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Asian Legend, despite the tacky name, is actually a chinese food restaurant without the tackiness. No "chicken balls" on the menu here - Asian Legend serves what I'm guessing is reasonably authentic chinese food at equally reasonable prices.
This is the kind of place where the bigger the group you go in, the better the experience, because you can try more things and share them out. As a group of three, we were able to polish off an order of steamed dumplings (delicious), an onion pancake wrapped with beef (greasy and fantastic - I would love to be able to buy these from a cart on the street late on a Saturday night), moo shu pork, and kung pao chicken with steamed rice. The kung pao was disappointing in that it lacked any kick at all - this is supposed to be a spicy dish but yet I didn't even need my glass of water - very strange.
The restaurant is large, with nice decor. Our server was void of smiles, pleasantries, or anything resembling conversation, but he was never less than efficient.
The food is good. It's pretty standard Shanghai-nese food with dim sum, and main dishes and dessert.
I like that the quality stays thru all the locations and it's very standardized.
Service wise, it's a chinese restaurant. We don't have type for politeness. Just wave em down and get to business.
The downtown location gets a 3 star because of the venue itself.
It's loud and noisy. And cramped. Sitting on the bench (no cushion) we were really close to the next table. Everyone can hear my conversation and I can here there. You glance sideways, and suddenly you're talking to the next table. People talk loud, and poor acoustics make it louder. Not the best place after a morning hangover
They also have 4-5 rooms downstairs you can book for bigger group.
I had read about their pork floss in glutinous rice roll and had glimpsed their austere interiors on a couple of sites (this included). Service was slow on a mid-afternoon with only a few other tables occupied.
The much anticipated pork floss with fried donut and glutinous rice roll arrived and was met with some dissapointment upon inspection. The rice roll was not at all glutinous, rather was sticky and packed tight against the rest of the dish, which ended up falling apart anyway on your plate.
The two other dimsum dishes were acceptable but forgettable. I'm not sure I'd return to try any of their dishes.
Extra points however for having possibly some of the cleanest and most well-designed washrooms in Chinatown.
Excellent service. Even though we ordered a lot the food, it still came out very fast.
The restaurant is very beautiful, the place was excellent and I definitely recommend it to everyone else.
Dim sum was very good as well, can't turn down those soup dumplings..
Bathroom was very clean!
My partner went to Asian Legend last with a friend last month, and came home with left-over Rolled Onion Pancake with Sliced Beef. After one bite of it, I couldn't wait to get more of that deliciousness.
After a long wait (three Statistics exams later), we finally had a chance to give Asian Legend a visit together. We ordered 2 Rolled Onion Pancakes with Sliced Beef (that's right, we are not sharing this), Stir Fried Ho Fun with Beef (so good!) and House Special Crispy Chicken (crispy and delicious).
We like the friendly service. Staff is very attentive. As soon as they notice that a plate is empty, they would politely ask if we are finished, and quickly remove the empty plate from the table. Can't beat the price either. Asian Legend is on our Must Go Back list.
Parking: There is a Green P near by, 40 Larch Street (1.25/Half Hour).
Julie
Whew... had a feast at this spot last night. Needed some good Chinese food and spotted lots of items on their menu that I wanted to have so headed over and here's a list of what we had......
Apps....
1) Juicy Buns of course... Xiao Lun Bao. Had the pork only.. Good 3***
2) Pork and Crabmeat version of Xiao Lun Bao. Much better than the pork only version and top item on the menu for me. 4****
3) Steamed Glutinous Rice. Typical and nothing special. 3***
3a) Beef stuffed in sesame biscuit was tasty 4****
Cold Apps
4) Beef Shank was ok 3***
5) Jelly Fish was pretty good 4****
6) Wheat Gluten (Kau Fu) was terrible. This is one of my things to get at a Shanghainese restaurant so I know what to look for and this place made it taste like a sponge 1*
Soup
7) Hot and Sour with Chicken. No real flavor and forgettable 2**
Entree
8) Peking Duck was served with one plate of the good meat and skin and one plate of the cut up bone parts. Never seen it this way but I guess they want to make sure you get the whole duck. The meat was a bit fatty but overall, not too bad. The cucumber are cut way too thick and messes with the taste when you put it in the wrap. 3***
9) Steamed Whole Bass was ok. Didn't do it for me as the fish just didn't taste fresh... 2**
10) Pork Chop with Honey Garlic Sauce was too sweet and meat was not tender. I tried to get them to do it peking style and they stared at me like I was crazy. 2**
11) Dry Sauteed String Beans flavorful and well made 4****
12) Yang Zhou Fried Rice was fine. You can't really screw this one up. 3***
Desserts
13) Crispy Deep Fried Bananas. Terrible. The banana was basically caramelized and smothered with the chewy and overly sweet covering making it almost inedible. 1*
14) Mango Pudding. Not good either.. Bland and almost a bit bitter. What up??? 1*
15) Sweet Rice Dumpling with Sesame Filling. Finally a dessert that was worthy. The rice balls were excellent in a soup with taro and tapioca and definitely the thing to get. 4****
Overall, the experience was average. Food is decent. The wait staff is NOT attentive and hard to get their attention. I had to ask for new plates and for things to be taken away. You walk in and the restaurant feels very contemporary but you end up getting the typical Chinatown bad service experience. I'm just overly picky but the rest of my party REALLLY enjoyed themselves....
