Gain Wah Restaurant

was shopping in CT and was hungry, stopped here as menu was huge and many cheap items. Took waitress 10 minutes to get me a menu, she asked for my order, I said I don’t have a menu she laughed, so it was a mistake. forgiven. Ordered a bowl of noodle soup with dumplings. $ 6.25, hot comforting broth with green onions, slightly sweet and salty, huge homemade dumplings, like ten of them, big pile of noodles. If it had, nt taken SO long to get a menu they would have got 5 starts. Place is a little rundown but clean, its a diner/​café nothing fancy. GO!

Very cheap place in Chinatown. Situated below a run down hotel. Don’t let that fool you. They have a great menu and delightful service. I haven’t experienced a friendlier staff in this neck of the woods.
Most of the menu is under $ 10, and there is lots to choose from, with a specialty in noodles.

Wow we were blown away by how wonderful the staff are here. Seriously they were so nice to us. Keep in mind that this place represents what is left of the old thriving Chinatown restaurants. The prices are affordable, the food is great, but the décor is pretty out of date. We thought that the spicy crab and gai lan in garlic sauce were the best dishes we ordered. The fried rice, shanghai noodles, wonton soup were also pretty good. I don’t recommend the cashew chicken or ginger beef as you can get better at a szechaun restaurant. Although for the prices everything was pretty good. Oh also a reminder that this is a CASH ONLY restaurant so come prepared.

I’ve passed by this place many times and have never ventured to try. So he other day while in Chinatown I decided to satisfy my bbq meat craving at Gain Wah. Boy am I glad I came in! Had the bbq duck and roasted pork on rice dish. It was a big plate amd only cost $ 6.50! The meats were tasty and plentiful. Cuts were great! All the menu items were very reasonably priced.
The décor needs work and can use an update but that’s not going to stop me from coming back. I recommend trying this place!

Every Chinatown needs one of these, a place that sticks with what makes a place what it is, and keeps how it looks, and in some ways the prices too, for our Chinatown. this is the place, especially after Gam Kok Yuen burned down a few months ago, there are not many of these places left. Vancouver Chinatown has gone through an odd hipster transformation recently, and with the addition of new condominiums popping up, the Chinatown that I grew up in is definitely disappearing, but coming in here, and it’s not for everyone, is like jumping in the DeLorean in ‘Back to the Future’… nothing seems to have changed here.
If you need to know where this is, it’s right next to Kent’s Kitchen, and from once we sat down, entering the place, I was just amazed at all the heritage, from the tables, booths, colors (there’s this odd dark green that dominates this place), the workers (feels like a family affair), and the real kicker — the price of stuff. This place is cheap, dirt cheap, compared to the usual suspect places I go for congee, noodle and rice dishes, this place flies in on the prices that used to be the norm. $ 4.50 (or was it $ 4.25) for a bowl of wonton noodles, seriously, is this like a mini portion? $ 4.50 for a bowl of BBQ pork and BBQ duck rice… this can’t be right… but when you look at the menu presented to you, this thing hasn’t been updated in ages, even at the table, the specials that are under the glass between the table showing you the stuff they couldn’t cram into the menu has some very fair prices, like you were shopping at T&T or a food court having takeout food. We really did order those two plates, after finally having someone come to our table.
It didn’t take too long after putting it in, to receiving our food, and this is more of a pay for what you get, as I was pretty satisfied with my bowl of rice, they gave me some good cuts of pork and duck, and even granted me the extra sweet soy sauce on the rice. The rice in the bowl itself was a little dry, but something about it really was good, mixed in with the sauce, it truly was authentic. With my partner in tow, her dish was the flat rice noodle siu gao soup, and the one minor thing she had with this dish was the taste of the siu gao. dumplings, said the meat may have been a little off, but the flat rice noodles were prepared well. We had an order of Chinese donut sliced up in small pieces for us to eat. One surprising thing was that my rice bowl came with another bowl, which was the housemade soup, and surprisingly this hot liquid was very tasty, well done, and it wasn’t a small bowl, practically the same as the rice bowl I was being served.
I am going to say, I will be back, and give this place a good 3.5 for now, it’s not bad, and the next time to steer clear of the siu gao and choose something else. I would definitely classify this as ‘hole in the wall’ with the ambiance of classical Chinatown, and it just seems like these places are becoming harder to find. Come on in to give this place a try, be patient with the people working here, as I have a feeling some of the people have been here for decades and it’s sad to think once the people who work here… are gone. this place will probably go into history too. But for now, if you are looking for a cheap meal, got some bucks in your pocket (cash only) and are in Chinatown… come on in and you’ll say WTF on the prices in the menu.

