Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant

Everything tasted substandard, maybe I had dim sum here on an off day. What I really couldn’t find any excuse for was how they served me steamed Chinese broccoli without oyster sauce, and when I asked for it, the waiter casually informed me there was no more oyster sauce and didn’t even apologize or try to make up for it in any way. How can you serve that dish without Oyster sauce? It’s practically tasteless as it’s basically steamed and meant to be eaten with the sauce. Furthermore, how can a Chinese restaurant stock the supplies so poorly that they can run out of Oyster sauce on a working day at lunch time? I told them I didn’t want the dish and ordered Chinese bean sprouts, stir-​fried, more than half an hour later, after we had finished eating our meal, the waiter finally came with the dish.

Hao Ye! Me Likes a Lot! Dim Sum Rocks! Coming back as soon as I can drag my dim sum hating husband back across the border and up those stairs! He did however like his bowl of seafood hot n sour soup (no seafood version Stateside ;) a big plus to see him enjoy something besides me shred every ounce of flavor from those duck bones!
Need some foodie fans in tow next time as there’s only so much damage a girl can do solo but it was superb: $ 6.95 Soup (light broth) spaghetti noodles with duck, deliciously salty, five spiced BBQ duck served on the side plate separately, 6 – 7 pcs WITH plum sauce which never happens in the US; most places look confused, don’t have plum sauce and bring you hoisin instead. And $ 5.75 pork dumplings, a standard item #10 for SSWah but never seen in HK, US or CN, granted I don’t read Chinese either: pork dumpling in clear rice wrapper with chive, h20 chestnuts and peanuts, again delicious and unusual. Neither of these items appear on Portland dim sum menus and made for such a memorable meal! I know, two items and I’ve overjoyed, right?!
SSW quickly becomes a zoo, and you won’t see the friendly traditional cart servers, instead waitstaff abounds with earpieces on head waiters like the Secret Service, and food can come out in waves on trays from various servers, as ours did with 3 dishes ordered.
There is a $ 2 surcharge for water and tea service, the latter automatically delivered as you are seated, but still a minor dining infraction given the crisp white linens and extraordinary food prep, and has me longing for my next BC visit to my Main Street attraction. Can’t wait SSWah!!!

Not what it used to be. After going 6 – 7 times a year for 10+ years, we just had our last visit. I can boil it down to feeling unwelcome. It’s an odd thing but in the last year we went from being valued regulars to nuisances. Ex. we ordered a crab. No utensils came. So we asked for the usual — shell crackers, small forks. Only the crackers came. We asked for the folks. They never came. Neither did the water.
It’s not just this visit, so… time to move on.

Absolutely fantastic when you’re looking to satisfy a dimsum craving. Would highly recommend the salted egg yolk buns and durian puffs (if you enjoy durian). The buns were creamy and the puffs melted in your mouth

Perfect Dim Sum

We found this place based on the review on Unilocal.Due to the holiday, we were glad that this place was still open. There was a parking garage behind this building if you couldn’t find it on the street. We went there for brunch yesterday and we got seated before the crowd started. Lots of people but they seemed to be manage well. On the menu, there was one page of English and the other side was Chinese. The options of dim sum were great and delicious. Steamed Prawn Rice Roll was my favorite. You needed to get their attention if you wanted something. An old lady who sat behind us yelled, har gow, to the cart in front us many times but they didn’t hear it. I tried to get some chili paste and soy sauce from the food runner but she told me to tell the server. I looked around to find who the servers were. Here was my observation: the ones who wore stripe shirts were food runners, vests were servers, jackets were supervisors. When you were done, you asked for the check. You waited for them to bring back. There was no need to go to the front to cash out.
A great place to fill your dim sum craving when you are in the mood.

Vancouver institution for dim sum. If you are coming on a weekend, make sure you make reservations or come early. When we left at 1:30 today, there were still thrones of people waiting.
Dim sum here is solid, you can’t really go wrong. Bonus, the English menu pretty accurately represents what the dish actually is and there are lots of picture references to help you choose! Prices here are on the high side but not offensively so.
All in all, make reservations and come for dim sum!

We didn’t even have to wait that long for a table on sat morning! Nice restaurant and it my first time been to a chinese dim sum that has a ok service. They actually were kinda nice and ask for what we need but we had to wait really long for our food when the ppl at the table in front of us just sat down and they got their food when we already waited for 20 mins. Btw, good food!

