Garden Restaurant

I will miss this place, and Dominic, who always kept calm even when it was jammed.
Thanks for the memories.

This is one of my best restaurants. Open till 5am I assume. Food is really really good. When you visit this place make sure you will try deep fried shrimps, deep fried calamari and deep fried squid. Spicy (when I mean spice it soooo spicy) green beans spicy eaters will be totally surprised. If you decide to go there make sure you check time when its some since its open until late it opens late as well. I drove from Richmond hill today to get my food and while I was driving I already had a taste of food I’m going to order but when I get there around 2:30pm I was shocked, place was closed what a drive so I had to go for a sushi :(good luck Unilocalers!

Everything was delicious. I hope they keep this place as is and don’t change it to a Japanese restaurant.

This place is clean and the food is standard Chinatown Cantonese fare. Not spectacular but a good option so close to the bus terminal. My one criticism is the service. The waiters have consistently tried to talk me out of my orders offering more standard options. I assume there have been people who’ve complained if they’ve expected Canadian chinese and recieved actual Chinese food instead and the servers are being proactive BUT I find having to work hard convince my server that I really DO want what I’ve asked for quite irritating.
All in all, this place has good food, looks clean and spacious but lacks the charm of the places on Dundas closer to Spadina.

I was here for lunch a few days ago with colleagues. This place is pretty good Canadian-​Chinese food. The staff are quick and efficient while not being particularly friendly (which is fine). No dish stood out particularly, but it’s a decent Canadian-​Chinese food joint if you’re in the area and want something cheap and quick.

Been here about a year ago and food was very good. Came back yesterday and was quite disappointed. We ordered the Satay Beef and Snow Pea Leaves Dish with a boiled rice.
The Snow Pea Leaves in Garlic Sauce dish was well made and tasty but at $ 12.50 was over price from what we are use to.
The Sizzling Beef in Satay sauce was a major disappointment. It lacked flavour and it had a chunk of Satay not mixed into the dish.
Décor is nice and modern but they are missing many of the details. Experience was pretty much the same as in any Chinese restaurant but with nicer décor and cleaner restaurant.
Would normally give it a two star but had a good experience the first time so average to 3 stars.
Food 3.0÷5
Service 3.5÷5
Ambiance 4.0÷5
Value 3.2÷5
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Overall 3.32÷5

This place is great if you like sodium and MSG. The prices are great. If you want a glass of wine that is is a double and under 6 dollars, this is your place. Personally I’m not a fan of Fast Chinese food. Go for the shawarma next door. If u are hungry after midnight.

Good food, large plates, affordable price, and most importantly, opens till midnight! The fried fish meat with vegetables is good, and the hunan beef is not spicy for a hunanese.

Love the food. Fast service. Sometimes too crowded to get a seat. Recommend spicy shrimp and vegetable fried rice.

Dined here for both lunch and dinner a couple of times in the past.
Not the best Chinese restaurant (food is mediocre) but if you want to eat Chinese food with quick service then this is a place to be. I never had to wait more than 5 – 10 min.

A good friend of mine recommended me this place so i thought I would give it a try. I went during lunch time and I’m not really surprised that the place was Packed! Due to the fact that the location of the specific restaurant was conveniently located at the heart of downtown Toronto. Too bad the food & service didn’t live up to my friend’s hype. I had to wait 10 minutes to get a table. Anyways, the décor is not bad, not good. It was average. One thing that is good is that they have tainted windows, so the «creepers» from outside of the restaurant won’t peek through and make funny faces and so on.
The food was OKAY, the food that I ordered was: Spicy Chili Chicken on rice, Crispy Spring Roll and a can of Coca-​Cola. The Crispy Spring roll is really oily, that it gave me a headache after eating it. The Spicy Chili Chicken on rice was good and I enjoyed it. It was really spicy for my taste (this is coming from a guy from a Indian background) and a can of Coca-​Cola, not really much to talk about. The service is really bad! I nearly waited 25 minutes to get my order and the servers NEVER refills your glass. Even after you had the oily Spring roll. I had to ask them to refill my water and it even takes them 2 minutes to get to my table and refill my water. They never come around and ask you how is the food and so on.
At the end my bill came up to $ 14.70. Which i think is a bit over priced from what I had from the food and service. I just left $ 17.00 and left without ever saying goodbye. Worst customer service experience and overpriced food.
You can get a better deal if you go to other Chinese restaurants! Save your money and go somewhere else!

Ordered a ton of take out. It was ready really fast in having it prepared for us, good price, food was pretty good.
Ill be going back for dine in. When I was there it was odd to see a minority of Asians in this place but oh well.

Good Congee — good beef brisket with noodles. Very Salty.