I would recommend that you avoid this place. But try it for yourself; if you had the same service as I did I won't have to convince you.
When, I ordered the waiter gave me the wrong meal. My meal had tofu and squid, shrimp and what I think was chicken. The one I ordered was supposed to have chicken, beef, and Shrimps. Also, it was the wrong noodles. Mistakes can happen so I ask the waiter and he Tells me `We don't list all the ingredients in our menu` I gently tell him that doesn't make sense since everything with tofu lists tofu and I point again at the menu item. Again he insisted that what I got despite no explanation for the missing beef.
Not wanting to cause a fuss with my friends and delay their meal. I ate it , but it was disappointing. Maybe what I wanted would have tasted good. I'll never know. To my added surprise I was charged 3$ extra oddly the same price as the meal above which had the ingredients I had in my meal. I hope others first impressions of this place is better, but mine is ruined.
-JF
See, the first time I went here we went here for a different "northern style" dim sum experience. Their dim sum selections were quite small and although it was a different dim sum experience than your traditional "har gow", "siu mai" kind - it was quite expensive. They had similar dim-sum type foods but they were just different kinds of meat. The best part however, was the soup-filled dumplings! I found myself craving that all the time after coming here.
I was reluctant to go back to a chain-type restaurant for Chinese food, but when we went for a friend's birthday, I had to admit that the food was well worth the price. It is not at all comparable to chain-type restaurant, Spring Rolls and I'm more than willing to pay a small premium for the cleanliness and atmosphere that the place has.
What I highly recommend here is their roasted duck skin wraps! They do up a whole roasted duck, and they cut the outter crispy skin of the duck off, which is eaten with a flour-like wrap (DIY). Then you can choose what dish you'd like the rest of the duck made into - I recommend the DIY lettuce wraps!
Friend took me to this place today. Pretty good food, my family went to Asian Legend once in Scarborough and we were very impressed, food wasn't typical Chinese fair, it had a lot better presentation as well as the decor is nice.
Food was really good and the prices are decent. Nice place to go back to.
I didn't want to like this place. Too fancy for Chinatown and the prices oh so slightly more than the other holes-in-the-walls in the hood. After reading reviews on the soup dumplings, I had to go.
Random Notes:
1. Pork soup dumplings - pretty damned good but it's no 'Joe's Shanghai' in NY. Only six (smaller) dumplings to an order (most places have eight) and more than $1 per. Quality was quite good, but not as soupy as I like. Still, very good.
2. Kung Pao chicken did not illicit a reaction nearly as memorable as George's from Seinfeld, but was a tasty dish nonetheless. I suspect the peppers were either flash deep fried or cooked in a lot of oil.
3. They actually serve the dan-dan noodle. They tasted like they could be house made. That being said, they're not very flavorful. This dish is forgettable but not regrettable.
4. Thursday at 9:30pm = empty.
5. Good -- seeing a lot of good service from Asian places lately, this scares me.
I like this place a lot. Going to try dim sum there soon. Maybe even try a UYE on for size!
Listed in: Gettin' My Eat on in Slanty…
So this is really my consistent go-to for downtown Chinese food even though it principally violates a few fundamental Chinese restaurant rules, one - more expensive than average, two - you pay for the service and decor, three, certain dishes are over oiled and over garliced in the non-Asian style.
But, you have to admit that there really aren't many options downtown where a venture to the bathroom makes you feel dirtier after you've done the deed.
