Do I need reservations for Dim Sum?

[emeltee]

I'm planning on eating Dim Sum for lunch post-cruise. We will dine in Richmond before heading to the airport.

 

I was thinking of eating around 1pm on a Saturday. I'm thinking that we could eat a leisurely lunch and leave by 3pm to head to the airport to drop off our car and check in for our 6pm flight.

 

A few questions:

 

Should I make a reservation for dim sum? How long is the wait on a typical Saturday at the 1 o'clock hour, if I don't have reservations? I got a recommendation to eat at Empire Seafood. Any other recs?

 

If we leave by 3 - will this give us time to return our rental minivan and go through customs for our 6pm flight?

[Twickenham]

Specifying a city would help.

[martincath]

OP did say Richmond -from the context of being near an airport and mentioning Empire Seafood, it's definitely the Richmond just south of Vancouver.

 

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with Empire so can't guess the queue time without a reso. 1pm is a little on the later end - I usually find Dim Sum queues peak before noon rather than after. Try emailing them about reservations: enquiry@empirerestaurant.ca

 

Getting a reso for dim sum though seems... wrong. I'm sure you will be able to find somewhere that does take them, but part of the experience for me is always the throng of people waiting (assuming it's good dim sum, Saturday lunchtime there will be a throng!), asking to share a table so you can get in more quickly (and sometimes meet some interesting lunchmates).

 

3pm departure from Empire should get you to YVR in 10 minutes; assuming there's no drama on the hire car return (i.e. you haven't damaged it, fueled it up properly etc.) you should have 2.5 hours or more to get to your flight which will be ample mid-afternoon Saturday even for US flights.

[happypooh]

Is it best to go for dim sum in Richmond vs the old chinatown? Trying to figure out whether we should make a trip to Richmond or just take the HOHO on our one and a half days post cruise in Vancouver.

[monkey@cruise]

Are you mentioning Empire Seafood Restaurant; 200-7917 Westminister Hwy, Richmond? If yes, been there many times, may be there

again in early September for a friend's wedding banquet. It locates on a terrance next to "London Drug" store, parking is underneath. The restaurant signage is not well display.

 

Welcome to Richmond, a mini-China, 85% population is Chinese. Traffic on No. 3 Road and parking can be a nighmare during weekends and majority Chinese restaurants there prefer large party reservation. If you like to have dim sum there, go there either 11 am or after 1:15 pm to avoiding the noon crowd and better chance getting a parking spot.;) Empire doesn't let customers sharing table, and service will be rush on weekends. You will get a dim sum checklist, mark down what you like and your food will be freshly steam/cook. You will be done your dim sum in 60-90 min, they want your table!:D

 

This May, the B.C. govement revoked the Harmonized Sales Tax. Now your food bill will subject to 5% GST (Good and Services Tax) and not the 12% HST.

 

Here is the dim sum menu for Empire Restaurant

http://www.empirerestaurant.ca/esr/dimsum/

 

The old Chinatown which on Main and Keefer is "aging", business is moving out, parking is very bad. Restaurant food quantity there is sub-par.

 

Do a Google map direction, use No. 2 Road as alternative, in case No. 3 Road is a parking lot. There is a PetroCan gas station (Red in color) in the airport area. If heading towards YVR airport, pass Aviation Road and before going underneath the skytrain track. You can fill up the tank before return your vehicle. If you do a web-checkin and use kiosk to print your luggage tags and board passes, that will save more time.

 

Enjoy Lotusland !

[martincath]

I'd say that depends on what your expectations are from a dim sum experience.

 

If you're familiar with it and want to go for really good quality or authenticity, a trip out to Richmond will give you many more choices than the downtown Chinatown.

 

If you just want to try it, then check near your hotel for dim sum restaurants (Google, Tripadvisor, ask on here) and go to the nearest one that has passable reviews.

[emeltee]

OP here - we ended up making 1pm reservations at Kirin in Richmond, based off Yelp reviews. I'm glad we made it since there was a wedding banquet at that time and all the tables were full. Timing worked out beautifully for us in terms of getting off the ship, getting our car, hanging out at Stanley Park for a bit before heading to eat. AFter eating, we went to the mall, then to the airport. IT was a pretty smooth day. (and a satisfying meal after 10 days of travel.)

[Philob]

We were there mid-June and pretty much did what you did. After visiting the Vancouver Aquarium we drove back to Richmond for dim sum before returning our car and 7 pm flight.

 

SWMBO went through the Chinese version of Yelp and Chowhound and found these Richmond dim sum places highly recommended:

 

Fisherman's Terrace Restaurant, Aberdeen Center (inside the mall) and Sun Sui Wah, 4940 No 3 Rd #102 Richmond, or Shun Feng Seafood, 4380 No. 3 Rd (Parker Place). The three places reminded us of being in Hong Kong as soon as we walked in.

 

In all three places we showed up after 1pm and waited only 5-10 minutes.

[ell52]

I'm a little late to the conversation here, but just a few comments re dim sum:

 

- It's always a good idea to make reservations at the more popular places on weekends, unless you go very early (before 10am) or very late (after 1:30 - 2pm). If you are a large party (say 6+) this is even more crucial.

- Dim sum in Richmond is better than in Vancouver Chinatown

- There are good dim sum restaurants in Vancouver (just not in Chinatown)