Dinesty Dumpling House

When the original Dynasty (or Dinasty) first opened many years ago, it was very good. Perhaps they changed owners, now the food is horrible. Xiao loong bao is bad. The rice dish is also bad. Not worth it.

This was my 3^rd time eating at Dinesty but my first time at the Aberdeen location. The pictures in the menu really help sell the food! We had a very difficult time narrowing down what we wanted to eat because everything looked so good. I have to say that their entrée dishes are much better than the desserts we ordered. Xiao long baos were good and the minced pork with rice paper wraps were delicious as well. I wasn’t a fan of their steamed dessert buns. They tasted just as if I steamed frozen buns at home. The service was very attentive, big fan of having our own tea and pitcher of ice water at the table. Definitely going back to try more of their hot dishes!

There are many dining options inside the Aberdeen Mall. Even though the Unilocal rating is below average, we decided to give this place a chance. The menu looked pretty enticing, and there was a huge crowd. I thought this place could be a good comparison with Din Tai Fung.
Food and service are the two of the most important things for any restaurant. Some places may fall short on one, but compensate with the other. Dinesty Dumpling House failed in both categories. The place was busy, but I had better lucky with slot machines than getting the attention from any server here. The dishes were pretty lacking for the most part.
The steamed pork dumplings looked pretty good from the outside, but the flavor was seriously lacking. They weren’t juicy either. The fried pot stickers suffered from the same problem with flavor. Everything seemed pretty bland to me. The bean curd mushroom roll was probably the best one we had that night. The portion was larger than other places with plenty of mushroom filling.

Mediocre food with bad service. Enough said. Should have listened to the Unilocal reviews and went to Chef Hung Taiwanese noodle place 20 feet away.

Decent Shanghainese and dim sum dishes in the Aberdeen mall. The wait can be long but the food is solid and the seating less congested than the Food Court.
Some highlights:
1. Shao Long Bao: Solid miniature soup dumplings filled with pork and crabmeat and a flavorful, albeit greasy, broth.
2. Beef and cucumber wrapped in a pan-​fried pancake: Solid version of the classic street food dish with a thin, decently crispy pancake.
3. Pork-​stuffed pan-​fried pancake: This was okay as the stuffing was literally just pork. I was expecting a pork and scallion mixture, and the shell was slightly dough-​y.
4. Stir-​fried cabbage with dried shrimp: Very solid version of the Shanghainese classic. Plenty of dried shrimp and a good, flavor.
5. Pork, bean curd sheet, and vegetable hot pot topped with egg shreds: Very flavorful casserole that was light and refreshing. Very good over rice!
Service is very spotty but it was quite busy. Overall, it’s not bad but didn’t stand out among the other options. The only perk is the location inside the mall.

This is the newest of the Dinesty chain located in the famous Aberdeen Mall in Richond.
I took my lady friend for a duck dinner as she is very fond of duck. I ordered the smoked tea duck and when it came out, I was most disappointed. The skin was deep fried but NO taste of the of the tea fragrant. Four pieces of the duck were meaty but the rest were bony and deep fried to a crisp.
Dinesty is known for its dumplings but the duck dish was just foul.

Lovee the food here! So why the 3 stars? Well… the service, to be frank, sucks. The waitresses look annoyed when you ask for something, and the last time they got my order wrong, they didn’t even apologize! :(
But I keep coming back, because it’s the most convenient out of all the Dinesty locations. The food is always solid, although I prefer the food at the Ackroyd location a lot more.
And I find it odd how they only give you 6 XLB here, whereas at the other locations you get 8!
??

Food was just ok. Service was terrible. Waitresses were all rude. The only reason I chose to go there was for the location but I will not return again.

Tried the restaurant today. The place atmosphere is great, modern, servers were great no problems with attitudes, friendly. The food is good, the price is a bit hefty for the portion its served. Downsized for me is the bathroom use, argh. You have to go out and use the mall bathroom. Very inconvenient
I will come back but not too often.

It’s ok. Décor is nice but other than that I can’t really think of anything that would make me go wow. The washroom is not inside the restaurant do you have to walk outside into a hallway which like a maze to find the ladies’ room. So annoying.
The ciao long bao dumpling is not that great. I expect a lot of soup. But nope is little bit. Skin is too thick. The Gyoza is in an awkward shape like an egg roll. Not that great because the two opening at each ends doesn’t hold the juice or soup. The fried oyster is not bad but it’s a bit salty. And the green pepper bell with beef is ok. Overall not wowed by its food. Yes I Am a bit disappointed.
My parents didn’t really like it either. They thought the price doesn’t go well with the quality and taste.
Very likely I am not coming back.
But there is one pro is that there are free parking.

Xiaolongbao are good, beef roll is great, camphor smoked duck wasn’t bad. However, still choked that they charged us $ 15 for a plate of pea shoot tips. Really?

