» near impossible.
Luckily chicken and cashew stood out and shanghai style noodles were listed on the bottom of the noodle list. Done! Dare I say, the carrots and cashews were the crunchiest and most flavourful I’ve tasted?
I would still go out on a limb and call East inexpensive. They’re not in the dodgy part of Chinatown, afterall and for «Fancy» plates and tea mugs, I guess I’m alright with paying the premium… but really, it’s about the same price as Hon’s.
A dish is certainly enough for two meals… I know, I smuggled my leftovers into Tinseltown without anyone being the wiser! Too bad my purse smelled like soya sauce when all was said and done ;p