Sky Dragon Chinese Restaurant 龍翔酒樓 — Restaurant in Toronto

The Sky Dragon Restaurant is an old-school dim sum classic. This eatery has been cemented into the foundation of Toronto's China Town for decades. Here they push the carts of food around in traditional fashion but you can also order from the comic oversized picture laminated menu card of accurate image representation. This restaurant is typically busy during peak times so waiting for a table is sometimes in the cards but often worth it. The decor is a mostly stark white-like walls and ceiling with limited decoration. The slip covered chairs and white linen table cloths covered in plastic offer an authentic dim sum setting. Located on the fifth floor of the Dragon City Mall in the heart of China Town, the plated glass windows offer an interesting view of Toronto and part of it's skyline. The unassuming decor is trapped in the later part of the past century and could use an injection of life and spirit. It would seem this dragon has long since lost it's fire and wings yet it lives on like a dragon should, for a very long time.

The food is traditional and should present few surprises to any person familiar with dim sum though it is a bit hit and miss. Some dishes may not be as hot as others when the cart is being pushed around for an extended period but you can order from the menu and avoid the cart service if you really wanted to. Across the board the food is average or below expectation. No single food item stands out to me here and a few items were hardly worth eating. There is no life in the food here. There is no joy in the kitchen. I can not critique individual menu options as the entire offering came from the same approach. For a lively dining location during a peak lunch hour on a Sunday, the food was boring and uninspired yet there are lots of options for meat eaters and vegetarians. The Dragon is also kid friendly.

The service was muted and lackluster, not what you would expect during a peak lunch hour. Ordering additional drinks and napkins etc. was slow and occasionally fell on deaf ears as we had to request things repeatedly in order to get them to the table. Even at the tail end of the rush, as patrons departed, the service was lacking and uninspired.

The bathroom was in good order and obviously looked after and attended to. Too bad the Dragon City elevator had a mild stench of urine inside of it. The Dragon City Mall itself is a faded remnant and the last time I recall it in full function would be in the 1990s. The central atrium holiday decorations are a clear status indicator the Dragon City Mall is in poor standing. Both the restaurant and mall are wheelchair accessible and there are multiple Green P parking locations and municipal parking locations in the near vicinity.

The best feature of the Dragon City Restaurant is the bill. This is likely to be the most significant aspect to maintain attendance. Mediocre food and second-rate service has a functional rate and the old Dragon is relying on it. You will be hard pressed to find dim sum cart service downtown in a big city at this price point. A table of five hungry adults can stuff themselves with tremendous amounts of food at the Dragon for a mere amount of money.

Overall I give the Dragon City institution at 280 Spadina 3.5 out of 5. I even suggest you try it...

Dim sum food was pretty good except I felt we got overcharged. My arithmetic estimate and the waitress who actually wrote up the bill had very large disparities in what the final bill was.

I had tallied up the approximate cost ahead of time but I felt like they overcharged us by $20. The waitress scribbled the bill in undecipherable chicken scratch writing that is impossible to read with the only thing I could actually understand being the final cost at the bottom of the bill. This seemed deliberate. I wish I took a picture of the bill to post here now.

If your entire group is asian, then you should have no problems and you should absolutely dine here but the old Chinese grannies that wheel the dim sum carts out will dismiss you with a look of disdain or disapproval if your girlfriend happens to be black as was my situation.

I felt they pretended not to hear us when I wanted to ask a question. We didn't feel very welcome and the service felt poor for us specifically even though they seem to treat all their other all-asian customer groups (mostly older asian couples and a few all asian families) with laughter and conversation. This didn't feel like a place where we were their ideal customer.

I'm sure this restaurant serves authentic dim sum because something similar happened at a really authentic Indian restaurant in Brampton called Tandoori Flame (it's not the casual strip mall butter chicken roti take out but the kind of authentic Indian food restaurant that only Indians know about).

They clearly have more than enough customers to sustain their business for the next century so they won't need our business. We do not plan to return.

If you've been their loyal customer for 30 years regardless of your ethnicity or if you are asian and speak a very fluent Hong Kong dialect of Cantonese (none of that CBC Cantonese that will make their staff roll their eyes and start speaking to you in English), by all means eat at Sky Dragon. If not, then save yourself from disappointment.

There are several other dim sum restaurants within 100 meters of Sky Dragon that is staffed by both younger English and Chinese speaking asian and caucasian serving staff that treat each and every customer like gold with equally good food that I've tried where the bill is clearly stated and...

Sky Dragon Chinese Restaurant is a lively dim sum go-to eatery located on the 4th floor of the Dragon City Mall, serving traditional Chinese food options with a patio overlooking the beautiful city views.

This restaurant has been in business for many many years, I always heard about its existence but just never got the chance to go all the way up to the 4th floor to try it.

I came here for my 1st time after getting regular blood test on the 3rd floor lab, may as well check this resto out. Moment I walked in, I have to say, you could tell the building and the restaurant is aging, things seem old including the table cloth and the chairs. But it does its job I guess.

I really find it fascinating that this resto has a nice patio overlooking our beautiful skyline. You could even spot the CN Tower from here. They have a few tables for those who wants to dine outside.

The service here was good though, the staff were friendly to me. They asked me for my choice of Chinese tea and then provided me with a big Dim Sum menu that shows pics of each dish.

I ordered my favourite Har Gao (steam shrimp dumplings), Shui Mai (steam pork dumplings) + a bowl of shredded pork century egg congee + a stir fry bean sprouts ho fun.

When the dishes arrived at my table, they were big portion and I couldn't finish them and had to ask for take out boxes. They were tasty and delicious. I really enjoyed the congee in particular as it provided some crunchy fried stuff on the top with chopped green onions.

Prices were decent as well as they charged you Dim Sum based on small, medium, large, extra large or special. Most Dim Sum items are reasonable at medium or large or extra large.

NOTE: Whenever you go to Dim Sum, they normally charge you for the tea per person. I know many wouldn't notice until the bill arrives. But that makes sense as they specially provide a Chinese tea that you asked for and a teapot specially for you. When you go to a regular restaurant, they do charge you for a tea/coffee, same deal. Normally, they charge between $1.50 CDN/person to $2.00 CDN/person for Chinese tea at Chinese restaurants, which...