James on Hastings - Vancouver, British Columbia

Visiting Vancouver from NYC and we booked an Airbnb nearby and was on the hunt for some Chinese food open late. We picked this place on a whim after looking around online and seeing what was close. It's a small family style restaurant and pretty busy (being Saturday ... night) but we luckily got a table right away. The food portions are rather generous and very tasty. We had enough to take back as left overs. The next night we went out to another Cantonese restaurant and was pretty disappointed in both the service and food quality. So the following night we decided to come back to James place and it once again held up. Dishes tasted better than the Cantonese food in NYC for sure. We showed up pretty late so after the other tables left, we were the only ones left and James, the owner, was rather personable chatting with us and gave us complimentary milk tea after my Uncle had mentioned he had been really looking for some good Hong Kong styled milk tea. He took the time to even sit in with us and take a picture, joking that he'd put our picture on the wall. (The walls are covered with the dishes you can order as well as celebrities that have dined in the establishment over the years). Overall, it was a great restaurant that is really flexible with how you want your dishes prepared, like style, vegetables, type of noodle and mix and matching things not on the set menu for additional prices. The lobster and crab over noodles was tasty, as well as their salt and pepper pork chops, Peking pork chop, and free range soy sauce chicken. I definitely would definitely recommend this place for Cantonese food if you're nearby in the Vancouver area. Read more

I left this place feeling confused. While I was offended by their service, their food was good enough that it almost compensated their horrible service. Almost. So it wasn't enough. Therefore I wouldn't recommend this place or be coming back. We made reservations a week ago for 8 people at a ... specific time with specific dishes. Due to their popularity, we felt like reserving a king crab and a Peking duck is necessary. And a phone call was placed a day before to confirm all the details. However, when we arrived just 3 min before reservation time, they told us no table but almost almost. We understand that for busy Asian restaurants, sometimes it's hard to provide a table right on time. We told the waitress that we'll wait outside instead of having 8 people crowding their front door. She agreed and said almost almost, and I'll come get you. 60mintues later, we're still in the cold waiting outside. I'm unsure how and why this happened, with advanced noticed and confirmation. Either way, we were cold and hungry. During that last 30min of waiting, we repeatedly head inside at 10min interval to remind the waitress that were still waiting outside, in the cold. Eventually we were seated in a very crowded space. That means whenever one of us needed to stand up, we would have to ask the table behind us to provide some space. If you have clusterphobia, avoid this place. The waitress informed us that because we were kept waiting outside, the drinks are on them today. How nice, but a drink doesn't justify an hour of wait with reservation. Still, I appreciate the mild gesture. Then the owner came to show us, a group of 8, the king crab he saved for us, oh let me correct that, the sad king crab that is left. It was small, missing a leg, and not looking very fresh. Usually restaurants like these will let you choose another crab if you don't like it. But the owner said this is the last one. What happened to reserving a good king crab? With a week advanced notice....? Didn't we call twice to confirm? I am fairly upset by this point. You can only be so careless, especially in the service industry. The one thing that brought this restaurant to a 2 star is their food. Their sauce is not overpowering yet flavourful. This compliments the main ingredients nicely, whether it was beef or shrimp. Peking Duck was a bit dry, lack flavor. King crab was steamed with light seasoning. While it was hilariously tiny, the taste was good. Conclusion: I couldn't recommend this place for their lack of care and sincerity but if you don't mind waiting 1 hour or more to have good food in a very cramped space, this might be the place for you. Come here for regular dishes, not king crab. For a $100 meal/per person, I suppose I expected more. Read more

Ya! James again! Nice place for dinner with family. Amazing king carbs dinner! They give the delicious transitional Chinese soup and dessert with the combos. Full of Hong Kong Style places. Highly recommend their spicy salty deep fried ❤️

Great dinner/ late night Chinese with wide range of menu selection! They have dim sum, dinner combo, da lang, spaghetti, hot pot, king crab, and so on and on. Foods all taste good and James, the owner is friendly and helpful. My favorites are da lang dishes as I tend to ... go there late. Their curry beef brisket is a must try! Read more

Generous portions of food. James (the owner) also gave us two free dishes to celebrate a birthday. Parking lot is a bit small, but free street parking available. Great service. Food taste good overall.