Sunnys Chinese — Restaurant in Toronto

Sunny’s Chinese: walk-in experience

My boyfriend and I arrived around 7:45pm. The initial host who greeted us was very welcoming and friendly and informed us that there was a table available but that we needed to be done by 9:15pm to accommodate the next reservation. We thanked her and agreed we would be done before 9:15pm.

Our server started off providing standard expectations with a welcome and offering to start with choice of sparkling or still water. Over the loud music and conversations it was hard to hear and she was visibly annoyed. We brushed it off and continued on looking at the menu.

We had seen the restaurant on tik tok and we’re initially excited. However when our server returned to take our order she rushed us and was again annoyed when we were hesitant about the menu. In unprovoked aggression she then re-stated that she wanted to have enough time to get our foot order in and us out the door before 9:15 as there was a reservation and we were a walk-in. Completely inappropriate behaviour and her tone was rude and again visibly annoyed that we hadn’t picked what we had wanted to order.

We were immediately taken aback and shocked. As we already had spoken with and agreed with our initial host of the time allotted. We said we were “good” as an interpretation of being ready to order after that passive aggressive interaction. Rather than take our order, she walked away.

When she came back we addressed her previous comments as unprofessional and blatantly rude. She brushed it off (as if it never happened) and stated that wasn’t her intention. No apology initially, during or after our dining experience. We hastily ordered off the menu and hoped for the best.

Needless to say once our food arrived (quickly too after ordering) we tried to enjoy our food but with her interruptions of pointless commentary, it further reinforced our feeling of being unwelcome and as if us being a walk in was a massive inconvenience to her.

She did her version of “damage” control, but also standard server tasks (checking in on how or food tasted, mentioning her favourites on the menu, offering another glass of Prosecco and at the end offering dessert.) After her passive aggressively informing us again to hurry up and order to eat and get out. Her offering another glass of Prosecco and dessert was insensitive. Make your mind up, do you want us to eat and get out or stay “longer”?

We ordered Typhoon Shelter Squid : overhyped calamari (nothing special, not worth $20)

Husband + Wife Beef : glamour grocery store cold roast beef with chili oil dumped on top and randomly acidic ($22)

Steamed Jasmine Rice : hard to mess up, was standard rice to be expected ($3)

Yibin Burning Noodle : aside from the Prosecco this was the “star” of the meal. Flavourful yes, too much unnecessary chili oil - yes. Noodles were cooked perfectly and once you got passed the chili flake paste - the other flavours that should have been highlighted, came through ( $18)

Prosecco : ($16-$18/ glass)

Overall experience and food was a disappointment. Rude and poor service from our server immediately ruined our experience and over priced food dumped with chili flake oil was not the experience worth it.

Bill $109 Tipped 10% (poor tip in my opinion)

Did not want to tip “nothing” but a direct messaged to her that her rude disappointing service did not merit a proper tip. (I regret it now)

Again our initial host and other staff we interacted with were all friendly, welcoming and professional. It’s a shame one server can ruin your whole experience and leave a bad impression of a restaurant.

Would personally not recommend aside from the appalling and nasty service from our server the food not flavourful or worth the price and didn’t not live up tho the hype.

Verdict: overhyped on social media and hostil server ruined our experience. Extremely disappointed and embarrassed that’s how she represented the restaurant

initial host was friendly, professional and welcoming Prosecco was good

In at 7:45pm Seated around 7:57pm Paid and...

TLDR: Reserve ASAP and run here. Don’t walk. 12/10 and would definitely come back.

My wife and I were visiting from NYC and stayed in downtown Toronto (Ace Hotel) during our trip. We heard Toronto has a stellar Asian food scene and this did not disappointment. Everything from location, ambiance, service, the food itself…. Where do we even begin?

The place is in downtown Toronto by Kensington Market and while I thought initially the “speakeasy” vibe was gimmicky, it was still pretty cool to find it. Once you enter, you’re immediately transported to a blend of small town diner meets Michelin starred restaurant with an open kitchen to top it off!

We sat the bar because that was only reservation available, but the service was still impeccable from beginning to end. We ordered a number of dishes and while we had some favorites, each one was delectable and you can’t go wrong.

