ottawa foodies

This continues to be one of Ottawa's best and most capable Chinese restaurants. We came last Saturday for a large 9-person family dinner. The entire restaurant was packed with groups from tour buses, so service and cooking was on the slow side. No matter, we had plenty to chat about.

In the picture you can see Beef and Broccoli, Won Ton Soup, Cantonese Chow Mein, and a glimpse of Eggplant. What you can't see are the delicious and addictive Szechuan green beans with pork. Highly recommend those!

I think the dim sum at this place is underrrated. Lots of selection and done right. Maybe a bit on the pricey side, but you save in gas and parking vs. driving to Chinatown.

"Very Mediocre" actually absolutely warrants description, in my opinion, as much as "Great food". HOW is it mediocre gives us an idea and adds weight to the opinion.

I went last Saturday for the second time since the merge. Both times flavours were fairly ordinary, though spicy plates had heat. No bad flavours, but no zing or fresh taste that I could find. Beef that feels a little overcooked and just-too-chewy; chicken that only has flavour from sauces; ordinary spring roll. Portions are what I'd call "regular", i.e. feasible to eat without leftovers if with a good appetite. Understandably, due the prime location, prices will be higher - or similar to other places but smaller plates. I understand this, but expect the quality to make up for it, and I did not find this here.

Not "mediocre", though; there was nothing that tasted off, sour, or past-date. Perfectly acceptable medium quality food, a step up from standard delivery Canadian-Chinese or Thai Express, but more expensive.

Recently returned and tried their Thai. Big mistake. Very mediocre doesn't warrant description. Very overpriced which explains the huge expansion. Guess they make a tidy profit.

For appetizers the won ton soup was piping hot and surerb but my single chicken spring roll was cold.
I wasn't overly impressed with our main orders of extremly greasy and salty beef and broccoli, bland salty and strange looking vegetable fried rice, and chicken chop suey drenched in oil served with mushrooms out of the can.
Too oily, greasy, and salty for my liking.

I came here on a weekend afternoon for dim sum with a couple of friends. Got seated right away. We ordered dim sum from a menu and they brought it to us fresh and hot. It was delicious. They were out of a dessert that was on the menu that we wanted (I forget what it is now) but I remember they had mango pudding instead and that was good. Typical dim sum prices and service was decent too. It's one of the few places on that side of town for dim sum.

Went here on Sunday, it was my first time ever having dim sum. Food was great (though a bit high on the MSG or salt, I left feeling very thirsty).

I'm really put off by the cockroach I spotted scurrying on one of the carts wheeled up to our table. I pointed it out to the waitress, and she apologized and wheeled the cart away, but didn't offer an explanation. I don't know how common it is for Chinese restaurants to have cockroaches occasionally in the kitchen (I imagine very), but running right on the dim sum cart is too much for me.

Warning!
The last time i had take out from this restaurant was about a year ago. I noticed that the manager used the same cloth to wipe the bar counter top as he used to wipe his shoes. From this moment on i promised myself that it would be the last time that i ordered food there. However, on the day of the closing of the Olympic Games in Beijing, i decided to order a chinese dinner, Mandarin Ogylvie was the obvious choice because it was nearby. We found STAPLES in our beef and broccoli dish, there were THREE, the ends sticking up (which can be dangerous if swallowed). So this was definitely the last time i order from this restaurant.

Best Regards,
Mania

We have been to this place twice for dinner in the last few weeks. On weekdays, the dining area near the entrance was filled up (I didn't see any Asian customers inside though).

I was pretty satisfied with the food we had. In the last two meals we had, the food quality was pretty consistent. For the price, it is about $30 per person.

I love the food here, but I find the service is inconsistent. The dum sum is so much fun - what a treat to be able to try so many tasty dishes! There's always a cart going by - so much abundance!

As of June 2014, I think the dim sum here is underrated. Lots of selection, and the quality was great. Maybe a bit pricer, but you save on gas and parking from driving to Chinatown.

This continues to be one of the decent options for dim sum in town, albeit a slightly pricier one. Everything is pretty good. I should have taken a plate of BBQ pork though. It looks good! :-)

I enjoy the Mandarin Dim Sum as do many of my co-workers. the BBQ pork is a staple.

They used to offer good dim sum. But not any more. My friend once told one of the servers (I think he is the owner's relative/brother) that the dim sum at Beijing Tianrun is getting better and better. He just told my friend "Then you can go to Beijing Tianrun to eat instead of coming to their place". Another thing to watch out: check your bill when you go there for dim-sum. We always detect mistake on the bill.

The Shrimps in Thai style was excellent! Big shrimp size too. If you ask for my recommendation, this dish is the one.

I think this was the deep-fried shrimp balls that my friend ordered. Taste was good. Don't forget the spicy sauce for dipping!

This was the deep-fried fish. Very tasty!

My friend told us that duck is their specialty. The duck was not bad. However, I would recommend that you order crispy chicken instead.

This was the Stir-fry Tung Choi 通菜 (or Water Spinach in English). The stem inside is hollow.

This is the stir-fried baby Bok Choy with Enokitake. Enokitake (金針菇) are long, thin white mushrooms that you can find in most of the Chinese grocery stores. I like to add Enokitake, Canadian white mushrroms and Chinese mushrooms together and stir-fry them with shredded pork. A very healthy and yummy dish.

We always order crab meat and sea foam soup. This is our favourite soup.

The taste of the Bean curd with squid and assorted vegetables dish was not bad at all.

This is the fried rice with salted fish. At this point, if you are still hungry, the fried rice serves the purpose to fill your stomach.

We had this a few years ago, and maybe they gave us the "white man' version or something but it tasted like chicken balls with plum sauce!! No spice and sweet like dessert! Bleccch.