Four Four South Village — Restaurant in Toronto

I saw a positive review of the Dan Dan here on Reddit, and when I looked at their menu online, I saw what seemed like a variation of my favourite Chinese dish ever, tiger skin peppers, so I met my friend there for an early dinner.

We ordered: beef noodle soup, Dan Dan Mian, and the fried eggs with tiger skin peppers from their Hunan menu.

My friend's soup arrived first. She absolutely loved it and said it's one of the better ones she's had lately. It took another fifteen minutes for the rest of the food to arrive.

The fried eggs with tiger skin peppers came first. The dish was five fried eggs topped with blistered green chillies (tiger skin) and a thick, spicy, garlicky, sour sauce. I believe the red chillies were pickled. I could taste I think black vinegar, a hint of sesame oil, and the amazing wok hei on the green chillies component. This dish was very, very good. I would say that the eggs had the lovely lacy, crispy edges, but the somewhat clunky sauce covered them in the serving bowl like a hot and sour soup, so they lost their crispiness. I feel like serving this dish on a plate instead of a bowl and with the sauce more as a garnish than a soup would keep the eggs crispy and the dish would be easier to eat.

As for the Dan Dan, the noodles were perfectly chewy. The sauce was quite thin, and not nutty enough for my Dan Dan preferences, but the Sichuan peppercorn was fresh and gave the hints of citrus and numbing as expected, and the preserved vegetable added a nice bit of chew. My main sore point was the lack of pork. I don't even think there was a tablespoon of it. I want the little bits of pork to climb the noodles like in Ants climbing a tree, and there wasn't only not enough pork to get the texture of it, let alone the flavour.

Overall, the food was very good. My main frustration was that I specifically asked for both the Dan Dan and the eggs to be quite spicy, but they weren't. I probably should have asked for chilli oil.

Finally, the service was quite basic. My inability to speak Taiwanese didn't help, but I do wish the server had come to the table once to check in on how things were. However, we did sit and eat for about two hours, and we were never rushed out or anything. The service was not bad. Just know you may need to call the server over for assistance...

I usually don’t leave reviews but this place is so bad I feel like I need to make an exception. I had misfortune of dining at this “Taiwanese” restaurant, and it was an absolute nightmare from start to finish. The moment I walked in, I was met with scowls from the staff, who seemed genuinely annoyed by my presence. The service was beyond terrible, rude comments, slow responses, and a general lack of any basic customer service skills.

It took forever after we ordered to get our food and it seemed like the staff were more concentrated on sleeping instead of actually cooking.

To make matters worse, they were shockingly insistent on demanding tips, despite their horrendous service. It felt like a shakedown, with employees practically hovering over me until I gave over extra cash. They should actually be ashamed and embarrassed by how much they asked for tips, it was as if their lives and those of their families depended on that one extra dollar.

The cleanliness of the place was another major issue. The tables were so sticky that my arms literally stuck to the surface whenever I tried to move. It was like the tables hadn't been cleaned in years, it was literally sticky enough to trap flies for an eternity, I could swear I heard the horrifying screams of all the poor insects unfortunate enough to land on it. The entire restaurant felt grimy and neglected.

The food tasted okay but it was so small that I don’t think I even ate enough to give an honest response, it was as if the dishes were portioned for the millions of tiny insects stuck on the table underneath it. Furthermore, the soup of the noodles were basically nonexistent and the meat and noodles were hard to chew. They were very overpriced and just not worth it

I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone, not even to my worst enemy. Save your money and find somewhere that values its customers and maintains basic...

✨ It felt like stepping into someone’s kitchen — someone who really wanted you to stay awhile.

There’s something comforting about a place rooted in history. Four Four South Village draws from Taiwan’s military dependents’ villages — communities where flavours were memories passed from one generation to the next. And every dish here speaks to that legacy.

We started with the Braised Beef & Tendon Noodle Soup: the kind that makes you slow down. The 8-hour broth was deep and comforting, each bite of beef and tendon strangely familiar, like a memory from a home I’ve never known but somehow missed.

The Noodles With Beef & Braised Sauce had this cozy, rich depth, like a quiet afternoon meal made with care. That house sauce? Secretive and unforgettable.

Their Beef Gua Bao was pure joy — fluffy, savoury, with a sweet-and-spicy bite from the peanuts and sriracha. It felt like street food made with a grandmother’s touch.

And then came the Three Treasures Beef Casserole, with its chewy sweet potato noodles and trio of meats. It’s the kind of dish you share over stories, with each bite full of textures and tradition.

The Sauteed Shredded Beef With Pepper added fire and crunch: wild pepper, celery, and two more kinds of chili playing off the tender beef in a way that demanded attention.

With the Assorted Luwei , we tasted nostalgia: tofu, egg, and pig’s ear all gently steeped in a classic braise that brought the past to the table.

And dessert — that Snow Cake with Red Beans & Coconut was soft, cool, just sweet enough. A gentle ending to a generous meal.

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