Baiyulan Shanghai Cuisine (Chen's Shanghai Kitchen) — Restaurant in Richmond

I will preface this review by saying that I absolutely LOVED the old location/restaurant. I grew up with the food (XLB and all that good stuff) from not only the previous location this restaurant was at, but the location before that as well (if my memory serves me correctly, this has been the second move in the past decade). I have plenty of endearing memories from my childhood that are tied to this place, which is likely why I am writing a review today (which I rarely do, if at all ever).

From my experience at the restaurant over the past 4-5 instances that I have dined at the new location, I have left nothing short of disappointed each time. The extremely friendly waitresses from before have been replaced by an uptight and unpleasant serving staff that has really made this restaurant lose its ability to be a pleasant place to eat and to entertain guests. The food no longer tastes the same - at first, I thought this may have been a function of my changing palette, but this notion seems to be corroborated by the countless reviews also criticizing the food at the new location. My favorite dish personally, the braised chicken noodle soup, tastes extremely watered-down and completely different from what I remembered it to be 2-3 years ago. Everything on the menu seems to have taken an inflation + 30% price increase, which I doubt is a sole function of increasing food costs (while such is understandable, I would expect the food to at least maintain its quality from 2-3 years ago if I am paying a 30-40% premium from what I did back then - this has not been the case). The new location would not have the slightest chance at competing against the excellence that was the old Chen's.

Despite the above paragraph, I am still giving this place a solid five stars, which is more of a function of the greatness of the old location rather than the excellence of the new (I know this logic is flawed given the fact that I am supposed to be reviewing the new location, but I can't bring myself to grant a lower rating). If anything, I am not disappointed by the performance of the new location - rather, more so heartbroken. The Chen's of today, in my opinion, has fallen victim to the mass commercialization of Lower Mainland businesses attempting to capture a bigger piece of the pie, a pie that has been made dramatically larger over the past decade by the massive capital influx into the region. However, I don't fault the owners for pursuing such a path as I think most individuals in their shoes would have pursued the exact same 1) re-location, 2) re-branding and 3) pricing at a premium to capture a new clientele, and in turn making greater profits, strategy.

That said, this post is not a criticism of the restaurant or its owners, but perhaps a reminder to those who are quick to criticize the restaurant and its food that times change and that we likely won't be getting back the old location. The bottom line is that times change, the old waitresses are gone and the food is subpar. There is no point of further berating the restaurant or its food - instead, a more productive endeavor would be to support smaller Shanghainese institutions in Richmond that have a similar approach to the restaurant business as the old Chen's once had. On that note, please feel free to send me a message (or whatever messaging service is used on this platform) if you have any recommendations for extremely high-quality Shanghainese cuisine that has any semblance to the old Chen's. I'd like for my loved ones today who have never tried the old Chen's and my future kids to experience the feeling of what a fresh, piping hot XLB dumpling served by an extremely pleasant waiter/waitress tastes like, after having witnessed its construction five minutes prior through a window demonstrating the craftsmanship. I know that as strange as this sounds to people who have never been to the old Chen's, I would bet good money that there are people on here that are furiously nodding in...

I was driving around Richmond with my friends on a Friday night looking for a place to eat, until we saw the inviting bright neon lights of “Baiyulan” which made me want to take a drive on the pacific coast highway…but that would have to wait because my friends and I were starving!

As we walked into Baiyulan, we were greeted by a nice Chinese lady who took us to our seats. Based on what I have observed, the place was fairly clean however when I sat down I noticed my table had a bit of oyster sauce on it…not a big deal but it would’ve been nice if they gave that thing a good wipe before seating us there.

We ordered some classic Chinese dishes which were supposedly “Shanghai” like the crispy Shanghai noodles, but I was told by my Hong Kong friend that it was just generic Chinese noodles which kinda made him upset as he was really looking forward to Shanghai exclusive food!

That said, the noodles tasted great to me and so did the other dishes we ordered like the Kung Pao chicken, sweet and sour pork, and the pineapple chicken fried rice! They were surprisingly very generous with the pineapple pieces on the fried rice which I thought they might skimp on after reading a review about it here.

Apart from our main dishes, we also ordered some pork pastry and of course Xiaolongbao. To me the best dish was definitely the Xiaolongbao, it was soft and juicy and the soup inside it was so delicious especially when mixed with a dash of vinegar.

The portions for the dishes were also pretty good for a group of 4 grown men. We didn't get extremely full like we always do at hot pots (which was good for a change) - but we were all pretty satisfied.

Overall, Baiyulan is a great Shanghainese place that is worth a try if you’re around Richmond area and want to avoid long lineups...

We called couple days ago to reserve the green balls and had been told it will be ready today by 11am. We drove all the way from Coquitlam to pick up as Qingming festival is today and we arrived around 11am. There was a middle age female employee was so rude and said why we were there as the green balls were only available after 3pm everyday; we explained we called and made reservation and she just walked away without any explanation. A male young employee went out and helped us to check out and said it was cooking at that moment. We went out and returned around 11:30, they gave us a bill which we paid by cash and still waited for another 15 mins. Meanwhile, there were another couple walked in to buy the green balls without reservation, the same middle age female employee helped them and was so rude again and asked them to make reservation; the couple asked if they make reservation now how long it would be available, the female employee answered by it will be available Monday. The couple said they want to make reservation now and pick up tomorrow; the female employee answered it cannot be guaranteed by tomorrow (did you just say it would be available by Monday, which is tomorrow). That couple felt the same offence from the female employee as we did. I still gave 3 stars because the green balls tastes great and the young male employee was nice and helpful. They lost 2 stars from me because the waiting time was way too long than the pick up time and the female employee was quite aggressive and I am not sure if she has any problems with those green balls, that kind of service can easily lost customers, at least 4...