Pearl

Always great Chinese food !
In Bayview village so the place looks great !
Staff are friendly but it is a little pricey

Just below decent but very, very pricey.
The dim sum at this place is not fresh out of the oven, they were pre-​cooked and then (barely) heated up to serve. The egg tarts that we ordered arrived only after we reminded them and it wasn’t warmed up at all; it most likely sat in the kitchen the whole time.
For the amount of money you pay (approx. $ 20-​$ 25 per person, excluding tax or tip) the quality of the food is definitely not worth. I understand that the restaurant is located in the expensive Bayview Village so it has to make enough money for the rent, but the food has to be equally good to justify that. There are better places in the area, such as the Paradise Chinese Cuisine restaurant at Leslie St. and Finch Ave.
Also note that, as a previous Unilocaler pointed out, this establishment has a history of failing food safety inspections, and one of the inspections forced the restaurant to close for 10 days. One of the infractions is «fail to provide adequate pest control», and I hope you know what that means. You can check out details for yourself by going to the City of Toronto’s DineSafe program website.
I would not recommend this place.
Washroom rating: Uses shopping mall washrooms.

Never again! Tiny portions of over priced, suspect quality Chinese food.
$ 6.00 for a cup of hot and sour soup? Really?
On top of the above, attitudes here by staff leaves a lot to be desired.

Nice view, clean. Food was ok. We had failed Lan, shrimp dumpling, scallop dumpling, bbq pork chow fun. Best dish was the deep fried eggplant with shrimp paste.

First time we’ve been here and it was, as promised, pricey but good.
We had the standard dim sum. Har gow, Siew Mai, Cheong fun (shrimp and beef rolls), chicken feet, beef tripe, Bbq pork buns, sticky rice, carrot turnip cake and a whole lot more. The desserts were also very good. Love the sesame mini patties and the lotus sesame seed balls. They are not too sweet and has a wonderful sticky, chewy texture to both of them.
This place is small but extremely popular. There are many regulars who frequent this restaurant. The service is good. Busy lunch time crowd but there are many servers to ensure speed and efficiency. They also change your plates for you in between which is not a common practise at most dim sum places.
Try to ask for their special XO sauce that goes with anything. They do not automatically serve it so you need to know to ask for it. It’s very tasty and is made with dried shrimp and scallop, so it’s more of a delicacy sauce.
Will definitely come back to this place but only for special occasions as we don’t foresee spending $ 120 for lunch frequently. There were 5 of us. Dim sum is usually $ 60 – 70 for 6 of us typically.

Service was totally adequate.
Soup had zero flavour
Main courses were very bland, no discernible taste.
Menu is pricey for Chinese

I am done. As I write this my head is still buzzing from the MSG. Why is it that because I am white, I am refused an extra pot of hot water? Instead, my tea gets dark and undrinkable. On top of all this, the pretentiousness of this place is disgusting.
On to the food — gotta love the fruit flies following my spicy eggplant from the kitchen onto my table. Everything was greasy and under seasoned; dim sum wrappers way too thick and by bringing out all the food to the table within 5 minutes, dishes got cold and inedible.

I liked their sweet and sour pork — crispy and not too greasy — but I think this place is too over-​priced.

A great place for dim sum. Fresh cooked to order and friendly service. Definitely will go back when I’m in the area!

Just FYI everyone this place failed DineSafe multiple times.
I am quite shocked that this place has had such a bad DineSafe history, I’ve been here on several occasions and I thought the Dim Sum was actually quite good albiet pricey.
I’ll never come back again after seeing the DineSafe history, 1 time warning I’ll let it slide but it’s been multiple times including it finally being closed temporarily.

The BEST dim sum brunch around. Food has never been a disappointment.
Service is friendly, food is quick and always so delicious. This location is great and so is the harbour front location! Prices are a bit higher than other Chinese food places but well worth it!
We go about 3 times a month on Sundays. Best menu item: hockey pucks and honey beef.
My recommendation is to make reservations if you’re planning to go during the weekend. if you are planning with a group of more than five– I suggest the harbour front location.

