Kirin Restaurant

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Kirin Restaurant has breathed new life into what was once Silver Pond—same great location, but now with fresh management, a new look, and a rejuvenated vibe. The updated interior is clean and inviting, with a modern touch that still honors the charm of its past. The menu has remained largely the same, which is a huge win for longtime fans. I tried the Singapore Rice Noodles, and they were absolutely off the charts—perfectly spiced, loaded with flavor, and cooked to perfection. You can tell the new team here is focused on maintaining the classics while elevating the overall experience. If you loved Silver Pond or are simply looking for authentic and delicious Chinese cuisine in the area, Kirin is a must-visit. I took a few pics while I was there—check them out, and be sure to follow for more food finds across South Florida!

Went here on a Tuesday for dinner with my bro. We were seated right away. The staff is very friendly and eager to explain the menu. This feel like Authentic Chinese Cuisine. I'm not an expert, but I think more Cantonese style. The food was beyond DELICIOUS. I shall return.

I used to live in Philly so I’m spoiled with many good authentic Chinese Restaurants. So I was in shocked coming down here in South Florida because the food sucks here. I live in West Palm and every weekend I take a drive with my family in search of good Chinese Food, as far as Orlando but nothing… Finally my wife found this place, I was very skeptical at first. As soon as I came in, I was greeted by a nice lady, she showed me to a table on the left corner of the restaurant but the boss Jeff Ma directed us to a bigger table because of our group size. He then came over and answered all our questions and explained pretty everything was in the menu. I don’t just order regular food like typical Orange chicken or things like that. I usually order frogs, Squids, Jelly Fish, eels… which requires skills to cook them. And OMG did they deliver, the food was delicious, a tear came out of my eye when the food touches my pallet, exactly the same as Tai Lake Restaurant in Philly, if you know you know!!!! The owner Jeff Ma is a down to earth guy, very professional and friendly. Normally restaurant owners, especially chinese are not that close and nice to their customers. This guy is awesome!!! He even gave me his number so when my favorite seafood Lake Shrimps become available, he will call me!!! Please give this restaurant a try if you want to taste authentic good chinese food!! you will not disappoint!!!

We came from Northern California where we really enjoyed good Cantonese foods for years, we were spoiled! !!! We have been looking for good Cantonese foods and finally have found Kirin who serves authentic Cantonese cuisine. We dine at Kirin 2 to 3 times a week. Their dim sum dishes are freshly steamed n fresh, their pastries are also very good. We have found the best roast duck and the foods have really good wok aroma. The vegetables dishes are excellent. Their services are good the place is nice n cleaned.

Kirin (in the old Silver Pond location) is a great place to continue getting traditional Cantonese cuisine. We went here for Dim Sum and were pleasantly surprised with the spread and flavors! If you like Durian, you HAVE to get the Durian Puffs, as they are out of this world, and very rare to find! The lava egg buns were cooked to perfection, being creamy and sweet inside, not overcooked. The flavors are light and tasty, not being as heavy or greasy as other dim sum locations. Overall, if you’re in the Lauderdale Lakes area, Kirin is a fantastic place for some Cantonese cuisine!

In October 2024, twelve of us went to the newly reopened Kirin Restaurant in Lauderdale Lakes for dinner. The restaurant was clean, bright, and spacious, making it an ideal venue for banquets and wedding receptions. They serve traditional Cantonese cuisine and offer dim sum cart service during lunchtime. Since we had a large group, we ordered double portions of everything. The Crab and Fish Soup was fresh and delicious, and the classic Kirin Stir Fry was so flavorful that it was perfect with rice. The Ginger Scallion Lobster was also excellent. My personal favorite was the Crispy Pork Intestine with Pickled Vegetables, which was incredibly tasty. The Grilled Oysters, which were huge and paired with a delicious sauce, were a hit with everyone. There were many other dishes, and two friends particularly enjoyed the Stir-Fried Lotus with Soybean Sauce, as it's a flavor not commonly found here. The Hong Kong Style Pork Chops were crispy with a sweet sauce, and they were very tasty. We all found the food to be very delicious, and the owner was very friendly. We heard that there will soon be karaoke available, so we highly recommend this place for group gatherings and enjoying great food.

