Best chinese restaurant in Markham

[callitasicit]

I have yet to find one good chinese restaurant in Markham, Ontario. Yesterday I went to Magic Wok because I heard good things but I have to say the food was subpar and that is putting it nicely.
The food portions were rather small, the hot and sour soup was terrible and the Cantonese Chow Mein was tasteless. I ordered fried black pepper shrimp and it was in it's shell and not flavourful. The only thing that was okay was the Spicy pepper beef in hot plate. I will honestly say that I will never go there again!!!

[Stunt_101]

don't go to congee king (DAI WONG) the one on the very end of kennedy plaza right near the TD ATM...i had a cockroache in my fishball noodle (twice) and the lady was stupid enough to ask me if i wanted to exchange for another bowl (fishball noodle)!
the service there is crap, they treat teenagers like they're poor
when white ppl goes in, they suck up like they're their lil b1tch

forgot to add - there aren't any GOOD places to eat anymore because anyone with money can open up a resturant whereas 10 years ago, ppl who open up resturant are usually their own boss (the owner is actually the chef) and they care more about how their food taste and quality control

[gman]

I have yet to find one good chinese restaurant in Markham, Ontario. Yesterday I went to Magic Wok because I heard good things but I have to say the food was subpar and that is putting it nicely.
The food portions were rather small, the hot and sour soup was terrible and the Cantonese Chow Mein was tasteless. I ordered fried black pepper shrimp and it was in it's shell and not flavourful. The only thing that was okay was the Spicy pepper beef in hot plate. I will honestly say that I will never go there again!!!

Magic Wok has not been good for more than 10 years now. They sucks since they moved to the current location.

A good Chinese restaurant I recently found is Celestial Court fine Dining in 25 Lanark Drive, west of Woodbine, the other side of Costco. Expensive but good food, good service, good environment.

My wife had 3 meals there in a row. She was invited in a wedding dinner. Then, our family had dim sum lunch the next day (Mother's day). Then, I booked a dinner table for that night.

[thegazelle]

Our family and extended family enjoys going to Grand Lake Restaurant at Highway 7 and McCowan. The food is pretty good and we've had everything from the crab rice to beef on hot plates, etc., the food is quite good. As I've treated a few times, the price is more than reasonable, in my opinion. We've taken friends out there several times and have found that they really enjoyed the food as well. The service is pretty good too (ie. I haven't had a bad experience there).

[GBA]

iunno...don't find myself in very 'chinese' restaurants any more, for some reason. a few places i've been to that were quite good (but aren't purely chinese food) are:

markham peking house, First markham place: Beside firefly, the hk style restaurant and diamond banquet hall, this place has some typical chinese food, beef fried noodles, lobster, crabs and such, but they have some really neat schezwan (sp )food, such as deep fried crispy bread and soup dumplings (they're basically dumplings with the soup INSIDE them). Their dinner menu is pretty big, some of the menu stuffs is on the wall and written in chinese, which may be a big negative if you can't read the stuff (i can't ). The lunch and 'after 9:30 small meal' menus are the stuff though, for 10.99ish to about 25 you get 2-5 dishes that can feed 2-4 people, and the combos there are quite delicious. If i recall correctly, they had english translations on their menus.

New City Restuarant, Peachtree plaza: This little gem hails from Highway 7 and Kennedy. it's along the 'sweet delight restaurant' side and 'tremendous kitchen', and is sorta hidden in the back corner if you're not paying attention. This, in my honest opinion, is one of the best HK cafe style restaurants EVER. Everything is prepared well, place is always packed for lunch. the lunch special menu is written entirely in chinese, but they did mention they have english ones on hand (and you can ask them as well, probably). Notable: The double steak with tomato sauce is to die for, it's a baked casserole with egg + rice or spagetti in a tomato sauce with a beef steak AND a pork chop. Always juicy, and deliciously soft. With this dish, you can't order how well the steak is done, just letting you know in case you're one that always likes a steak 'done to black'.

Only thing that might turn you off from these place, once again, is the 'if i can't read the chinese how the heck am i gonna order'...but i have seen non-chinese people eating there as well. Hope these reviews helps, and I don't have pics on hand, for those that will ask...but if there's a large request for them, i'll see what i can do

[TorontoFriend]

Depends on what type of chinese food you are looking for. The Magic Wok used to be very good, especially the Chicken with Mango in Bird Nest, but now the quality is up and down. The Congee Queen is not too bad, and price is reasonable. The problem is all the good chefs are keep changing, not easy to find a good consistence quality chinese restaurant anymore.

[scan]

New City Restuarant, Peachtree plaza: This little gem hails from Highway 7 and Kennedy. it's along the 'sweet delight restaurant' side and 'tremendous kitchen', and is sorta hidden in the back corner if you're not paying attention. This, in my honest opinion, is one of the best HK cafe style restaurants EVER. Everything is prepared well, place is always packed for lunch. the lunch special menu is written entirely in chinese, but they did mention they have english ones on hand (and you can ask them as well, probably). Notable: The double steak with tomato sauce is to die for, it's a baked casserole with egg + rice or spagetti in a tomato sauce with a beef steak AND a pork chop. Always juicy, and deliciously soft. With this dish, you can't order how well the steak is done, just letting you know in case you're one that always likes a steak 'done to black'.

