Pink Pearl Chinese Seafood Restaurant, Vancouver

Today we went there for dim sum. We arrived at about 12:45, near the end of the lunch hour. There were empty tables waiting to be cleared. We were seated beside one of them. Service was a bit slow but it didn't mattered since we weren't in any hurry. We asked for chilly sauce and hot muster. The server checked at the closest service station, didn't see any and went elsewhere. We waited with expectation of him bring the chilly sauce. The next thing we knew he was serving some other table. Just so happened a manager/captain came by. So we asked him instead. Again he checked the nearest service station with the same result. He, too, walked off but stopped by the table beside us where he picked up a saucer with chilly sauce and hot muster and placed it on our table. He went off before we could say anything. We looked at each other and said there is no way we'll be using it regardless the previous customers had used it or not. A little later the first did showed up with a fresh saucer of chilly sauce and hot muster. Did we bring this up with the restaurant? No. Will we be telling our friends and other about it? Yes. I checked the manager/captain's name tag which says Lawrence.

Third visit last night. We drove up from Seattle and sat down at 445PM. Restaurant was empty at first. Barbecued pork was very good. Prawns with pea pods were excellent. Beef with vegetables in a birdsnest was very good. Found out birdsnest is made out of fried string potatoes cooked around a bowl in vegetable fat. Excellent service. My first two visits were by myself. My third visit was with my wife. We both enjoyed it and will be back again.

Apparently still unaware that the source of this "delicacy" is near extinction, this is yet another one of those class-less dumpy outfits that serves the food. It is unfortunate, as this restaurant used to be a high class Chinese restaurant that served quality products.

I have been to this restaurant many years. In the past three years, each of my dining experience is getting worse than previously. Lunch (Dim Sum) - this place is always packed on the weekend. Many customers are usually tourists or first time visitors. The dim sum quality is usually good and the service is average. However, in terms of value, there are many other restaurants in Vancouver that will beat Pink Pearl hands down. Dinner - The restaurant is usually not busy (with the exception of banquet) and one quarter full at most. I dined here at least 7 times in the past three years, the dinner food quality is getting worse each time. Shark fin soup is a real joke. They may as well mixed hot water, MSG, soya sauce with some shreded meat and mushrooms and stir it with some corn starch. The appetizer plate can only classified as a "junk" dish. Fatty BBQ pork, chewy beef, processed cooked ham with pickled carrots. A $30+ plate with food cost less than $5. Real rip-off! I complained to the "manager" (the guy in suit). He agreed with my comments about the food quality and lack of taste. But he has authority to do anything. It is unfortunate how this restaurant can be managed in such a degrading manner. Overall, I do not recommend anyone to visit this restaurant. There are many other better Chinese seafood restaurant in downtown and surrounding area. Stay away from this place. An almost empty resturant during prime dining hours is a sign that many of the oriental customers are staying away from this place. I hope the restaurant staff and owners read this post.

I've been back to this restaurant many times. There just is no better place to go for dim sum brunch on a Sunday. Excellent food with service that isn't overdone. The chef will make you anything you request. It can get busy but this is a testament to the food. Try to ignore its seedy location and take your whole family. You won't be disappointed.

We pre-ordered a set menu of 10 dishes, for $350. 40 min. after our cold cut platter, we were wondering why we didn't have any more dishes arriving. Tables all around us were getting their food, except us. 20 min. later, 4 more dishes arrived. One of these dishes a server took away saying that isn't part of our menu, but brought it back after checking that it was ours. The so-called shark fin soup was awful, they might as well mix some MSG with some water for all the taste there was in it! After 5 dishes & 1-1/2 hr. later, we spoke to servers & hostesses--kept getting the same response "Sorry, very busy tonight!" You'd think one of the "managers" would come to our table to offer an apology, ask us if we'd like to have some pop or beer on the house, but nothing!! After 2 hr., we had enough. We told one of the managers that we'd pay for what we ate. We told him that for the lack of service & poor food quality, we shouldn't be paying at all! Needless to say, we won't be recommending this restaurant to our friends, family & acquaintances.