Stop by Kirin restaurant for dinner tonight. The staff was very friendly and the service fast and excellent. Ordered the chicken wok-fried noodles... the portion was more than I expected and I look forward to eating my leftovers.

Great dim sum experiences; I will be back with more friends and family. Great service and delicious tea! Dim sum chef is from NY; so I felt like having dim sum in Chinatown NY.

This is the most legit Chinese food in SoFlo. We showed up as party of 7 and sat at a round table with a Lazy Susan, starting with hot tea. We sampled a bunch of dishes amongst the table -- soup dumplings, shrimp dumplings, roast duck, shrimp fried rice, salt & pepper shrimp. I haven't been to Kirin yet, only the former Silver Pond a few years back. Kirin still has the same charm and they present a similar adventure in the menu. Sea cucumber is on my list for another day with a daring participant.

I know the former people behind Gold Marques have taken over, but at the moment the quality isn't there just yet. We went on a Friday at noon. The place was quite empty. We ordered several dim sum dishes. They were okay. As a huge fan of the former Gold Marques, perhaps I set my expectations too high. Mixed dumpling had a bit more chew than my liking, the, steamed items were fine. They had a steamed custard bun, but I wish they had the baked version they used to make such good baked versions at the old place. The interior is nothing to write home about traditional Chinese restaurant, not the most inspiring, not overly clean, not overly dirty. I would say that it was a bit warm when we walked in at noon, but by the time we left, the air conditioning was on better. In Pembroke Pines China pavilion is great, when gold Marquess opened in Pines, I thought they blew it out of the water. Now we've come full circle if you want good dim sum it's China Pavilion in Pembroke Pines.

I found out that the Silver Pond had new owners and the restaurant was now called Kirin and was featuring dim sum. So I had to try it. The strip mall that houses the eatery has lots of great stores (Juici Patties, a roti shop, and an Asian market, to name a few). And there is ample parking. We went on a Sunday after church and the place was about 75% full. The dining room seats around 40-50. For dim sum there are two rolling carts: one with fried food and another with steamed items. It may be a while (or never) if you wait to see your favorite items. So get a dim sum menu and ask for what you want. They will give you the items if they are on the cart and will make the rest for you. We got some custard tarts (dan tats) from the cart with fried stuff. We loaded up with items from the steamed cart: shrimp dumplings (har gow) , shrimp and pork dumplings (shumai), scallion and shrimp, and steamed ribs. We asked for bean curd skins and they made the dish for us. The servers will try to coax you into trying items. And don't be fearful. We tried sticky rice from a small pot and it was delicious. Everything was tasty and the dim sum pieces are a tad larger than most needing at least two bites (instead of the usual one). But along with the larger size comes a higher price tag, with each medium dish averaging more than $6 each. The sticky rice was $11.25. Our bill for 7 items (2 medium, 4 large, and 1 special) was $60 including tax and tip. I don't like that with those prices they charge $1 for the tea. Really? The only drawback at Kirin is the service. The cart service doesn't work well. Often it doesn't have enough of the items patrons want. And we got passed by several times, while diners who had been there for a while kept getting offered food as we longing tried to get our first bites. One server cleared a few empty plates from our table and took along with them a bowl that still had scallion dumplings. And there was an order of nai wong bao (steamed custard buns) that never made it to our table. There was a manager who made it a point to ask how we were doing and ordered our bean curd skins for us. We also had to flag him down to get our check and pay the bill. The dim sum was very good and worth the price. There also is a regular menu, but we were there for the dim sum. We will be back again and want to try other items. Meanwhile, let's hope they develop a better rhythm and improve their service.

Well, for those of you reading this who have wondered why they closed for several weeks, here's the lowdown. They sold! They are no longer called Silver Pond, they go by Kirin. The staff is completely new, the carpet is gone, they painted and made it a bit nicer. Gone is the aquarium from the front, and the menu is new. So, of course we all want to know what I was most anxious to discover, is the food as good as it was? Sadly, I have to say no, it falls short, not by a lot, but definitely not quite as good as Silver Pond was. I limited my choices to hot and sour soup, chicken and corn soup, chicken in black pepper sauce, and bbq spareribs. Let's start with the soups. The hot and sour, while better than most, was just not the same. I wish I could be more exacting in what was different, but where I used to be excited to enjoy the same level of flavor as I grew up with going to Mott Street in Chinatown, and while it still is better than anything else, with the possible exception of Hong Kong City, in south Florida, it just fell short. And when asked for white vinegar to additionally season the soup, I was told they only have red. It isn't the same when seasoning the sour side. But the hot oil was spot on. Next was the chicken and corn soup. Again, good, not awesome. A bit too much corn starch, making it so the soup literally stuck and hung off the spoon. Flavor was good, but lacked the depth of flavor Silver Pond had. The chicken in black pepper sauce, like the soups, was tasty, but lacked the depth of flavor that I have come to expect. Notwithstanding, if I didn't have the expectations, I would have been very pleased, as my dining companions were. The ribs were the hit for my companions. They were well-done outside and juicy inside. The sauce was plentiful and delicious. Tea and white rice were complimentary, and the service was good. Bottom line - if you don't have the history of Silver Pond as your expectation, I don't think you'll be disappointed. And if you do, you'll still be happier than at 99.9% of the Chinese restaurants in Florida.

Dim sum at Kirin is very good. Decor is nice and the place is clean. Only downside is service can be erratic. We go fairly often and still get ignored at times and have to flag down waiters. One time they completely forgot our order and after 45 minutes we left! Granted it was a holiday and they were busy. We will try again when back in the area. Worth a try and deserves more than the 3 stars yelp gives it.

My family has been going to the old Silver Pond for decades. Since my parents passed, haven't been here too many times. Heard the restaurant changed ownership and dining concept to dim sum. So decided to bring family over. They had the dim sum cart concept similar to NYC; old memories growing up in New Jersey. Since we arrived at 11am, when they opened, the choice of dishes were slim. I'm sure the kitchen was just getting started. The food was good; the ones that we selected from the carts. The servers seemed to be promoting the dishes versus just displaying them and explaining the dishes; kinda weird. Service was adequate. At around 12pm noon, the various dishes on the cart started to ramp up; will note that for another time. Good ambiance. Overall, a good experience, though not spectacular. There are other choices for dim sum in the area. I hope they step up their game.

I have been going to Silver Pond for a long time and it was my favorite Chinese restaurant in Broward. Now they have changed the name to Kirin. Tonight I ordered delivery. Two of my favorite dishes which I ordered tonight are Chicken Pan (Wok) Fried noodles and Snow Pea tips. I was wondering whether the quality was going to be like the old Silver Pond; I was not disappointed. Actually I didn't taste much difference. The packaging was good and everything was still hot. Highly recommend and will be eating here again!:)

Excellent service. Food is made to order so it takes a few minutes to receive. Restaurant is nice staff is friendly. Highly recommend the dim sum sampler and Singapore noodles

Overpriced mediocre food. Food did not taste right, greasy soya sauce noodle, deflated soup dumplings, sweaty egg tarts, congee tasted like added sugar.... what a disappointment... will drive the distance to Pembroke Pines to our regular place. Service - the push cart lady yelled at us multiple times on where we should put the ticket .... excuse me, i'm chinese from Hong Kong, i know what the management of the ticket and.

Kirin, formerly known as Silver Pond, still has the old name out front, but the interior has been refreshed, including thoroughly cleaned bathrooms, though they haven't been renovated. The restaurant is now run by the Venezuelan-Chinese Ip family, who also operate Golden Marquess, Baoshi, and Yip restaurants, along with a new partner who greeted guests during our visit. Rachel and I tried just two dishes: seafood E-Fu Mein noodles, mixed vegetables with brown sauce, and roast pork. Both were excellent, with the brown sauce standing out for its rich flavor and perfect consistency--not overly thick or gloppy. While I would have liked to explore more of the menu based on what I saw around the restaurant, it was just the two of us dining. Our server, Lee, was exceptional and helped us choose our dishes. She previously worked at Golden Marquess before its conversion to Baoshi, and if she's there, I highly recommend her. The new menu leans heavily into Cantonese cuisine, more so than Silver Pond's offerings. There are quite a few dishes I'm unfamiliar with, so it will be interesting to see how this change resonates with Silver Pond's former clientele, who were mostly American. Still, I'm excited to have a truly authentic Chinese restaurant in the area once again. --- For Dim Sum on Saturday, the place was packed when we arrived around 12:30 PM. It's probably best to come earlier, but unfortunately, the AC was out, and a technician was on-site trying to fix it. With no alcohol license yet (no Tsingtao), we were downing ice water like crazy to cope with the heat. Despite the temperature, everything we ordered was delicious, especially the shrimp dishes. The dumplings and shrimp paste items were excellent, using whole shrimp pieces in most of them. The roast pork buns were also fantastic, as were the soy sauce noodles. I'll definitely be back for dim sum when the AC is working--it felt like it was easily 95 degrees in there. Dim sum is served on weekdays as well, until around 3 or 4 PM. You can order some of these items in the evening, but the staff mentioned they won't be as fresh by then, as they are leftovers from earlier in the day.

