Good Choice Restaurant

Larger portions than most dimsum places, the flavours are good and fresh. They don’t have the variety that other places do but what they have they excel at. The rice flower rolls, fried squid, prawn dumplings and pea tips with ginkgo are all very tasty and cooked perfectly.

Review for dinner only.
Several excellent dishes.
Silky tofu with salted cabbage and pork
Beef brisket with swiss sauce
Fried free range chicken
Not extremely busy for dinner. Plenty of street parking

The dinner portions were decent and the food tastes pretty good.
The staff were so nice — they lit a candle for our friend’s birthday cake and sang a sweet rendition of happy birthday!

We come here frequently, but today on Mother’s Day, I have to write a bad review.
Basically– AVOID THIS PLACE FOR SPECIAL OCCASION DIM SUM!
They clearly aren’t equipped to handle the crowd, nor do they care about the quality of food on a busy day.
The bad:
— har gow didn’t stick together in one piece. It was all falling apart.
— found a glass shard in the green beans.
— the man server was super super rude.
— they squished out table of 8 into a table of 6.
— «deep fried sticky puff minced meat» looked like crap. It was under cooked. Edible, but cmon why would you bring that out?
— had to constantly ask for tea refills. Everything you wanted you had to ask.
— spare rib pieces were all fat.
The good:
— the ladies were nice though!!!
— some dishes were up to par and still good (siu Mai, pea shoots, radish cake with bean sprouts, fried rice)
So in the end– Today. It was a bad choice.

Down to four stars because I believe there has been a change in the kitchen, the last two times we have been here we found the food was very good, but saltier than we would like. Also, they no longer open at 8:30 am, they now open at 10 am. Still a great dim sum place and we’ll be back.

Good food, excellent prices, extremely slow service. Our 2^nd round of 1 order of XLB and dessert jello took 27 min from ordering to table, and there were only 4 other tables of people at the time. Too slow.

Good choice… NOT such a good choice. After hitting the bullseye with Kalvins Szechuan on my last Unilocal internet chinese food restaurant tour and then this, 2 stars is a very fair rating.
The problem with this restaurant is that is is average at best eventhough there are some good points about this restaurant, overall it is an average restauarant with average food and avereage service.
My family ordered the 6 person set menu for 7 people. The first problem started when they told us they were out of this and that after we had ordered our dinner. The boss started substituting it with other items on the menu without consulting us which changes our 6 course menu to a different 6 course menu that we did not order. Secondly, the order of the dishes was all mixed up and 3 times they brought us dishes meant for other tables and we sampled them and then they took them away. 1 time they brought the wrong dish and we started eating it and then said they made a mistake and we still had to pay $ 20 bucks. They brought the soup the third course in and the appetizer the second dish in… really messed up. Although the chicken and duck was good most dishes looked like chop suey you would get at the mall and even then the mall chop suey might look better.
I am a serious foodie of all ethnicities and this choice was an average choice and has jaded me a bit from listening to other reviewers. Take it from me… when choosing a good chinese restaurant you have to not only pick the best reviewed but consider the number of reviews and how recent they are. Hopefully this helps you make a good choices!

Wish I could give this place 4.5 stars as it goes back and forth between a four and five star choice. Seems to be best and busiest on the weekends.
Their squid is to die for, spicy fried radish cakes, yum yum yum.
We always seem to get the pea tips with ginko beans and all the other usual suspects at dim sum.
Due to how close this is to home its my regular spot which makes me happy.

Perhaps a name like «Great» Choice may have warranted more investigation, but this place certainly lives up to its name.
Good Choice stands out because it was not busy on a Saturday morning at 11am. If you’ve explored dim sum in Vancouver, you know what an ordeal it can be to find a place for hangover-​helper without a mass of people trying to yell out the number in their party at the front door. Not busy, meaning almost empty. Not busy meaning that it seemed almost too peaceful. Dim sum and bustle go together like shrimp and hot sauce. The staff is super-​courteous, which was another bonus.
The dim sum menu is good. And using the benchmark items of har gow, siu mai and deep fried spicy tofu, everything was A-​OK. The same goes for everything else we ordered. Nothing failed. On the other hand, nothing stood out. The siu mai is large, but a bit bland, with a few pieces of unchewables discarded. It’s a solid menu, but I think average in terms of taste. Portions and price certainly are the sweet spots.
Under $ 20 per person and you’re full until dinner time.
One thing I noticed here is, like many dim sum restaurants, there is an automatic charge for tea per person. I do not mind spending a whopping dollar on tea, but it would be nice if this wasn’t assumed for everyone at the table.
¹⁶⁄₃₀: #30DaysOfYelp

We came here for dim sum based on all the great Unilocal reviews. I have to say meh it wasn’t all that special. Basically the good and bad kind of balanced each other out.
The good: The dumplings were super sized and everything was piping hot; the food came out quickly; the spicy tofu was a winner with everyone; I didn’t get an msg buzz after eating; the hosts were both really nice; there was no line up at 11pm; and there was free parking on the street.
Areas they could improve include: sprucing the place up a bit as the décor is a bit bland and boring (i.e., dusty rose is so early 1990’s); increasing the dim sum selection as it is limited and a bit pedestrian; improving the green onion pancake recipe as they were really bland; doing quality assurance checks on the gai lan as what we were served was the size of small branches.
I have had better and I have had worse. So three stars it is. Maybe we will come back for dinner one night and see what else they have to offer.

Good stuff. Really good sauce on the spareribs with pumpkin. Good presentation on the eggplant with shrimp. Professional waiter who appeared to be about 20.
Thanks to the reviews on Unilocal I went early for a good seat. After I got there around 10:30 Sunday morning, tables trickled in gradually, but I skipped the dreaded noon hour lunch some of you mentioned.

