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Dim Sum King Seafood Restaurant
Category: Restaurants Chinese Dim Sum Dim Sum [Edit]
421 Dundas St W3rd Fl
Toronto, ON M5T 1G6
Neighbourhoods: Chinatown, Downtown Core
(416) 551-3366
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- 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
- Alcohol:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Loud
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
16 reviews for Dim Sum King Seafood Restaurant
16 reviews in English
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Review from Lynn C.
4/26/2012
Three-star for the food, but one added star for the wide variety and cheap price.
Every dimsum item you can ever dream of is available here - which makes this place very very authentic. Unfortunately, the slowness of the push carts and the lack of changes in their route rendered us mostly foodless and impatient. At the end we just called one of the hosts over and ordered it.
It seems like there are more food available after 1pm for dimsum than at 11am...
We ordered about 12 dishes and the total was approximately $50 for four people, which is incredibly cheap since we were all really full.
The place is full of old Asian people--like 70s and 80s, so you know you have entered a real hk dimsum restaurant. -
Review from Sam C.
1/3/2012
Extremely disappointed and to give some background I was born and raised in Vancouver so I know my dim sum. It just seems there is no proper benchmark for dim sum in Toronto's Chinatown.
This place came onto my radar with recent blog and Yelp posts and I was excited to hear that there may be once again a decent dim sum place in Chinatown. The moment we walked in and sat down it was just disappointing, the table clothes at our table were stained, the tea cups and plates were sticky, and the same carts of dim sum made its' rounds for almost the entire time we were there. Not much in terms variety and the quality of dim sum really lacks. For example, we ordered the big dumpling that comes in a soup. Usually it has some shrimp, fake shark fin, and some meat in this giant dumpling within a really tasty broth. But all that was in there was a dumpling skin holding a couple of measly shrimps and not much else and it was in this really yellowy broth that didn't look natural. The usual dim sum dishes like har gow and shu mai were ok but nothing spectacular. I will not be back and not sure what the rage was with all the other posts I've seen on this restaurant. -
Review from Downtown D.
Toronto, ON
4/7/2012
I managed to come down here during the week when all dishes are $2 each. I had har gow, siu mia, cheun fun and sticky rice. Ample size and filling. The only downside is you don't know how long the ladies have been pushing the cart around as you may get a dish that's cold. The tea isn't free here like at other Chinese restaurants I have been to in the area.
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Review from Anni L.
11/19/2011 1 Check-in Here
This was our second destination of the day for lunch. We arrived at 130pm. The place appeared somewhat deserted. I believe we missed the lunch rush.
The food was plentiful...carts with food kept coming by our table as it was located close to the kitchen at the back.
The place looked as though it was getting ready for a wedding banquet.
We ordered the requisite chinese steamed chicken feet, egg tarts, mango pudding, curry baby squid, deep fried taro balls, and deep fried sweet chewy pork filled balls. Yes, that is not your traditional xiu mai and ha gao, but we had filled our stomachs previously at Asian Legends.
Overall the service was good, the prices was reasonable ($10 per person). It's not the best dim sum i've ever had but its acceptable for downtown. -
Review from Rachel S.
10/24/2011
I can imagine that on weekends and holidays, the dining room at Dim Sum King is packed to the gills. However, today at 2:30 pm between the hours of lunch and dinner, I sat at one of five occupied tables in this very large dining space.
What drew me to Dim Sum King? Well, I was thoroughly enjoying the one of a kind experience of strolling through Toronto's Chinatown, and the need for food hit me like a cuttle fish swing to the face. As I walked eastward on Dundas, I had many an option - Chinese BBQ, bubble tea, dim sum. Hmmm.. the urge to go to the restaurant where I'd most likely be the only "round eye" overcame my appetite, and dim sum won. So I climbed the stairs to Dim Sum King.
It did take a while for my server to collect my sheet of paper. My water glass was also barely refilled as I ate up my too-much-for-one-person order of dim sum. I ordered a noodle roll filled with duck, custard buns, fried pork spring rolls with taro, and a tofu roll with more meat etc. in it. I found all to be really enjoyable, the noodle roll probably being my favorite.
This was a 2:30p meal, so it was not the prime time to witness classic dim sum carts being pushed around. However, there is a HUGE bonus to going to Dim Sum King outside of busy hours. Before lunch, between lunch and dinner, then after dinner, Dim Sum King has what it calls Dim Sum Happy Hour... where each order of dim sum is only $2!!! Holy moly!!! I ordered four different tasty items for a mere $10! It seemed like a steal.
