Double Double Restaurant — Restaurant in Richmond

Once upon a time there was a little restaurant called Double Happiness on Kingsway. It burned down unfortunately, but eventually rechristened itself as Double Double, settling in a must larger venue in Richmond, to cater to its core demographic.

It is a love it or leave it fixture. Bring it up in conversation and everyone will say they make the best Sweet Fried Donuts. I wholeheartedly support that assertion, as I have eaten this item at a considerable number of places and no one, like no one, makes them as good as Double Double. It's perfectly puffed, soft and chewy, and most importantly, heaven in your mouth.

People will also tell you though, that service is ridiculously slow and exasperating, so be prepared to ask for what you want multiple times; that is, if you can even flag down a waitress.

I honestly do feel bad for these waitresses as there's only a few of them working, and yet they're supposed to serve the entire relatively large restaurant by themselves. It's a chaotic cacophony in there, but that should speak to just how insanely popular and busy they are. There is literally a constant traffick of people loitering near the front door waiting to be seated or waiting for take out orders. It's sheer madness.

Every time I've gone, there are already patrons scattered throughout the restaurant and a hefty lineup, even though they technically "just opened". Still, it's best to get there when they "first open", like literally at 10:30 AM. If you're out of luck, you'll be asked about a cultural phenomenon we call "dap toi" in Cantonese, which more or less means "share the table". You would never see this in any Western Restaurant, and all my fellow Asians will vouch for this. Asking you if you'd like to share a table with complete strangers at say, The Keg, for instance, is laughable.

I went with my cousin for this outing and we got seated way in the back, which is not a good place to be. Yes, it was a booth, but you're essentially on your own island back there, and getting served is like Mission Impossible, minus Tom Cruise.

My cousin chose a noodle dish that, even if you say it in Cantonese, is something of a tongue twister. Let's just say it's some Beef Brisket Noodle along with some other meats. For myself I ordered a Fish Maw and Liver Congee along with the Salted Chinese Donut {oil fried ghost if you prefer the literal English translation}. These fried wonders are a must to have alongside any congee; the fries to your burger, shall we say.

Now, we both know how this place is, so we knew what to expect. It was a bit of a running joke as we must have called out to any waitress who happened to walk by us countless times, only to be told "I'll be right there" as she scuttled off with other orders.

I almost fell asleep waiting for my congee. When it did arrive, I could tell right away it wasn't what I had ordered {picture included}. There were way too many green onions speckling the top and virtually no liver anywhere. After another lengthy wait, I finally caught the attention of a waitress and told her it was the wrong congee. She asked if I was sure, but after I told her what it was supposed to be and she verified it for herself, she said something to the effect of "What the Hell?! That's not what you ordered!" She kinda shook her head in a tired "Really? Again?" kind of way, said the chefs were out of their minds, and said she'd get it fixed right away. Which, to her credit, she did. I found it more amusing than annoying, as it's clear that even the waitresses know how bad the service is. Sending out wrong orders must happen on a pretty frequent basis.

Come for the food, as this place serves the tastiest congee I have ever had and is the only place I will ever order congee from. But please, bring Patience in Abundance....

Returned recently to this restaurant. Looks like they had some renovations after covid. Had the lobster congee special. It was delicious and got a great price.

Previous review...

Ambiance: 3.5 Food: 4.5 Value: 5 Service: 5

Good tasting food; not the best I've had but for the cost, it's the best in terms of value with affordable pricing and large portions.

Service wasn't refined or polished but very honest. Our server was very straightforward in letting us know things such as how this one item was fried 20 minutes ago and it would be dry but we could reheat it in the microwave and it would be good.

Hkg style rice rolls: great portion but wasn't crispy enough when served for my liking

Congee: huge portion for the price. I could tell it was a good quality congee but the type my table ordered wasn't my preference, but this was still available excellent dish.

Lobster: solid lobster dish. I normally don't prefer this style but they did a good job. The noodles were very firm (in a good way)

Marinated beef with jellyfish: huge pieces of jelly fish. The beef is quite salty but also the flavor quite delicious

Sweet and sour deep fried pork: delicious. One of the best dishes. This is not my normal go to dish but they did an amazing job here. It's served when pineapples and lychee

Drunken chicken with xo: this was meh for me. My mother told them to make it less spicy. Don't do it. There was barely any xo flavor

Deep fried turnip cake: delicious, but not what I expected. Normally it's pan fried and i prefer that. This was a bit too oily

Pro tip: the medium bowl of congee is still very large.

Other pro tip: You need to bring someone who can read Chinese. There didn't seem to be one in English.

Parking is available in a large lot but shared with...

We came on a Saturday and there were a lot of people waiting. We waited around 15-20 minutes for a table. As turnover is so fast they don't have enough time to clean the tables. It feels a bit sticky inside

We ordered fish and peanuts congee ($9.50), fish maw and sea slug congee ($13.95), salty chinese Donut ($3.95), wonton ($12.95), crispy fish lo me (13.80) and sweet chinese Donut (3.95)

The fish and peanut congee had lots of peanut inside. One bowl is around 4 small bowls of congee. Lots of ingredients inside. Their congee is very smooth and the rice grains have almost disappeared.

The salty chinese Donut and the sweet chinese Donut are both either over fried or the oil is old. Both of these were too dark. The salty chinese Donut was crispy but didn't taste fresh. Would not get these again

The other fish maw congee we got did not actually have fish maw in it. It was actually fish stomach. But it was still not bad

The highlight here is ALWAYS the fried shrimp wonton. They have the best fried wonton. They are fried perfectly crispy and fresh the shrimp is just cooked and super crunchy. Perfectly seasoned and that sweet and sour sauce they provide gives it that perfect sweetness. If I could I would come here and just order this one dish.

The lo men was meh. Very dry (i know its a dry noodle but still too dry). Noodle wasn't chewy enough. The flavour wasn't what I was looking for (if you know what I mean). It was lacking that extra something something. Wouldn't recommend

Overall service was non existent. Only one lady could take orders it seems. Food came out super fast and super hot. Definitely get the fried wonton. Skip the deep fried donuts....