Done with the greasy, starchy, tired looking dim sums? This gem on Fraser beckons. I’m a huge fan of the whole menu – especially a spareribs dish served with thin rice noodles. The rice noodles glisten like thin sheets of glass on a river of tasty. Another noodle dish, written without translation at the bottom is worth trying – especially if you like garlic – in general, the cooks at Good Choice share my affinity for the pungent stuff.
All your favourite dim sum stand-​bys are here and they are prepared hot, fresh, and just ever-​so-​slightly better than anywhere else. Best of all, it’s a bargain! A group of 4 can escape for under $ 12 a person including tax and tip.
30 for 30: ⁶⁄₃₀

Move over Kirin, Good Choice restaurant is turning out to be my favourite go-​to dim sum restaurant. Nestled amongst the trove of tasty Asian restaurants on Fraser street, Good Choice stands out for its non-​greasy dim sum and unique specialty dishes.
The usual suspects are delicious: shrimp dumplings, sui mai, chicken feet, deep fried squid, deep fried tofu, bbq pork buns. But wait, there’s more! There’s fried rice with tons of crispy garlic, thin flat noodles with juicy and flavourful spareribs, and a special dish that’s scrawled on the menu at the bottom (there’s no english translation, but it’s tasty, trust me).
Even better, it’s all not very expensive — as a group of 4, we managed to eat for $ 22 a couple after tax + tip.

I usually dont slam a diner, however this is one for the books.
Made a reservation in the mid am for a group of 5 for 1pm. Arrive at 1240; table isnt ready… np. 1pm rolls around and the others arrive. np. We wait another 5min for the table they are prepping.
Lo’n behold… another group shows up and the owner seats them at the very table they’re prepping for us as they arrive through the tight front doorway… WTF!
I ask the owner for an explanation.
ANSWER? Next coming up for you…
wtf?
5 hungry patrons on their lunch break… now what?
We decided to pre-​order our dishes (they grudgingly do so.)
Bite my tongue, and endure another wait that seems like forever…
Finally, we’re seated after they cleanup and lay a table cloth over the top and flipout the chopsticks and napkins like poker cards.
Meal arrives… one at a time, we feed off one dish, wait until another shows up… this continues until the last dish.
I LOVE eating chinese food ONE DISH AT A TIME… NOT!
Learned my lesson with this hole… my BAD CHOICE on this GOOD CHOICE diner.
No tip here.

3.5 stars. We ordered the bean curd with pumpkin and enoki, shrimp dumplings, dried scallop sticky rice and the pea shoots with bean curd. Serving size is decent and the prices are too. I would say my favourite dish was the pea shoots. The broth was clean and flavourful and the whole dish was not oily, very nice. The sticky rice and shrimp dumplings were okay; the sticky rice was bit overcooked. We also liked how the sauces were clear, light and flavourful. Go before 11 am for a 10% discount! They are open for dim sum at 8:30 am!
Decent for dim sum, but am encouraged by their cooked dishes, will be back to give dinner a try!

This unassuming teeny tiny restaurant really surprised with fresh, big flavoured dim sum dishes.
The panfried chive and shrimp dumplings, green beans and rice rolls were pretty much perfection. Everything was hot, fresh and nummy. I’m really looking forward to going back and trying more things to see if this place has what it takes to be placed in five star territory. Those live lobsters in the back were beckoning.
Also, baby friendly. YeeHaw!
Good Choice indeed.

* Back to 4 *
Ok, I keep going back and forth on this spot from 4 to 5 and now back to 4. I guess that means sadly it is just a 4.
My latest dim sum was very good, but not at the same level it has been on past visits.
Consistency is a bit of an issue for hitting the very high notes. It is still a very good dim sum spot, but I imagine there is a secret calendar to know exactly when!

Great dimsum but make your reservation first.
What else is there to say? It’s a Good Choice!

Met up with relatives for a weekend lunch. Good choice? Good choice. In addition to the extensive regular menu, you can check off dim sum items on pink paper slips. The space is fairly cramped, particularly on a weekend. Good luck getting the servers’ attention — no time to dawdle! Quickly choose your tea, then get on with the pink slipping.
Ordered a flurry of favorites: fried squid, shrimp dumplings, chicken feet, BBQ pork buns, green onion pancake, house special chow mien, shrimp spring rolls, deep fried sticky puff with minced meat, spicy sampan fried rice with sausages, eggplant with spicy pork and garlic, double layer steamed milk, coconut milk jello… Solid stuff!

After passing by this small restaurant time and time again, we finally decided to try this place for dinner. We made reservations, and thank goodness we did, because the place quickly filled up.
We started with crab and fish maw soup, which was very fresh tasting. Main dishes included sliced rock cod with seasonal vegetables, beef tenderloin with honey and pepper, sliced chicken with black bean sauce, and steamed tofu and scallops in garlic sauce. We also ordered the Good Choice chow mein.
All of the food was prepared with fresh, high quality ingredients. The rock cod was soft and flavourful, and the broccoli it was served with was tender but not mushy. The honey sauce in the beef dish was delicious. The only dish that was sub-​par was the chow mein, which needed a bit more flavour in the sauce.
Overall, a really top quality Chinese restaurant with great food. I will definitely want to come back, and I’d like to try the dim sum here as well.
Menu: Pretty standard Cantonese dishes; soups and appetizers, fresh seafood, beef, chicken & pork dishes, fried rice and chow mein.
Service: Very friendly service, something that many Chinese restaurants are lacking. As the restaurant is very small, it’s not too hard to get someone’s attention. Very speedy service as well.
Price: $ 12 – 17? Probably more for fresh seafood. Portions are a bit small.
Ambiance: Clean restaurant, brightly lit. Two flatscreen TVs mounted on the walls.