Black Bean White Fish: catch of the day was Seabass and was served filleted/butterfly, so presentation was 💯. Lightly crispy skin, succulent meat, and umami taste. I’m an underachieving Asian, so I struggle eating the traditional whole fish with bone in… luckily this dish had almost all the bones removed with most of the fish still intact!

Dan Dan Noodle: very solid choice and while heavy handed on the peppercorns/seasoning, this dish was packing so much flavor, it had a carry on, two checked bags, and freight cargo.

Mapo Tofu: This was a bit too spicy for me personally, but I also have a weak spice game. The wife on the other hand, LOVES Mapo Tofu, and not only did she finish the plate, she thought it was top5 best mapo tofu ever.

Orange Chicken: Thjs was one of our most favorite dishes and also their flagship signature that all the reviews recommend you get. Don’t even think, just order it.

Salted Egg Yolk Shrimp: Recommended by our server and we were very pleasantly surprised. Although comes shell/head on, the whole shrimp is edible. The taste reminded me a bit of those “egg yolk salmon skin chips” that costs like $35/bag with the taste profile and texture “crunchiness” from the crispy shrimp skin. This were DELICIOUS and I was scarfing them down like boneless buffalo wings at a Super Bowl party

Stir Fried Tung Choy: we needed a little vegetable course for decorative purposes, but WOW WOW. This might’ve been my favorite dish. Between the distinctive aromas that come from Wok-cooking and the seasoning/sauce, this dish was the perfect combination of “light/airy” with complex flavor profiles that made each bite addicting

Twice Cooked Pork: perfectly cooked from the Wok and is no wonder this was our server’s favorite dish at the restaurant

Dessert (HK Tea Soft Serve + Toast): I’m not a fan of sweets so I usually skip the dessert part, but the wife recommended I try a bite of the soft serve. I blacked out from the unique taste and finished the whole...

Overall, the experience was not great, and I am unlikely to return. There are many restaurants in the city at the same or similar price points that offer superior food and service

I will break this review into sections: Service Ambience; Food

Service

No matter how good a restaurant is, you can tell much about it from the service. The people are your brand. Ultimately, Sunny’s is disappointing when it comes to service.

First, the hostess/manager was very off-putting and unfriendly. Some service staff seemed to be trying to appease her rather than attending to tables. This effectively drove the experience and made it uncomfortable at times.

Our server was friendly and well-versed in the menu. However, she tended to direct the conversation to one person to the exclusion of others. At other times, she was inauthentic and insincere in her comments. I'd rather she had reserved her comments

Second, we were asked how we wanted the bill prior to dessert service… admittedly, under ordinary circumstances, this would not have bothered me so much but in light of the overall experience. Since dinner was my treat, when the machine prompted me to tip 18%-25%, I hesitated on whether the service was worth % of gratuity… I ultimately tipped 18% out of (what I felt was) obligation.

On a positive note, I will say what the server did well was ensure all the plates and cutlery were changed between course. She was also much more personable towards the end of the meal.

Last, other service staff was incredibly kind, but overall, the environment felt very anxious (and not because it was busy - which, in my opinion, it was not).

Ambience

Ambience is important.

Ambience is good minus the aforementioned. The decor is not pretentious and the colour scheme was unusual but something we loved.

Food

Food was good; not great. Some of the dishes had robust flavours while others were bland and left more to be desired. At the prix fix price point, I would have expected more.

Perhaps the biggest ball drop was that one of the items we were most excited for (the pappardelle noodles) was not served notwithstanding the server saying something to the contrary.

Dessert was the best course by far but there were a number of vegetable courses that we loved.

I left feeling that the restaurant was undeserving of the Bib accolade.

We intend to try the sister restaurant (Mimi) in the future but may rethink this in light of this experience.

Other Comments

We were attending that venue to celebrate. Although not expected, given the nature of the celebrations, and informed by our experiences at other restaurants, some of which are far less pricey and rated, I would have thought they'd have done a bit more to ensure we felt celebrated. Again, this wasn't an expectation but does elevate...