House of Dawn Steakhouse — Restaurant in Richmond

I have been meaning to make this review since my visit last month- the 2nd day they opened on Nov. 5. I know i want to find time to make a proper thorough review because to this day, it has made a lasting impression! Now that it's Christmas Day, if they were opened, it would be the place I would choose to celebrate any special occasions! Honestly, i wish we had the birthday celebration on the day they opened. However, we had thought it would be ultra busy, so settled for the next day. The moment I stepped into the restaurant, I was wowed by the beautiful interior. It was like entering into a completely different world! Who would have guessed from the exterior that such a beautiful, elegant world awaits! We sat down and didn't know what choice to make because the menu was so diverse and everything seemed so palatable and yet that day we were not super hungry. Luckily, our super experienced waitress Brenda really helped us with our choices. You know a restaurant has standards when they spend the time to ensure their staff knows the menu! We basically told her what we wanted and she was spot on with every suggestion. Also, Brenda was very skilled with the way she hosted- she truly mastered the art of this. Throughout dinner, it felt as though we were being hosted by a family friend. Not a second did we feel like it was too much- she cued in check-ins just the right time to ensure we didn't need anything. We really felt welcomed and taken care of but definitely not in an overboard way if you know what I mean...some fine dining places do that and it can diminish the experience. Just to clarify again, it is NOT like that at all at the House of Dawn! Also, they really spoiled the birthday person! They spoiled them with a treat of semi-dry sparkling wine- delicious btw- and a lovely dessert- tea infused panna cotta that's decadently light. It melts in your mouth as the bergamot flavour manifests itself the moment you swallow- dancing with the sweet, gentle floral scent of the osmanthasus syrup. It really is a dessert worth coming back for! To this day, I still remember how tastefully beautiful the whole experience was!- Not to mention it was very visually & aesthetically pleasing- a feast for the eyes for sure! Also, the salad did tease our hunger. It was light and refreshing and really hit the spot for us who were not feeling very hungry. We were eager to discover the flavour adventures that the next dish would hold for us. The sablefish entree, though slightly on the salty side, was done well overall. The Umami flavour comes through along with the silky smooth texture of the fish. The texture melds beautifully with the omega fattiness of the sablefish! The brocollini was seasoned with some garlic- retaining the Asian fusion vibe of this dish along with the dashi broth. It was really fun being able to decide on how much broth to pour in to complement the dish! Finally the Szechwan chicken wrap and pork belly buns were very satisfying! The flavours worked and complemented each other- the Szechwan fried chicken worked in Western and Asian flavours with the sweet and sour sauce and a lovely kick of spiciness from the savoury Szechwan peppers; the pork belly bun explored Asian flavours in a few ways- Chinese bao; Taiwanese stewed pork- SUPER tender- well marinated and it jived well with Vietnamese pickled veggies and cilantro- just to remind you that it's no ordinary meat bun. It was really delightful and fun to experience these mix of Asian flavours in a few bites it was also really fun in that you can wrap the chicken or not- or wrap it with sauce or without sauce. You get to creatively "play" around with how you want to enjoy it and the same goes for the pork belly bun. Recall we were not hungry when we first started our dinner, but the flavours were so fun that it keeps you on your toes wanting to try another one. Overall, I would recommend trying this restaurant and I am really happy that we have an additional culinary gem...

Richmond lacks a really great steakhouse, so I was excited and curious to see one open in central Richmond. I checked their site and socials and saw their head Chef had some pretty great accolades, so I gave this place a shot.

This restaurant has potential to be a top steakhouse, but there are just some items that need to be worked on and changed.

I mentioned the following to our server, and I'm sure he's going to pass it back to management.

1. We ordered brussel sprouts as an appetizer and it came a bit overly fried. There was basically no green left in the sprouts. Taste wise it was good, but maybe it could've used a lemon wedge to cut the greasiness. Also no large spoon or tongs were provided, which made it awkward to share.

