Author: Jon_49

It had been nearly a decade since my last order from Sun Garden, but I decided to finish off my quasi “nostalgia tour.” A bit of context: About a decade ago, I enjoyed ordering Westernized Chinese cuisine from the likes of Confucius Says and Hot...Delivery; however, with the passage of time, they either closed (Confucius Says) or significantly declined in quality (Hot Delivery). As such, it was time to move on and try to find a suitable replacement. In my search, there were some really big misses (got food poisoning from one restaurant), but also some decent eats. One of these “decent eats” was Sun Garden. As I recall, my (former) partner and I ordered from them a couple of times and found the food to be quite decent. So, why order so sparingly? That’s a good question, but that’s also why pencils have erasers ;) Fast-forward to the current day. I found myself in Vancouver with the grandparents and we were all pining for Chinese food. Given that I wanted to avoid dining out due to the ongoing pandemic, it seemed this was an opportune time to re-visit Sun Garden. I reviewed the menu with the folks and they were in agreement. We ordered: Special Wonton Soup, Sweet & Sour Boneless pork, Dry Garlic Chicken Wings, Prawns w/ Spicy Salt (shell off), Beef Chow Mein, & Spicy Beef w/ Green Beans. Our total for all this food was a very respectable $82, which is pretty awesome value for money. On top of that, we were told it would take “about 35 minutes” for our food to arrive, but in reality it arrived to our hotel in a mere 25 minutes! Now that’s what I call some excellent customer service! In terms of our food, it was all very good – far better than I remember it being a decade ago. The Special Wonton Soup had a very flavourful and rich broth, and came loaded with prawns, mushrooms, baby corn, broccoli, BBQ pork and an abundance of wontons. My grandmother was very impressed with the “freshness” of the wonton balls. The beef chow mein, while it didn’t look the most exciting in its black takeout container, was actually very nice flavour-wise. The beef accompanying the noodles was melt-in-your-mouth tender. The Spicy Beef w/ Green beans was a wonderful surprise and actually reminded me of The Capital in Chilliwack (a place I think is home to some of the best Chinese food). The dry garlic chicken wings were plentiful, had a nice crispy skin, but were juicy on the inside. I just wish there were more of them! The boneless sweet & sour also received high marks from the grandparents. They really appreciated the addition of pineapples, which they said “not many places do this anymore” (I disagree, but that’s okay!). Finally, I really enjoyed my prawns with spicy salt. The prawns were plentiful, nicely cooked, and their natural flavours were complemented by the spicy salt rather than being overpowered by it. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help myself – I have to offer a brief comparative comment between Sun Garden and New Sun. Those who follow me on here know that I got a delivery order from New Sun at the beginning of this year. In my review, I remarked that the food was generally good, but the prawns and chicken wings suffered from an oversaturation of garlic and other spices and were thus rendered soggy. For the longest time, I thought of New Sun and Sun Garden as basically being the same in terms of food quality. Well, my veil of ignorance has been lifted. Now, it is pretty clear to me that Sun Garden is the superior eatery in terms of menu diversity AND quality. It is little wonder my friend, Renegade225, has written half of the 12 reviews currently posted on TripAdvisor ;) FOOD: 4/5 SERVICE: 4/5 VALUE: 4/5 RECOMMENDATION: While I wouldn’t go so far as the Sun Garden’s website and proclaim them the “Best Chinese Food in Town,” they’re certainly a tasty (and cheap) option for those wanting straightforward Westernized Chinese cuisine. Everything we had was most enjoyable and we would gladly patronize this establishment again. Recommended! PS: If you found this review helpful in any way please consider hitting the "helpful" button!More