Royal Jade Restaurant — Restaurant in Vaughan

This is my first bad review.. that’s how disappointed I am. I used to come to royal jade a few times a year over a few years about 5 years ago. I came here because they had really good halal food, with affordable prices. No complaints. I stopped once I moved to downtown Toronto. I was recently in the area and decided to (excitedly) drop by and have an old favourite. Prices had increased exponentially (normal-inflation is affecting everyone so I wasn’t too disappointed or deterred). What surprised me was the portions have become significantly smaller. It was mostly sauce and barely any beef (and the sauce wasn’t even thick, it was watery! Imagine salted water.. it was pretty gross). The beef itself tasted like it hadn’t been marinated or seasoned with anything. Tip was automatically added to the bill, even though they hadn’t mentioned this anywhere.. my guess is no one in their right mind would tip for this food so they force your hand.. i paid 20$ for a few pieces of nasty, nasty beef and small portion of rice that was very sticky and mushy. I ALWAYS tip but I couldn’t get myself to tip something so underwhelming, which made me even more irritated when they forcefully took the tip anyway. Super disappointed. Not sure if the owners/cooks changed or if they just stopped caring but I feel really ripped off. I wrote this review a good week after I ate there.. I didn’t want to do it but it was simmering in my mind and I just couldn’t let go of the fact that I feel like they duped me. I really wouldn’t recommend anyone going here....

This is a response to the Google review below of Mr. Lovepreet Sandhu:

We were there when you and your wife caused a small scene at this small restaurant to gave them a lecture about the difference between Manchurian and Szechuan. The owner agreed to change your order because apparently there was a miscommunication with your order but your wife chose to just leave. You then caused another scene with the other owner telling him he’s either “inexperienced or his business is new” cos he cannot tell the difference between the sauce or flavor that you ordered.

I understood where your frustration was coming from. The chinese owner argued with you regarding a chinese dish when you, a non-chinese customer, just won’t get the reason why your order tastes different . What you didn’t understand is that every dish, while they may come from the same culture, can still be cooked differently depending on the restaurant.

The food here is great. We enjoyed what we ordered and I can say the taste stands out from most restaurants that serve the same dishes.

Disclaimer: I’m not in any way related to the restaurant owners. This was our first time eating here. What stood out from our experience was this scene caused by one customer. We don’t like seeing small business owners getting bullied by negative google reviews. We don’t know the story behind every one-star reviews but for this one, I can attest that the restaurant did...

Not agree with 4.3 ratingBe Careful* I didn't like many things about this restaurant and felt cheated. Food: The chicken was not fresh and smelled. Overfried and become rubbery. The quality of the oil is not good. I tried a second time just to make sure might be the first time I didn't analyze correctly. Price: Overpriced all items with less quality. Service: Not good. Not even have the courtesy to give water in the first place. When I asked, the person gave only two glasses of water to three people. Seriously do I need to ask him again for another glass of water? Ridiculous! Billing: This is where you will get cheated. I saw in the receipt that one more section was added which says ‘Gratuity’. As per my understanding, this will be a section where more than 4 people sit for dining and get one check the Gratuity gets added as a Tip. In my case, only three people and the total food amount was not even 30 bucks but they had added Gratuity. That means you like the food or not, you like the service or not they will collect the Tip. Be careful and read your total bill. However, the food was not good on my both visits, and everyone got sick middle of the night. Highly not recommended...