Chef 88 Elite Fine Dining — Restaurant in Markham

This is the biggest disappointment ever since McDonald's announced they're removing their Big Breakfast back in 2021.

Decor was rather casual but I'm not hating on that. There are SO MANY FLIES that kept orbiting our dimsum. We had to cover our dishes with napkins to prevent them from coming. Then when we removed the napkin to take an item, they made a beeline for it.

Food was generally meh. 🚩 Shrimp dumpling (ha gow): shrimp was big but didn't taste shrimpy 🚩 Dumpling in soup (goon tong Gao): it had the right ingredients but conpoy taste and shrimp taste were not strong, no mushroom taste, and overall too salty even with the red vinegar. Also, no candle in the tea light compartment of the container! 🚩 Chiu chow dumpling: meat to veg ratio was too little (I know it shouldn't have a lot of meat but there was 1 speck of meat), had too much jicama, chili oil was not spicy 🚩 Turnip cake: overall enough ingredients but too salty 🚩 Matcha custard bun: bun had zero matcha flavour or aroma, custard was not viscous because it had so much oil that the yellow was separating in the liquid

✅The only dish we liked was the spiced salt fried silver fish, which was too oily so we had to use napkins to soak the oil before eating.

🚩 Service was abysmal. We asked to change the bowl we had when we were seated because it was dirty. The server, flora, did not respond. She continued handling another table's bill. Then she came back with a new bowl and spoon but did not take away the old bowl. It really stayed there the whole time.

While my mom and I were deep in conversation about my neighbour's counter, the hostess came up to us in mandarin to talk about a promo of their crab claw. The thing is: WE TALKED IN CANTONESE WITH HER WHEN WE CAME IN. So my mom told her, please use cantonese. She continued in mandarin. My mom said louder not to use mandarin, to please use cantonese. She STILL spoke in mandarin. This continued for literally FIVE TIMES to the point where my mom yelled speak cantonese. Jesus.

🚩 Also, the steam containers were DISGUSTING. There were wet remnants of the previous dish still stuck on the sides. See my pics.

OK so we finally finish our meal with all the flies orbiting the dimsum. We ask for the bill and 3 large boxes. The server okayed us and went. The hostess came back with the bill. My mom asks where are the 3 boxes? She said they're coming. And just STANDS THERE staring.

My mom said, I'll pay when I'm done packing.

So the original lady we asked boxes from comes back with 2 large and 1 small. My mom said, I requested 3 boxes. She looked at our table of napkins covering the dimsum, and said "well, it's not a lot of food..." and proceeded to try and LIFT OUR NAPKINS. My mom asked "what are you doing?? Don't touch them. Please get a large box, we don't need the small".

The hostess got mad and shot her hand out to snatch the small one. Eventually she came back with a big one.

My mom finally packed stuff up and we paid $90 on a $75ish bill ($66ish pre tax). The hostess asked us if we wanted change. Uh... Yeah? You aren't getting a 34% tip lmao.

So tldr: food was mediocre at best service was absolutely terrible despite 60% empty food dishware was dirty FLIES

We were so disgusted by the place that we didn't even visit the washroom.

We're never coming back. This...

We wanted to book Chef88 for our baby's 100 day celebration, and as we were planning to book tables for 200 people for dinner, we wanted to make sure that the food and atmosphere were to our liking. We decided to have dinner there one evening with our family to try out different dishes, and I'm glad that we did because it we will not be going back there based on our experience.

Their patio is listed as dog-friendly, so as such, we decided to use their patio for a 5pm dinner with immediate family. We brought our baby as well as our dog, and called ahead of time to confirm that it would be okay and requested a corner seat. Upon arrival,`we were directed to a table in the middle of the patio but noticed it was breezy with a lot of overhead trees. We noticed there was one table (that could seat 14), that was situated under a tent with walls that acted as a corner, so I asked if we could sit there as we were the only ones, had called ahead, and only planned to stay for an hour or so. The server declined, saying the table was too big for our party (we had 4 adults, two seniors, a stroller, a toddler, and a dog). I explained that we had a young baby, seniors, it was breezy, and that no one else was there so perhaps they could accomodate. The server declined again, rudely this time, to say that the table was too big for us and that it wasn't breezy and to deal with it. I asked again, and was declined with more attitude. When I asked again on why it would be an issue, she said that she would get her manager in the rudest manner. The manager then also came back saying that the table was already organized for us and we didnt need such a big table, and to please respect the rules (in a very condescending way).

We had the dinner at the table they directed us to and I noted we were the only party along with another party of 4 for the duration of our dinner. The waitress that served us afterwards was lovely, food was good, but the initial experience left a bad impression and this one star and our decision to not go back for any big family gatherings/celebrations is based on that initial service from the waitress and...

Update - Lowered rating due to overall bad service and rude attitude.

Came in for morning dimsum before any crowds and get seated near the front door where you can feel the cold breeze every time the door opens and where bussers would bump into the table.

Put our order in and the manager takes it away. We check in with him at least 15 minutes later (other tables arriving after us already received their food) about the status of our order, to get brushed off that they're punching it in..only to check and tell us they lost our original order and we have to order again. At this point, he tells his co-worker to help us instead because we speak Mandarin (I asked him in cantonese).

They offered to give a VIP discount as a gesture, which would have been nice if it happened, except at the time to pay, they told us they can't honor it because we aren't paying in cash (??). So they offered to remove the tea charge to only come back to still have a tea charge (albeit a lower VIP one) and the bill being higher than the original one we saw.

As we leave, he starts talking loudly to his co-workers about how cheap we are to argue about the tea charge in cantonese, assuming we don't understand. It wasn't about the money rather the poor attitude and being unable to commit on the promises.

Original - Massive patio and large indoor dining area. The staff here are quick and attentive. Restaurant provides hand sanitizer at each table as well as noticing them cleaning quite frequently. Overall restaurant has a relaxed ambience.

Quite busy on weekends as even with the large amount of seating you might have to wait during prime dimsum hours.

Dim sum - Food is well presented and prices for each dish is slightly on the higher end. Food itself is done well, flavors are...