dumplings | idea rabbit

My boss took all of us to the lunch buffet $29 per person in Burnaby. We sat an already set table right by the window, there weren’t much of a scenery to look at. One of the coffee cup was dirty…ewww. But other than that, it was a nice setting. The young 20 something server didn’t seem to put in any effort in being cheerful or friendly in any way. She seemed like she hated her job and never smiled. Service overall with other staff was on the slow side, or just not available at times.

It was freezing so I hoped I wouldn’t catch a cold!

The salmon was super soft! Mmm got seconds. The dumpling with shrimp was really good! Creme brulee was delicious! Some of us went for seconds!! Yah! Smoked salmon was also very fresh and yummy. (yes, can you tell what my favourite fish is?) Some of the staff had wine (extra $) – Burrowing Owl. They all kept complimenting it and two of them took down the name of the wine for future reference. Overall, the food variety and taste was pleasing. It’s always nice once in a while to go to a buffet, eat whatever you want, and how much you want.

At the end, we all ordered cappuccino, except one who wanted decaf. We were all disappointed when the server brought us Starbucks drinks! Our boss was annoyed and questioned why. The server told us that it would take too long for them to make it. No offense to Starbucks, but we were all surprised and not happy with getting Starbucks at a place like this!

Despite the negatives, I did enjoy the food. I would be willing to go back again. I don’t know a lot of mixed cuisine (they had Western, Chinese, Japanese, etc) buffets like this one (there are tons of all you can eat sushi places!), so it’s nice to know that they exist.

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I’ve been to this restaurant for lunch with my company several times. Every time, it’s always good food. They’re very consistent, and so far, I have no complaints about this restaurant. It’s cleaner than some of the Chinese restaurants I’ve been.

The plates are inexpensive for the portion, and they taste delicious!!! The interior is mostly clean, and they change the cloth on the tables for each customer like higher-end restaurants do.

My only issue is that they’re catered to Chinese customers, meaning their menu are mainly in Chinese, with brief English written in small type. But I guess you can get by it, so not a huge problem. But since we have a Chinese-speaking employee and we always leave the ordering in Cantonese for us, I can never learn the names of the dishes LOL.

In our latest visit, we had five adults, ordering 10 dishes. We could only finish 65-70 percent (the rest for take out), and the food came to a total of only $61 (before taxes and tip). We were all really stuffed and really happy with Happy Valley. Thumbs up if you like Chinese cuisine!