The soup dumplings are pretty darn good quality, especially the ones with crab meat - option #1. Also, they have a decent selection of veggies and tofu dishes. The pork belly is delicious is cooked properly. Still, the service seems spottier especially when there is a crowd and having to wait 30 mins for rice when all your other dishes have arrived is ridiculous.
Nevertheless, I'll keep coming back. Just wish there was somewhere else to go.
Okay...so being Chinese it is tough to admit a chain place can produce some quality food but I'm… Read more »
Valentine's comes once a year, and I generally use it as an excuse to make my partner treat me to a huge decadent meal. This year Valentines fell on Chinese New Year and we made it a two birds one massive glutton fest.
We went Asian Legend on recommendation and while we weren't disappointed, I didn't fall in love. The beef pancake was phenomenal, a Chinese burrito of sorts and started the meal off on a high note. The greenbeans with dried shrimp were great too. But the house fried rice, and sweet and sour pork disappointed. The service was unenthusiastic but kind.
Great place in Chinatown. First this was a recommendation from a good taiwanese friend of mine who told me this is the place with good chinese. Ended up going there with my girlfriend on saturday and we had a phenomenal dining experience.
Our order was as follows:
- Pork Dumplings - these were delicious fresh and hot and juicy perfect dumpings.
- Kung Pao Chicken - nice and spicy with good dose of vegetables and peanuts
- Seafood Fried Rice. - Nice and tasty fried rice with shrimp with my fav. hot sauce was delicious
TIPS :
1. Waiters are knowledgeable and will discuss with you the best dishes make sure to ask for advice from them before u order
2. Have the Dumplings ; these were great dumplings
Decor : 5 stars (because it was in chinatown i was impressed with the decor)
Food : 5 Stars (BEST CHINESE I'VE HAD)
Value : 5 Stars (The dishes were about 10 bucks a plate for great food and good decor)
Service : 3 Stars ( This was the only downside the waiter needed to keep being reminded to get me water or a fork or hot sauce)
All in All a great dining experience...will definitely go there again.
I go here at least once a month so I'm not new to this restaurant. I love thier steamed pork soup dumplings, they're always made fresh and come out steaming hot so watch out, or they'll burn your lips!! They're always so juicy and flavourful! I love this restaurant! Good food and quick service! They even have a see through screen that shows people making the dumplings fresh. I also love their chunky beef noodles!! It's soo tasty!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this restaurant!
Listed in: My Dumplings ;)
From the inside you would never know that you were in Chinatown..really sleek and minimal. As you've read...you write your order down on a piece of paper and voila your food arrives promptly.
I won't go into great detail about the food except to say that it was all excellent. We had the soup dumplings with pork, scallops, and few other ingredients that I can't remember at the moment. My wife had the crispy noodles with vegetables. We're really sad that we don't have a place like this back home...great food at a good value.
In spite of everything I've heard about Asian Legend, I was less-than-impressed with my experience here. We got a mango chicken dish with bok choy and pork. Pretty underwhelming especially considering our monster wait time. I was told my experience was due largely to the fact that I didn't bring Asian friends. That doesn't make any G-D sense.
Obligatory Title Pun: LEGENDARY let down.
Menu readability: I honestly can't remember.
Need to mention: Cool decor and atmosphere. The only let down was the food.
What this place teaches me about myself: I need more Asian friends.
I have to do another top notch review because i went here again and i STILL love it. I lov eit so much I would even go alone and order an unrealistic amount of food just so I could take it home.
For those of you who dont' realize, this is the ONLY good chinese food I have ever had in Toronto- and that's sayin' SOMEthin cuz I come from Vancouver.
there is nothing bad on the menu and this is the only place I trust to take any friends who are in the mood for chinese food. Everyone I bring here adores the food and then comes back time and time again to introduce it to other people.
soooo good.
I had recalled that Asian cuisine in Toronto was top notch from a trip during school over 10 years ago. On this return trip, I was happy to see it was still the case.
Asian Legend, located in the Chinatown area of Toronto is a perfect example of this top notch cuisine. Having eaten in Hong Kong, China, Vancouver, San Francisco, and LA, I have certain expectations when it comes to Chinese food and flavor. Asian Legend met them and in some cases exceeded those expectations.
The decor is modern and really belies it's Chinatown location. But the diverse menu, friendly prices, and casual service remind you that this gem really is in Chinatown next to many 1 star locales.
Our choices:
Crab meat and pork soup dumplings - excellent. The crab meat and pork were both very distinct and very fresh. The dumpling skins were a tad thicker than many places, but there was plenty of soup in each one.
