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Asian Legend
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
21 reviews for Asian Legend
Review Highlights
-
"...other famous Shanghainese dishes (xiao long bao is a must." In 3 reviews -
"Dan Dan noodles in spicy peanut sauce." In 3 reviews -
"Here the crab and pork soup dumplings are the best." In 8 reviews
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21 reviews in English
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Review from Johnny H.
Toronto, ON
5/22/2012
We usually go to Asian Legend to eat peking duck. And some soup, fried noodles, spicy beef, etc. But when it comes to Chinese foods, the only thing I am familiar with is peking duck. So let's discuss the duck.
The duck comes out rather fast, considering the size of the place (or the number of tables and customers). But there is at least a good 20-30 minute wait for peking duck to arrive at your table. I have a bit of mixed opinions on carving. First, they can cut out a lot more meat than what they present. Also, they can be a bit more skillful with the size of meat. It is a bit hard to find chunky duck meat on the dish.
The duck tastes nice, but I feel that it is a bit greasy. It has a bit of contrived taste to it as well. The rice paper seems store-bought. The veggies are always soaking wet. So if you put too much on rice paper, it can destroy the flavor. Overall, the taste is ok. It is a shame that it has an artificial buffet-dining taste to it.
Wrong chinese foods give me headaches. It can be grease, MSG or some spice. This restaurant's peking duck does. I get that stuffy feel in my head after dining at Asian Legend. Drink a lot of tea while dining here. Teas help getting rid of those after-tastes.
The tables are awfully small. If you order a lot of dishes, you will have to play tetris on your table. And the noise level is just seizure-inducing. Everyone is sitting so close to each other. The service is ok as servers listen to your needs and requests, but they are not attentive. They don't have finesse in their manners - they just literally put things down on your table expecting us to rearrange the plates. But let's face it. It is a very busy restaurant. they have to take care of other customers too. Worst of all, they are not knowledgable with the menu or foods in general.
The redeeming qualities are the price and rather clean environment. -
Review from Raymond W.
Toronto, ON
3/8/2012
Everytime I come here it's 70 bucks. Whatever I order, no matter what amount of food, even if it's completely different from the last time I always end up paying 70.
This Asian Legend has become my "Let's catch up but I don't want to go far" restaurant. I entertained at least 6 people in the last two years here, just because I was in no shape wanting to leave the area. It's a causal enough establishment to accomplish this, and just upscale enough to make my friends feel comfortable. Out of every Asian Legend in Toronto, this is the best. This plaza is Blessed wit successful restaurants.
The décor is a hundred shades of brown with bright but also amber lighting, there are square and round tables. Semi-sectioned off area, and two main dining spaces split between by..not much. Ideal for groups of six.
The biggest attraction here is all day dim sum! Yeah baby, all day dim sum and it tastes fresh from morning to afternoon to late night. It's more expensive, but there are no other places to go when that craving hits you 10 O'clock at night.
Must try items include; Braised Pork Bellies, chicken soup, crab buns...and I forget the rest. The food is on another level from all the other locations, and the service is attentive. Not saying anything in particular, but this restaurant is primarily serviced by men, and they run a tight ship. Happy Women's Day! =D
I've had my Korean, Indian, Russian, Chinese and 'Other Asian' friends here and they were all impressed by the food. But I'd like to think that it's my infinite wisdom with the selection that only I can bring to the table. I know what they'll eat, and we order all kinds!
70 Bucks though!!..=[ -
Review from Suor K.
Maple, ON
12/31/2011
Having spent the past several years in Seattle, I haven't had good Chinese food in a long time. What was missing most were places to get xiao long bao. I would have to drive up to Vancouver BC to go to Lin's (before Din Tai Fung opened shop).
I was pleasantly surprised by the food quality at Asian Legend. We had the regular xiao long bao, and it was quite delicious. Flavorful soup with a generous portion of ground pork.
We also had the pan-fried pork dumplings, the pan-fried calzone with garlic, chives, shrimp, and egg, and the pan-fried green onion pancake. These were all perfectly pan-fried and delicious.
Finally, we had the chunky noodles in soup. Extremely delicious. The soup was mildly spicy and the beef was perfect. It reminded me of one of my favorite beef stew dishes.
All in all, I'm a fan and will be back. -
Review from Thuy T.