Just before the holiday season my Toronto CM counterpart and I decided to venture to this spot for a little pre/​post work day chow. From the reviews we had anticipated an average place but what we found was anything but…
From a decore perspective I’d say the place was far better than any average joint (trust me I’ve dined at some sketchy joints in my day) but with high ceilings, partitions separating the different areas of the restaurant and lots of windows, Garden was a surprising little oasis along Dundas!
But what about the food? Yum Yum Yum simple dirty-​cheap, Chinese food. Nothing dirty about the food quality though it was top shelf through and through (And I think at this point I’m able to distinguish the good from the bad, and the ugly).
Here is what we dined on that night:
Hot and Sour Soup to share — this was one of my first times with this dish and I actually really enjoyed it! I’m usually a Won Ton soup kinda guy but this chaned my opinion for sure!
Cantonese Chow Mein — this is my fav dish no matter where I eat and they did it just to my taste with all the noodles perfectly cooked and plenty of meat and veggies!
Pork Fried Rice — not ym fave dish but the rice was moist and there was a good amount of pork mixed in with the rice so this dish gets a thumbs up from me!
Spicy Beef with Chinese Broccoli — All I can say is I LOVE CHINESE BROCCOLI!!!
The bill was reasonable for all that food and we both left stuffed!
Pro-​tip: Pay at the front they don’t take your payment at the table!

Garden was located right across the street from our Hotel. From the outside the tinted windows made it seem like the place was closed, but if you go close enough you can see people digging in.
The vegetable fried rice and the spicy chicken wings were awesome. It was enough to share for two people.
Free hot tea
Reasonably priced
we got the refreshing oranges after the meal and our fortune cookie
Gotta love the hot oil and the soy sauce combination for a kick of flavor.

This place is A-​OK.
The hot and sour soup was large and in charge and all of the food came quickly. It’s a really typical greasy Chinese menu, but the décor is a little nicer than most places around here. Tackier? Nicer. Nicer and tackier.
PEPPER’S PISSED: No debit and you have to pay at the front. This was not clearly articulated and I was waving like a fool.
¹⁷⁄₃₀
PS: Cornucopia.

I’ve eaten my share here throughout the years. Though I’d like to give them points on nostalgia (I used to eat here practically every day at my first summer job), I’m evaluating based on food only, they can make a mean beef with bok choy with rice combo for lunch but for the rest of the dishes they are just A-​OK or below average. Nothing close to the grade one can receive at Congee Queen.

There’s two hotels beside this restaurant, I woke up in one of them after a night of heavy drinking. Garden restaurant was at the end of the street, which was as far I could get on two feet at the time. Good enough!
Very discrete sign, tinted windows, small entrance. I must have came here around 1pm on a Saturday morning, and for the state at the time, this place was too nice. Very clean, contemporary décor with smartly dressed service staff.
I was with these two ladies that I met only a week ago, and this was our first time partying together. I struggled to hold myself upright, I must have looked completely pathetic. They kept giggling at me, probably making fun of my utter lack of sobriety.
We ordered the chicken!
Chicken fried rice, spring rolls I think, some beef dish and A LOT of tea. The table wasn’t wobbly, but it felt that way.
It took me ten minutes to realize that I was actually eating the food. There I was, chewing away at what was in my bowl, but it was nothing special. Having a hangover doesn’t mean I lose my taste for food, yet what I ordered lacked flavour.
The sobering properties of the tea began to take affect, but the food remained unremarkable. I was impressed by how clean and efficient the staff here were, I remember seeing a majority of black & brown.
I was just glad that at least nobody on the street could see pass the tinted windows at my sheer pitiful state. The girls were nice, and paid for the meal, knowing full well that I was in no shape to count.
I think the cheque came out to around $ 40.
Next thing I remember was sinking into the back seat of someone’s BMW while I felt someone’s fingers massage at the back of my scalp.
When I woke up again, I was home in my bed holding a takeaway box, and a huge spinach between my teeth.
I heated up the left overs, not so great.
I’m still friends with these women, because you know. this is how friends are made.

I have been here a few times and I have to admit that Garden Restaurant delivers not so much because their food is amazing. As it is not. However it is simple, well done and reliable. I remember their old location and what a dump it was back then, but the food was always tasty.
However once you thrown in the modern and attractive, dark-​wood heavy décor, then this place stand above the typical hole in the call that is most Chinese restaurants in the strip/​hood.
I would say the restaurant is a relatively cheap and tasty option for when you are in the hood and yes, sometimes you have the feeling that this is not a «let’s stay and linger over a glass of wine,» kinda of place. No, they are in the business of «feeding you and once you have done that, please get out and lets get more people in.»
Is that a bad thing? No, I really don’t think so, as this place is generally so busy that you yourself will be wanting to leave once you eat.
Now, just remember, this place can get packed… and by packed I mean ridiculously packed. Specially post-​club hungry patrons desperately looking for a place to eat.
In fact last time I was there, it was so packed that getting out of the restaurant past the unholy group of people waiting for a table was the hardest thing to do out of the whole visit!
That aside, if you are with a large group of friends and want to eat at a relatively nice looking place with a reliable and competent kitchen, then you can’t go wrong with Garden Restaurant.

I was unable to make myself like the Garden after two or three visits. The only funny thing I really remember of it is that first time in I’ve asked for a bottle of Tsingtao beer, the water was like: «It is not just some beer, it is THE beer!» And I was like: «ok, bring me THE beer, please».
Steam rice was well prepared and comfortable to grab with chopsticks. But the food was bad… Not really horrible, just not user-​friendly at all — and barely digestible. I tried different plates and they were all like that. Uninspiring taste and sore stomach guarantee.
Obviously compared to the actual Chinatown places just a couple of blocks to the West, Garden may feel like a luxury spot, but still… Can not recommend it, and would not return — unless forced or drunk.