Crab meat and fish maw soup - a large bowl of soup came out piping hot. Not as much crab meat as I expected, but reasonable given the low price.
Lobster e fu mein - a huge lobster accompanied the e-fu noodles. At least three large claws were present and the flavor was wonderful. The noodles were a bit dry though and could have used more lobster sauce. Overall, a huge portion for the price.
Asian Legend accepts credit cards, but not American Express.
Let me first tell you the determination it took for me to eat here. The night before my boyfriend told me he wanted to leave early the next morning to drive home so I tried looking up the restaurant hours online and it could not be found so I figured most restaurants open after 10am. We got there exactly at 10am the next morning and it was still closed as were most of the other restaurants in Chinatown. I wasn't giving up without eating dim sum in Toronto before driving back so I walked up and down the street asking random chinese people what time most restaurants open on sundays using my elementary level chinese skills :)
No one seemed to know so I went to the internet cafe across the street to speak to the employee on duty and he also did not know what time it opened and was extremely puzzled why someone would have to eat specifically at Asian Legend when he could recommend other restaurants down the street that were opened. I wanted to call Asian Legend hoping the hours would be recorded on the answering machine but my phone internet doesn't work in Canada so asked if I could buy like 5 min internet time at the internet cafe. The guy was really nice and let me use his own computer and when I called Asian Legend they picked up and told me they were opened?! I was like umm I was just outside and he told me he was on the way to open the door as we speak.
So now that I've wasted a half hour and my boyfriend is irritated waiting in the car we go inside and my boyfriend is expecting this place better be no less than amazing. I ordered soup dumplings, jelly fish, deep fried tofu, red bean pancake and the waiter recommended this onion/beef fried pancake which was very good. The fried tofu and pancakes were my favorite picks and we had some pancakes leftover for our long drive back.
My boyfriend and I were both very happy we got to eat here.
Not your average Chinese restaurant. No plastic tableclothes or faded carpets. More like you're dining somewhere in the core. If you like dim sum or dumplings --- this is a must. Menu is biased to more northern Chinese food. While I think their Scarborough location is better, this will do in a pinch if you need a fix downtown. No doubt, that's a big reason why it's always busy. Dropped by around 9pm last night (a Wednesday) and the place was full. +ives: dumplings, it's their specialty -ives: can be tough to find a table but it's worth it.
The Asian Legend chain restaurants are not all created equal. This one is slow and not as flavorful as the Asian Legend on Steeles, east of the DVP. That Asian Legend convinced me to buy their discount card because I knew I would be coming back again and again. The Asian Legend downtown was a once only and I will not return.
We had Dong Po pork - the broccoli was raw and the Dong Po pork meat itself was not thoroughly heated - warm on the outside and cold on the inside
The other 2 dishes were forgettable.
They charged us for items we did not order, and forgot to bring the rice until we asked 3 times and were almost finished our meal.
Wait!
We can review in Canada!!! Yay! I wonder if I can start reviewing in the UK...
Asian Legend Rocks... It's definitely got a more northern flair, compared to the ubiquitous cantonese dimsum in Toronto. For a chinese restaurant to survive in Toronto, you've got to be relatively good -- none of that, "I moved to north america and need to make ends meet, so I'll just fire up a wok, and use internet recipes --"
So, try out the XLBs, the chive dumplings, the dan dan noodles. Shanghai chic in North America. Come to think of it... I need to go A.S.A.P!
I have been to Asian Legend many times (mostly at their Hwy 7 and Leslie location) and have never been dissapointed. Their food is different than most chinese restaurants you will go to and I find that their food can be described as a bit of `modern chinese` (this coming from a gwai-loh so I might not know what I`m talking about haha)
The atmosphere of the restaurant is always lively and they have a lot of waiters to take care of your needs. Going in big groups is always recommended as that way you can share and sample a lot of their food (they have a lot of food selection).
Must Have`s:
- Soup-filled dumplings - absolutely amazing!
- Most of their soups, I generally don`t like soup but they just have such unique tastes
ABSOLUTE must-have:
- Red bean Pancake - one of the best desserts ever!!
All in all, I don`t think you will be dissapointed with what Asian Legend will serve you, they have a lot of locations all around Toronto so definitely try them out. They have started to grow a lot recently and it is obvious why.
I was brought to Asian Legend by my Asian roommate and her family for Chinese New Year (my new favourite food holiday). As my roommate would say, "If there are a lot of Chinese people inside, it's good". Since this location in Chinatown is frequented by a lot of tourists, they weren't all Asian. But the food was SOOOO good.