Woodbridge, ON
11/16/2011 5 photos
In my books, AL is good for stir fry and not too crazy for their dumplings because a lot of ginger was ebedded in some of the dumpling dishes.
I'm not crazy for ginger o_O So, for all the ginger lovers, you'll definately love their dumplings.
Restaurant Rating:
0(Too Sad), 1(Horrible), 2(Poor), 3(Ok Lah), 4(Good), 5(Excellent)
Food: 2-4
Clean: 4
Service: 3-4
Atmosphere: Casual
Will I Return? Yes
Keep in mind all food postings is according to personal preferences and taste buds. Therefore, it's best to try the places out for yourself and see if it suites your taste. -
Review from Theresa W.
Vancouver, BC
9/17/2011 4 Check-ins Here
I like how there are lots of locations for this restaurant, but I've only been to 3 of them and I still like this one the best. The food here is always decent, and even during busy times they keep your tea pot full.
We ordered the XLB, steamed dumplings, pan-fried dumplings, shanghai fried noodles, and stir-fried pea shoots for three people (and yes, it was too much food). The bill came out to be $45 incl tip, so a decent price for a very filling meal. They even provided green bean dessert soup free of charge, which was a nice surprise. Over all, it's not my #1 pick for dumplings, and I've had better XLB but in a pinch it fixes all cravings. -
Review from Wendy C.
10/30/2010
I hear this is the best Asian Legend, food wise. Not that I have tried all other locations, I am just happy this one is close by, and the food and service has been consistent ever since they opened here.
We usually go there for dim sum / snack food, not formal dinners. We will try something different every time, but we almost always order these dishes:
- Glutinous rice roll with Chinese donuts and meat floss fillings
- Wonton in in spicy peanut sauce
- Rolled onion cake with slices of beef
- Dan Dan noodles in spicy peanut sauce
- for dessert, my MIL loves the deep fried Chinese donuts with red bean paste filling. Six in one order, they come out piping hot and you want to eat it as quickly as possible when the dough/skin is still fluffy and inflated. So greasy, so good.
By the way, this is supposed to be a "northern Chinese" cuisine restaurant. But it more closely reflects what southerners' view of Northern food is. Not saying it's a bad thing. -
Review from Isabella L.
Toronto, ON
10/29/2010
When people ask where to go for ''dragon buns'' I usually tell them ASIAN LEGEND. Why?
1. Their service is always attentive and great consistently (even when it's super busy)
2. The decor is spacious and more modern than most Asian restaurants (which personally I like)
3. MOST importantly: The food is consistent and delicious with reasonable prices
Favorites:
D r a g o n B u n s
- I honestly don't think there has been a time that I've been here and NOT ordered any dragon buns. The skin of buns are thin but are still able to maintain the meat and juices inside without ripping, but be cautious you still have to be careful when picking it up off the plate. And the filling is delectable. (always eat these when hot 'cause it doesn't taste good when cold)
B e e f B r i s k e t N o o d l e
- Another no brainer on the menu list. I'd say I get this almost 85% of the time I come here as well. The meat here isn't as tasty as the one at Steeles Ave, but hell, it's still great. Very flavourful and the noodys are chewy (I fkin -LOVE- chewy noodles). And the base of the soup is great too although I wouldn't drink it on its' own.
S h a n g h a i - S t y l e R i c e C a k e s
- I don't like this dish as much as the beef brisket one, but nonetheless rice cakes are known to be chewy and I am a huge fan of chewy goodness. This dish is a mixture of rice cakes, cabbage and small strips of pork. Everything is great and the flavours come together really well! It's a big plate, we usually have to get take-out for this. Oh yeah, try the glutinous rice with dough fritter. Another must get!!
Overall: My mom got a discount card here. Enough said.Listed in: Chopsticks
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Review from Elle G.
11/6/2010
I love the "Legend". I mostly enjoy this one and the one on Dundas.
Here the crab and pork soup dumplings are the best.
If you like shanghai dim sum, it is a great place to go.
Favs include:
Pork soup dumplings
Beef roll ups
Pork pan fried dumplings
Moo shu pork
Beef flat noodle
Cantonese Chow Mein
Wontons in Spicy Peanut sauce
...and so much more
Today we saw the Peking Duck being prepared for someone and it looked fabulous.... next time!!
Modern decor, good service, great food quality.
Also, they have a VIP card which costs $15 a year, but gives you 10% off your bill. If you enjoy this dining spot as much as we do... SOOOOO worth it.
