Dinesty Dumpling House — Restaurant in Burnaby

TL;DR: Horrible Service. Staff yelled at me twice. Not the first time this has happened. Would not be going back to any of the locations again.

Horrible service. I have always liked Dinesty but today's experience was just ridiculous. When we got there we told the hostess that we have a group of 7 (5 adults and 2 toddlers). Due to COVID-19, one table cannot seat more than 6 people and we were fully aware of that. When we asked if we were able to sit separately but near each other, one of the staff (I am assuming either a supervisor or the manager) overheard that and YELLED at us saying "NO! YOU CANNOT SIT TOGETHER. YOU ARE GONNA SIT VERY FAR APART AND YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO TALK TO EACH OTHER!"

She was actually so loud that even the kitchen staff at the very back of the restaurant poked their heads out to see what was happening. I asked her how come we're not allowed to sit near each other and before I could finish my sentence, she YELLED at me AGAIN, saying "YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO SIT NEAR EACH OTHER. ONE GROUP WILL SIT AT THE ENTRANCE AND OTHER GROUP WILL SIT AT THE VERY BACK. THIS IS GOVERNMENT REGULATION!!!!!"

I fully understand where the restaurant is coming from but I don't think the staff had to cut me off AND yell at me. I simply asked a question and she could've answered me with a friendlier attitude, and I would've accepted it with no problem. I just think it was ridiculous that I was given that kind of attitude at a restaurant like this when I have done nothing but asked a question in my normal voice and volume. Not to mention that the government regulation only states that you cannot have more than 6 people at a table... It doesn’t actually say anything about people sitting near each other when your party had to be split up. If you're not allowing people to be seated near each other, then why are you even bothering having your tables 2m apart? I understand that the restaurant may not want to encourage a big group sitting together or near each other. But not with that attitude.

We didn't want to make a big fuss about it so we sat at the tables that she had chosen for us, one at the entrance, and one at the very very back of the restaurant. 10 minutes have passed, and no one had even come by to give us the menu or even tell us how to order/access the menu. We were the ONLY customers in the restaurant at this point. When I asked the question, the reply I got (with the same horrible attitude) was "Scan it yourself. It's (the QR code) on the table."

When the food came, the waitress literally just dropped the food on the table and left without saying a single word. No “excuse me”, no explanation or even mention the name of the dish, literally nothing. And when all of our orders came, we were told (again, with the same horrible attitude) this exact sentence: “All your orders are here. Pay up there yourself when you’re done.” From the moment we entered the restaurant until we paid the bill and left, no one even said a “thank you”.

This isn’t the first time I have had similar experience at Dinesty. The first time was at the Richmond (Ackroyd) location. The waitress that day also yelled at me and the manager actually came up and apologized to me saying that multiple people had complain about the same waitress on the same day. My experiences seriously make me wonder how Dinesty sets the standard for their customer service because it seems like there was no standards being maintained. This is not the service and attitude that I am expecting to receive at a restaurant like this.

I used to really like them but would not be going...

Finally tried this place since everyone seemed to be raving about the quality of the xlb (Shanghainese steamed juicy pork dumplings), even though it's a Taiwanese chain. Ended up being disappointed: though the kitchen has some skill at certain things and the service is competent, every dish except one had something really bad about it. Xlb (小籠包) to start: the wrapper was beautiful and thin, the juicy soup inside was good, and it was served with the requisite fragrant black rice vinegar and shredded ginger like blades of grass, but the meat filling itself was the texture of sawdust, and the marinating skill was clearly sub-par. Poor show for a place that's supposed to be famous for its xlb. Cold sliced beef organ meat with chili and garlic (夫婦肺片) was tasty and well seasoned, but consisted mainly of beef shank and tendon, whereas it's supposed to be tripe and lung; also, the few pieces of tripe that were present were smelly and not well cleaned. Chili wontons (紅油抄手) looked ok, as the wrapper was silky and thin, but the spicy red oil from which the dish gets its name was poorly executed and lacked the proper fragrance of Sichuan peppercorn and garlic, and the filling was again like sawdust and far too small an amount. Pan-fried shell-on prawns with fragrant soy (油熼蝦) were well executed and perfectly seasoned, but the prawns they used were frozen and of poor quality, with a mushy texture and an old, tired, less-than-fresh taste. Sauteed winter bamboo shoots with "special house blend soy" (油炆冬笋) is usually one of my favorite wintertime dishes: these bamboo shoots themselves were quite good, even though they weren't fresh; but the seasoning they used was like a brutally goopy salty-sweet pre-fab teriyaki sauce that completely overwhelmed the bamboo. So gross. I had to take it home and wash off the shoots in a pot of boiling water for them to be palatable. If only they had used the same soy they did on the prawns. The stir fried shredded pork (魚香肉絲) was also terrible: it's supposed to be pork cooked in the style of a fish, with garlic and chili and ginger. Instead they got the whole idea wrong and put dried salted fish, or poor quality fish sauce, into the dish so the whole thing smelled fishy and was too salty to eat. The tastiest thing was the dessert, steamed red bean dumpling (not bun!), 豆沙小飽. The wrapper was paper thin, tender, and delightfully just a little bit chewy, and the filling was light, fragrant, and the perfect sweetness level.

The service was kind and professional, but it wasn't enough to make up for the poor quality of the food. A heated shouting match also broke out amongst some of the kitchen staff as they were finishing their shift and coming out into the main part of the restaurant to eat their dinner. The fact that there were still tables with paying customers present didn't seem to deter them from cussing like Chinese sailors at each other. The servers were very apologetic, but were unable to stop the very loud streams of invective.

Won't ever come here again. Unless it's to order take out red bean dumplings...

Hello! Please enjoy reading this review about my experience at Dinesty. (This review's target is to save money from my people of the Lower Mainland.)

Our family chose Dinesty to celebrate my grandpa's birthday, but unfortunately, it turned out to be an utterly disappointing experience. Despite the occasion, the three servers at Dinesty showed no interest in providing even the most basic level of service. Instead, their behaviour bordered on disrespectful. (一个，两个，三个摸鱼)

Throughout the meal, empty dishes piled up on our table, ignored by the servers, who seemed more interested in chatting amongst themselves or, in one instance, engrossed in their phones. (I want to be paid to be on my phone as well!!!). It's disheartening to witness such disregard, especially on a special occasion like my grandpa's birthday. The lack of attention and care shown by the staff was simply unacceptable.

If only they were as dedicated to their jobs as they were to checking their phones, perhaps the experience would have been more enjoyable. Dinesty's failure to meet even the most fundamental service standards tarnished what should have been a memorable celebration.

My grandpa's birthday celebration was oblivious to Dinesty's goofball service, but we won't let it dampen our spirits. (Because we are good people.) We'll be taking our celebrations elsewhere in the future, where our patronage is valued and appreciated. (Im telling you, Crystal Mall! It's right across the street) Dinesty, take note: genuine service goes a long way in ensuring customer satisfaction and loyalty.

To those good employees at Dinesty, find somewhere better to work. Your reputation at Dinesty will be smeared to the floor to the point of no return.

P.S. How on the face of this planet does your san zhen bao and xiao long bao have NO JUICE?!? Please read the discription of a Xiao Long Bao that I found on google.

"Xiao Long Bao (XLB), or soup dumplings, are probably the most famous of Shangai's steamed dumplings, and rightly so. These are delicately pleated balls of dough with broth and pork meat filling. Yes - they don't float in the soup. Instead, they encase the yummy WARM BROTH inside the dough wrapper."

WHERE?? WHERE IS MY WARM BROTH? This is a disgrace to the Chinese Community.

Lots...