While I enjoyed the food and the staff was certainly pleasant although not the most attentive, my guess is that better dim sum does exist somewhere in the world. Probably right here in Toronto. However, paying $2 for each item during Dim Sum Happy Hour is enough to recommend Dim Sum King. -
Review from Eric L.
9/19/2011 1 Check-in Here
Huge selection with decent service. The push cart ladies keep on a pushing with new treats coming to your table non stop. I forget exactly what I had (I need to start reviewing sooner after my experiences) but everything was tasty.
While the service of the push cart ladies are acceptable, the other waiters seemed to just walk around in circles trying to avoid customers. We had to ask 3 different people for water and 10 minutes later we got it.
Even though we ordered too much, we ate it all and ended up paying $16 each, but a decent lunch or dinner could have been had for $10 each.
Probably one of the best places to get Dim Sum in Chinatown. -
Review from Jasper C.
York, ON
2/26/2012
Located on the third floor of a nondescript building/mall, the large dining room looks dated in its decor and ambiance. The dim sum is better than average for Chinatown, with old-style push-cart service between 10 am - 2 pm, and very cheap if you go on weekdays ($2 per S, M, or L item), but avoid weekends when the price is almost doubled ($3.30 M, $3.80 L). Notable items: Har gow, chicken feet, steamed rice with spare ribs, pot stickers, pan-fried turnip cake. Tea is extra @ 80 cents/person. Overall service is adequate but tired.
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Review from Jacob H.
7/2/2011
I came here for dinner with the tour group when visiting Toronto. I think this place is pretty good for the seafood. The most memorable items were the crab, lobster and also fish. We also got a dish of tofu, baby bok Choy, chicken, beef broccoli, and chicken. At the end we also got some oranges.
It was family style and we sat with two other families. The amount of food they ate were little so I had a chance to eat a lot of the lobster and crabs. I think the seafood was pretty fresh and I was impressed with the quality. I don't know if I would go back to eat there on my own but with the tour group I think it was decent. I don't even know how much it was but I'm going to guess very expensive. -
Review from Lauren M.
This place is getting the 4 star upgrade! It's my new go-to place for dim sum downtown.
I've been 4-5 times now and the dim sum is consistently good. Much better than Rol San. I do recommend going in the evening though. They have all day dim sum, but it's the push cart ladies if you go in the morning/brunch time. When you go in the evening everything comes fresh from the kitchen, as most of the other diners are ordering from the regular menu.
(I cannot believe the review of this place saying the dim sum is from frozen dumplings...NO! I swear...it's obviously not)
Some of my favourite dim sum here are:
- The har gow (very thin skins, delicious)
- The chicken and vegetable dumplings (definitely home made, lots of herbs, veggies and chicken inside)
- The honey-lemon glazed short ribs (SO good...no fatty/gristly meat like at Rol San)
- The pan fried chives cakes (Must try! They are 3 small round disks filled with chives and whole shrimps. Not a big pancake like you imagine)
- Fried eggplant (very good here - stuffed with a shrimp filling, not overly greasy)
Prices are reasonable, the bill usually comes to $20-$23 including tax for 6 dim sum dishes (feast for 2 people)
The service here is great, really attentive. One time I even had a guy who was fluent in English serve me but normally you get people with only passable English.
The other food looks delicious. I saw some people eating big plates of crab last night and it really reminded me of a place in San Francisco I went to, so I might have to go try that out.
They also have really nice bathrooms. And on Friday nights, they have "dancing" with a DJ and dance floor set up and Asian couples doing ballroom and line dancing, which I found quite hilarious.
My only very slight moan is that they do not have my favourite spicy chili oil sauce. You have to ask for the sauces and you get a normal dish of chili sauce, but it's not the oily one. Boo.Listed in: An "Egg's" guide to eating in…, Dumpling YO FACE
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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5/7/2011 First to Review
DUMPLING YO FACE!
A new ALL DAY Dim Sum restaurant finally opened up in the old "Yiu Wah" space that… Read more »
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Review from Dave M.
Toronto, ON
11/6/2011
A surprisingly good meal today at Dim Sum King Seafood Restaurant.
My wife (she's from Hong Kong and is picky about Chinese food) and I were looking for a good but affordable Dim Sum place in Chinatown since Bright Pearl closed over a year ago. We found some positive Yelp reviews (we didn't even know the place existed) and decided to check it out today.
