Lee Garden is one of the biggest Cantonese Dim Sum places in Burnaby. When I say “biggest”, I am referring to the physical space this restaurant takes up. Reputation wise, Lee Garden occupies the space that used to be the largest Asian buffet in Burnaby, so it’s a little hard to notice them. Lee Garden is located right across from Myst Asian Fusion on Kingsway near Gilley Avenue in Burnaby.
Strength: Superb service, large space
Weakness: Rear only entrance, Worn table cloth.
Other Dim Sum Places
- Kirin Seafood Restaurant (4.5 Stars)
- Grand Dynasty Seafood Restaurant (3 Stars)
The only entrance is at the rear
It is quite disproportionate for a restaurant with a grand open interior space to have such a stingy entrance through the rear parking lot as the sole entrance. There are only about 20 parking spaces here, and it’s definitely not enough to support the amount of customers that could come in here at the same time.
Foyer with a spacious waiting area
The foyer has nice details and spacious waiting area off to the side. You can see some tables and the windows on the other side. Dark colored wood panelings set the tone and made the space feel cooler.
Grand interior space
Looking from one end towards the other, I cannot see the side due to the turn. This large space host more than 300 seats. The high ceiling with chandelier give this place a classy environment.
Plain white porcelain tableware
The tableware looks generic at Lee Garden. Everything is plain white, and I’m fine with that. It’s easier to see dirty spots like this, and they look clean.
Our waitress have very good service in cutting the food. They are energetic and always come with a smile, a upright posture, and a slight nod.
Two tea pots
Like most of the Dim Sum places, Lee Garden also gave us 2 tea pots to refill and water and buffer service time.
Tablecloth was a bit worn and dirty
I could see some broken threads and previous tableware marks on the cloth. Many of the other tables have similar issues. They probably haven’t got to changing these yet. With the extravagant interior finishes and grand space, it is a little disappointing to see these essential items not taken care of.
1.5 hour maximum stay
There is a maximum 1.5 hour stay for dine in customers during busy hour. This note is probably only here as a precaution. I think it’s very hard to fill this large dining area.
Lee Garden Special Prawn Dumplings
The prawn dumplings come in a set of 4 like standard. It came steamy hot that fogs my camera lens. The skin is milky white with no off-white hue. These dumplings are quite large.
Lots of prawns in the dumplings
The interior of these dumplings are filled with large crispy prawns. Exterior s has good chewy texture.
Steamed Chicken Feet in house special sauce
These steamed chicken feet are very soft. They fully absorbed the down to the cartilage. Each joint would break apart from simply pulling on them. Not much chewing is required. The palm portion is very meaty with lots of collagen. If you can accept eating chicken feet, this is a great dish to have.
Fried shrimp spring rolls with garlic
Our spring rolls have a very crispy exterior shell. Falling skins are almost a given for each bite. The staff helped us cut them in half so it’s quite easy to eat. There subtle sauteed garlic taste to these spring rolls, which I really enjoyed.
Baked BBQ Pork pastries with sweet ginger
This dish is a little more sweet than savory. It has some ginger bits to provide an underlying ginger taste. It’s best to have water or tea available at a drinkable temperature before eating this because the starch of the puff pastry exterior can be very dry.
The interior is a but hollow from baking, but these meat provide enough to balance the dough outside. As you can see the puff pastry exterior is very flaky.
Steamed rice roll with crispy fish meat
This Steamed rice roll with crispy fish paste is one of the most expensive dish we have ordered during our visit. It came with a small bowl of sweet soy sauce to pour over. On the side, there is a dish with hoisin sauce and sesame sauce for dipping.
Rice roll exterior was sturdy and the deep-fried fish paste provided some of the crispy texture. Then, the internal fish paste makes it a little chewy to make this dish very satisfying to bite into. These fish paste rice rolls are cut to very different lengths to indicate they are made quite roughly.
Osmanthus Pudding
We ordered the osmanthus pudding as dessert. These dessert are not very sweet. The Jelly texture crumbles to the bite which made them very refreshing after an oily meal.
Looking closer, you can see the osmanthus floating within the jelly. You can also see some of the lychee pieces in them. Each piece of these puddings cut into decent sizes. It’s a good finale to a dimsum meal.
604 Food Critic Assessment
Lee Garden Seafood Restaurant is one of the more notable Cantonese seafood restaurants in Burnaby. Their biggest advantage is their large interior space able to accommodate many guests. It would be better for them to have a proper entrance and a larger parking space that is not shared with other restaurants. For $25 per person, they are quite expensive. The food tastes above average, but I did feel a little thirsty afterward. The best part of this restaurant is the superb service from one of the female managers. I would recommend this restaurant if they can replace the ragged tablecloth.
Menu
This is a new version of their menu. It’s colored with a better layout.
How to get in touch
- Phone: (604) 428-8885
- Address: 6401 Kingsway, Burnaby
- Hours: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm, Reopen 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm
