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iCook Buffet
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Has TV:
- No
12 reviews for iCook Buffet
12 reviews in English
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Review from Trinity M.
North York, ON
12/2/2011
Very good quality and fresh dim sum and cheap too. Its one of the cheapest in price for dim sum that I have been too. I eat out alot and I am a picky eater. I know my asian food very well growing up in a family that have good cooks! I always go here and its alot better than all those dim sum places close to Pmall which I found were pricey, not good quality and not worth the $$ or time!
This place is very good bang for the buck! Very good food for a low price! Rare to find a place like this now a day and they serve dim sum until 4pm daily! -
Review from maverick m.
Toronto, ON
11/21/2011
THE GOOD:
All you can eat hot pot. There's a refridgerated wall of veggies, seafood and meats where you pick what you want. Great for a group that includes vegetarians because there were plenty of veggies and tofu products to choose from. There's a small bar for mixing your sauces. They refilled the soup broth frequently. It was $18 + service charge. Extra cost for specialty items like oysters or specialty broths. Most of the meats and seafood were previously frozen which I don't mind cause it would keep the food from spoiling while on display in the fridge. Suggest starting at early dinner time i.e. 5:30 or 6 as it gets really busy around 6:30 and onwards. Menu says there is a 1.5 hr time limit but we went over that without them shooing us out.
THE SO-SO:
Service charge is added even though we serve ourselves primarly. I suppose this is standard as most people would probably not tip, otherwise. Location is in the Warden/Steele's plaza where the T&T is.
THE BAD:
No dessert but that is okay considering how much food I ate for the main meal. -
Review from Flouny S.
Toronto, ON
11/7/2011
This is a go to place for our family for dim sum. They closed the dim sum in the summer and changed it into an all day hot pot. Problem is, no one went there when it was hot pot in the day. Alot of people missed the dim sum.
Well they realized their expensive mistake and have changed it back to dim sum. All the staff have changed and while they charge you $1 per person for unlimited pop and tea it's now just tea. A bit of a rip off considering you used to get pop too.
It's a safe bet for dim sum compared to all the other places in the area. -
Review from alfred i.
North York, ON
8/5/2011
Huge hot pot dinner restaurant. The joint transforms into a dim-sum restaurant during the earlier parts of the day. Great place to go with large groups of people.
During hot-pot hours, I like how each person gets their individual hot pot. -
Review from Calvin S.
Markham, ON
2/7/2011
Too many items are priced extra here. As much as I like the atmosphere (and the fact you can get your own items), the good soup bases cost extra.
I've also seen some of the foods available in supermarkets, especially T&T. I understand it's a buffet, but it wasn't cheap. I had it over $20 on a weekend, and it didn't feel like it was worth so much.
There are better places out there. Dow's Noodles anyone? -
Review from Jenny T.
10/18/2010 ROTD 11/8/2010
If you ever wanted to try something different or wanted to stuff your face with food without it being too particularly of the unhealthy kind, this is the place to go. Everyone gets their own individual boiling pots of soup/broth then you go make your own dipping sauce and pick out your selection of meats, tofu and vegetables to dunk in the soup/broth. If you've never been to a hot pot restaurant, it's a very fun and interactive experience.
It's a fixed price all you can eat "buffet", or in this case, hot pot, that includes fountain drinks (it seems like they no longer carry the Chinese self-serve drinks). Depending on your choice of broth, you may be charged extra. Vegetable and chicken broth are always at no extra charge. Their spicy broth is actually extra spicy. Just remember, you can always concoct your own sauces at the sauce station to add more flavour to your meal.
Service is probably a little crappier than mediocre, but it's okay because it's mainly self serve. They do come around to help adjust the temperatures and re-fill your broth.
At its best, the atmosphere is calming, clean and private. At its worse, it's like a huge chicken broth sauna filled with steam, people and wet floors. It all depends on how busy the place is. -
Review from rennie w.
5/28/2011
Was recommended this place by a friend and took us about an hour and a half to get there from downtown TO by subway and bus.
