Earlier in the week, I posted up my review of Dragon Legend. After doing so, I realized that I have quite a few more AYCE and buffet restaurant reviews in the queue so they'll be up in the next few weeks. This review will be based on the location in Scarborough, as I avoid the poorly managed Imperial Buffet in Mississauga (I got violently sick the next day after eating there).

Imperial Buffet is a buffet located in Scarborough, ON. The price for dinner is M-Thu ($21.99) and Fri-Sun ($25.99). I'd say that the weekday prices are slightly cheaper than other buffets, but the weekend price is pretty on par. On the occasions that I have eaten here; it was pretty busy most of the time so the buffet trays do get refilled often.

A majority of the items available is pretty much traditional Chinese dishes with a small selection of Western fried food. What they do offer is an array selection of hot dishes, cold dishes, salad bar, sushi, fruits, and dessert station. I find that there's nothing stand-out about Imperial Buffet, as they offer the standard and generic Chinese dishes, but it's plentiful.

 I'd say that out of this particular batch; my favorite would have to be the mussels. They were juicy and warm. Unfortunately, the popcorn chicken was slightly too dry and salty for my taste.

The chicken balls were decent and I liked its crispy texture. However, I did not like the fried calamari at all as it was too chewy, and tasteless. I'd highly discourage against consuming the calamari.

The Chinese fried rice was good, as it was flavorful, and had a decent amount of veggies. 

 The sushi selection at Imperial Buffet was pretty decent with a good number of different rolls. However, I noticed that the sushi were barely touched by the patrons.

This was my first dish where I grabbed items that appealed to me as I walked through the buffet area. The chicken wings were freshly fried and juicy on the inside; I liked it. The BBQ glazed used for the ribs was really sweet, but it was meaty enough. Lastly, the fried shrimp was nicely seasoned with a hint of spiciness.

The dessert station had a wide selection of cakes, cookies, cupcakes, tarts, ice-cream, and etc. ... Most were store bought but they still tasted pretty good.

My overall impression of Imperial Buffet is that they offer nothing unique, and is quite similar to their competitors. However, they do offer a variety of food items if you are interested in Chinese-Western cuisine. Their food can be a hit or miss (as some items are bland), but the quality is what you'd expect for a buffet. Additionally, I have found that their service is rather decent as personally I haven't had any bad experience here. Usually the servers attending to our side are quick to clear the empty dishes, and refill empty water glasses consistently throughout the meals.

Address: 24 Lebovic Avenue, Scarborough, ON, M1L 4V9

There are countless numbers of Dim Sum restaurants in Chinatown (Toronto), and Dim Sum King Seafood Restaurant is amongst the sea of them. The restaurant is located inside of Maindale Mall, and it is on the third floor (one can take the elevator or walk up the stairs).

Dim Sum King Seafood Restaurant offers traditional dim sum carts during their lunch hours. I have only been here on the weekends, so I can't comment if the cart services are available during the weekdays.What are cart services? It is basically where the waitresses would circulate their carts around the restaurant with various dim sum dishes, and you'd get to choose which ones you'd like, and they would mark it down on your sheet. 

The interior was rather large with several tables, and its decor is very Chinese-influenced. One thing that I did noticed was that their washrooms was rather clean (at least in comparison to Chinatown standards). I have been to Dim Sum King Seafood Restaurant on a couple of occasions, and the dim sum dishes has been consistent. My bf and I often get seated around the middle area so the carts came over frequently with dim sum dishes.

One of the most common dishes that I often order is the steamed sticky rice rolls (shrimp). Each translucent roll contained plenty of shrimp filling, and the skin itself exhibited good texture as it was not overly too thin or thick.

I was not a fan of the steamed sticky rice rolls (beef) as the beef filling was rather insipid for my taste. However, the texture of the translucent skin was good for a steamed roll.

The steamed spare ribs were average.

The chicken feet were over not steamed, which is always a good thing. Additionally, they had a natural sweetness to it.



The steamed curry squid was not a hot dish like I originally thought. It turned out that it was served cold. The curry flavor wasn't too overpowering.

Next to the steamed shrimp roll; the short ribs with black pepper were my favorite. This particular dish came with five pieces of mid-size short ribs. Additionally, it was full of flavor, and each piece contained a lot of meat, and not just fatty pieces.

The har gow were freshly made and packed with a good amounts of shrimp filling. The texture of the skin was perfect as it was both thin and chewy.

The siu mai dumplings were rather small in size, but I did enjoy the seasoning used in the filling.

The fillings in the Chinese beef buns were plentiful and the buns were fluffy.



They had a special dish one morning, and it was called The Phoenix's Nest which was quickly sold out. The dish was basically dumpling containing chunky sized shrimp topped with roe.

First off, I don't believe that all restaurants in Chinatown offer average customer services. As I have experienced both poor, good and great customer service at restaurants in the district. However, I have become rather accustomed to the average customer service where the wait staffs are impersonal and stoic, but they do bring out the ordered food in a timely fashion. This is how I would describe the service at Dim Sum King Seafood Restaurant. Some of the ladies (not all) were impersonal and looked kind of grumpy, but they did their job to circulate the cart, and quickly place the orders on customers' tables.