Note - the parking lot can be challenging but there is a parking garage that a lot of folks don't seem to use, but we always find a spot there if not outside. -
Review from Lynn C.
12/30/2010
The metro square location is better, but this one is not too bad.
I'm not a huge fan of this chain to begin with, and I definitely have had better Asian food.
Last time I was here, a few days ago, we had
- "hong yo chau shao" (spicy wonton): waaay too watery
- "fan twan" (rice rolls): the filling was good, i like the radish
- "yo tiau" really small and dry
- shanghai noodles: meh, kinda bland
- shao long bao (soup dumplings): MEH
Nothing spectacular about this place. I really don't have much to say about it. It's okay, not too bad for shanghainese dimsum.
they also try to sell you their membership cards while you're eating, over and over again, which is kinda annoying -
Review from Laura C.
Toronto, ON
10/17/2010
I'm so disappointed because I love Asian Legend (and other location but something happened today where some of the food was terrible and the service mediocre
It was Sunday around 1:30pm and the place was pretty full.
We got the glutinous rice with the dough fritter in it. I didn't know that they put an egg in it now and you can't get it just with the sugar like normal. The egg was good, but quite filling. I wasn't impressed that the saran wrap was loosely wrapped and falling apart.
We got the green onion pancake filled with beef, except I found it bland and tasteless.
The sauteed snow pea shoots (dow mui) was really good, but a simple dish. The xiao long bao with crab meat was good too.
We got the hot and sour soup, and i just found it to be a big soup with just some hot chilli oil added to it. I wouldn't recommend it. And needed more corn starch to be thicker.
We also got the rice cakes, they were okay.
The worst was the red been filled fluffly dough balls. It's meant to be a egg white flour type bun, light and fluffy, filled with red bean. Not only did the red bean inside taste funky, but I think the density of the egg white was too much. It should be thinner, and the egg white was undercooked and mushy.
In terms of service, they would be attentive, but no one speaks cantonese anymore! And I find it weird to speak english in a chinese restaurant, but I think I will have to!
If I were in the area, I might not come back here, but instead go to Peking Man (although the decor is not the best, the food is much better than this).
But to be honest, I don't understand why it was so bad. -
Review from Steve A.
Maple, ON
10/19/2010 2 Check-ins Here
Wonderful dining experience. Super quick service. Best General Tao chicken I have ever had. Smoked duck is a must try.
Although I have a feeling they use a lot of MSG cuz I was super thirsty when I got home. -
Review from Tammy L.
Toronto, ON
5/31/2010
Food? Fantastic. Service? The pits. Maybe it was because we went on a Saturday evening, however, we were virtually pushed off of our table. The complimentary dessert was provided to us while we were still making inroads on the mains. The waiters started clearing our personal dishes before we had stopped eating. Is taking one hour for 5 people too much to ask at Asian Legend? Apparently so. And not one "sorry" or otherwise when we grumbled about the service. I know it's busy but...
Having said that, the food is quite good especially when compared to many other shanghainese places in Toronto. The xiao long baos are good (almost as good as the ones at Ding Tai Fung). The tofu knot soup was also yummy. The fried chicken was well done, not too dry as in most places. The only real critique I had was the "la pi" (mandarin) or "lai pai" (cantonese) - mung bean flat noodles served with cucumber and peanut sauce. Tasteless and I've had 1000x better in a ratty street stall in China. But this is Toronto, so I can't really hold it against them too much.
Would have given this place a 4 star or maybe even a 4.5 star had I felt charitable, but the service just blew the whole thing for me. -
Review from Captain G.
3/10/2010
Excellent Shanghainese/Taiwanese food. Probably one of the best in Toronto. There are a few Asian Legend restaurants in Toronto but this is without a doubt the best one in Ontario.
Must order dumplings and other famous Shanghainese dishes (xiao long bao is a must!). Prices are extremely fair as well. You will come out full and still have enough money to go shopping ;-D -
Review from K V.
Thornhill, ON
3/20/2011
Nothing spectacular there for me. It is always packed, so be prepared to wait a little, and the tables are so close together that you feel like you are in one big cafeteria. There are some hits (mostly dough related) like chives and shrimp fried pancake, fried dumplings or thick noodle dishes, and the rest is just ok, with all the meats being covered by liters of thick and sticky sauce. Their Peking duck is $30 and it includes only first course with a limit of 12 pancakes, the duck itself is rather fatty for my liking and their sauce is too concentrated. The service is fine, I like that the tea is served in the thermos pot which keeps it nice and hot and it is being constantly refilled with hot water. It is somewhat pricier than other Chinese restaurants, so unless I'm with a group I'd choose to go somewhere else.