This place has decent Chinese food at a premium, just because of the mall. The taste of the dishes is ALMOST authentic so I tend to take my non-​Chinese friends here, especially if it is for a meeting and the people want to eat Chinese food. Would we continue to go here? Yes :)

I am bitter.
A shade over a year ago, Pearl replaced my beloved Yen Ching.
It’s a fancier room, with much fancier prices, and an emphasis on dim sum with slightly fishy sea food.
My Peking Ravioli are replaced by something called a hockey puck, and my Yu Hsiang or double sauteed pork are nowhere to be found.
Alas.

Came here through a groupon deal. This place is decorated with blue and white trendy décor, and since its in Bayview village this place is pricier than your typical Chinese restaurant.
For starters we had their Pearl appetizer: ³⁄₅ consisted spring rolls, fried garlic shrimp dumplims, and shrimp rolls. To be quite frank, when its all fried it tasted the same.
entrée:
blackbean chicken satueed mushrooms in hot pot: ⁴⁄₅.
The flavor was perfect, and the chicken was cooked perfectly to tenderness. Thankfully they did not over use the blackbean sauce!
Sauteed Beef w/​Green Peppers, Black Bean & Garlic Sauce: ³⁄₅
for some reason we had a blackbean (high) and decided to order this dish. The meats were cooked well, however i found the pieces of green peppers over cooked.
overall this place is A-ok…first time, and probably last time.

I am a regular at this restaurant and I really think that their food is great. What I love so much about this place is that I don’t feel sick after eating their food — (like that MSG sick feeling). I do have a «Chinese food coma» though afterwards (and I’m Chinese so I’m allowed to say that!).
The décor/​ambiance is A-​OK. I think they try to match that trendy-​chic appearance that the Bayview Village has tried to transform into. Nothing too fancy though. But it’s good.
The food is good. I especially really like the sesame chicken — it’s crispy outer later and soft chicken inner layer makes the whole experience awesome to taste. You also get to experience that «sweet & savoury» adventure with that chicken. Their vegetables are also good for the most part. If you’re Chinese, they give you an all Chinese menu at night time that has some items that the regular menu doesn’t have. For example, they have that preserved vegetable (muy choi) pork belly (kau yook) pot, which is DELICIOUS. I think the reason why they have items that a regular menu doesn’t have is that the vast majority of the non-​Asian population (I’m not saying ALL), would probably not like it. But if you’re non-​Asian and reading this and saying, «Oh my goodness, how racist or prejudice of them», definitely ask for the Chinese menu and get a waiter to translate it and see what you’ll fancy.
As for service, the service is probably the factor where they lose stars. One particular waiter will notice your empty plate and not clear it but cleared it for every other table with Caucasians sitting around me. Finally, I had to get him over to clear the plates because we had a lot of empty plates around. If you aren’t sure, at least ask if we would like it cleared please. But I noticed on multiple occasions this has happened not just to me but surrounding tables with Asians sitting there. He just wouldn’t clear our plates… so I don’t know if there’s a Chinese thing where you’re not supposed to clear plates until the end… in any case, I asked my mom and she said that it’s nonsense and that the waiter should just clear everyone’s damn plates.
All in all, this is a restaurant that I really like to go to. For the most part, the waiters & waitresses are good and the service is good. The food is great so I’d definitely go again. I, too, am super surprised at the low reviews at this place. I think it may be because it’s pricier than the average Chinese food place but hey, at least I’m getting quality Chinese food here and not getting a headache or feel like I’m going to die after.

I came here for a Groupon I bought. Without the Groupon, I don’t think I would have come here. Why? Expensive Chinese food in a Western mall.
The restaurant is tiny. It’s located in Bayview Village. It’s so tiny that we walked right passed it and didn’t even see it. Inside, tables and chairs are white, and several other people are eating. It’s 6:30pm and it’s not busy at all.
The average price of each dish is about $ 20. This in Chinese terms equals EXPENSIVE. We ordered 4 dishes, the special sweet and sour pork, beef with vegetables, chicken with vegetables, and mushrooms with vegetables. You know what’s funny? The latter 3 dishes all had the same vegetables, just different main ingredient.
Taste wise, it was good. Not $ 18 per dish good, but it was very tasty. 4 plates shared amongst 5 adults actually was enough food. We also got 3 bowls of rice.
After Groupon (-$ 40), our bill was still $ 60. Pretty expensive for Chinese food.
Service was very good and attentive. But I’m guessing only because the restaurant was so empty and the servers were bored. We had three people come clear our table for us. That seems a bit excessive.