I always come here for lunch if I want chinesy food meaning my fried donut and hot soy milk to dip it in. I also like the hot and sour soup and some other small dishes like dumplings etc. The place is nice and clean and its a good enough place to treat guests to without emptying your wallet. Price is reasonable and quality of food is good. The restaurant is located inside Aberdeen mall on the second floor so there are lots of parking available at the parkade.

Freebies: Every time you order a basket of soup dumplings (any kind) at a Dinesty restaurant, you can receive a stamp on your dumpling points card. Once you have 10 stamps on the card, you will receive a free basket of Steamed Pork Soup Dumplings at any Dinesty restaurant of your choice. On every Wednesday, come to a Dinesty restaurant and receive a free dish of Pan Fried Pork Pot Stickers for each Beef Noodle Soup you order.
This was my first time dining at Dinesty Dumpling House inside Aberdeen Centre. I chose to come to this restaurant with friends tonight since I’ve been hearing some hype about how good it is supposed to be. I’ve seen two of these venues in Richmond (one along No.3 Road which is often packed with people, and one inside Aberdeen Centre). We went to the one inside Aberdeen Centre since it is not as busy. I had originally thought this restaurant served only dumplings, so I was surprised to see a menu with a variety of appetizers, entrees, and desserts.
We looked around our tables and saw that other patrons were ordering mostly noodle dishes and dumplings. It was not that busy since we were here early at 5:30pm. I have to admit that the customer service could use some improvement. We flagged a waitress after waiting for 15 minutes trying to flag down two other ones, but she told us to «wait 1 minute» and then never returned to our table. When we flagged down our fourth waitress, she said something to us in Mandarin and walked away. We are not Chinese and don’t know the language, so we weren’t sure what she meant. In fact, a gentleman at my table was British Caucasian and he found it amusing that she spoke to us in Mandarin. A few seconds later, a different waitress came to take our order. It was somewhat disappointing to see that a table which came in 20 minutes after us was served their food first. The service here was noted on
by reviewers as somewhat disorganized. The restaurant started to get much busier after 6:00pm so we came in at the right time.
The food was quite tasty and made up for the nonchalant service. We ordered the following:
* Steamed Pork Soup Dumplings — $ 5.95
* Steamed Luffa & Shrimp Soup Dumplings — $ 6.95
* Fried Rice with Shrimps — $ 9.50
* Hot & Sour Soup (Small) — $ 4.95
* Stir Fried Beef with Black Pepper Sauce — $ 11.95
The total came to about $ 41.00 for our table of three. The waitress taped the receipt onto our table, but it was all in Chinese so we couldn’t read our orders to double-​check if it was correct. The Steamed Pork Soup Dumplings have quite a bit of hot soup inside, so be careful when biting into them! They were by far my favorite dish of the night and I highly recommend them as the choice for dumplings. The Steamed Luffa & Shrimp Soup Dumplings had no soup in them, so we were disappointed about how dry they were. We wondered if the waitress might have gotten the order wrong and served us something else. The lightly salted Fried Rice with Shrimps was very good, it was my second favorite dish at the table and had a nice flavor to it. The Hot & Sour Soup had a bit of a spicy kick to it, a little spicier than I’ve had at other restaurants. I still liked it since it was not watered down, and it was full of different condiments inside. I didn’t sample the Stir Fried Beef but I’m guessing it was also delicious since my friend finished the whole platter and complimented his dinner.
I can’t speak to how this restaurant compares to other dumpling-​themed restaurants in Richmond, since this was our first dumping venue to try. But I had a pleasant experience with the food at this restaurant and would recommend it for a lunch or dinner gathering with a small group.

Located on the 2^nd floor in Aberdeen where Northern Delicacy used to be is the new Dinasty location. We came late, 10min before last call, so there was no wait. The waitress spoke to us in mandarin, we stared at her blankly and proceeded to ask for a table in English, she abruptly told us last call at 9:30pm, we said we knew what to get so she seated us promptly. I appreciate that service wasn’t rushed considering we got there late– though we were considerate and ordered and ate quickly as well.
Restaurant is not huge but still had a few larger round tables for groups (we had 6ppl). They had highchairs. Washrooms located in the mall.
We ordered the XLB (steamed dumplings), the fried bread roll with condensed milk (hubby’s fave), pork chop noodle in soup, potstickers, and tea smoked duck. Sadly, their XLB aren’t as good or juicy as numerous other Shanghainese restaurants in Richmond. The potstickers, which I really like at their other Richmond location, was smaller and not as good here too– again, less juicy, bland, and tasted like reheated leftovers. The tea smoked duck had potential to be better; crispy skin and just the right amount of smokiness, but I found it a bit dry. The other items were OK. Maybe the food was subpar because we came here so late and the main chefs have left?