This is one of my favourite places to eat every Wed with my friends. Cash only more a mom and pop place but authentic

A little too authentic for me, too oily and heavy. But pretty cheap and lots of food.

Talking about walking down the memory lane… I almost have tears in my eyes when I tasted the food… this is one of the first places we as an immigrant family from Hong Kong had our dinner after a long day’s work at our corner store … We even had our Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner here one year … Of course there may be different owners but the current owners are very nice honest hardworking folks… kudos for them keeping alive what Chinatown means to us! Food is homey, very very reasonable and very fulfilling… call it Hong Kong style soul food… if you want to step back in time (in a good way) come and experience… for me I will for sure!
Thanks for the memories!

Cheap, good flavour, quite good service, yet when I order BBQ pork rice, it’s literary BBQ pork and tons of rice, BBQ was amazing though! It’s not really healthy or balanced, nor a lot of variety on one plate, but I mean you get what you paid for, amazing meat and filling rice, yum!

great great comfort food. as good any in SF or LA. was walking through chinatown and happen to walk in by chance. how luck we were. yum yum yum. jook and wonton mein before a canucks game
great place

Wallet Friendly.
Delicious Food.
Great Service.
What else can you ask for?
I ordered what apparently was not on the menu. I requested to have BBQ Pork (Charsiu) and Roast Pork together on top of rice ($ 7) which was a lot of food already. But no, GIRLFRIEND IZ HUNGRY (and she wants to be a piggy). I ordered Gai Lan with Oyster Sauce (Chinese Broccoli similar to Broccoli Rabbe, $ 4.50) and also the Steamed Oyster in Garlic Sauce ($ 6). OKAY OKAY OKAY. That is a lot of food for one, single, beautiful girl. But NOOOOOOOO. SHE HUNGRY.
The steamed oyster has covered in garlic, green onions and its own juices. OH MY WORD. Call your girlfriend Bonquisha and tell her to come down. This oyster dish was amazing. I think this thing has become one of the reasons that is making me move to Vancouver (as I am from Jasper, AB).
The BBQ combo plate was great too! But I wish it was a little more tender, but hey. It was only $ 7. It was amazing nonetheless.
Gai Lan? It was a regular gai lan. I needed something green to eat as I’ve been eating greasy curries the past week. But NOOOO, this gai lan was slicked with oil… lol SO HEALTHY, but just the way I like it.
Overall? GREAT EXPERIENCE. This place has become one of the reasons why I want to move in VanCity in the future.
The server lady (very nice lady) told me as I was leaving, «See you Sometimes»… I wish she said, «Please move to this city so that you can eat here twice a week».

Pretty good food and really great prices. The tea tasted a bit off, and there were a few flies flying around the place adding to that ‘ghetto restaurant’ feeling. I had the Beef brisket noodle, which was good and for a reasonable price, but not great compared to the noodle places back in Seattle. I would probably recommend this place to others, but I don’t see myself nor my friends visiting Vancouver any time soon.

It was a reasonably priced lunch, but I wasn’t as blown away as others were.

I have been here about ten times as I work nearby and as a Chinese, I just can’t live without rice. I have to say the food is impressive, spring rolls are amazing at 2.80 for two pcs. It’s very reasonable and food is great! I don’t mind walking in Chinatown at 8pm (which isn’t ideal to walk as there are weirdos everywhere) to eat here!