I'll second that

[gman]

New City Restuarant, Peachtree plaza: This little gem hails from Highway 7 and Kennedy. it's along the 'sweet delight restaurant' side and 'tremendous kitchen', and is sorta hidden in the back corner if you're not paying attention. This, in my honest opinion, is one of the best HK cafe style restaurants EVER. Everything is prepared well, place is always packed for lunch. the lunch special menu is written entirely in chinese, but they did mention they have english ones on hand (and you can ask them as well, probably). Notable: The double steak with tomato sauce is to die for, it's a baked casserole with egg + rice or spagetti in a tomato sauce with a beef steak AND a pork chop. Always juicy, and deliciously soft. With this dish, you can't order how well the steak is done, just letting you know in case you're one that always likes a steak 'done to black'.

I have been there a few times but I was not impressed at all. May be I ordered wrong stuff.

[WhYSoSuK]

casa imperial II bring a full wallet though

[gman]

casa imperial II bring a full wallet though

That won't help. Better bring 3 full wallets. That place is sick (regarding the price). However, it is not in Markham.

[cchiu]

New City Restuarant, Peachtree plaza: This little gem hails from Highway 7 and Kennedy. it's along the 'sweet delight restaurant' side and 'tremendous kitchen', and is sorta hidden in the back corner if you're not paying attention. This, in my honest opinion, is one of the best HK cafe style restaurants EVER. Everything is prepared well, place is always packed for lunch. the lunch special menu is written entirely in chinese, but they did mention they have english ones on hand (and you can ask them as well, probably). Notable: The double steak with tomato sauce is to die for, it's a baked casserole with egg + rice or spagetti in a tomato sauce with a beef steak AND a pork chop. Always juicy, and deliciously soft. With this dish, you can't order how well the steak is done, just letting you know in case you're one that always likes a steak 'done to black'.

Only thing that might turn you off from these place, once again, is the 'if i can't read the chinese how the heck am i gonna order'...but i have seen non-chinese people eating there as well. Hope these reviews helps, and I don't have pics on hand, for those that will ask...but if there's a large request for them, i'll see what i can do

I go New City ("sun sing see") quite regularly, and while I enjoy it there, it may not be for everyone. The quality of food and service there is good (compared to other HK style cafes) and certainly is one of the best ones I've been to outside of HK, although I'm not sure everyone will appreciate it there.

[gman]

I went to "New City" today because people here said they are good. I went to this restaurant when it opened many years ago (10+ years??) and also to its previous ownership "City". It appears that New City did not change ownership all these years. The owner of New City my wife knew about when it opened still is in charge there.

We were not impressed when it opened many years ago. We went back a few times in these years and again nothing impressed me. Since people here say good thing about it, I tried again this evening.

I am again not impressed. I went there for dinner. It was not busy (properly because of the rain). Hence, there is no excuse to say they are in rush. I ordered the beef steak+pork chop baked with rice and tomato sauce thing. My daughter ordered a chicken with rice.

My daughter's dish has a human hair. For mine, the steak was like rubber. The sauce is not good either. To be fair, it is not bad. It is just average and is about a bit better than some HK style food court restaurant. Not by much though. Certainly, I would not tell myself I better come back for the same thing in the near future.

I personally do not invite friend to have a dinner in a HK cafe style Chinese restaurant except it is for a quick bite because you can't stay there too long. Hence, I did not recommend in my first post in this thread.

Anyway, if you like HK cafe style Chinese restaurant, try Golden Phoneix off McCowan between Hwy 7 and 16th (the other side of the police station). The taste of the above 2 dishes are at least a few levels higher. That is the place that you would say wow for its food. That is the place that serve you a common dish that you don't really care about (because you have that thousand times somewhere else) but will say 'holy crap! They can do that? I better come back for the same dish in the future'.

So far, I have not known anyone who was not impressed the first time they eat there. The price is 1 or 2 dollar higher than other HK cafe style though. And, this one I would say it is better than HK's.

[jypraps]

New Choice Restaurant on Hwy 7 & Chalmers Gate is cheap and delish, within the same plaza there's Happy Congee that's great
I forgot the name of it but in the plaze directly next to it, there's a shanghai place thats also great.

[leer]

You ask "in Markham"? You gotta be kidding. There are so many there that it is irrelevant to ask which is the best "one". The huge Cantonese colony up there ensures there will be plenty of excellent "ones". Hint: look at the crowds. My favourite tactic is to observe the number of old Chinese in a place because they have been around and know what's going on.

[callitasicit]

You ask "in Markham"? You gotta be kidding. There are so many there that it is irrelevant to ask which is the best "one". The huge Cantonese colony up there ensures there will be plenty of excellent "ones". Hint: look at the crowds. My favourite tactic is to observe the number of old Chinese in a place because they have been around and know what's going on.

If there is so many, care to share your favourites??