Came here with a friend during their dimsum hours and lol don’t come here for dimsum, please. It’s not that their dishes are bad, it’s just that I can get the same quality of food for cheaper at another place in Richmond. If you’re curious though, try their XiaoLongBao because that’s what they’re proud of, and they’re not wrong for boasting it. Also, their spicy tofu soup is pretty darn diddly good, so that and some rice gets you filled up pretty fast. I was asked by the waitress upon entering if I spoke Mandarin and I said no and I was served by someone who spoke English throughout my stay; that was actually a pretty nice touch, lol.
Interior deco is on point though I don’t know if anyone really cares about that. Tables along the wall are a little too close for comfort but meh if you’re just eating then it’s not a problem.

Not just tough Unilocalers, but perhaps during their opening stage of getting things together lol.
First off, big upgrade fr previous location, totally cramped. This one is more spacious, more round tables and way more bench seating along the wall. Nice white décor with grey columns and its mosaic pattern.
Food: recommend the smoked duck, smokey flavour, bit too crunchy… ma Po tofu a real winner because this was the smoothest tofu in a long time: not like the HK style.
Vinegar spareribs and pine nuts also yummy.
XLB good too, but Shanghai River better, still worth eating.
Good service by Asian standards lol.
2^nd floor, easy repeat. maybe they upgraded chefs…

Ok, so this review is specifically for the Aberdeen dinesty. The service is probably one of the worst I’ve ever had. We constantly had to wave down the severs who would wave back, then they wouldn’t come. When I sat down I didn’t have a plate so I asked one of the servers for a placing, so they bring me a plate and napkin, no chopsticks or spoon. Another time I had wanted to order more food and the girl (all the servers were girls) didn’t seem like she really wanted to serve us. We asked for some of the dishes to be cut into smaller sizes (thus sharing) and the first time they didn’t come over, the second they brought scissors and left them on the table. The bill was probably the worst ordeal. Like many groups we split the bill. So we ask for the credit card machine. We ask for the amount to be put in, which we included as a tip (which at this point was 15%). So then the girl disappears, comes back and says we didn’t give a tip. So we tell her it’s included in the amount, she tells us if we do it that way, they, the severs don’t get anything, the restaurant keeps it. Now I do sympathize with that for the servers, but what could have been done is instead of asking us the customers for a refund, how bout instead since there is more than one person paying, have the next person put a bigger tip amount and less payment on the bill portion? Instead we had to process a refund, then process the payment again. Oh did I mention there was a hair in our food? They did replace the dish so that was good of them. In terms of food, well it was really good, but I’d stick with the downtown location.

For the most part Food was good. But service was very very slow and it was not very busy.
We found hair in our food. Getting a replacement was slow and the server challenged us.
Will not return.

Unfortunately there isn’t a half stars here. Z I really liked the Dinesty on Robson.
The food was fine but not as hot as it should be for something that is freshly made. The shanghai dumplings were pretty good but if you want stellar than Longs Noodle House is the best place or Shanghai River. Then when the sesame buns came it came extra with some hair. Then when we told the waitress she said nothing and took the one bun away. So we didn’t know what was going on, but they came back w a fresh steam set of it so that was good. However it would be nice to communicate w us. The other waitress who have us our dishes looked like either she didn’t sleep for 2 days or she was completely in a trance because she didn’t say anything not have a smile when putting down the dishes– sorry we caused you an inconvenience coming here.
I had high hopes for this place so it was quite disappointing. The finale was how when we split the bill they didn’t ask if we were splitting (we all had our credit cards out), didn’t hear us telling them the amount to put, then she told us that we can’t include the tip so she was so confused that she got her manager to refund one of us and redo it with the tips. So disorganized, unprofessional, unwelcoming and unimpressionable.
I would recommend going to Shanghai River or Longs Noodle House for this type of cuisine or Fishermans Terrace if you need to eat at Aberdeen. I don’t recommend this place because their service and attitudes were terrible.

We are big fans of the first Dinesty on No 3 road, but they closed between 2 — 5:30, so we decided to give the Aberdeen Centre branch a try.
Surprisingly, they do not have the Beef Noodles 紅燒牛肉麵 here, most likely because the restaurant to the right is a Beef Noodle restaurant so they don’t want to compete.
We ordered:
Xiao Long Bao XLB 小籠飽 — perfectly steamed and juicy; but only have 6, whereas you get 8 from the other restaurant for the same price.
Spinach Tofu Appie 香干馬蘭頭 — still good, but DH thought it was a little salty;
Pan Fried Pork Dumpling 生煎包 — looks and taste good but the pan fried bun is lacking the crisp bite;
Salted Veggie Pork. Soup Noodle 雪菜肉絲麵 — to my knowledge, this is the only restaurant chain that use fresh salted veggie, other places used the canned variety, very tasty soup broth, good size noodle.
Décor is modern with their wall of teapots, a few more larger tables
Dropped stars due to the XLB portion and the so so service, we were there at 3:30pm, there were only 5 tables and the server acts the same as if it was packed.
Also, this branch does not have the week day specials.