Great little gem, $ 10 for my friend and I to leave with bloated guts. As a vegetarian, I’m usually scared of these places, but the owner of the restaurant went back and made me a special amazing vegetarian curry tofu chow mein. My friend got the $ 4 BBQ pork noodles and he said it was amazing as well. Overall, great, huge portioned meal.

Not a fancy place by any means, but good and reasonably priced
Mabo tofu was excellent, general tsao chicken was pretty good… we also got a special on the live crab from the nice waitress
Service was very friendly
This isn’t a date spot, but good chinese comfort food

If your into awesome food on the cheap then Gain Wah is for you.
The staff are super nice and helpful.
It’s not the newest facility, but the food is always good.
I have brought many people here and they all had a good experience.
The only warning I would give is the ginger beef is not the kind most people are used to… its not over cooked and dry so if you need that, request it to be extra crispy.
recommend: house special chow mein (it has everything!)

Chinatown Brunch
BBQ Duck Congee (pic:
) and Gai Lan (pic:
) with oyster sauce. The perfect Saturday morning brunch to fuel a day browsing and exploring.
Chinatown Brunch for 2 cost us $ 9 plus a generous tip. We will return for a lunch or dinner some day. Quick and tasty and inexpensive!

Cheap eats. Gain Wah is an unassuming Chinese restaurant in Chinatown Vancouver. I wished I could take credit for this find, but this was a «when nature calls» selection. Huh? Rephrasing. When you got to go, you got to go. Get it? Okay.
The restaurant had just opened on a Sunday morning, so my parents and I were the first ones there. The restaurant looks orderly, albeit a bit frayed. Had lunch here before our trip back across the border.
They have a large specials menu here which is extremely reasonable and is tax inclusive. Decided to order exclusively off this menu. We got a sampan (Hong Kong style) congee, curry seafood fried rice and a mixed meat (char siu/​squid/​etc.) chow mein. A good deal of food for a little under $ 17. Cheap.
It was the first time that I have tried sampan congee. It has got some char siu alongside some chopped peanuts and lettuce. An eclectic mix, no? Although this seems like an odd mix, it surprisingly works.
The curry seafood rice was flavorful and filling. The pineapple chunks in the dish gives this item a bit of a tropical flair. The chow mein was also enjoyable. I like that the noodles are of the crispy variety, which is my preferred preparation.
For the value and quality of the food, Gain Wah is a good option if you are dining in Chinatown Vancouver.

Old school Chinese diner — I mean, REALLY old school. I didn’t dig the huge Canucks banner over the ‘bar’ (honestly, you might as well hang a Washington Generals flag). But I was tempted to give it an extra star just for the menus under the tabletop plexiglass — if you ate at Vancouver Chinese joints back in the day… you know exactly what I mean. Maybe it’s just nostalgia or I like efficiency (it gives me a fizzing sensation) — but we need to bring this back into fashion. And we need more pleather lined booths.
It’s no-​frills and cheap. I honestly think the staff were surprised that a table of our age was ordering in Cantonese. It was mainly old ‘uncles’ and a sampling of the transient non-​Chinese Chinatown crowd. I gave the ‘prep chef’ at the front a knowing nod when the waitress relayed my BBQ duck and roast pork on rice order and he looked over. A few loud chops of the cleaver and I was presented with a monstrous delicious plate of dead animals. Did my ethnicity help? Probably not — I have a feeling this place is a value king — but I like to think he hooked a ‘brotha’ up.
The duck was honestly not that great — kinda dry and not a lot of meat (even with the drumstick). But the roast pork was a pleasant surprise (I was really expecting nothing) — a bit on the fatty side, but crispy skin, well-​seasoned and a good fat layering. This was some damned good pig. Just look at my picture — that’s some serious food porn.
All for ~$ 8… you can’t fuck with that. Seriously.
Service was friendly and the obviously bored waitress was curious why I stumbled in there of all places. I’m still not sure how I stumbled into a restaurant that time forgot.
After getting my roast pork fill on, I walked out back onto Keefer and I felt like quantum leaped into a time where Chinatown was neglected and forgotten and was no longer the nexus of Chinese food in Vancouver… oh shit… wait…