My family was very excited to see the new version of the former silver pond restaurant! Everything was incredibly delicious. All of the standard fare items were great quality not too greasy and came out PIPING HOT. I loved the new remodeling as well. The floors are new and everything looks much cleaner. The menu is pretty much the same with some new items! I think my favorite was the sweet and sour pork and XO sauce fried rice. They have a mushroom tofu dish for my vegetarian friends that was amazingly flavorful and the waiters said was one of their most popular items so far. I also added photos of their new dim sum menu. I'll have to come back and check it out.

Went here on a Tuesday for dinner with my bro. We were seated right away. The staff is very friendly and eager to explain the menu. This feel like Authentic Chinese Cuisine. I'm not an expert, but I think more Cantonese style. The food was beyond DELICIOUS. I shall return.

Went there for dim sum for lunch, hands down the best dim sum among all other dim sum places: ten ten, HK city bbq, China pavilion. Big portions, fair prices & delicious compare to dim sum in Toronto, NYC, flushing queens and up to par with even dim sum in HK The owner is from Gold Marques, take over silver pond that served years to mostly鬼佬 I'm from Hong Kong and no relation to this restaurant, just stating the fact

Hit or miss on dinner entrees and dim sum options. Service is efficient, push cart ladies are quick and plentiful. Came in on two different visits and very inconsistent quality. First time, the popular items like steamed shrimp dumplings and chive dumplings were both not good - skin was mushy and broken. Second time was much better and actually had soup inside. The steamed spare ribs was big pieces and juicy first time and second time was mostly fat. The preserved egg pork congee watery but flavor was good. The shu mai was too dense for my taste. The cha siu pastry was oily but good. The pineapple buns were amazing and then best thing we had. The custard filling was sweet and delightful with real pineapple chunks and a nice fluffy bun. The tripe was chewy and not fresh tasting. The fried eggplant had shrimp topping that tasted sour. The fried turnip cake was decent. The beef chow fun was great and the rice vermicelli stir fry was also good.

We recently had lunch and the dinner at the new Kirin and the menu has been tweaked but several of the former Silver Pond items remain. The red has been refreshed with paint and looks elegant. The ambiance was friendly. For lunch we had dim sum and every piece was light and delicious. For dinner we had fried rice which was fresh and flavorful without that oily residue that you get at other places. The salt and pepper shrimp was crispy and delicious. The pan fried noodles were excellent! The half duck was crispy and moist. We also ordered baby bok choi stir fried with garlic. Service was excellent and the prices are still reasonable.

Not one of my favorites. Too many selections on the menu, a lot I've never heard of. Not willing to spend a fortune for something I wouldn't like. I ordered house special fried rice which was clumpy and dry. We picked this place for the pork buns that were also just so so. Not planning on a return visit.

I have been eating at the old Silver Pond for years. The restaurant was never clean but the food was usually good. I have been to Kirin 3 times, 1st time food was very good, 2nd was dim sum and not so good and the variety of choices wasn't great. 3rd was dinner on a Friday night and had similar items as the 1st dinner. Not good so good. I liked the Hong Kong pork chop. The other dishes my wife and her sister ordered not great. It was salted shrimp and a beef dish. Small portion and not too tastey. I am glad the restaurant was painted, but I have the feeling the paint is covering the old dirt from Silver Pond. I am sure I will go back to Kirin with hopes the food quality improves.

