Guangzhou Restaurant Review: Lee's Diner

By That's Guangzhou, January 23, 2021

The Place

Smack dab in the heart of Yuexiu district, Lee’s Diner serves burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and more for Guangzhou foodies. You’ll find classic American-style diner seating and tasteful artwork and photos around the venue. Lee’s is a narrow diner with multiple floors – you’ll find the kitchen on the first floor and bar on the second. Living in Guangzhou for 11 years, the owner Lee is as friendly as they come and the diner is pretty crowded when we arrive on a Saturday afternoon.

The Food

The diner menu is one page each for food and drinks with reasonable prices by our assessment. We order Lee’s burger (RMB68), cheeseburger (RMB68) and Lee’s Crazy Dog (RMB55) – which are served with fries. The food doesn’t take too long to come out considering the crowd, and everything lives up to the hype. Other menu items we’d like to try on future visits include the cheesesteak (RMB68) and lamb chop (RMB138). According to the menu, Lee’s does a ‘Cake of the Day’ and ‘Dish of the Day’ which we’d wager are good as well.

Milkshakes are also big at this diner, with flavors including chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, banana and Hennessy – you know, all the classics. Milkshake prices range from RMB38-58 and the creamy treat is a great complement to diner food. Are these milkshakes as good as the USD5 shake Vincent Vega tried in Pulp Fiction? We don’t know, but they sure do the trick.

The Vibe

Chill music and light banter round out our experience at Lee’s. On our visit, the booths were packed with local burger fanatics who have clearly realized there are better burgers in the world than McDonald’s. Lee’s also has a pinball machine, so if you’re looking for some arcade action then look no further. (Don’t worry about bringing coins, it’s QR code-enabled like everything else in this country.)

Price: RMB50-100
Who’s going: curious Cantonese, burger-loving individuals, milkshake mamas
Good for: classic diner grub, pinball, after-party hangout
Nearest metro: Ximenkou (Line 1, Exit B), 5 minutes’ walk

Mon-Thu 10am-midnight, Fri-Sun 10am-3am. See listing for Lee’s Diner.

[Images via That’s]