We got there just before 2:00 p.m. on a Sunday. The place was only a third full so we were seated right away. The cart ladies were busy as were the ladies who deliver plates of a freshly made dishes from the cooking station at the front of the restaurant. We were very happy with almost everything that we ate.
We started with the large Beef Balls which were not bad and the Curried Cuttle Fish. The Cuttle Fish were fresh and crisp and easy to bite with a nice flavour. Not stringy with overpowering curry like at most of the cheaper places.
The Hau Gow was delicious with fresh, sweet shrimp packed into fresh dumplings that did not fall apart when you picked them up. That meant they were properly made and not under or over steamed. Something that many restaurants don't do right because they're always rushing out their orders. There were also absolutely amazing Shrimp Onion Chive dumpling things that were fried up at the front of the restaurant. Neither my wife nor I could believe how good they were. Absolutely terrific!
She had the Tripe which she enjoyed, but I never eat it so I can't comment beyond that. We also had the Barbecued Pork Buns which were fresh, soft and fluffy with a nice amount of BBQ'd Pork, though it would have been nice to have even more in it. The fried Turnip Cakes were made up fresh at the front and were lighter and more flavourful than I've had at other places since they didn't use extra flour to bind the cakes together. As long as you get them fresh then there's no problem, just ask one of the serving ladies and she'll get them for you. We also had a Deep Fried Tofu with Braised Shrimp paste that was fresh and very tasty.
For dessert I had a bowl of Doe-Foo-Faw (I have no idea how to spell it) which is the soft tofu dessert with sweet syrup. Make sure to ask for a bowl of extra syrup which they'll provide with no problem. The Egg Tarts were small and tasty, but you can get larger and better in most of the local bakeries. The Custard Balls had almost no flavour since the custard had been watered down and this was the only major disappointment. The actual soft pastry bun that the custard was wrapped in was quite soft and delicious, but that's obviously not what you order them for.
We saw so many other carts going by with other things we'd normally order (the Deep Fried Octopus Tentacles for example, looked great), but we were already too full to order more.
The total for 11 dishes, 6 small, 3 medium, 1 large and 1 special ( sorry, but I can't remember which was which) was $37 something including the tax.
The ambiance is nice as the entire restaurant's been redone with new floor tiles, carpet, paint and decor, flat screen TVs throughout, and washrooms which are nicer than any restaurant you'll find in Chinatown. This space on the 3rd floor has been the home of many different Chinese restaurants over the years including the Chinatown International and most recently Yiu Wah.
Try it and you might be pleasantly surprised. We certainly were. -
Review from Councillor janice W.
Niagara Falls, ON
12/9/2011
We dropped in on a Wednesday evening and were delighted by what we found. The service was AMAZING -- the manager and various wait staff dropping by our table to ask solicitously, with genuine interest, about how we found the food, and anticipating our every need. They took the time to converse and to give us a heads-up when a dish (eg. the heavenly Steamed Ginger Milk) required extra preparation time.
The food was incredibly good. We had two orders of Deep Fried Octopus Tentacles, two orders of spring rolls and a serving of dumplings, plus a couple of desserts ... all for only $20. Imagine that! A great dinner for three in Toronto, with excellent service, for so little! Filled three of us (two adults and a child) up, and the quality of the food was simply fantastic: A smooth richness in every dish, not too rich, but just right.
The decor was WAY nicer than the place on Spadina we used to patronize (to which we will never return again because the service there was absolutely deplorable hat day). Here at Dim Sum King, there were slip-covered (white, banquet hall-style) chairs, a gorgeous wedding room (complete with exquisite bride greeting her guests and posing for photos with them), and a spacious, clean and nicely-appointed washroom, with round raised vessel sinks.
Based on our experience that evening, we cannot recommend Dim Sum King highly enough. We will be back again on every trip we make to Toronto. It is our new favourite restaurant! -
Review from R Y.
Toronto, ON
5/8/2011
Terrible service and frozen-dim-sum-like quality food!
Service:
Even for Chinatown standards this place's service is bad! Carts couldn't get to us (which is fine b/c we were seated in a bad location and it was a busy afternoon). In such a case ladies would make a decent effort to ask if you wanted anything or the waitresses would take your order and get us food. Here, no one asked us and the waitress refused to take our order saying that's not her job.
Then when we finally got food at our table the same waitress moved a dish off the table towards my friend while she had her chopstick in the steamer saying to get out of her way while she cleared out table. At this point I lost it and told her off and asked for the manager. The manager finally came and I gave her a ear full and then some but to no avail.
