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Canton Chilli Restaurant
Categories: Restaurants Chinese Restaurants Indian Chinese, Indian [Edit]
418 Spadina AveToronto, ON M5T 1N8
Neighbourhoods: Chinatown, Kensington Market, Downtown Core
(416) 595-8288
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
13 reviews for Canton Chilli Restaurant
13 reviews in English
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Review from Jon O.
Toronto, ON
6/22/2011 3 Check-ins Here
I'm not so sure I should be reviewing this place considering the state I was in when I arrived (not to mention when I left), but I'll give it a shot. The only reason I even remembered the name was because I checked in on Yelp....checking in isn't just so creepy people can stalk you all over the city, it's also a great tool for figuring out what the hell you did last night!
My friends and I rolled in at 3:30am after a concert at Lee's Palace (Soundtrack of Our Loves rocked!), being ushered out of Pauper's after last call, and still hoping to find more booze. What better place to go than Chinatown for some cold tea. I'm not going to say whether we got it or not (it's illegal!), but I did feel great as I was leaving.
As you can expect, we ordered way too much food. A dish is more than enough for one person....so we ordered 4 dishes between the three of us. Let's see if I can recall each of them: crispy beef, something where eggplant was the main component, green beans and something (dried chili?), and a 4th I can't remember.
At the time, it was all DELICIOUS. We were like ravenous wolves feeding at the belly of a fat man that just finished a great Chinese meal.
The next morning I woke up and remembered the satisfaction, but didn't trust my own judgement. Luckily when I opened the fridge I surprisingly found a big bag of leftovers. Unfortunately the beef wasn't so crispy anymore but I could definitely say, with a sober mind, that the food was solid.
There are hundreds of Chinese food restaurants to choose from and I guarantee this one isn't the best, but I was very happy with our selections and it's a perfect late-night hangout for satisfying whatever craving you have. -
Review from Nishant F.
Toronto, ON
5/11/2011
Before I start: It's A-OK --- with some reservations...
Disclaimer: I have never been to the place. I have only ordered delivery. But then, I don't think "Decor" would be a subtopic I would gravely miss for this review!
Again, dedicated to a friend - Vivek S.:
Obligatory Pun: "CAN you eat a TON?!?" (coz seriously, the quantity is humongous!)
FOOD:
- good quantity
- Not super oily, but I assume the glutamate would make up for that in terms casting insults to my body..
- Good taste - the 2 things I order from most chinese places claiming to have good hakka food is noodles and chilli chicken... If they can't get that right, any further attention to that place is unlikely. I must say Canton Chilli made the cut-off, but it won't be my favourite.
- I had the chicken hakka noodles (requested spicy) and chilli chicken = was pretty good. I still have to try the chicken pakoras that have been well-received by others
Food rating: 3/5
PRICE:
- pretty cheap for the quantity
- each dish is around 8-10 bucks, which is not that cheap, but trust me, the quantity makes up for it.
- We had 1 order of chicken noodles and 1 order of chilli chicken. Between two pretty hungry adult males (no discrimination, just stating it in biological terms),we could not clean it up. In fact, the left overs made for another solid lunch for me the next day
Price rating: 4/5
(Discount for U of T students; FREE delivery within a certain radius)
DECOR:
- hahahahaha.. seriously??? you want a review on Decor? From a cheap chinese takeout place?!? ROTFLOL...
SERVICE:
- Aah... If there was one place I could call to try all Russell Peter's asian jokes, it would be Canton Chilli
- They are super eager to hang up soon after taking your order... sometimes even before you complete your order.
- Don't ask them to explain what a certain dish has - use Yelp to figure that out first.
- Don't pause for too long between your order (a careful analysis revealed not more than 4.37 seconds), or else they will assume your order is complete and will hang up.
- Calling back to complete your order - I won't say anything; I want you to try that and enjoy the experience =P
- But then, it's cheap with a student discount, they're open till 4 am, and they have free delivery for my address, so
Service rating: 3/5
Why to go there:
- it's 3 am and you're hungry, but don't want to leave your house to go to McDs or smth.
- Decent chinese food
- You are suffering from acutely low blood pressure, and need to consume a massive amount of sodium, but in a more palatable fashion.
Why not to go there:
- If you want REALLY good hakka chinese
- If you have high blood pressure
- You have other sources of food at 3 a.m. -
Review from Tony F.
3/5/2011 ROTD 4/1/2011
OMG... soo... full.... can't... breathe..
This is what happens when a bunch of Yelpers all get together to eat. 7 peeps, 7 dishes (technically we ordered 8, but they didn't bring one of the dishes, probably because they knew we over ordered--we were praying that they forgot).
