Dynasty Seafood Restaurant

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

The Dynasty Seafood Restaurant is a Cantonese restaurant that is hidden in a commercial high-rise building on West Broadway. The restaurant has the majority of its windows facing North, and the slope between West Broadway and 4th Avenue created the height difference for patrons to enjoy the view of the false creek into downtown. Ever since the closure of City Square’s Kirin Restaurant, Dynasty Seafood Restaurant has become very busy.

Strength: Unbeatable view of False Creek, Downtown and the mountain.
Weakness: Hard to find parking

Other Dim Sum Restaurants

Lee Garden Seafood Restaurant (3.5 Stars)
Grand Dynasty Seafood Restaurant (3 Stars)

Entrance from West Broadway

Unlike most of the Cantonese dim sum places having a big and grand storefront, Dynasty Seafood Restaurant is tucked behind the lobby of a high-rise building. Even though the restaurant placed a sandwich board sign in front to guide customers in, it still loses some credibility for the lack of storefront.

Internal Entrance in the lobby

The internal lobby acts as a buffer for customers waiting to get a seat. This portion of the building is protected from the weather outside. The entrance is accented with wood patterned veneer so they stand out. We can see the array of awards on the side of the entrance. The logo is not very impressive. It’s simply red Chinese calligraphy typography with the word “Dynasty” below in similar color to the background.

Internal Decor

We see a grand space with a high ceiling when we enter. The majority of the windows face North to showcase the view of the mountain. There are chandeliers in between columns. The entire restaurant has a gray tone which is quite neutral and not distracting at all.

Table Setup And Tea Pots

For table setup, we get the generic white porcelain tableware. Like most of the good Cantonese dim sum places, we got two teapots for both tea and hot water. The staff is quick about refilling the hot water once they noticed the flipped cap. We came with a group of friends and received two colors of chopsticks. The black ones are used as communal chopsticks.

Stir-Fried Rice Rolls With Bean Sprouts

Dynasty Seafood Restaurant Stir-Fry Rice roll

Dynasty Seafood Restaurant stir-fry rice roll sauce

Cantonese usually order a carb dish to go with dim sum because carb dish are usually cheaper and can fill you up. Our choice of the day is the stir-fried rice roll. The rice rolls are pre-fried individually before stir-fried. This dish comes with hoisin sauce and diluted sesame sauce to enhance the flavour. Pre-fried rice roll has a charred exterior which gives a wonderful caramelized flavour.

Deep-Fried Squid Tentacles

Dynasty Seafood Restaurant deep-fried squid

The deep-fried squid tentacles seems a bit rough. Each piece includes 2 connected squid tentacles but the texture was quite tough to chew. The exterior batter is also just average. This dish is mediocre.

Deep-Fried Spring Rolls

Dynasty Seafood Restaurant shrimp spring roll

Shrimp spring rolls come in 4 per plate. It has a crispy exterior and a somewhat crunchy shrimp inside. They are acceptable, but nothing really special. Compared to the Grand Dynasty Seafood Restaurant in Burnaby, the ones served here lacks flavour.

Shrimp and Mushroom Dumplings

Dynasty Seafood Restaurant shrimp dumpling

Dynasty Seafood Restaurant mushroom dumplings

The dumplings here come in a quantity of 4 per steamer. The skin is sticky and strong. If you are careful at picking it up, they don’t usually break. I enjoyed the large shrimp dumpling filling. It’s a very satisfying feeling to bite into them. The mushroom dumplings have an interesting shape, but the flavour is a little lacking. I can taste a hint of truffle, but it felt very artificial.

Sticky Rice Wrapped with Lotus Leaf

Dynasty Seafood Restaurant sticky rice in lotus leaf

I enjoyed the sticky rice in lotus leaf. This is another carb dish, but the sticky rice has absorbed a lot of the flavour from the leaf. On the interior, the salted egg yolk, pork, and sausage are notable. Everything in this classic dish compliments each other.

Salted Egg Yolk Coated Deep-Fried Chicken Wings with Pumpkins

Dynasty Seafood Restaurant salted egg chicken wings

I think this dish is very interesting because I have not seen this anywhere else. The technique of using salted egg yolk sauce on bite-sized finger food is not a new trick, but it’s nice to see new applications of them. It’s basically fried chicken wings with pumpkin pieces tossed in salted egg yolk sauce. I enjoyed the texture of the slightly under-cooked pumpkins to have a some textures retained. The chicken wings are slightly small and stayed in the deep-frier a little too long to be a little too dry on the outside. I see much potential for this dish, but I think the flavour is a little too salty for now.

Deep-Fried Yam Balls Desserts

We also ordered this interesting looking yam balls. These deep-fried purple yam balls have the most interesting plating among all the dishes we have ordered. I thought the interior would be yellow yam, but it’s actually custards. This dish has good balanced sweetness and grease, perfect for the finale dim sum dish.

604 Food Critic Assessment

Dynasty Seafood Restaurant may not look like much from the exterior and that’s because they have focused their location on the Northside of the building to give customers that Northshore views through downtown. The food is between average to above average, not top-notch. I like how the servers seem to take every customer seriously even when they are busy. If you go with a medium-sized group who are cost-conscious, you can typically control the spending to about $13-$15 per person. Otherwise, this place costs typically around $20 per person. I think Dynasty Seafood Restaurant is just average, but it seems to be the best choice for a dim sum lunch around the area.