Food:
If service bad and food is ok then that's ok, but if service and food are bad then hell-to-the-no-way!!!! The dim sum tasted like the frozen ones you get from the supermarket. We ordered the usual fair and one of the dishes that came was RANCID (I kid you not). Finally I saw the worst possible thing, they recycle the sauces. We ordered fried shrimp dumplings that had mayo for dipping sauce. We had a lot left over and when they cleared the plate I saw the lady recycle our mayo back onto another plate - disgusting or what?
Bottom Line:
Don't go unless you want to pay for people to treat you bad and overpay for frozen dim sum. -
Review from Eve H.
Toronto, ON
7/9/2011
I've been on the prowl for a consistently good all day dim sum place in the Spadina/Dundas neighbourhood.
The two of us arrived at 5:00 p.m. on a Friday. A group of three was following us in.
But for one table (a couple with one child) getting ready to leave, the dining room was a sea of empty tables and chairs. Still, there had to be a discussion between the waiter and a woman from the back as to where to seat us!
We were finally seated at a table (round, jammed against the wall, awkward) and the other people were seated at a table directly behind us.
The waiter placed dinner menus on the table and walked off. I know it was too late in the day for carts, but call me weird for thinking if you are going to call yourself "Dim Sum King" and advertise that you have all day dim sum, a dim sum menu should at least be offered.
After awhile, the waiter came back and I asked for the dim sum sheet. So did the other table.
After another while, the waiter came back with the dim sum sheets.
After yet another while,, the waiter came back and looked at our selections. He started stroking out things, saying they have run out of this and that, that the chef had gone home, and that anything we order from the dim sum menu will be reheated leftovers from lunch. He did not offer to tell us what could be substituted for the unavailable items.
Not thrilling news, but we had already been there for a half hour and were starving.
After yet another while, the waiter came and asked us to move from our table. They wanted to set up a table for six against the window five feet behind us!
So we moved.
After yet another while, food came. Only it wasn't our food. It was the other table's food. I knew it right away and I told the woman who was setting it out that. Soooo...she did not believe me. What???
I pointed out that the carbon copy of our dim sum sheet did not show what she was putting down. She was stunned and confused and just stood there. I suggested gently that she may have gotten the (OMG two) tables mixed up. She consulted with our waiter and, as I suspected, the food was for the other table.
One can only imagine the chaos that would ensue if there were more than five diners at once.
After yet another while, our food came. Well, he certainly meant what he said when he said they will reheat leftovers from lunch. Warm, not hot and definitely looking sad.
So we had:
Har Gow: very good outside...just the right, chewy, sticky texture to it. Unfortunately, they chopped up the shrimp so much that when you took a bite, the rest of the filling falls out in big crumbles.
Sui Mai: small, very solid. Kind of grey from the reheating. The orangey "eggs" sprinkled on top were shriveled up so much that they felt like grit on your tongue.
Beef Short Ribs: excellent. Not fatty, good amount of pepper, a touch of sweetness.
Steamed Spareribs with Black Bean Sauce: excellent flavour. Very fatty, but we were, as I said, starving.
Shrimp Cheung Fun: overcooked to the point of mush.
From the bill, it seems that they charge $3.25 for the small items and $3.50 for the medium items. We didn't get a chance to have any large items.
Maybe they had an off day. I don't know. I probably will try it again to be fair...but not anytime soon. -
Review from rennie w.
5/28/2011 1 Check-in Here
All day dim sum, on carts with good variety and very reasonably priced, fed 4 for C$32+
Inside is nice and big and spacious, with the push carts something of nostalgia - can't get these in many places now, so I love seeing them bring the delights of dim sum over and try and sell their wares :)
Glad I was recommended this place, take the lift to the 3rd floor where they are located, or there are stairs too. -
Review from Nina T.
8/9/2011
The dim sum here was amazing. We have eaten dim sum everywhere and we have to say that this restaurant is one of the best. The dishes were well seasoned and not salty. We also ordered chinese broccoli. We thought it was going to be steamed with some hoisin sauce like most places, but it was sauted in garlic. It was so good.
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Review from Andrea L.
Toronto, ON
8/6/2011
Coming from an asian family that often goes to chinese restuarants for dim sum, this place sucks. For example, we waited for an hour and didn't see a single cart of shrimp rice rolls go by our table. What kind of chinese restaurant doesn't serve shrimp rice rolls in an appropriate time range? Same went for the egg tarts. The service is pretty bad.
