I’ve been a fan of Dinesty Dumpling House for their good Chinese food that is affordable and generally consistent in terms of quality and taste. They’re one of the largest Chinese restaurant chains in Metro Vancouver with 5 locations.
Their newest location which opened last winter on Gilbert Road in the Richmond Olympic Oval district. I recently ventured to check out the new location.
Bright and Airy Space
Dinesty’s newest restaurant features a clean, elegant contemporary design with floor-to-ceiling windows. In this bright and airy space, you’ll find charming booth seating, tables for larger groups and smaller dining tables.
There are also two open-concept kitchens: one that appears to be dedicated for making dumplings and the other for preparing fried-type of entrees.
Dinesty Dumpling House Gilbert Menu
The menu and pricing can be found online here. They offer a vast array of dishes including dumplings, delicacies, rice and noodle entrees, soups and so forth.
This Dinesty location is neighbours with YiFang Taiwan Fruit Tea. They have a partnership where you can order YiFang drinks to accompany your meal at Dinesty. It is nice that Dinesty’s YiFang menu is the same price as the regular YiFang menu. See photo below.
What We Tried
We ordered the following for lunch:
- Steamed Pork Soup Dumplings x 2 ($7.95 each)
- Shrimp & Pork Shaomai ($8.50)
- Deep Fried Crab with Basil in Triple Sauce ($16.95)
- Stewed Eggplant with Shredded Pork in Hot Sauce ($13.95)
- Stir-Fried Scallop with Asparagus ($17.95)
- Steamed Red Bean Paste Buns ($4.25)
- YiFang Signature Fruit Tea ($6.50)
Steamed Pork Soup Dumplings
A must-try at Dinesty are their xiao long baos ($7.95 each) (or Steamed Pork Soup Dumplings). These housemade dumplings had thin, delicate wrappers that held together all of the contents. The broth was hot and flavourful and not too salty while the filling was bouncy and tender.
Shrimp & Pork Shaomai
The Shrimp and Pork Shaomai ($8.50) was quite good with a thin wrapper and bouncy filling. I thought the filling had a good proportion of shrimp and pork.
Deep Fried Crab with Basil in Triple Sauce
The Deep Fried Crab ($16.95) had a flavourful savoury sauce but the size of the crab was small (although in line with what you are paying for the dish at $16.95). It takes a lot of patience to work for the meat! I personally would not order this again as it is a bit impractical to enjoy at a restaurant.
Stewed Eggplant with Shredded Pork in Hot Sauce
The Stewed Eggplant ($13.95) was had bold, sweet and sour flavours. I think it would have tasted better if the sweetness was toned down a bit.
Stir-Fried Scallops with Asparagus
The stir-fried scallops ($17.95) were OK with crisp vegetables and tender scallops.
Steamed Red Bean Paste Buns
The Steamed Red Bean Paste Buns ($4.25) were absolutely delicious being light and fluffy and having a red bean filling with a good level of sweetness.
YiFang Signature Fruit Tea
I ordered the Signature YiFang Fruit Tea ($6.50) which has fruit slices (apple, oranges, passionfruit) and pineapple jam. The featured tea is Songbailing jade tea, which supposedly brings out the sweet and sour flavours of the fruits. It’s a super refreshing drink which went well with my meal at Dinesty.
Service
Service at Dinesty was a bit spotty during my visit and I had to flag servers down to take my order and bring the bill. It seems like they don’t have enough servers to cater to the number of diners in the restaurant. My friend and fellow food blogger, David at pickydiners.com, also experienced this during his meal at Dinesty Gilbert (see his post here).
Parking
Underground parking is free for first 90 minutes.
Overall Impression of Dinesty Gilbert
I really enjoyed the modern, clean space at the new Dinesty location on Gilbert Road. I would have the Steamed Pork Soup Dumplings, Shrimp & Pork Shaomai, and Steamed Red Bean Paste Buns again. It was nice to be able to enjoy YiFang Fruit Tea with my meal. The restaurant seemed a bit understaffed. I would still gladly return to try more dishes from their large menu. Rating: 4/5