When service determines the outcome of a meal. I’ve had many disagreements regarding this topic, but I truly believe that when you dine out at a restaurant it is not just about the food; you are not only paying for the quality of your meal, but the price your are considering covers the service that brings it to you as well.
My family wanted to get together for a nice meal and looked to me for suggestions, given what I do (write and review food), this makes sense. However, truth be told, I actually dislike being the one to choose a place to eat. I don’t like having the pressure to accommodate everyone. And if I choose incorrectly, or the if food is not up to snuff, I will hear about it, all throughout dinner. (But I guess that is where I get my opinionated-ness from.) Thus being made to feel bad for the wrong choice.
But I digress, my pick ended up being Marina One in Richmond, a new seafood forward Chinese restaurant. Basically I saw the fun panda buns on their social media and decided to recommend it to my family the next time they wanted dim sum.
Walking in the space was fantastic. The decor is really original from that of any other Chinese restaurant. It was stylized very modern with a freshness from the nautical theme. Shades of blue scales lined the wall and were etched in gold. Green upholstered seats sat on a gold frame. And acrylic crescents dangled from the ceiling mimicking drops of water and the way it dances. The only thing that threw off the room was the giant wall-sized television screen playing videos that depicted many actors crying.
The most memorable was the dishware in a handsome navy porcelain. All this got me excited for things to come. However, the service did not measure up and the experience literally left my family fighting amongst ourselves.
There is only one menu to a table, laminated and bound with ring loops. Chinese only at the front, all English at the back. I asked for more menus, but were told they don’t have any more. I suggested one from the other tables that were already dining, but once again was told there were no more. I honestly believe that had just this one menu for the whole restaurant. We were further given the explanation that Marina One is in their soft launch period, meaning still working out the kinks; and probably have only printed this one menu to save on costs.
However, when I asked when they first opened, no one could give me a specific date. With a little sleuthing I believe it was the start of May, and we were now towards the end. Although the menu drama could be a language barrier issue, as most of the servers only knew Cantonese and basic English, with one only knowing mandarin. The staff also weren’t familiar with the menu. They had to see the item listed on it to be able to take our order. We were referencing the English version, but they had to see it in Chinese.
Here fight no.1 broke out between my mother, my father, and myself. With only one menu, no one wanted to take the responsibility of othering. I was not my paying and the prices were on the steeper side, so I didn’t want to take on the responsibility. My mother didn’t want to come to the restaurant in the first place due to distance and pricing so didn’t want to choose either. And my dad always tries to accommodate everyone so didn’t want to bear the responsibility of having to choose what he would hope everyone liked.
Having learned this from a previous dim sum meal, when we called ahead to make our reservation, we also placed a preorder of two dishes we wanted, to ensure it would be available for us when we visited. This was after asking if there is anything that we need to order 24 hours in advance, and having the employee on the other line not understand what we meant.
Originally, we were told there was no note for our preorder by one of the managers (one of two in a full suit, where the other servers were dress all in their casual workout blacks). They would later find the note, but did not think to put in the preorder. Here argument no.2 between my mother and myself broke. She trying to understand why the order was not immediately put in when we sat down, especially as we learned one the items would take 45 minutes to prepare. And me trying to stop her after realizing that the staff don’t know what preorders are and this was like most Chinese restaurants, service is not at the forefront and they cannot be bothered to learn.
Either way we eventually got the “preordered” 45 minute wait, Super sized curry seafood bun. It is served as a giant baked bun that gets cut and divided table side. This reveals a layer of tinfoil separating baked dough from saucy curry. The filling a tasty stew with mussels, baby octopus, shrimp, squid, and potato; but hardly enough to enjoy with all the bun bread you also get. The curry is great on its own, and interesting in this application. Although it was difficult to eat, much like soup in a bread bowl, and when you have to remove meat from shells. As much as we enjoyed the pageantry and the taste, you are definitely paying for the craftsmanship and presentation of this one.
Similarly, we saw another table get a whole fish served with a carving of a carrot phoenix atop of a raw radish pagoda. Non edible, but it certainly dressed up the whole steamed tilapia for $35. I was amazed in seeing this, whereas my parents declared that I have not been on enough cruises, because they are a common sight there.
The other item we came here for was the Panda buns filled with salted egg yolk. These stood out from the others I have seen and tried in the rainbow coloured ring that rounded their faces. Be warned the filling is extra runny and the dough thin. In removing the edible wax paper base, a hole tore through my bun and all the fill pooled out. I have never had the filling so watery, and the bun wasn’t even hot anymore. Taste-wise it was as expected. This was another one for the novelty.
My recommendation would be the Pork liver rice rolls. I grew up eating liver prepared like this, so enjoy its unique iron-y flavour and slightly gritty texture. Here, the meat’s tenderness well matched the slurp-able rice roll wrap. Both came together with the sweet soy sauce.
The Sin chew satay squid was like a curry, but sweeter and duller in spice. Sadly the squid was a little over cooked, where as we wanted an easy chew.
The Deep fried chicken knee was an light snack. Fragrant crispy pieces of cartilage you chew through. This one you had to have growing up, to be able to best appreciate the harder grind of this delicacy.
The Lotus leaf sticky rice was pretty familiar in taste. But Marina One’s version included kernels of red rice mixed in with the sticky rice and there was plenty of filling. A 1:1 ratio between saucy meat and sticky rice. Though I could have used a whole egg yolk, instead of the quarter that was in each folded leaf pocket.
Marina One’s Special fried noodles was pretty generic. Given the name I was thinking there would be something to make this version all their own. A unique twist or a special ingredient, not in other versions of this classic crispy noodles and saucy clear gravy over vegetable and seafood dish. There was also a lot more noodles than everything else.
I was most impressed by the Soy flavoured chicken feet. You only get four pieces, but they come with peanuts bobbing in the sauce for crunch and the panache of a bay leaf for visual sake. This is probably the best chicken feet I have had to date. Plenty of chewy skin and great flavour to have you taking your time sucking “flesh” from tiny bones.
Between all our eating our third all family fight started. This was my mother and myself against my father. Where we were both soured by the pour service, my father was trying to convince us otherwise. He told us that we can’t judge a restaurant based on the service, and it should just be based on the food. I disagreed stating that dining out should be about everything. We can easily take out and get most of the same dishes from any other Chinese restaurant, but we choose here and are giving them our money so are expected to a nice meal in a nice settling, with delicious food, and great service. My mother didn’t like the food period. Whereas my dad was being the nice guy and defending the kitchen and stating that the service is just like this when it comes to Chinese restaurants. I did not agree and he would not let us agree to disagree.
In conclusion, this souring experience and the trauma of the multiple fights over the course of our one hour meal has marred my view of them. I will not return and can find something better and closer to my home, for a lot less. Marina One is attempting to be high end with their food, but don’t have the caliber of a front of house team to get them there.
Marina One
3631 No. 3 Rd #170, Richmond, BC V6X 2B9
(604) 370-1788
