Chopstick’s

One of the hundreds of chinese restaurants in Richmond, BC… does anything set it apart? (sorry, for you technical people, this is a taiwanese place)
Not particularly. I mean the food was alright, portions aren’t that big, and service was reaaaallllyyyy lacking the night I went. The interior design tries to be really sleek and chic, but just doesn’t quite look all that nice. The restaurant is kinda small and has like 3 large round tables and about 10 smaller ones. Lets just say that those 3 tables stayed empty the whole night, even as people were waiting for a table… =/​i won’t tell people how to run their restaurant, but common, open tables and people waiting? if you’re a big fancy restaurant, sure. but it looks more like their were hurting for business. They didn’t even have enough employees in the place.
Speaking of that, there were ONLY 2 waitresses/​hostesses for the whole restaurant. They were hauling ass, to get stuff done, and I applaud them for it, but it’s really the management’s fault for allowing that to happen. Service was not very good.
Food… ah the most important factor. Some dishes were good, others were very forgettable. I wouldn’t say you’d be missing anything if you didn’t come here…
All in all, not the best experience I’ve had. If you’re looking for a new place to try though and pass by this place, you might want to give it a second thought first.

I was actually surprised that this place has an English name, because nowhere on its actual establishment does it show an English name. In fact, you will see only two Chinese characters «kuai zi» (meaning chopsticks) and then «Taiwanese Cuisine» in small letters.
I actually wouldn’t say this place is genuinely Taiwanese cuisine, mostly because the menu items were half made up of Shanghai-​nese cuisine. And when it comes to English spelling mistakes in Chinese menus for a restaurant in Canada, I can be very unforgiving — Let’s just say there were many. But at least there weren’t any items on the menu that said «squid tent» or «cow boy bones». For the record, there were some things that were incorrectly translated, like «boil chicken». Why not just do the direct Chinese-​English translation and say «run ground chicken»? Those of you that know your Chinese out there, you know which dish I’m talking about here eh?
We ordered the Seafood Tofu, Beef Wrap, Deep Fried Bun and the Sour/​Spicy Crispy Rice. All of them were tasty, but for that price I am not that prone to come back here, simply because there are so many other just as tasty or tastier places in Richmond I can go to for the same or lesser price.
Service was horrible. Even with only 4 tables to serve, the 2 servers took more than 20 minutes to get to our table and take our order down. What really caused my party to not want to tip was the girl that brought out our orders. She looked like a grouch and every time she served a dish to our table, she literally plunked it down without saying anything. Even in Asia-​land where all Asian servers usually do not provide good customer service, this was just downright bad. What a waste of nice interior décor!
All in all, mediocre food I can get elsewhere with a better Asian server.

Things to eat here:
— Chili Eggplants
— 3 cup chicken
— Blood cube stew, if you like that sort of thing (I do not but some of my friends looovveee it)
— Chicken jellyfish salad
— Hot and sour soup
Service is meh but come on it’s a Chinese restaurant geared towards people between the ages of 18 and 26, and if you go in a group you’re spending about $ 10 per person, what do you really want??? If you want really good service in a Chinese restaurant go to Kirin.
Get nice and fat feeling then head over to Pearl Castle for MSG chicken and drinks with entertaining names :)

* English? *
I visited Asia today — without a plane. But I sadly forgot to bring a dictionary!
I tried to go and sample G-men’s ramen but the line was too long and I was hungry so I wandered into this spot a few doors down which I later found out is called Vogue.
The sign outside was just written in Chinese and then in small letters said «Taiwanese Cuisine.» So I didn’t know what the name of the restaurant was until I got my bill after the meal but figured it served Taiwanese food at least. Call me Sherlock Holmes for figuring that out from the sign outside. It was crowded so I figured I’d give it a shot.
First impression: The place had a modern feel similar to what you find in trendy restaurants in Asia nowadays — particularly places that target young professionals.
Even though it was crowded I was quickly seated and given two menus which were written in Chinese with some English as well.
But some key things were not translated like:
— «Lunch specials» — figured that out as they looked like some sort of combination choice priced very reasonably and I saw a lot of other tables had different combos.
— The two types of combos. All I could tell was one let you pick something from section A and something from section B for $ 9.50 and the other combo for $ 7.95 seems to let you pick something from section B and then gives you 3 side dishes with it.
Questions to the waitress didn’t go very far in English. She was very friendly and smiled a lot. But let’s just say English was not her strong point. I didn’t hear any customers speaking English either, so that probably isn’t too much of an issue.
I ordered the A+B lunch special and selected the miso seafood hot pot for my «A» and crispy chicken for my «B».
A very large hot pot arrived over a burning candle to keep it warm. It had a ton of very fresh seafood in a very rich broth. There were 2 very large fresh shrimp (heads and all) on top. The shrimp were excellent. Inside the bubbling cauldron there was squid (which was miraculously not overcooked at all), fish cakes, fish sausage, some other type of mystery sausage, small scallops (also not overcooked at all miraculously), and a generous amount of Chinese cabbage. There was a dipping sauce provided which I do not know the exact ingredients of but my guess is chili oil and black beans.
There was also a very large plate of Taiwanese style chicken nuggets that were perfectly fried with basil leaves that were also fried. The chicken was well marinated and very tender. The crispy basil leaves added a nice flavour punch. The chicken was not oversalted and was very juicy.
A bowl of rice came on the side that was decorated with a few sesame seeds.
Overall a nice quick lunch with very generous portions. It was very filling. I normally eat a lot, but I couldn’t finish the hot pot soup. I was too full.
So I took a trip to Asia for only $ 9.50. Not bad for a day’s travels!
Next time I’ll try to drag someone along that can read Chinese to fully decipher the menu offerings. I’m sure there are several interesting things hiding in there!

The elegant décor is modernly simple and geared towards a more Westernized clientele. Despite the Westernized atmosphere, the service was horrible and the staff of young waitresses did not speak English. We waited for about an hour before one of them pulled herself away from an engrossing conversation at the front desk. We finally ordered a plate of Shanghai noodles and a business combo with black pepper beef. The Shanghai noodles were thin glass noodles that a college student could have easily made at home. The black pepper beef combo wasn’t mouthwatering delicious, but it was worth the price. The business combo is Vogue’s version of a bento box with kimchi and two more side dishes. It also came with sweet tea. It was enough to fill a person and more. But the boyfriend and I would not come back if we were starving. We would starve to death before they remembered we were there. Don’t let the recommendation on the door by Tourism Richmond fool you.