Food was tasty but oily. We did it family (communal) style and had Crispy Beef, Spicy Green Beans and Pork in a Black Bean Chili Sauce, Chicken Pakor, Canton Chilli Chicken, Hakka Fried Noodles, Steamed Garlic Pea Shoots (Dow Miu) with fermented bean curd, and a Moo-Shoo Wrap.
The beans were piled high. There were twelve Pakors the size of a baseball. Probably 12 Moo Shoo wraps? They made sure we didn't leave hungry.
Didn't know what to expect from an Indo-Chinese style restaurant, but it was fairly similar to most Hakka places. I'm definitely no Hakka expert, but it was yummy.
We requested and got seated in the back room. Fairly typical Chinatown decor. The cleanliness of our table might not meet a typical restaurants' expectation, which really was the biggest and only complaint for this place. The table cloth was stained, and the lazy susan was still a bit greasy. However it might have been because we were in the back room that wasn't used much. All the other tables had the typical Chinese peel away plastic and seemed... clean enough? Though I could completely understand it not being good enough for some.
Service was awesome and the price was right.
$16 per person was enough to feed a village including a beer.
Anyways.. must.. go... lie.. down.. and.. take.. off... pants... *ahhhh*Listed in: Omnomeriffic Yum! (TM), ROTD
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Review from Lauren M.
Pleasantly surprised with this place.
We were a group of 7 and we ordered 7 dishes (1 appetizer and 6 mains). Ummm, woops! Take note that the food portions here are ginormous. What we ordered would have likely fed 11-12 of us. We had quite a bit of leftovers. 1 main dish could have easily fed me for two full meals.
The food was amazing. Canton Chilli serves lots of typical Hakka dishes. We tried the Canton Chilli Chicken, Chilli Beef, Hakka Chow Mein, Moo Shu Pork, Snow Pea Leaves with chopped garlic, Szechuan green beans and some kind of giant pakora things.
My fav was the Moo Shu pork, delicious! Highly recommend. Stir fry of veggies (cabbage, black mushrooms, bamboo shoots) with pork and egg, served with chinese pancakes and hoisin sauce which you wrap into mini tacos, similar to eating duck.
My only complaint was that everything was SUPER greasy, but I suppose this is typical for Spadina Chinese dining.
The service was incredible for a Spadina restaurant. Very attentive wait staff, English spoken, made good recommendations, brought water, checked up on whether we were enjoying the meal, etc etc.
Absolutely no points awarded for decor, no surprises here.
Crazy cheap pricing too - was only $12 per person after tax and tip, or $15 for those who had a beer. -
Review from Vivek S.
3/13/2011 1 Check-in Here
If I was ever diagnosed with a sodium deficiency, I'd high-tail it to Canton Chili. I imagine it would only take me a few bites before my levels would be restored. A few more bites I'd be suffering Lot's fate; turning into a pillar of salt from the inside out. I guess what I'm saying is: they serve powerful stuff here. It's Maximum Sodium Glutamate. Frankly speaking, it should only be doled out by medical professionals.
Canton Chili is located near the north end of Chinatown. It's open late, decorated with ever-so-charming plastic tablecloths, and usually quite busy. The service is on par with Chinatown standards; largely indifferent with a soupçon of suspicion. I believe there is an aquarium here also, although it could have been a lobster tank.
We ordered the Hakka Chicken, Crispy Beef and a small portion of rice. The portions here are ENORMOUS so don't try to be some kind of Indo-Sino Cuisine Hero. Two of us barely made a dent in the piles of saucy meat before us, and there were plenty of leftovers. I wasn't too impressed by the Hakka chicken, which was more salty than spicy. The crispy beef was fun to eat but as others have mentioned, this isn't health food they're serving up. It's heavy and pretty greasy. I'll come back when I'm in the mood for a quantity meal, but I'm still on the hunt for solid Hakka in Hogtown.
Obligatory Title Pun: This place doesn't quite HAKKA it.
Menu Readability: Features a spiciness scale (out of three chilis), informative pictures and cute misspellings.
Need to mention: The prices are dynamite. Dinner for two (four really) set us back a little over twenty bucks.
What this place teaches me about myself: My tolerance for spice is up there. You needs to bring it!Listed in: Chinatown, Up Late In The Tee Dot
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Review from Eric L.
4/9/2011
Can the world run out of salt? If this place continues having packed Friday nights like when I was there, then yes, the world will run out of salt. The food is very tasty and comes in huge portions but they use way too much MSG and grease. Totally cheap and many options. 1 entree can feed 2 people. The beers are very cheap too.
For a mountain of food for 8 people it was like 23$ each. We all had enough to bring home too. If you looking for quantity over quality, then come here. -
Review from Elaine K.
3/9/2011 7 photos
mmmm... MMMM......
That was basically all that was running through my brain at this place. Since there was 8 of us, I was able to try stuff I've never had before. In fact, as soon as the food started arriving, the conversation all put screeched to a halt for about 10 minutes.
