Deer Garden Signatures - Richmond

I came by tonight to get my iced milk tea fix and it was mighty delicious! As a milk tea lover from Toronto, Deer Garden Signatures is one of the top on

Price/quality (2/4:) The quality seemed fine at first.

Always looking for a good deal and I remember someone telling me to come here for late night eats. They are well known for their fish soup. Most people will order the combo where you pick the soup, type of noodle, variety of toppings and include a drink at a cheap price. Don't expect 5 star service here, the service is typical of most HK style cafes.

I guess you can call this a HK style noodle place that you design your own noodle soup. They also do have other menu items which I haven't tried yet but it seems that people do order other things. This place is known for their noodle soups and the choices are endless with what you would like. My favorite is the Pumpkin&Tomato soup base and 2nd flavor is the Laksa. This place is like my go to place when I need something warm in my belly or when I need a good soup to fill me up. Portions are a good size with drink considering the prices just went up not too long ago but I would rather pay a couple of bucks more to keep the portions up!

It was lunch time on this Monday and I decided to drive to the Union Square mall to check out the numerous eating establishments.I picked out 3 restaurants including a Cantonese restaurant, a hotpot restaurant and this one.When we saw the line up at Deer Garden, we initially walked passed it but in the end decided to try it because of the line up. If there’s a line up, it must be good; right?There were about 8 people ahead of us waiting for a table and this was around 1:15. It took less than 15 minutes to get seated.My spouse ordered from the noodle soup combo list. You have numerous choices of broth, noodles and toppings for a flat charge of $10.50. For the broth there are 6 “NO MSG FISH SOUP” options and 5 other broths including chicken and Thai Tom Yum.For the starch, there is a choice of 10 including rice noodles, vermicelli, spaghetti and rice in soup. The toppings include vegetables and protein and you are allowed to have two with your order. Additional toppings cost $1.50 per selection.The combo also includes tea or coffee and for an additional $2 you can choose a specialty beverage such as a smoothie or a milkshake from the drink menu. In addition, you have an opportunity to add a maximum of 2 side dishes / appetizers to your combo soup meal. The side orders were $2.75 each and there were 8 choices.My spouse ordered the coriander & century egg fish broth, sliced beef, bok choy and flat rice noodles. My spouse normally enjoys bland food but found the soup broth lacking in taste whereas I thought there was some flavour. She couldn’t finish her meal and took the rest home.In addition, we decided to have 2 side orders (as part of the soup combo special) - the deep fried pork cutlet and pan fried boneless chicken in teriyaki sauce. The deep fried pork cutlet came with a tartar sauce. It was slightly overcooked and dry. The teriyaki chicken was moist and tender and tasted alright.I ordered the Malaysian curry beef brisket with rice ($11.75). The dish had a creamy smooth curry sauce with tender beef brisket and potato. The dish was not all spicy but it was still tasty. It could have been spicier.I thought the curry was good; 3.75 out of 5 rating.The total bill with taxes came to $29.65 before the tip.The service could have been better. It took a relatively long time to get attention of the server; more than 5 minutes before we could place our order. On the flip side once we were seated, the server gave us complimentary tea. Once we ordered the dishes, they came in timely manner. Ratings Breakdown:• Taste: generally better than average; 3.5 out of 5 rating• Portion size and value: very good, large bowl of noodles and ingredients enough for 1.5 persons unless you are super hungry; 3.5 out of 5 rating• Service: average service that could be better – took a long time to order relatively speaking. Server did not check back on us and we had to ask for tea / water refills; 3 out of 5 ratingI would rate the overall food experience as above average trending towards good; 3.5 out of 5 rating.Notes & Tips:• My spouse couldn’t finish her meal so we asked for a take-out container. We were charged $.50 for the container because it was part of a set meal.• Extensive non-alcoholic drink menu• Cash only• Seating for 60 or more patrons including 4 booths• Wheelchair access in the aisles look tight• Lots of parking• Mall has a lot of hairdressing salons