Li Garden Seafood Restaurant

The food is great. Too bad they have sold their business to new owner and changed the name of the restaurant and the food is not as good.

This restaurant recently changed names. They no longer take credit cards as this was a shock after we ordered lunch. We noticed that the food was not as good as before, the flavour of some of the dishes which they used to excel at was not as good as before.

had a dim sum take-​out instead of dining in, brought my own reusable plastic container and the kitchen staff nicely puts my two orders of pork and shrimp dumplings in … taste good (slight salt) and reasonable size.
Best to call ahead otherwise could be a long wait (like I was) for the kitchen to steam your order fresh. Need a quick fresh dim sum while in the area, save and not wait, bring your container and phone in your order. Or dine in to enjoy food slowly.
This place is not those one price for all dim sum sizes. Despite the restaurant’s small size, noise level is low and same with the light (kind on the dimmer side but sufficient).

This place is GREAT! The food is generally good. I had the walnut sauce pork chops. It was very well prepared. The seafood clay pot. Also decent. the best though is the crab, if you order two dishes, you can get a 2 lbs crab for $ 11.
And it’s huge, tastes great. What more can you ask for?
Its so good, I’m bringing my team here for dinner at some point.

We went on a weekday. There was a bit of a line up but we got seated almost right away.
Service was pretty good but you did have to wave and wait to get someone’s attention.
Shumai was delicious! They were big and plump and I could taste the mushrooms in it. Yum! My little guy who is 19 months old loved it as well.
We also ordered chicken feet and the tripe. Chicken feet was good as well… I probably won’t get tripe again. It wasn’t bad but not as good as some of the other places I have been to.
Overall, the food was good and I would definitely go back again.
Only drawback is parking. You have to street park and we were lucky to get a spot right away but I imagine if you go during the busy time, you might have to do loops to get a spot.

This place is small and can get cramped fast with tables for large families by the perimeter and smaller tables by the centre. Therefore it makes sense to have a checklist-​style when ordering dim sum.
The quality of the food is great. The cooking is perfect. The buns and dumplings weren’t over-​steamed as I find in larger Chinese restaurants as they try and crank out the orders fast from the kitchen. While the deep fried items weren’t as oily as you’d regularly find.
The service was better than average. You have to flag them down, but with the cramped space, there is someone passing by your aisle every minute.
The problem I guess it’s the food isn’t as tasty as I’m used to for an Asian restaurant that are usually heavy seasoned. They have no problem providing soy sauce, hot sauce, and no charge for XO sauce. These made the dishes more to my liking and the experience enjoyable.
— Steamed Shiu-​Mai $ 3.35 (good filling; no fat)
— Steamed BBQ Pork Bun $ 2.95 (love the texture, perfectly steamed)
— Steamed Mini Sticky Rice $ 3.35 (a little bit smaller in serving, but very fresh and moist)
— Steamed Rice Rolls Chinese Donuts $ 3.35 (crunchy donuts on a very soft and sticky rice roll)
— Deep Fried Stuffed Dried Shrimp Dumpling $ 2.95 (one of my favourite. Could have been more salty from the dried shrimp)
— Deep Fried Sesame Paste Balls $ 2.60 (I would have loved a black sesame filling, but this is okay for dessert)
— Deep Fried Prawn Dumplings Salad $ 3.35 (generous prawn servings on a not oily at all covering)
— Steamed Scallop and Prawns Dumpling $ 3.35 (the skin is a little bit too thick, but lots of prawns inside and a respectable slice of scallop on top)
— Tea service $ 0.60/head
As you can, the pricing is very decent for Vancouver standards. Reminds me of the pricing and sizing in LA which I prefer so I can order and sample more.
It’s not a restaurant I would readily rush to, but I wouldn’t mind coming back over and over again when in the area.

I’m not a forgiving man — I regard shitty Chinese restaurants with the same disdain as puppy-​kickers. So I was riled up when I was dragged here kicking and screaming — but they fully redeemed themselves from the crappy service I received last time.
Service was still lacking this time, but nothing beyond the norm of Chinese dim service (servers are way understaffed). Since the service didn’t agitate me like my 1^st visit, I can give a better critique of the food.
Most of the dim sum staples were on-​point for this picky bastard with the odd miss of the deep-​fried squid — mushy and lacked flavour. Give the deep-​fried prawn dumping with salad sauce a shot — was reminiscent of the deep-​fried prawn turnovers from New Town Bakery that I love so much. It’s oilier but so damned fresh. The highlight was the amazing ‘fish joints with onions in clay pot’ — was as delicious as it sounds awkward. This dish caused one of the most awkward of dim sum situations — everyone loves the dish but doesn’t want to ravenously hoard it lest it deprives the rest of the table. I didn’t say anything but I think I was clearly telepathically communicating, «Don’t bogart the fish joints, Uncle» across the table.
By the way, they also have a ‘shark fin dumpling’ on the menu at a premium price. I didn’t try it but I thought I would make mention in case a restaurant serving shark fin for dim sum is a dealbreaker for you. Not really the coolest thing to do in my book and I’ll leave it to you to decide which is worse: puppy kicking or shark killing.
Prices are reasonable and they are running a promotion where they take 12% off the bill (why 12%, you ask? ’88 discount’ for the Chinese folk, of course!). Spend over $ 30 and you get a coupon for free half chicken if you come back during dinner time.
Good dim sum — just don’t come here if you’re in a rush since the service is slow and it was surprisingly busy on a weekday with a lineup out the door. And damn this place for proving my initial instincts wrong.

I went to this restaurant for dim sum for the first time on the weekend. It is a small/​medium sized restaurant and it was all full when I arrived, I had to wait for 15 minutes for a table of four. I had eggplant stuffed with shrimp, xiu long bao, shrimp/​snow pea shoots dumpling, deep fried lo bak gao, and lo mai gai.
The quality of all of the dishes are top notch. All the dishes came out to be perfect! I went to Li Garden restaurant with my mom who is extremely picky when it comes to dim sum, and she think this is the best dim sum restaurant in Vancouver. I have to agree with her. The presentation, quality, and flavours of the dishes are equal or better than Kirin. Prices are lower than Kirin which is a plus. Service is good too as they change your plates. That didn’t happen when I went to Sun Sui Wah for dim sum which I believe is going completely downhill for its quality for all of its dishes at the Main Street location.
All in all, I think it’s hard to beat Li Garden Seafood Restaurant when it comes to dim sum. This is definately the best all around dim sum restaurant in Vancouver. I haven’t been to a restaurant in Vancouver or Richmond that serves better quality dim sum than Li Garden. I’ll have to say this restaurant is comparable to the top restaurants that serve dim sum in Hong Kong or China. That says a lot. I would avoid going here during the weekends late in the morning because there are huge lineups for a table from what I was told. I had to wait for only 15 minutes because it was sunny and the Olympics were going on.