How I heard of this place: On a visit to Vancouver to welcome to the world our dear friends little boy, they recommended a great spot to have an early morning brunch. We realized, only when trying to leave the packed establishment, that an early brunch (10:00 a.m.) is the only way to dine at Sun Sui Wah.
Type of cuisine: «Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant is now in Vancouver and Richmond, bringing to the public its world famous roasted squab, seafood, dim sum and Cantonese cuisine to satisfy the palate of gourmets.»
Ambiance: A grand entry at this corner establishment leads patrons up two rounded staircases to a central meeting point from which one can see the entirety of the space. Larger than life, modern, aerial-​esque art hovers above the entry, as well as the dining room, where table upon table is set for the hoards about to enter.
Two smaller rooms are found off to the left, where, presumably private parties may reside during their gustatory visit.
Each table prepared for the masses, we were pleased to have beat the inevitable Sunday morning crowds.
What I ordered: We left the ordering to our hosts, and regulars at Sun Sui Wah. An easy start with tea all around. The menu was quickly marked and our food started to arrive within minutes! We selected everything from Sautéed Long Beans with Minced Pork ($ 7.80) to Steamed Prawn Dumpling, Steamed Pork & Shrimp Shiu Mai, Steamed Sticky Rice with Minced Pork in Lotus Leaf, Steamed BBQ Pork Bun, Chanzhou Style Sticky Rice Rolls,
Spring Roll with Shrimp & Garlic, D/​F Minced Meat & Shrimp Puff, and Steamed Prawn Rice Roll.
To end our lovely meals, we indulged in three orders of a delicious Whipped Cream and Mango-​Wrapped Dessert.
What I loved: Mango dessert.
Why I loved it: Much food. Great company. Quick service.
Cost: Average ($ 7 per selection)

I’ve been to Sun Sui Wah two times now. The most recent time was a lunch with my girlfriend and her family. We got there for an 11am lunch and had no trouble being seated immediately. The restaurant itself is pretty big and even closer to the traditional noon lunch time there were still many tables available.
Not being a Cantonese speaker, I generally have no idea what we ordered. I know we had the chicken feet (which were delicious) and I learned that they also go by the fancier name of «Phoenix Claws». Other than this I couldn’t get a bead on what we were eating, my girlfriend found it funny to just give me the Cantonese name when I asked what things were. That being said, even though I didn’t know what things were, I dug in and was very satisfied.
The wait staff was very attentive and the food service was prompt. I don’t know why, but I really like the fact that they will portion some of the dumplings and other dishes at the table by cutting them with scissors. When a dish was empty, the staff were there very quickly to clear it away. When we were finally done one of the staff managed to pile up all our individual dishes onto her arm and take them away which was quite the feat considering there were 6 of us.
Definitely will be back, but not frequently because this place isn’t cheap!

We ordered the fried shrimp balls attached to crab claws. The first batch had a slight foul smell when I opened it… They made us a second batch. The second batch smelled rancid… I lost my appetite.
Everything else was edible, but they used to be great. The one star only reflects my recent visit. If I reviewed them last year, they’d get 5 stars. What happened?

Nothing special and isn’t terrible. Went here for a birthday dinner. A couple things to note for people that are thinking of booking a large group.
— You have to order a minimum of $ 500 dollars per table to get a room
— They do not do dividers for your group without an actual room. so you’re technically together with the rest of the restaurant
— I would recommend asking for a corner with windows as that seems to be where it’s most private if you’re not getting a room
— You’ll most likely need to wait for tables to leave as well if you didnt reserve a room
— There is a parking lot downstairs. Even if there is a full sign, I would recommend doing a quick check anyways
— You can bring your own alcohol. They say they’ll only allow wine and no hard liquor (you could probably still get away with bringing it). Corking fee is $ 20 per table
The food itself was alright. We got pea tips, cold cut plate, crispy chicken, lobster with noodles in cream sauce, honey garlic spare ribs, minced pork with lettuce wrap, fish maw soup, spicy and salty fried squid. We also got mango pudding on the side and there was cake from Anna’s cake house.
Everything was pretty average. Noting that the lobster dish was pretty bland and there wasn’t enough noodles, along with the soup, the spare ribs and the pork dish. The fried squid had too much batter for my liking and was too salty for me. The mango pudding is always amazing here with fresh mangoes in it. Food was VERY quick to come out of the kitchen. They did change our plates, provided us with wet wipes and was diligent in making sure we had space on our table for our next dish. It was a very mediocre experience but one of the best restaurants to host a big party.
I’ve never had dimsum here but from what I gather… it’s probably just as meh.
Would I come back? Probably not on my own.

Solid dim sum choice. No-​frills joint with a menu featuring all the usual players: dumplings, potstickers, steam buns, and chicken feet, among others. Sleeper hits we enjoyed at our table included the egg yolk bun, a rich, sweet and gooey finish to a meal of little savory bites. As with any dim sum, pick something fried and you’ll probably love it (we did). Don’t worry, the endless pot of jasmine tea will help balance out the oil bombs.
Service was simply A-​OK. Dishes came out fairly quickly, but when it was time to get our check, finding someone who wasn’t headed to another table was a little challenging.
Pros: varied menu, lots of space (you could easily bring forty of your closest friends and seat them all), price (two of us ate for about $ 14 USD)
Cons: timing (one of our dishes came out after we had cleaned up everything else. I think we actually forgot we ordered it), overall food quality and taste was simply ‘whelming’
Tbh, I’d probably see what else was in the area before coming back here.