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Review from bold c.
Toronto, ON
Portions are enough to fill even Yao Ming's stomach.
Authentic Dim Sum and HOT SOUP!
30 Sec Summary
-----------------------
1. Park in the above ground parking and enter from the North Entrance. Parking is insane at this location which is shared with a Chinese supermarket.
2. Try the Chunky Beef with Noodles (Big bowl for $7.95) is the best value on the menu. Hearty and warming on a cold day. Very quick to order and full of flavor.
3. The Shanghai specialty Tofu Knots, with Pork & Bamboo Shoots in a large Casserole dish is my friends favorite and is authentic. I find Asian legend is hit or miss on this one. The broth is overwhelming with potent flavor but tastes vary. (Note: This is the one to order for your Mandarin speaking clients!) Price of $13.95.
4. Portions are enough to fill a family of four's tummy and take left overs home.
5. The location is hit or miss. There are several in Toronto and Markham. I prefer the downtown location. North York is too busy.
6. Long wait times (45 minute wait). Reservations strongly recommended.
7. The soup was good but not up to the standards of Asian Legend. It really is hit or miss depending on the cook.
8. Lots of large tables suitable for the entire family, audit team or department functions or client meetings. Lots of kids and loud environment.
9. TRY the su lon bau - Steam Soup Filled Juicy Pork Dumplings ($5.50 for 6) is awesome. Served in large bamboo steamers. The bite size dumpling is dipped into a fresh ginger and vinegar mixture and popped in your mouth. The flavors are potent and attracts a huge following. The best location is Richmond Hill for this particular item. You can watch them make at this location. -
Review from Rao R.
Brampton, ON
6/4/2011
This restaurant is what I like to call the "maestro of All Asian Legends". This restaurant really defines itself as a top restaurant in North York and demonstrating what Shanghai food is. I have been going to this restaurant for 2 years and it never seems to have any major flaws. The food here is authentic and always proportioned welled. The flavors are amazing and remind me of China. The food comes out quick and hot. Also, the servers are great and are always welcoming. They are responsive and always happy to take your order. Along with the great food , the restaurant decor feels amazing and looks like a true restaurant. I recommend this restaurant to everyone. This restaurant deserves my 5 out of 5 stars.
Listed in: No Place Like Ontario, No…
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Review from Joanne W.
4/11/2010
I always passed by this place, but never went inside it. I finally went with a friend the other day on Christmas Eve, and the place was PACKED. However, we quickly got a seat because it was only for 2. We had the following: steamed soup filled juicy pork dumplings (delicious!), braised bamboo shoots (good, but oily), hot and sour soup (really well-done), and fried rice cake shanghai style (good, but a bit bland). We were really filled, and the food was quite good.Service was good too considering the amount of people that were there. Will visit again.
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Review from Jen S.
Toronto, ON
11/10/2010
Straight up be prepared for the worst customer service experience ever. The staff bearly speak english and they will keep you waiting and bring you the wrong order. On the other hand, the food is truly amazing. I tried to do take out here to avoid the sloppiness of the staff's customer service, but each time i take out i do not get what i order or the food depreciate in taste and quality.
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Review from Vivian W.
8/15/2010
I love this place. I always come here every time I'm in Toronto. Note it's a bit more glammed up than many other Shanghainese/Taiwanese breakfast places, but it's very reliable. We always order the same things - seasoned soy bean soup, glutinous rice roll, xiao long bao, four seasons string beans. This location is always very packed, compared to the one on Yonge at least.
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Review from Beth F.
7/23/2010
Duck 2 ways and the pan fried rice cake were phenomenal. The greens were slightly on the oily side, but that just meant more room for duck pancakes! Luckily we went with locals who have been many times before because you are supposed to just write down your order and I would've been totally clueless. I love it when I go to eat with people who just order all the good stuff so I don't have to make any decisions and just get to enjoy stuffing my face.
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Review from Grant F.
Scarborough, ON
4/16/2010
Fantastic food. Large servings. Great service. Our favourite 'Chinese food' restaurant.