2. My wife's appetizer was the steak tartare from the set menu. To my surprise, no spoon or fork was provided to mix up the tartare (which is also a service sometimes done by the servers), so we had to use the her dining fork and knife to mix it up. House fried chips were a bit too oily, chips were bubbled to the max. (pictured)

3. Mains: 20oz ribeye and California cut striploin from the set menu. To my surprise the ribeye came presliced about 2cm wide. Usually steakhouses don't preslice a ribeye or any steaks, unless it's a steak sandwich. Most diners would usually separate the ribeye cap from the eye before slicing. Maybe some Chinese clientele asked for this but it definitely isn't the norm. It was also a bit weird to see finely chopped chives as a garnish, since it's not quite traditional and didn't add much to the flavour when a ribeye is already so rich. I will give props to the chef for getting the doneness perfect at medium rare, with minimal grey banding around the steak even towards the end, so props to that! My ribeye had a nice crust and had a nice smokey taste without being overpowering. I didn't see any criss cross grill marks, so I'm assuming it was done in a salamander or similar high temp commercial IR broiler. Wife's California cut striploin didn't mention weight on the menu, but I would guess it was 4oz. The mashed potato portion was huge. Maybe the striploin fat could've been rendered down a bit more, and perhaps mash off centered on the side of the plate to make cutting the steak easier. Again, even this small portion of steak came presliced (which I can forgive)

4. Cutting the ribeye slices was hard when the plate was sliding around on the glossy tabletop. I'd recommend placemats or a clean white tablecloth to make it easier to portion the steak.

5. When serving the steaks and asking if we'd like freshly ground pepper, the server should have the pepper mill ready to grind or nearby at a neighbouring tabletop. We waited what felt like 2+ minutes for the server to go back to the kitchen and grab the pepper grinder.

6. Paper napkins with the Chinese company name just felt weird / awkward. Steakhouses always provide cloth napkins. If the restaurant wants to identify as a steakhouse, then it can't really have Chinese name on it or it'll just blend into every other Chinese restaurant in Richmond.

7. Truffle fries portion was very small. Could be crispier / fluffier tasting with some added flakey salt. Weird seeing ketchup served with the aioli. Cactus makes better truffle fries and they load the top with parm.

8. Crème brûlée was done very well. Thin, crispy sugar layer with a classic vanilla custard. Not too sweet, good portion. Too many restaurants make it either too thick, or a wet melted sugar layer.

P.S. Focaccia needs to be a bit more moist. It was served a bit dry and dense. I presume the hydration ratio was a bit low, as I usually aim for 80% hydration when making focaccia.

Overall the steak quality and grilling techniques are there, management just needs to iron out some minor things and maybe bring a burger back...

Rating: 3.5

I want to preface this review by saying that the food was fantastic. Our steaks were cooked to perfection and the flavour was amazing. The appetizers were also great and we really enjoyed the honey and jasmine whipped butter that came with our bread. Full kudos to the kitchen.

That being said though, we came in for my husband's birthday dinner tonight. On the reservation I indicated it was for a birthday celebration and I received an email from the restaurant after booking that they had a celebratory welcome drink waiting for us. I'm not sure who sent the message, but when we arrived, there was no mention of a drink, not even a question asked about whether we were celebrating anything. I'm not one to beg for complimentary items from restaurants, but that email raised my expectations only to leave disappointment behind.

The restaurant also had a few things out of stock. Of the 3 drinks we inquired about, 2 were unavailable which usually isn't a big deal, but one of them was Asahi so that was a bit unexpected. They also didn't have Jasmine ice cream, which usually wouldn't be an issue but there were only 3 choices for dessert to begin with so that honestly didn't leave us with much choice at all. The steaks also came precut which was a bit odd in my opinion as I've never seen that done for regularly sized steaks before. I'd have preferred to have cut my own steak to be honest since I ended up having to break it down further anyway. We also would've liked if the steak didn't come in a giant pool of potato purée. The purée was delicious, don't get me wrong, but we were trying to taste the flavours of the chocolate/butter dry age and it was getting drowned out by the purée.

My last point of contention was the staff chatter. I usually don't mind it, but when I'm at an 'upscale' restaurant, this isn't something I'm expecting to hear. I could hear the staff chatting about random things and at one point possibly about a customer? I hope they realize that the wall separating the dining area and kitchen has no sound dampening whatsoever - the customers can hear everything. As we were leaving the bartender was on his phone, like not even trying to be lowkey about it. They said bye though, which was nice.

Look, are some of these nitpicks? Yes, absolutely. But if I'm going to be paying premium prices I'm going to expect premium service, which to me fell short tonight.

TL;DR: Great food,...