Former Silver Pond restaurant re-opened as Kirin. Highs: Dim Sum taste was awesome Lows: Service was mediocre, kitchen dishes went to other tables, they had a gaggle of influencers impacting service at noon on Saturday during peak dim sum. Meh: prices are up, some portions smaller

This is the old Silver Pond under new management. Service has declined, markedly, and our dinner was significantly less enjoyable because the two different servers couldn't get the order straight and didn't bring things out in a timely fashion, miss timing the delivery to the point where some people were done before the other got their food. Although the menu is literally the same menu, that's because they didn't bother to print new ones. They simply don't offer all the dishes. Some old favorite such as the winter melon soup, which was exceptionally good that Silver Pond isn't offered anymore. The food we got was bland, or prepared in ways that made it suspect. What do I mean by that? I mean that the dumplings came in the steamer as usual, and appeared to be hot, but the bottoms were cold like refrigerator cold. This means they careless who shoved them in a microwave. We sent it back as that's neither acceptable nor necessarily even safe. Very, very disappointing.

Food is just like NYC Chinatown. Love this place. Go once a week. You won't be disappointed

Kirin upgraded ambiance of its predecessor Silver pond and maintained the great level of food experience. Service as in the past needs improvement. Management needs to train service staff to better meet customer needs

New name with the new owner. The food tastes really good but it's on the heavy side. However the service was way too bad, including the manager, they all pretended that they didn't see you. Waiting, waiting and waiting for everything... Giving another chance, I hope they will do better when I visit again soon.

This isn't about the food because we never got to eat. We had a reservation for 6 pm. We had three kids with us. They called multiple times to confirm. They didnt seat us until 6:35 and only after I complained. We ordered by 6:45 and at 8:10 only one entree had come. They kept saying it was coming but it never came. We finally left at 830

Our waitress, Grace, was exceptional. She was attentive, friendly, and made us feel right at home. Her service truly elevated the dining experience. We ordered the sweet and sour chicken, General Tso's chicken, chicken fried rice, soy sauce noodles, and wonton soup. Every dish was delicious, perfectly balanced with flavors and cooked to perfection. I highly recommend Kirin, and if you're lucky enough to have Grace as your server, you're in for an extra treat. We'll definitely be back!

Silver Pond was our go to Chinese restaurant for years. Not greatness but, for Fort Lauderdale, possible the best. Hearing mixed reviews about Kirin, we finally went to try it out. The place was pretty much empty. 2 servers standing around doing nothing other than chatting. 3 other employees within sight doing nothing other than chatting. We stand at the door. We keep standing by the door. We walk into the seating area. We stand. We wait. Nothing. We finally seat ouselves. We wait. And wait some more. Nothing. Like we don't exist. We look around. The few occupied tables are eating. Someone must be serving them. We wait. We leave. This took place over a period of at least 10 minutes. Its not like we bolted after a minute or two. Odd way to run a restaurant. If our experience is any indication of what Kirin is like, it won't be around for long.

Don't bother going here. It's really expensive for Chinese food and the food really stinks. The crab rangoons were just ok. I've had much better for less than the $12.99 charged here. The seafood rolls which the waiter described as like eggrolls but with shrimp, scallops & vegetables were pretty bad. They were more like the old style shrimp toast but the shrimp & scallops must have been finely minced. 1 out of 10 pieces was warm. The rest were cold and for $15.99 a pretty bad value. The vegetable fried rice was tasteless & on the dry side. The cashew chicken was tasteless. The general TSAO's chicken which we ordered super extra spicy for my wife was not spicy at all. I was even able to eat it and I don't do spicy. The sauce was unlike any I've ever had in this dish elsewhere and was way too sweet. The chicken was rubbery and tasted like it was done in old oil. Not worth your trip. You will a much better meal at Hong Kong City BBQ about 1 - 2 miles North on 441.

It was the absolute worst restaurant experience I have ever had. The service was awful, the food never came out of the kitchen. After 2 1/2 hours of waiting for our food that never came we left and will never return.

This place is out of business but doesn't know it yet. STAY AWAY !! Staff is incompetent, food doesn't come out from the kitchen anywhere near a timely manor. What did come out was cold. For a 6:45 reservation they were out of 5 or 6 things that we ordered some the waiter told us when ordering, other items took them 20 minutes to tell us they don't have that dish tonight. Left after 2 hours and was never served our entrees. The entire restaurant was getting same bad service. TOTALLY A WASTE OF TIME. STAY AWAY PLEASE!