The place was all you can eat hot pot buffet - you self serve and can go up with soft drinks dispenser. Hot pot items include sliced lamb, beef, pork, chicken, various vegetables and seafood balls and tofu. Puddings were limited to some red bean and mango on the day we went. Also a variety of condiments which you can mix to form your own potent cocktail to dip and flavour your soup base - the free ones are chicken, fish and vegetable. They do offer you more varieties but all these are charged extra.
Don't forget to ask for senior discount if not offered and applicable to your party.
It's in an out of town retail park and the place is reasonably modern with a big round TV atop showing some karaoke video clips.
Was stuffed after 2.5 servings! Eat slow and pace yourself :) -
Review from Ariel G.
9/11/2010
This is a buffet with a choice of hot stock pots (2 per table), some of which are priced extra.
There is a wide array of items from thinly sliced frozen meats, a large variety of frozen "balls", and a few other items. The frozen balls where the kind you can buy in at any Chinese grocery store for $ 1.00/pack. They were largely tasteless. The meat can also be bought those same grocery stores for around $ 4.00/lb. What you add to this mix is simply sauce from all the necessary ingredients which are supplied at a 'make your own sauce' area.
They also automatically at a 10% service charge, and I don't know if this is applied before the HST or after the HST is applied. Dinner for the 2 of us was $ 47.00 and some change. This is not good value at all, and the taste is generally insipid....and you have to cook your own food.
This is an interesting concept, but it has to have a better selection of food at this price. I will not return. -
Review from WaYnE c.
Maple, ON
4/12/2010
I went to iCook a couple times and to me it's very average as a Hot Pot destination. There are definitely better ones as I'm one of those that do not like to go up to the Marketplace-style display to pick out my selection of food because some items would be misplaced.
The GOOD about this place is that it is at a convenient location, same plaza as Warden T&T. It has a much more hype decor than other Hot Pot places as you will see a 360 degree screen fixed on Asian MTV while music places in the background.
It is a larger place than your typical Hot Pot place as well, which means less wait time or NONE. What can be better than UNLIMITED drinks you can go up to the dispenser and get yourself? I forgot what selection they have, but it's better than PAYING for water-down drinks at other Hot Pot restos.
What really surprised me was that the FIRST and ONLY time I went there for Dim Sum Brunch, I actually quite enjoyed it as typical Asians would always joke that whatever they had leftover the night before would be used to make the Dim Sum. I have nothing to prove if they did or not but I was HAPPY eating there that morning.
There were maybe another 2-3 tables of patrons that morning, so it was much more quiet than your busy and LOUD Dim Sum spots. I enjoyed the chat with my family that day.Listed in: Southern Chinese Food, This Pot is HOT
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Review from Tina N.
Toronto, ON
6/6/2010
iCook Buffet is an all you can eat hot pot styled restaurant. Like all regular buffets, their concept allows you to pick different items from a big super market styled refrigerator but the only difference is that all the items are raw (sliced beef, chicken, pork, fish balls etc.). They also have a variety of mushrooms, veggies and noodles that you can choose from along with all the sauces you can think of. Pop and Chinese drinks are from a fountain and are also self-served.
Once you finish selecting your items, you bring them back to your table and cook it yourself. You get your own individual boiling pot where you can choose your own broth as well (such as kimichi, lobster, fish, herbal, satay, tom yum flavours etc.)
The food itself was okay, the soups were pretty tasty and the overall experience was really fun and different from regular restaurants. Definitely worth a try. -
Review from Rao R.
Brampton, ON
6/1/2011
This buffet hot pot restaurant has a unique idea but fails in the the quality of the food. The soup is mediocre. There is not much taste in it and there is not much variety in the soup. The food is not fresh and is very disappointing. The service is good but could be better. I do not recommend this anyone.
Listed in: No Place Like Ontario, No…
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Review from Nikolaos N.
Montréal, QC
7/1/2009
I like this place, but its really nothing special. In the evenings they're a hot place place and I believe they're a dim sum place during lunch time. I usually go for the hot pot, they have a good selection of seafood and meats. Not much more to say than if you want some hot pot and are in the North Toronto area it is worth a shot.