This was once «the place» to be for dim sum as well as seafood dinners. While there are tons of other places one can go to now, this is still one of the go-​to places for the older generation, especially if entertaining guests from out of town, or for business purposes.
Parking is available underground, as well as on Main outside of rush hour.
The main room is still one giant banquet hall (great for weddings), and they even have a giant projection screen set up. Not sure why they were showing a football game on a Saturday morning, but why not.
The dim sum isn’t served on carts like they traditionally do. Instead, an order form is used. The selection is fairly typical. The quality is quite decent, though the pricing definitely reflects that as well.
The shrimp dumplings are nice and fluffy here. Skin isn’t the thinnest, but it’s acceptable. Most importantly, they held together and weren’t wet or mushy.
The other dish worth mentioning here (though it’s also available elsewhere) is the pan fried rice rolls. Very fragrant, though it’s all about the sesame oil.
The value is a little lacking here, but if you want quality, it’s worth the extra few bucks.

Sun Sui Wah was quite famous for its dim sum and in my opinion, it was not disappointing. We ordered their Har Gao ($ 5.5), Pork and Shrimp Siumay ($ 5.5), Scallop and Shrimp Dumpling ($ 5.95), Beef Ball ($ 4.5), Prawn Rice Roll ($ 5.5), Shrimp and Chive Pan-​fried Cake ($ 5.5) and Mango Pancake ($ 5.95).
For their price, the size of their dumplings are quite standard in Vancouver. The skin of the har gao is too thin and breaks apart quite too easily in my opinion. However, this thin skin is what makes their rice roll so delicious. The beef ball is standard fare, maybe slightly tastier than other dim sum places I tried in Metro Vancouver.
Definitely order their Mango Pancake, it doesn’t look like much from the outside but the it’s filled with light, creamy and delicious whipped cream and mango.
Service is fast and efficient, albeit with no smiles from the staff.

Eh. The typical dim sum place… Nothing too special imo. After waiting awhile for a table, we were escorted to a table, but it was still not ready as we had to find additional chairs ourselves.
The food was okay. Nothing too wowing; the quality was decent. It was brought out fairly quickly though for a super busy place.
For some reason, this restaurant would not provide us with the type of hot sauce with pepper flakes in it. They would only bring out the hot sriracha sauce. Strange. I mean. This is an Asian place…
Parking was a tad on the scarce side as there was more people eating at this restuarant than the parking lot can accomodate.

Who: bf & I
When: weekday brunch
Where: Main St.
What: a little bit of everything, but mainly soup dumplings ~$ 20/​person
Why: We ditched the plan to venture into Richmond and instead went to Sun Sui Wah per a recommendation from a local. We ordered some staples, including shrimp dumplings, broccoli, rice cakes, egg custard tarts, and soup dumplings. I would say that it was a good experience, just nothing above ordinary (which is what we were hoping for in Vancouver).

They should warn people about the king crab’s cost, not just its size. It’s hard to say it’s truly worth its fairly exorbitant cost when you go with only 1 other person. Definitely go with a larger group if you’re going to have a king crab day. It’s better for your wallets, and your stomachs. SO MUCH CRAB. The legs were steamed, the body deep fried (amazing). Oh yeah, and if two people order the king crab, they will be informed, as we were, not to order anything else because there will be more than enough food. It’s true.
Of course, the restaurant cannot be held responsible for our oversight. If it doesn’t say the price, always ask… But probably most people know that.
The menu is extensive, and this place has a big reputation in Vancouver. The place is big – your classic Cantonese banquet hall, perfect for big parties, weddings, etc. The quality is much higher than your run of the mill Chinese food, and the price is much higher.
If I return to Vancouver, I’d come back to try something else on the menu.

AMAZING DIM SUM! After my longer and tired morning of hiking at Grouse Mountain and Capilanso Suspension Bridge, I came here for some good lunch. Everything tasted so good and fresh, especially the shrimp. I wanted to eat everything but there were only 2 of us, and our stomachs can only fit so much. I heard they cook some good Dungeness crab too. I wish I can come back again, but who knows when I will be back to Vancity again.
Highly recommend this Chinese restaurant if you’re ever in the area. It’s huge and can fit a whole town in here.

This place was recommend to us by my husband’s coworker. The steamed bbq pork bun was incredible!!! It was so fluffy and delicious. The next dish that we really liked was the black pepper ribs. The seasonings were delicious — we also liked the fried spring rolls. I was not a fan of the shrimp dumpling because it was bland and it was unclear what we were supposed to dip it in. They also fell apart quickly!
I will definitely ask for recommendations on what is the best to order next time. They have been voted many times as the best Chinese food in Vancouver.