Gold Leaf

I would’ve given ZERO (0) stars if that was an option for this Yum Cha restaurant. While the food is somewhat decent, it’s far from exceptional compared to other spots in Melbourne’s Southeast region. I paid over $150 for a group of four and was rushed to finish in less than 45 minutes, with little to no respect shown. The overall attitude and behaviour of the staff made it clear that they don’t care about customer experience because they reckon, they have enough patrons that they can just afford to lose a few. As one of those “some customers” they don’t care about losing, I’m here to share my disappointment after returning for the first time in over half a year with friends who came overseas for visits.

====I. Poor Management and Unfriendly Behaviour====
1. Even at opening, there was no queue management, allowing dishonest people to cut in line without intervention from staff or management. This shows a lack of basic customer service and respect, discouraging honest customers who follow the rules.
2. Staff, including managers (in Black/Blue shirts) and those juniors not serving carts (in Red Uniform), display aggressive behaviour, pressuring customers in various ways:
(a) Plates are cleared within moments of finishing without asking if you’re done, including sauces you might still need.
(b) The relentless pestering of “are you done” starts almost as soon as your plates are cleared, often before you’ve even had a chance to enjoy your petite cup of tea, making it impossible to relax and enjoy your meal in this restaurant. Bearing in mind, you pay for the tea as they charge $3 per person for the tea, as compared to some of the others who charged $2 pp or basically $4 for the entire pot.

====II. Unethical Pricing Practices====
1. As of time of writing this comment, no clear pricelists, menus or brochures are available at all at this restaurant and I bet this has been the practice ever since the establishment of this restaurant years ago without people questioning. When I asked for one, the manager (D Lin) fumbled to find such basic information, where he had to consult from his private WeChat and reluctantly threw the prices at me verbally. He also further refused my request to take a photo on just the pricelist, with a disdainful attitude towards me.
2. The pricing structure is beyond unreasonable compared to other Yum Cha restaurants, with a heavy push towards higher-priced plates (e.g., “Super Plate” at $14 and “Special Plate” at $16) dominating the carts and cheaper options being few and far between, all while prices remain unreasonably high for what’s on offer. That was often accompanied by guidance on what’s lucrative (for the restaurant itself), rather than tips on what’s best (for customers).

If you want to enjoy an easy meal with possibly light chat with friends, or even as little as your fundamental respect as a customer for the amount of money you have saved for a quality lunch, you ought to steer clear of this restaurant.

One of the first established Chinese restaurant in this locality. We went on a public holiday yum cha lunchtime, and it was totally packed, with waiting queues. Glad that we had pre-booked our table. The quality and standard of dim sum was very good, especially as they are served and ordered from dim sum trolleys. The dim sums were large in size, plumb, juicy and well presented. Not only was there a wide variety and constant supply of dim sum from the carts, the cart servers were courteous and attentive. One of the rarity and well done dim sum dish available here was suckling piglet, served with dressed jelly fish. Overall wonderful yum cha experience here set amidst the environment of aptly oriental interior designed setting.