This place isn't your typical Spadina greasy spoon. The décor is really classy and everything inside is so pretty! And the food. The food is really really good. Having grown up in Scarborough I consider myself to be somewhat of a Chinese food connoisseur and this place passed my stringent test (of food being delicious and not too greasy). I remember ordering about 8 dishes between the group of us and everything being amazing. In particular the Chinese Broccoli and their fried rice seemed to be far tastier than anything I had had elsewhere.
I did see that their menu offered dim sum and was intrigued -- now that I know it's good, I will totally come back and try it!
This place has become a larger chain, I know there is one location at Leslie & Finch and a new one just opened at Brimley & Sheppard. Totally worth checking out if you love Chinese food but don't always want the plastic tablecloth atmosphere.
I love Chinese food, and I have eaten it in many places, including renowned restaurants in NYC when I once lived there, and Asian Legend's dim sum is as good as any I have ever had. Another plus is that the decor is very nice as well. If I lived in Toronto, this place would get a lot of my money.
Make sure to try the beef wrapped in a scallion pancake. It was absolutely amazing. The soup dumplings were great as well.
Best Chinese food I've had in years! The atmosphere was nice the green tea delicious and the food quite good.
Good: The menu had a pretty large variety of dishes from traditional northern Chinese breakfast foods (onion pancake, shao long bao, etc) to some pretty decent main dishes. The restaurant is pretty non-Asian friendly because of the menu being in Chinese and English and all the employees being able to speak English.
Bad: The price was higher than most in Chinatown and the dishes were not 100% authentic tasting but good enough.
I was looking so forward to having great northern Chinese food based on the reviews, but I was very disappointed. I am too from Vancouver, and I am now still looking for good northern food. We ordered two soups, one was had too much salt and the second was tasteless, - no spice no sour, hot and sour soup. We also ordered Kung PO chicken which was cooked, well but again very salty and not spicy at all even with all the chili peppers.( I suspect a heavy hand of MSG). The red bean cake dessert which can be a favorite of mine was not a pancake but deep fried. The red bean flavor was good ,but did not make of up for the deep fried batter thing surrounding. It is sad to say I am still looking for clean northern style Chinese food in Toronto.
It is probably the most successful chain of Chinese restaurants in the GTA area.
But once a upon time, Asian Legend used to be....
Well - really it was food court oddity on north side of Dundas, west of Spadina in a dingy place I think was called Hong Kong City? It moved to its current location and was pretty much one of the only places to get good inexpensive Northern Chinese food. Was the best place to just get a few pan-fried dumplings, a fried salty donut and a bowl of hot soy milk in relative peace at any given time. Then the renovation happened. Then the food became more expensive (on average each dish was at least $1-$2 more), the service worse, and I could never get a seat.
If you regularly patronize Asian restaurants whatsoever, you'll notice this phenomena happen to genuinely good restaurants that are now being run by second generation MBA graduate children of the owners. Please accuse me of being bitter of its success and the resulting effect being that I can't get a seat at the more expensive, worst tasting restaurant, that I helped keep afloat for 10+ yrs., because I am. In fact, my friends know exactly I why mean, when I say a restaurant has been "Legended".
But certainly some credit is due - they still make some decent dumplings and have standard good Northern dishes. Avoid all pan-Asian items (their valiant attempt to capture some of that Spring Rolls crowd) - and stick with the Chinese food. Does anybody really think that mango grows in Northern China? I think they are definitely overextending here. Certainly something has to be said for the restaurant raising the standard of cleanliness and presentation - kudos.
[Totally irrelevant observation: what's with their actual dishes and cutlery - I don't know any Chinese people who use square dishes with FOUR sides, I wonder who they're catering to? Hint: It's not your friendly neighbourhood Chinaman!]
Definitely a legendary story of expanding your market and brilliant management, but as a food story, not so much.
Listed in: Chinese
Bad service. Food was just ok, better chinese food elsewhere. Check out Yueh Tung (Not sure of spelling) at corner of Elizabeth and Dundas 2nd floor and order the chili chicken on rice. Or try Swatow on Spadina Ave. about 2 blocks away. The only reason people go there is because it has modern decor, if you're into the Ikea look.
Neighborhood: Chinatown
Neighborhood: Chinatown
Toronto, ON
Neighborhood: Chinatown
Neighborhood: Chinatown
dumplings as in "xiao long bao' AKA soup filled…
