Halibut House Fish & Chips — Restaurant in Markham

I grew up in markham 5 min away and passed by this place my entire life. Finally stopped in to see if the breakfast special was at least edible. At $4.95 I wasn't expecting very much but they serve it till 2pm and it was 1:15pm so I figured 'why not?'. I've been to dedicated breakfast joints for their early bird specials just to be disappointed with hard over cooked bacon sitting on the grill too long and and old home fries sitting under the heat lamp too long.

They let me pick my own table so I was able to sit solo at a booth. Off to a great start. Server brought me menus right away and was pleasantly surprised to see high quality designed menus with good photography and durable lamination. Again, was expecting old stained menu's printed on 8.5x11 bond which make it easy to adjust prices on the fly. Not here. A price change would require a whole new press run. Maybe why the the special is still only $4.95 post pandemic.

Ordered the special; sunny side up with bacon and brown toast and a coffee (not included). Coffee came fast with milk and cream and even a side bowl for th empty creamers. Nice touch.

Food came quickly which usually is a sign of heat lamps but to my surprise everything was fresh. The home fries were actually too hot to eat immediately meaning they just made them. Bacon was crispy, smokey, and yummy. Toast well buttered, egg cooked perfectly. The reason it's $4.95 is that it's only one egg and smaller serving of home fries but I never finish my home fries anyway so it was the perfect amount. 2 strips of bacon and 2 slices of toast is filling enough. Strawberry jam already on the table along with the wifi password.

In a nutshell the experience was perfect. Attentive staff, and great value. My new go to breakfast...

If I can give no star or even negative I would. Surprisingly seeing good reviews about this place when there are other places serve better fish & chips and 'Service'. We've been to this place to dine in and take outs before and during pandemic since we're in Markham. Food is just average actually getting worse as compared with the very first time we were there, fish was greasy and fries were tasteless. Service? from the lady who picked up the phone to the server (short, Chinese lady) are just RUDE or I should say selectively rude to certain customers who dine in. Our recent experience this server pays a lot more attention to the white seniors and we hate the way she responded to us as we waved at her that we're ready to place our orders. She looked at us (didn't say a word nor acknowledged with any kind of body language that make us know she will come by) and continue what she was doing at times i.e. cleaning the table and when we waved at her again she raised her voice from where she was saying "I know Sir, let me finish first" (other customers looked at us making us so embarrassed). Want us to support local business during this crucial time we did and we will continue to support those that deserve our support but this one needs to learn how to run a business and not stick to the customers of your preferred color thinking they tip more than others. You're driving away your customers away to other fish & chips places in Markham with that kind of attitude. We...

Ok it's a ma and pop family style restaurants. It's kept relatively clean and maintained. Honestly you come to a family restaurant, you are not coming for the ambiance. You came for the price and taste. The waitress are friendly that is all I ask for.

The easy thing first, staffs are good I can't compliant. The owner seems to be Hong Kong, so the staffs are mostly Chinese (if not all... haven't sat through all the shift, not that bored). Their English is very good, CBC maybe. They attended to our needs in a timely manner, and politely unlike many other Asian restaurants.

The food.... The fish has great batter recipe! Very crunchy! Nice big portion. Love it. The rest, home fries, toast are as they should be (can you actually make these wrong?!?)

The Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday special is an amazing price now a days. Can go wrong if you come the days after 11am! Remember the fish starts 11am, but the chief was nice enough to do our order when we came in early at 1030.

In all... 4 star. Sorry can't really give it a 5... The toilets seats are not gold plated, the waitresses are not in suits, the utensils are not polished silver, there is no valet parking, and I doubt other famous people have stamped their approval or...