Jubilee Restaurant, Richmond

BR and I often like to start off our weekend with Dim Sum or a simple meal out.  We have been looking for a good, not too fussy or fancy  dim sum place.  You know what I mean?  A simple go to place, not too expensive, decent parking, and not too cramped that serves decent food.  That's not asking a lot, is it?

We used to go to Gala quite a bit, then it started to really deteriorate.  We noticed that they had recently closed and underwent a renovation.  We actually stopped and talked to them during the renovation time.  They were hoping to re-open in just a few days.


Sure enough, a few days later we went back and they were opened under a different name. We had high hopes that this could be our new go to place.

We noticed that many of the staff are the same from Gala, with exception to the Captains and the Managers.  I am not sure how long they had been opened, but I think it was the first Saturday they were in business as Jubilee.

We thought it was odd that we were seated in the private room at the back of the restaurant.  The main part of the large dining room had several empty tables....  We walked past all of them and were lead to the newly partitioned back room.

Anyways, we were seated and looked over the menu.  Typical offerings and typical pricing.  We were hopeful!  I did notice that the service was a bit....only way to describe is "anxious".  Many of the people worked in this exact location under a previous name, but they all seemed a bit frazzled and off.....first day jitters????

We ordered and when they brought the menu slip to the table, I realized that a lot of our order was incorrect.  I spoke with the captain and we sorted it out......problem is their order sheet is quite badly aligned.  The English is quite offset from the corresponding boxes.  So with my lack of Chinese reading ability and the poorly laid out menu....we were going to get an interesting selection of tendons and tripe.

It would have been all fine with me, but BR would have had an issue.  Anyways after a discussion with the Captain, our correct order got placed.  He wasn't too happy...but then neither were we.  I have ordered a lot of dim sum over the years.....this was the first time that we had issues.  I might have been a bit off this day, but the Captain was not really accommodating.....except in the end we did get the correct order.  Service with an attitude.......I don't care for this!

Next we poured tea and I couldn't get over the mess under our teapot when we lifted it.  It looked like it hadn't been washed.  OK nevermind, it's boiled and we won't die.

This was not looking too good.......next our waiter appeared in the private room and sneezed all over his hands.  Yup this happens.  He'll go wash his hands.......nope.  He promptly came around and filled our teapot and handled dishes and served food, without missing a beat.

OK...we might be a bit overly fussy about this, but it is kind of gross and definitely not a good health practice.

Onto the food.

Deep Fried Rice Dumpling $3.25

We didn't order this, but while we were waiting for our order to arrive, they brought this around on a tray.  Usually this means it would be nice and fresh, so we gave it a try.  It had a nice flavor and the texture of the dough was good...except it was cold and no longer crispy!

Shrimp Dumpling - $3.75

These were quite large and the skins were a nice txture.  Just the right amount of chew.  They had lots of big pieces of shrimp...the unfortunate part was the big pieces of shrimp were also loaded with shrimp poo.

Gross!!

Sui Mai $3.25

Nice big Sui Mai, BR was really looking forward to these.  He thought they were OK.  I didn't like the texture.  The meat was definetley not hand chopped, and they had a very springy texture....almost like a cuttle fish ball.  To me, this is all wrong for Sui Mai.  Taste wise, it was overpowered by shitake mushroom for my taste.

It's not sounding too good so far, eh.....

We had tried the Chan's Village Noodle recently at Rainflower and wanted to see what it was like at Jubilee.

Noodle with Sparerib $5.50

We enjoyed this dish.  The noodles had a very nice texture, not too mushy and the spareribs were very nicely seasoned for our taste.  They had a nice garlic flavor with a little bit of black bean and fresh red and green hot chilis.  They also served a side dish of sweetish soy sauce with this dish, which was quite tasty on the noodles.

Satay Sauce Baby Octopus - $3.25

Normally we really enjoy satay sauce and BR doesn't mind it on squid and octopus.  We did not enjoy this dish at all.  The satay was really quite flavorless..the worst part was the octopus.  I know these are usually frozen...no big deal, but they need to be rinsed off before cooking.  The insides of these gushed out yucky fishy tasting freezer water......it was really bad.  We left the whole plate.

In fact we left a lot of the food untouched.  (This is not normal for us!!)

So would we come back......maybe after a while.  Let's see what the reviews are like after they have been open for a while longer.  It may well be, we just got off to a bad start........

We noticed a mistake on our bill, but didn't want to bother to have it corrected......we were done, we needed to leave!

If you have a go to place for Dim Sum in Richmond, please share!