I hope the owner reads this and develops some self awareness. Learn how to manage a restaurant. When you fall short, acknowledge and apologize. A little can go a long way. But from tonight's experience I don't think he will ever learn. Waited 35 minutes beyond reservation time for table. 2 hours later still no food. Don't give them your business.

six of us are visiting from San Francisco (after our cruise) so we know Chinese food. We came for dim sum lunch, but we returned in the evening for their dinner because we were so impressed with the quality of the food and service. For dinner, we had lobster noodle, fresh fish, Thai Eggplant, roast duck, gigantic oysters, tender pea shoot, westlake soup and house fried rice. All were so delicous. what a great surprise treat. Jeff is an excellent host with his recommendations.

The food I ordered had too much artificial MSG and had a long-lasting after-taste in my mouth.

OMG. The owner does not know how to run a restaurant. He over booked the restaurant. We were a party of 6, with 3 children under 3. after 2.5 hours the children finally got their meal. They enjoyed it. The 5 adults never got fed. The owner continually lied to us about the food coming when we inquired and wanted to leave. He never acknowledged the situation. The worst part was parties that were asian and came after us were fed. Speaking with other non asians that evening had a similar experience. I really dislike making these statements but it was too obvious. very sad. we were hoping for an early dinner reservations were at 6. We left at 8:45 without eating. We had planned to look at the christmas lights. Ruined our plans and no apologies came from the owners.

We had been going to Silver Pond, the previous iteration of this restaurant for many years. We had to try this one. We went on Christmas Day and it was fairly crowded. The people in the table next to ours said they had been waiting for soup for almost an hour, and they got up and left. Not a good sign. We waited a while for our soup and then waited much too long for each of the dishes we ordered. The food was mediocre and the service was horrendous. We will not be going back, lesson learned.

Best Din Sum in South Florida I have eaten in some everywhere from Miami to Orlando. This is the best. Amazing Chinese food is also available, but it's so hard to get past the dim sum.

I read about Silver Pond being revamped as Kirin. I wish it could have remained as Silver Pond. This was by far my worst dining experience in my 50 plus years on this planet. I can't review the food since we never got any!!! Should have known when the table we were given was only because the table that was there picked up and left! Manager took our order after about 20 mins and no food ever arrived. We just sat there and waited patiently. A server came over about 20 mins later and asked if we wanted to order! Come on lol!!! Waited another 20 mins and then Soup bowls arrived but were empty lol! That's it we were out of there. The best part is we went to hong city down the street was served within 10 mins and low and behold the table that left before us was there eating dinner! So sorry to say we will not be back!

Service was rushed the table was mobbed multiple servers try to dump plates the we did not ask for on our table. We order fried rice and noodle soup the rice came out horribly salty like someone dump a shaker in it them the soup was good but the noodles were raw as for the dim sum poorly prepared often missing ingredients and lacks the quality of the Silver pond restaurant so sad we just to love the food before I will never come back again the food car was dry and cold it's not the same

This review is coming from a customer that had been going to SIlver Pond since the DAY THEY OPENED 32 years ago. I have dined there HUNDREDS of times and have taken and sent OVER 100 people there. I can not review the new KIRIN's food because we never even had a chance to order. My party of EIGHT sat for over a HALF HOUR without a waiter approaching our table. I went to ask their manager for help but she was busy FIGHTING with two other tables because they NEVER GOT THEIR FOOD ! We all walked out and went to Hong Kong City one mile away. 32 years of a relationship with Silver Pond is down the drain. VERY SAD indeed...like losing a family member.

Restaurant experience was the worst Ive ever had. They sat us 25 minutes after our reservation and then it took another 20 minutes just to get waters. Upon finally ordering (after trying to get the attention of multiple servers), we waited 90 minutes for only crab rangoon to come out. The other food we ordered was nowhere to be seen. The waitress told us they were out of dim sum but then proceeded to serve it to other tables. In addition, they brought out tea cups and soup bowls for the wanton soup we never received. These bowls and cups had not been cleaned well and it was evident. After two hours, we got up and left. The waitress tried to get us to stay by saying the food was ready. We told her to bring it out then, to which she said it would be another 15 minutes. Found out after that this place was ordered shut on Dirty Dining in November (found out after the fact, but not surprised). Our mistake for going, we won't be back of course.