For people who live downtown, Rol San is considered a gem for dim sum lovers. It’s not as good as the dim sum places you find in the suburbs like Markham or Scarborough but it’s passable.

Some of the food here are quite good, the only drawbacks are the service and the price. It seems every 2 or 3 months they hike up the price. Good service is also nonexistent here so don’t be disappointed when you don’t feel welcome the moment you walked in, or when you feel ignored by servers, or you’ve been overcharged, etc. This is how they are and they’ve been in business for more than 20 years because people come here for the food and not for their lousy service.

I have tried all their dim sum dishes and IMO these are the best tasting dim sum to order in Rolsan:

Shiu Mai (Pork Dumplings with Shrimp): Shiu Mai is my all time favorites and the first thing I grab whenever I go to dim sum restaurants. If you’ve never had this, it’s kind of like a juicy meatball, held together by a soft dumpling wrapper.

Rol San’s Shiu Mai is one the best I’ve ever tried. The texture is toothsome but juicy and tender at the same time. The filling is bursting with rich and meaty savoriness. One order comes with 4 pcs of delicious Shiu Mai and I bet you will eat more than one.

Har Gow (Shrimp Dumplings): Har Gow is one of those dish that you will either love or hate depending on how it was made. I have tasted Har Gows where the dumpling wrappers are perfect but had a terrible filling. And then there are some that have flavourful filling but the wrappers are either dry and breaks apart when you grab with a chopstick.

Not the case with Rol San’s Har Gow. The dumpling is translucent and flavourful. It has a smooth texture and able to hold the dumpling shape well.

Fried Eggplant with Stuffed Shrimp Paste in Soy Sauce What I like about this dish is that it’s not oily even though it’s fried. The eggplant plus the shrimp filling makes this dim sum dish even better. Combined it with the flavourful sauce and this is one dish that is very satisfying.

Deep Fried Seaweed Roll with Chicken & Shrimp: I was surprised on how good this dish was! If you’re not a dim sum aficionados, you won’t even know about this dish as this is one of the lesser known dim sum.

I know people always order the Shiu Mai or Har Gow but trust me on this, try to order this dish and you will be hooked.

Shaped in a form of cigar, it’s crunchy on the outside, chewy bouncy inside and bursting with umami flavour. The smokey seaweed hugging the shrimp/chicken mixture and served with mayo sauce is one delectable dish you will surely enjoy.

Char Siu Bao (Steamed BBQ Pork Bun): I love Rol San’s BBQ Pork Buns! They make this perfect snowy white bun which is so delicious. Cracked open on top, you can get a glimpse of the barbecued pork filling. You cannot go to a dim sum restaurant and leave without trying their soft, fluffy buns with chunks of BBQ pork in a sweet savory sauce.

Honorable Mentions: Fried Bean Curd with Stuffed Shrimp Paste in Soy Sauce - the taste is similar to the stuffed fried eggplant but with fried bean curd.

Pan Fried Beef Short Ribs - delicious and tender, this is one dish you should try.

Steamed Bean Stick Rolls with Mince Pork & Shrimp Paste in Oyster Sauce - another umami flavoured dish. The beancurd wrapper, sauce, coupled with a combination filling of pork, shrimp, mushrooms and veggies is packed with flavour and is absolutely yummy.

Meh and not worth it: Deep Fried Squid Tentacle - rubbery and tough, enough said.

Pan Fried Turnips Cake with Pork Dry Shrimp & Chinese Bacon - they definitely skimp on the filling ingredients here (especially the turnips) since all I can taste is rice flour and starch. Not good compared to other dim sum places.

Steamed Custard Buns - I find Rol San’s Custard Bun dry and not soft. The custard filling also doesn’t have the creamy texture compared to other Custard Buns I’ve tried so I didn’t enjoy this dish.