My favourites: Canton Chilli Chicken, Chilli Beef, Szechuan Green Beans and Chicken Pakora.
The service was ridiculously good for a Chinese restaurant, friendly and helpful. He forgot to bring one of our dishes, which was a blessing since we barely put a dent in the food we did order.
The price is right for the quality and quantity, I'm sure I'll be back for more. -
Review from Avitania B.
Toronto, ON
3/17/2011 1 Check-in Here
I've never actually eaten AT Canton Chilli. But I have had their food delivered many times; they're CHEAP, and deliver as late as 4AM (!!) to the University of Toronto. Usually, my classmates and I end up ordering Canton Chilli when pulling very late nights (which is rather often, much to my chagrin).
I am sensitive to MSG, and Canton Chilli uses it like crazy (which makes the food delicious, but gives me the world's worst headache). As a result, my standby is the chicken congee. It's not as salty as the typical Canton Chilli dish; instead, the congee is nicely gingery, comes with large pieces of tender chicken thigh meat, and is served in a HUGE portion -- enough for two meals, and it's only $3.50! Scooore.
Service ain't the best and delivery isn't the fastest, but where else can you get food delivered at 3am? Sure beats eating out of the vending machine at school. -
Review from Peter M.
Toronto, ON
1/25/2011 2 Check-ins Here
When my girlfriend dragged me here, I was anticipating the typical late Chinatown scenario: drunken idiocy, yelling, overpriced portions, and everything that epitomises late nights on spadina avenue.
What we got was so off the mark, however.
Fantastic, friendly service, amazing food from their "limited" late night menu(almost half price, same size), and a Chinatown first for me -- a server who listened to my requests(I'm vegan, which no matter how you state it, usually results in food with something you can't eat on it)! So rad!
A few weeks later, we ordered from them, and they deliver at least as far as lansdowne and dupont without a moment's hesitation. No delivery charge, and the food is always delicious; the portions massive. Did I mention that they deliver until 4am, and that the delivery guys are equally as cheerful? I never hesitate to tip generously, especially when most delivery places put up such a fuss about anything, and leave you waiting for over an hour with the expectation of Luke-warm food and despair.
So yeah, canton chili. Best on the strip. Keep that under your hat. -
Review from Rohit S.
North York, ON
1/23/2011
This place is amazing for late night food. If you're a busy student studying until the wee hours in the morning this is a great place to order from. A meal with delivery usually costs 7 bucks (arrives FAST). Pretty good deal for the amount of food provided!
Would order again.
Edit: Amount of meat per order has decreased DRASTICALLY. (Changing my rating from four to three stars) -
Review from Katrina P.
Toronto, ON
5/26/2011
Canton Chilli is on Spadina Street, Their food is decent and if you are a U of T student you will definitely love their cheap late night menu.
The food quality is average, not great comparing to some of the other Chinese restaurant in China town, however, with the free deliver, you really can't ask for more if your are studying late at the library or chilling at rez. -
Review from JulieJuli A.
7/12/2010
Julie
Let me start by saying that I recommend this spot even though I gave it 3 Stars. I think I just ordered wrong and should've tried other items on the menu. Yes the dudes working there were overly friendly and attentive and concerned that the A/C wasn't working well. They apologized about 3 times but I was fine.... I stopped because they advertise chinese food with an Indian flair and yet i didn't really order anything that had that combo... my bad.... I also want to tell you that the portions are enormous.... One dish can feed 2 1/2 peeps....
So here's what I had...
3 Stars on the Crab meat creamy corn soup. Not sure if it was real crab meat but I doubt it. The pieces were huge and tasty. The soup was good.
3 Stars on the Chili fried calamari. It was cooked with a nice salt and pepper taste and topped with a great chili sauce that's not overly spicy. But the problem is that the pieces of squid was just way too large and chewy. The chewy part is fine but I really wished that the pieces were smaller and cooked to be a bit more crunchy...
3 Stars on the Haka Chow Mein. Not sure why I got that??? I should've went for the boneless spicy chicken which looked amazing in the picture. The chow mein was a recommended item on the menu and by the waiter (bad move) but I would pass in the future. Nothing special as the noodle wasn't good and it's mixed with chicken and shrimps. Very generic and made for the gringos... I took it back to hotel and it actually tasted better when I got hungry later in the evening....
I went in because I was by myself and New Ho King was not single diner friendly and this place is right next door. It's worth a stop.... -
Review from Connie T.
Toronto, ON
Updated - 1/17/2011
Hum. Okay, after quite a few visits, I now realize I only return because of the price; the food's definitely not the best in Chi-town.
Listed in: Toronto: Meals under $10! (And…
2 Previous Reviews: Show all »
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12/12/2010
I went back recently, and they no longer freely provide the late-night special menu for $5 items.… Read more »
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