Emerald Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Mississauga

I have been a customer of this restaurant for at least twenty years, so I don’t think I can be accused of having a negative bias. Yesterday however, my dim sum lunch at the Emerald was a complete disaster. My wife and I arrived a few minutes after noon and the restaurant was about three quarters full (Friday). There were very few food carts coming out of the kitchen and as soon as one appeared in the distance, numerous guests would immediately raise their hands desperately trying to catch that server’s attention to get something to eat. Generally to no avail, as the new cart would be immediately pulled by waiters and customers in different random directions and even without pressure it wouldn’t follow any predictable pattern. If after a long wait you were finally lucky enough to get some food on your table, it would be lukewarm and not too appetizing. Some guests resorted to getting almost every dish from a passing cart not because it looked so good but simply because another cart might never materialize. Waiters in white shirts (the important ones) were hard to find, congregated near the entrance and were unhelpful when you finally managed to stop one. For instance, I tried to order a small dish of fried noodles, like the one at the neighboring table, but was told that those fried noodles were from one of the earlier moving carts and were now “finished” (at 12:15pm). Instead, he tried to convince me to order a large order of noodles from the menu at $27. In other words, cooking a large order for my table would be no problem but putting it on one of the carts was impossible. Overall, a picture of chaos, insufficient food and shoddy service. Oh, and did I mention a mandatory 12% service charge added to the final bill whether you liked the “service” or not. Covid related excuses for corner cutting should be no longer acceptable. Please hire more people in the kitchen and in the main dining room, teach them at least five words in English and try to take your customers seriously. For now,...

First time dining here in a group of 10 consist of kids for lunch time at 11:30 AM. Surprisingly, not sure if it's long weekend, there aren't many lineups or jam packed of people.

This place looks modern outside and it has a big space inside.

I was excited when I saw aunties pushing dim sum carts (which is pretty much a lost art nowadays when most restaurants do made-to-order). There are pros and cons for pushing carts and made-to-order.

I seen many unique items on pushing carts such as steam scallops, fried crab claws, bbq duck, green onion lobsters and roasted pork. Although it's cool to see these big dish items being pushed around on the cart, I really don't understand why the restaurant management do that, these dishes should be served when the customers specifically order them coz they are high price items and patrons prefer them to be served hot instantly and not leaving it out cold for long periods of time if no one claims them off the cart.

The service isn't the greatest but again, you don't expect service in any Chinese restaurants anyways, LOL

The usual steam dim sum items, in my opinion are not as good as other Chinese restaruants. For example, the har gao (shrimp dumplings) and siu mai (pork dumplings), they are both relatively small and the meat aren't as fresh or chewy like other places. And they aren't steamy hot either.

I do really like the fried crab claws, the fried octopus was my fav as it's gigantic.

Beware that they automatically charged you 12% tip which I am ok with since most Non-Asian restaurants expect you to pay 18%-20% anyways, but just to look at your receipt before paying the terminal coz you don't want to pay an extra 15% not knowing the tip is already included (coz the staff don't tell you which legally they should).

There aren't many Chinese restaurants in Mississauga that offers dim sum so Emerald Chinese Restaurant does the job, nothing fancy, nothing spectacular but it provides a spacious space for some authentic...

"After spend one hour to go thru most of the Google reviews here. Most of the complaints are about the 12% service charge without people notice( imagine how many people had paid this 12% withoutmnotice nor complaint publicly) and some items are way overprice. I encourage people to report to consumers protection agency to stop this cheap trick. Since numerous complaints, google reviews can not stop them."

Food is good. Service is decent but watch out for " trick and trap " ...on charges. Years ago, we pick up 5 crab claws... and they charge $7 each... piss us of. Today again... lady push the cart by, 2 steam oisters on plate... I ask the old lady how much, she ignore... Then I ask again how much... still no answer from her . ( i believe she were told not to give out the price)...when the bill come... It is $14 dollar for EACH oister... this is high way robbery. As I pay My bill...$80.30 for 5 plates of dimsum and 2 oisters... and mention this " trap" with the waitress, and figure out how much Tips that I should give, the waitress feel sorry for me, then she Point to me , a 12% service charge already included. This is make me more " miserable " because i always " pay, not give " additional tip on top Before, on each and every visit. We do not check bill, except it is kind of too high today since the 2 oisters is 28, plus 12% service charge equal $32. Please check your bill, and avoid all the trap, if you visit this place. Food is good, service decent ... But not on Menu dishes, prices are rediculoisly high... and staff do not tell the price when you order. Also a 12% service charge is implied ( they have written some where just to make it legal, but not very easy to spot) Spent one hours reading all the comments, mostly about consumers being " trap, robbed" as myself. This place should be report to consumers protection agency so they can stop this kind of...