Dazzling Cafe - Richmond

Generally I try to not leave restaurant Tripadvisor reviews in my own city unless it's part of my recommendation list for when you visit Vancouver but I can't help but post this up as I would hate for anyone to get the same experience I got at this place. You're really better off eating at another place since there's so many other great locations to eat at in the Richmond and Vancouver area. The following review is a repost of a review I left on Yelp: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Firstly to begin this review I must say, I did not read the reviews about this place beforehand...Finally got a chance to come here with some friends since we had an early dinner. I've tried this place out when I was in Taipei so I wasn't over the top about coming to try this place out but my friends wanted to come so why not? We came about an hour before they closed and the place was relatively packed so we were expecting to wait but we got seated within 10 mins of our arrival. We got seated near their washrooms and was given a two-person table with an added chair (since we had three people) but it was spacious enough that one person even got to sit on the "throne" so chair space wasn't bad. Since we ate dinner prior to coming here and really just wanted to try out their desserts, we ordered two toast boxes to share amongst the three of us. The food came and was presented as photogenically as posted by everyone else. And here is where the night goes downhill.... the order for the last call comes and our waitress named A came to inform us about the last call. We said we had nothing to order but she said that there was a minimum order so we would need to order something else. So going with her word, we kindly asked her for the menu to see what else we could order. We were going to settle to ordering a drink since we had already gotten 2 toastboxes so we flagged down a waiter and asked him to order us a milk tea that we saw posted at their bar. The waiter informed us that we could not order the milk tea since it's actually part of the Dazzling Express menu which they don't serve for people seated inside the restaurant. Since this was the case and we were beyond full at this point, we asked him to clarify the restaurant policy about a minimum order because we were not informed about it when we got seated and neither was it written on the inside of the menu; YES, we checked. The waiter said that there was no minimum order policy. Of course after going back to our toastboxes and trying to enjoy the rest of our night, our waitress A comes back and asks us whether we've decided on ordering yet. We inform her that we're not ordering anything else. She once again states that there's a minimum order and we quickly tell her that one of the staff members that we just talked to said there was no such policy and she immediately says "Who said? Who told you? Which one?", when we mention that one of the servers did (since they're all wearing the same uniform), she storms off to the kitchen window. Guess she was done with us that night because a different waitress came to give us our bill and coincidentally, there was a comments sheet inside the bill. Let's just say we let some few words about our experience and the differences in restaurant knowledge on their minimum or no minimum order policy. Aside from the service, the toastboxes were just ok. Guess you shouldn't expect too much when you're ordering toastboxes but we sort of expected the insides to be filled with ingredients as opposed to cut of pieces of toasts. It was definitely a mistake to get two toastboxes after a dinner meal as they're very heavily filled with ice cream and whip cream. They're worth it for the picture but there's better dessert options to waste your calories on. Overall, I think waitress A ruined the entire experience. Would definitely not come back to be waited on by her. I can understand if you're having a bad day but the words and tone that she used made it seem as it we were accusing her of lying to us about the minimum order policy. To clarify with the horrible experience, it wasn't until I went home and read some reviews on this place by fellow Yelpers that I realized that this place DOES indeed have a minimum order policy. I think our experience would have been fine if 1. it was mentioned at the very beginning when we were seated, 2. if they have this written on the menu and 3. if the response from staff members were the same.

Originated in Taipei, several years later, Dazzling came to Vancouver to present its famous sweet toast. We had the Mont Blanc chestnut toast (limited in Vancouver) and we are not disappointed! Although the vanilla ice-cream is a bit too sweet, the cream, the chestnut flavour is very good. Their dinner menu is also impressive. We had mintako pasta and mushroom pizza. They are all very tasty and the flavour is right on the spot. I like it! The tea is more on the sweet side. May request less sweet next time.

Visited during their soft opening, which buy 1/2 entry to have free dessert. I like the pizza, rice, and chocolate waffle. The sugar toast box was tasteless, I ordered the chestnut one, suppose to be seasonal, but the chestnut has no favour, very blend. Worth to try but not a place I would go regularly. By the way, their milk tea is quite tasty.Service is lacking and not enough staff, has to call the service few time to check on our order.

I like the clam chowder, not overly thick. Pasta is standard quality. Pizza they served are thin crust. Taste are decent. Drink are terrible, too sweet and not rich in flavour. However, servers there are pretty attentive, notice customer's need fast and address their need in a timly manner.

I went here with my friend, as she heard it just opened up from Taiwan and she was excited to try it. The decor was pretty, seating was prompt (come right when it opens at 1pm or you're up for a long wait with no reservations). The hostess reminded me that there is a min order of one drink and one dish per person. The drinks were nice - we got the cold earl grey and the hot rose milk tea. The seafood spaghetti was tasty and the squid ink rice casserole was also decent (but kind of bland at the same time). We finished off with the honey bread topped with whipped cream and ice cream. Not overly sweet but nothing special. Overall the food wasn't bad, but it is definitely NOT cheap for what it is. Might come back if I feel like visiting a fancy place with a fancy price.