I have been to the downtown Pearl by Harbourfront and that place is always busy. I was not surprised this location has people waiting by the front desk to be seated.
You should make a reservation if you plan to go and we always find they accomodate our groups nicely (group size from 4 ppl — 8ppl). No complaints about the food.
The actual restaurant can get pretty loud, wait staff are good but not super great.

With the Groupon tries this restaurant. The deco is trendy although not glamorous. The lighting is bright. It is inside the Bayview Village right across the O&B. This restaurant is a sister restaurant of Pearl Harbourfront Chinese Cuisine
There are 3 rows of tables — the rectangular tables on one side with sofa, the large table for family in the middle and the small tables on the other side. I booked the table at 7:30 p.m. Although there are quite number of people lining up, I am able to get my table pretty soon.
I order the Pearl Rainbow Chopped in Crystal Fold that is minced pork and Chinese sausage mixed with mushroom, water chestnuts, celery and carrots and served with lettuce. The lettuce is very fresh and the Rainbow chop does not disappoint me. Then comes the Ginger and Onion chicken. The chicken is tender and nothing too special. The beef and broccoli fried noodle is very tasty and mix well in the dish.
The service needs improvement as all the waiters/​waitresses seem to work on their own. The store area is not large and is rectangular in shape. It should be very easy to spot a waiter but instead most of the times, they are behind the counter and in the kitchen. When finally waved our hands and get attention to pay our bill, we do not have any fortune cookies that is served to other tables. We have to explicitly ask for it.
The food is good — 4 stars
The service — 3 stars
Clean and tidy — 4 stars
Bathroom — I haven’t checked

We often go to their location by the water; I definitely recommend that location if you have out of town visitors as it shows how beautiful Toronto is.
Anyway, back to the Bayview Village Pearl …
Staff are very friendly.
Décor of the place is very modern and chic.
On weekends, it’s packed so anticipate a wait.
They have lunch specials, very reasonable pricing here —
On Saturday, my mum and I ordered a mix of dim sum items and lunch specials — Lunch A w Lemon Chicken ($ 10) + Pan fried pork dumplings + Peanut dumplings. The latter was interesting … not something I’ll order again, but worth a try if you like peanuts.
As it’s in a mall, there’s a ton of parking. Proximity to the subway station is a plus.
Overall a good place to dine after shopping in the mall.
A solid four stars.

The old Chinese restaurant, Yee Ching, is gone and replaced by a modern, brand spanking new Pearl Restaurant (same chain as the one by Harbourfront).
They renovated the small space, and it’s shiny, white and sparkly. Maybe it’s a bit too modern for it’s own good. The tables are small, and it’s a bit crowded. The best seats are near the entrance (so that you can people watch and it’s more open). The place is designed more for pairs than larger groups.
The chairs are also hard and hurts my bum after 2 hours of sitting.
There’s something about the lighting in here. Although bright because of the white walls, its dark in the middle. Sitting in the middle of the room, the food in the centre was really dim
We came for Dim Sum on Sunday afternoon. I’m impressed that my parents want to try a new place (we usually go to Paradise), so this was a nice change.
They have the basic dim sum options like har gow, siu mai, beef short ribs, tripe, curry cuttlefish, rice noodle rolls, (no chicken feet) :(etc., no fancy twists or changes. The foods some of them came in huge portions (like the Leaf wrapped Rice), and some smaller. It tasted great, and more refined than than some other places.
But I was told, it was more expensive ($ 5 each dish, as opposed to avg $ 3 — but see how you can get a VIP discount card!)
There’s lots of staff around, but I find that they need more experience and trained. They all kind of look the same too, and in usual asian fashion, you need to wave them down.
They seemed really busy, and no time for chit chat (nor is there room)
The bathrooms are downstairs, and kind of stinks (although the actual washroom is quite nice, and small). Better bet to go to the one in the mall.
It’s a great location, but I hope it can live up to the standards of the clientele in the area. Not sure if they are trying to cater to the Western crowd at all. Some Chinese folks may like it, but already my uncle complains it’s too small!