Ding Tai Fung — Restaurant in Markham

With the name of such a popular restaurant worldwide, this place truly did not live up to the expectation and hype. I came here for dinner last week and was presented with subpar dishes and service. This wasn't the first time I have been to this restaurant, and if memory serves me right, they had much better food and service back then, although the last time here I was much younger.

This time around, I ordered their Steamed Soup Dumplings with Pork Filling (Xiao Long Baos), Braised Pork Chop with Sweet and Sour Sauce, and Stir-Fried Bean Leaves with Garlic.

The Xiao Long Baos were decent, but for a restaurant who is popular for their baos, I was largely unimpressed. The dumpling skin was good, but their filling had the texture of meat similar to frozen dumplings I can get at the grocery store.

Their bean leaves were salty and did not have enough garlic flavor. The dish was sloppily presented and was small.

Their pork chops were merely strands of pork enveloped in fried batter in a bland sweet and sour sauce. My first bite into the pork chops was just a mouthful of batter and a McDonald's French-fry-sized strand of pork. On closer inspection, it wasn't just one piece that was like this, they were all like this. Typically, sweet and sour pork chop is served as roughly business card sized pork chops coated in batter, fried and drenched in sauce, at least a from what I am used to. It was so bad that I had to send it back in.

This is when their services started going down hill. The lady that wore a different outfit, presumably the manager, started talking and pointing at our table with the servers. We stopped getting services from the servers. Our tea was never refilled, our dirty dishes never removed, and before we even finished, they brought our check to us.

Overall, very unhappy with my experience and will not...

Food: 2 Stars Service: 2 Stars Ambience: 2 Stars Value: 2 Stars Overall: 2 Stars

I visited Ding Tai Fung in Richmond Hill with high expectations, hoping to enjoy a special dining experience with my friends. Our main reason for choosing this restaurant was its reputed soup dumplings, which I had heard so much about. Unfortunately, our experience fell short of what we had hoped for.

To begin with, the soup dumplings were not as impressive as advertised. I have enjoyed much better ones at other establishments, both in terms of flavour and texture. The rest of the food was similarly unimpressive, lacking the distinctiveness and quality one would expect from a place with such a reputation.

In terms of pricing, I found the restaurant to be overpriced for what it offered. The dishes did not justify the high cost, making it difficult to see any value in the dining experience. When you pay a premium, you expect a certain level of excellence, which was certainly missing here.

The service we received was adequate but nothing remarkable. The staff were polite but did not go out of their way to enhance our dining experience. There was no exceptional attentiveness or memorable service moments, just a standard level of hospitality you would find at any average restaurant.

Overall, I left Ding Tai Fung feeling underwhelmed and disappointed. The high prices combined with mediocre food and service mean I will not be returning. I expected more from a restaurant with such a celebrated name and reputation. For anyone considering dining here, I would recommend managing your expectations or perhaps looking elsewhere for a better value dining experience.

I hope this review provides a clear picture of what to expect at Ding Tai Fung in Richmond Hill. It's important to share honest experiences to help others make informed...

This restaurant is one of the few shortlisted Asian restaurants I take my son to dine due to his food allergy. Every time we order the same food (pork veggie rice) and would write on the menu and verbally confirm with the server that my son has a severe egg allergy and would need to serve the side egg separately. The restaurant has been fine until tonight where the server brought the rice and the egg (in a separate bowl) to our table and in the middle of my son's meal, I noticed there were traces of rice on the egg. I called the server and asked why, as I expected the egg should have no rice if it was separated from the beginning. 5 mins later, the server came back and told me the chef forgot to separate the egg and just put it in another bowl after. The egg was cut in half when it was served meaning there may be traces of egg mixed in the rice. The server asked what would happen if my son eats the egg. It is a food allergy - for my son's case, he could end up in the hospital within 30 mins of ingesting even a small amount of it, hence I write it on the menu and confirm every single time I order. I am really disappointed with the restaurant, the restaurant could have told me they made a mistake in the kitchen and that I had to wait for the kitchen to make me a new dish. Instead, they tried to hide the mistake and didn't tell me until I asked. For people who has no food allergy, the food is great and wouldn't be an issue. For people with severe food allergy, please reconsider before you go. I do not have trust in the kitchen and the staff on handling food...