RATINGS:

Quality of Food: 3.5/5

Service: 3/5

Overall Dining Experience: 3.5/5

Price: $$

Address: 421 Dudas St W, 3rd Floor, Toronto, ON M5T 1G6

I first learned about Pi Tom's Thai Cuisine about 2 years ago, and dined at their now closed Jarvis location. The one on Jarvis was located in a non-high traffic area with very little foot traffic, so I wasn't surprised when it closed down. However, Pi Tom's Thai Cuisine's original location is still open, and we ordered delivery from time to time. Pi Tom's Thai Cuisine is one of very few locations that offer the authentic pad thai on their menu, where it's wrapped in an egg.

They offer free delivery for order more than $25 (before tax) and it takes about 45 minutes to an hour. They usually do deliver in the allotted time frame, and I don't recall a time where they went over an hour.

 The Authentic Pad Thai ($12.95) was quite interesting as I have never tried it anywhere else in the GTA. This authentic dish contains a serving of rice noodles with a generous amount of chicken, shrimp, tofu, bean sprouts in a sweet and sour tamarind and coconut sauce. The one difference is that the entire Paid Thai is wrapped inside of a fried egg crepe.

The Pad Thai ($11.95) was Thai rice noodles sauteed with egg, chicken, shrimp, bean sprouts and tofu in a sweet and sour (ketchup) sauce. Unlike the authentic dish above, this one contains ketchup instead of tamarind which you can definitely taste. It's a little surprising that the restaurant tout themselves as serving authentic Thai, and then uses ketchup in their Pad Thai. This dish was edible, but unfortunately it was only average when compared with other Thai establishments that I have dined at. The Authentic Pad Thai fared a lot better if you compared it by taste.

The shrimp rolls ($8.50) contained 6 pieces of deep-fried marinated shrimp rolls and spicy sauce. I absolutely loved these crispy appetizers, as it was not oily and delicious.

Address: 235 Jarvis Street, Toronto, ON, M5B 2C1

About: I have been to Dragon Legend four times since they first opened, and it has surpassed the other places to become my favorite buffet. As many people probably know; Dragon Legend is the sister restaurant to the equally popular Pearl Dragon. They even share the same interior decor with red walls, and decorated with Chinese ornaments, and television screens hung on the walls. Its spacious dining area allows the customers to have a more enjoyable dining experience and not have to maneuver in cramped spaces.

Food: The buffet selection at Dragon Legend is abundant enough without overcompensating quantity over quality. Their buffet options showcases an array selection of both Western and Asian dishes. Additionally, they also have a sushi/sashimi station, Teppanyaki grill station, Peking Duck, and an impressive dessert station. There is a good amount of choices for the average diner, and should be something for everyone if you like buffets.

Price: The weekend price may be slightly steep at $29.99 for Friday-Sunday dinners, but I thought it was pretty worth it. The quality of the food was rather good for a buffet, and could justify for the cost (for example, you could load up on Peking duck). The price for their Monday to Thursday is comparable to other nearby buffets at $24.99 per adult. I dined here on four occasions (and on different days); Monday, Thursday and two Saturdays. I was surprised to find that no matter what days I went; it was completely busy around the late dinner time (7:00 pm'ish. I haven't tried out their lunch buffet yet but the prices are as followed: M-F ($13.99) and Sat-Sun ($19.99).

Service: On all visits; I thought that the service was excellent as the staff were attentive, polite, and promptly removed our used dishes. The wait for a table didn't take too long when we had a reservation.

It's highly recommended that you make a reservation on the weekend as it can be quite packed. On those busy nights, the front desk would take your name, the number of your party, and hand you an alarm (that would blink when your table is available).

 Fried food (including ribs, tempura shrimp, french fries, popcorn chicken).

The salad bar, and the cold seafood bar (mussels, shrimps, and crab legs).

 Peking Duck station.

 If you order Chinese tea; it's $1.80 per person.

 They have a wide selection of sushi and sashimi for a buffet instead of the just the usual rolls. Be warned though that the station is often watched by a staff member to ensure that people don't overload on the fish. They usually limit customers to 3 slices of sashimi per visit to the station. 

 Honestly, I would skip the dim sum dishes as I found some of the items to be bland. The plump dumpling looked aesthetically cute, but the non-translucent skin tasted extremely doughy to me. 

Additionally, they also have a steak station where the chefs would cook steak cubes on order. This can be a hit or a miss depending on the amount of salt that the chef seasoned it with.

 One of the main reasons why I love Dragon Legend; they offer Peking Duck. The staff would place the cooked duck onto a platter, and everything is self-served. Just note that on extremely busy days; they do limit each customer to four pancakes containing Peking Duck on each visit to the station. I saw a girl on a moderate night (around 8:30 pm) taking 10 pieces and they didn't say anything, so it really depends on the nights. The crispy texture of the skin was absolutely divine with the sauce.

 The salad bar was decent with different kinds of leaves, veggies, and salad dressing.

From what I can recall; the dessert station has a selection of waffles, cupcakes, cookies, cheesecakes, jello, fruits, green tea mousse cakes, chocolate covered strawberries, crème brûlée, puff pastries, ginger milk pudding, and various flavors of ice cream.