Tian Shi Fu

Prettt decent authentic spicy Chinese food. The eggplants are always amazing. Been here a few times now, a little pricey i think, but good once in a few months.

The northwest corner of Kingsway and Marlborough in Burnaby has been a rotating spot that’s seen many restaurants come and go from Happy Day Metro to Black Dragon Sushi, to Chef Corner and now Tian Shi Fu. All the previous restaurants that I listed weren’t that bad so it kind of makes you wonder why they couldn’t make it and whether or not Tian Shi Fu which appears to specialize in northern Chinese cuisine will fade away as well. The interior hasn’t changed much from the previous tenants and has an overly greyish interior which is found in too many restaurants now. On my first visit, I decided to try something from their lunch special menu which allows you to pick one main dish and one side dish for $9.95. I opted for the Liang Pi with Sesame Sauce as well as the Lamb Cumin Bun. As it was a lunch special item, I was surprised that it took so long to arrive at my table. Liang Pi is a northern Chinese cold noodle dish in this case, it seemed to be made from rice flour. The noodles here are unusually thick and covered with a creamy and slightly spicy sesame sauce and accompanied by crunchy cucumber slivers. The sheer weight of the noodles, in addition to the soft and velvety texture, makes it a bit difficult to pick up the noodles. I actually quite enjoyed this dish and imagine that it would be very refreshing during the hot summer months albeit intensely carby. On the other hand, I wasn’t very thrilled with the Lamb Cumin Bun. The bun was on the hard side of the spectrum and distracted from the spiced lamb on the inside. I wound up taking the lamb filling and mixed it up in my noodle dish instead. On a subsequent revisit, I tried their Fried Thin Noodles with Soy Sauce and Lamb lunch special $9.95 which included soup and appetizer. The soup was a clear broth with large, thick pieces of seaweed and I didn’t see a separate appetizer with my meal but it may have been the side of shredded cabbage that was served on the dish? The lamb was quite thinly shaved and some pieces were fattier than others. In addition to the lamb, the abundant amount of noodles were fried with onions, carrots, and broccoli. I returned a couple of months later and found that the restaurant was hopping around the weekday noon hour. My order of Liang Pi Noodles with Hot and Sour Sauce $9.95 lunch special with Chinese Bacon in Bun came out fairly quickly on this visit. I actually found that the sauce wasn’t very hot or sour and much preferred the Liang Pi Noodles with Sesame Sauce that I had on my first visit. Again, the side dish that came with the lunch special wasn’t that great. The bun is rather thick and dry and it doesn’t hold up well to the filling that goes into it. The “bacon” actually resembled stewed crumbled pork rather than actual bacon. I wound up taking the filling and mixing it in with my noodle dish. All meals were quite carby and I couldn’t finish them as they give you a generous portion. Service, like many of these Chinese restaurants, is haphazard and slow.

Went there for a late night snack and it was fantastic. There signature beef dish is very flavorable and unique. The spicy fish bowl was $16 and the portion was quite large. The parking meter outside is free after 8pm. There are two chain stores, the other one on Richmond. This review is only for the one in Burnaby as we have never been to the Richmond location. Will definitely come again.

Great for those that love spicy food. Meat was a little drier than it used to be but still tasty. Don't need fried rice, just regular rice goes well with all their dishes. Really warms you up in the winter.

Food is good. But service needs to improve. My wife and I had lunch there, waitress gave use regular menu and lunch menu. There are checkboxes in lunch menu, but they didn't give us pen, so we grab our own pen to check the meal we want. After we completed, waitress came and start complaining why we put marks on lunch menu, they were going to reuse it. Lunch menu is a piece of paper, how do we know we shouldn't put any mark on it to make order. She kept complaining for couple minutes, that was really uncomfortable experience. Just remind people, DO NOT put any mark on lunch menu. Otherwise they can't reuse it.

Food was not bad. Quantity was good too. We ordered 3 dishes. Only the smoked bamboo shoot with bacon tasted a bit bland. The other 2 dished were pretty good. It says it's Hunanese cuisine, but according to my wife, who is from Hunan, it's not authentic enough.

Authentic Hunan/Xiang food with liberal use of chili peppers, although you can ask for less spicy if you prefer. I came here for the lunch specials. There are 31 options for $9.95 each. They come with an appetizer cabbage served on the same plate and small soup see photo. I had the "double cook pork and chili on rice" and enjoyed it. Thinly sliced pork belly and tofu slices, fried up with plenty of chili peppers and veg. It was served ridiculously fast, though there was only one other person in the restaurant for an early lunch. They only accept cash and debit.

Big bad attitude from servers... demanding 20% tips. We gave more than 11% instead. Made arguments with us non-stop for about 10 minutes. The young and short waitress even called us thrifty, cheap. A kitchen staff also came out to argued with us. Owner or manager, your business has a huge problem. I will complain to business bureau.

Big portions and well made food

Traditional hometown food, the lowest price Xiangcai that I can find in lower mainland. The dish is too big to finish them. Like you can get extra 50% food than other chinese restaurants.