Ming

I’m not sure how this place isn’t busier. It’s the best Chinese I’ve had in town. Been here 4 years now.
Pro tip. Order the beef and broccoli. Get your own, you won’t want to share.

I love this place. nice clean, classy, great seating, awesome music, friendly staff. They have a cool list of drinks with awesome names!
Great relaxing place to hang out and have a drink. I would recommend this to friends family and bosses.

Friendly service and delicious food! I don’t know what was better!!! Everything we had was amazing! For appetizers we had the octopus and it was great! The spring rolls were really good too! For main courses we ordered 4 dishes to share, noodles, shrimp, veggies and the beef… I still can’t tell which one I like better !! All were excellent! And the size of the food was very appropriate! The wine was not bad and the place had a good ambience! Definitely nothing to complain! This is now one of my favourite places for Asian food in Calgary! I would love to go back there soon!

We just spent over $ 100 on food which is sooooo gross! There’s a chance they changed the chef perhaps?
Totally not worth eating in this place!
Terrible food! Simply disgusting
Ambience & drinks are good though.

Great place to come have fun, relax or just enjoy some good food. Owner is great, staff is awesome and music is dope. I would recommend anyone to try this place for a casual get together or if you want an night out.

Fantastic food and awesome staff! 3 for $ 28 is a great way to enjoy their wide menu selection — we had the Thai curry chicken, ginger beef, Cantonese noodles and gyoza, each of which was superb. We will definitely be back! Excellent work!

At one time this establishment was THE cocktail lounge, not only in Calgary but perhaps North America. A brash statement perhaps but for those of us who were here at Ming conception and have since moved on to other countries and pastimes there was nothing quite like this «home». What lured me in originally to Ming? Steve Ming had been opened for a month, and I had read in the National Post he was refusing to allow anyone in his bar during Stampede week if they were wearing a cowboy hat. Thought to myself now that’s my kind of bar. That was 1995.
I moved away from Calgary in 2012 but came back to visit this Christmas. Went to Ming and sadly… what was once the hottest girl in school is now a middle aged soccer mom who drives a Ford Taurus. We all get old I know but that doesn’t mean you have to give up.

I really like this place. It has a real lounge bar feel to it, and it’s unfortunately been fairly quiet whenever I have been here (although that’s been late on Mondays and Tuesdays). I kind of like that though, as you can have your own space and actually have a conversation!
They have a great cocktail list, with lots of options with fresh lime. Once I came here and chose anything that listed lime and they were all super tasty. They also have table service, and the service is always great. The first time we were pretty much the only people there and so the server (who I think might have been the manager) was really chatty which we really enjoyed.
I really like the décor, there’s a small fireplace as you walk in and then lots of booths and lounge areas to choose from, with tables lit up in red. The boots could be more comfortable, but I still like the layout more than a lot of bars that only have stools or café style chairs. Even the bathrooms have an Asian theme to them, I can’t remember what the sayings are on the bathroom doors for guys and girls but they always make me smile.

Um… A communist themed bar on a subzero Calgary evening? Obviously. Part kitsch/​part throwback to the days of loungey chic before gastro pubs conquered the universe. There is a thorough martini menu with theme named drinks. We tried 3 of them, and they were pretty good… And stiff.
The Asian fusion cuisine was decent but nothing to brag about.
The star attraction here is the bizarre theme and eclectic patrons it attracts, from tatted hipsters to the young, pretty, and chic. If I lived in the neighborhood, I probably would not be a regular. Definitely a place you have to check out once, though. When you do, have a Lee Harvey Oswald for me.

Oh my gosh! I never would’ve thought to pop in here for food if it wasn’t for a friend that owns the place. The menu items are really tasty! Tako yaki balls are really tasty. Their ribs are delicious. The service is phenomenal. Come here for some good Asian fusion pub food!

The drinks were decent, service was disappointing. We got into Ming for drinks when the place was not busy, and still found the service to be spotty. Also, I liked two out of three of the martinis I had, but found one of the martinis incredibly bitter. Note that my waitress insisted on charging me for the undrinkable martini. I can’t speak to the restaurant as I didn’t eat, so please check out the other reviews on that front.

I like Ming, but I am not in love with it…
It has a certain cheekiness, with interesting décor and drink names, and the service is quite good, but there are better options on 17^th…
I think it is a great place to duck in for a quick drink around 730pm, after dinner and before going out. It’s small and dark and has low ceilings, makes me feel a little claustrophobic…
Check it out for yourself kids!

November Challenge — ²³⁄₃₀
What! I haven’t reviewed Ming yet?! I love Ming, and their cocktails named after famous rulers and dictators. How can I say no to a martini named after Noriega, that has banana liqueur and pop rocks on the rim?
Well, maybe I’ll say no on a first date, because I’d rather not have that dude’s first impression of me; be of me fellating the pop rocks off the rim on a martini glass.
But if I’m with friends? Noriegas, ahoy!
Love their pepper potato wedges too, and their edamame has just the right amount of seasoning. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a drink I didn’t like at Ming (the Marie Antoinette martini is delicious, too!), and service is always on point. The server I had on my last visit was an awesome lady.

If you have a political sense of humour, this place will leave you smiling. Located in 17^th Ave, we found Ming on Unilocal.The part that brought us into the door? A communist Bar! Nothing could be more amusing. They have a fabulous variety of cocktails in their «Manifesto» including The Churchhill, The Dali Lama, Ghandi and my absolute favourite: Harvey Lee Oswald. Between the awesomely named drinks, you might find yourself into the middle of a socio-​historical conversation as tho you were still studying in university.
Socialist, Marxist or Capitalist, you should check this place out!

What an excellent little bar!
I’m going to write a longer more detailed review later but for now I will give you some bullet point highlights:
– Communist theme: Red, pictures of Our Great Leader, manifestos,
– Chic atmosphere; part club like, part bar, areas for private conversations and areas to rally the troops!
– Amazing cocktail menu. I tried the Trotsky, the Lee Harvey Oswald, the Karl Marx
— Awesome staff with PERSONALITY who enjoy their jobs
— Great food (our table tried the shinning pathway flatbread, the Veggi burger, and mixed greens. All great.
Check this place out for something unique and different on 17^th Ave!

Ming you jazzy old broad, I’ll never get tired of your dictator themed cocktails. The second last time I was here, some poet laureate berated me for drinking a whiskey sour because it was a feminine drink. Who gives a @#*@%#? Anything that’s named Shogun is far from being anything feminine, asshole.
Nothing gets the night going like a good Chairman Mao and Karl Marx. Just saying.
I got their grilled cheese sandwich. TWAS a cheesy delight. But my friends didn’t seem too happy with their food orders. Someone didn’t get garlic on their bread, which nearly caused a huge uprising. And my friend’s stomach got assaulted by their pizza.
The vibe of this place is great. Meeting up here with friends early in the night leaves you with the option of staying and enjoying conversation while watching cool kung fu flicks, or venturing off into the night to do gawd-​knows-​wut…

I adore Ming!!! Back in my hay days I would go to Ming for all my first dates. It’s fun, interesting, and has a really cozy intimate feel to it. It’s small so sometimes it’s hard to find a table, but I love the ambience and the obscure movies they’re always playing on the TV’s. The servers are always really friendly, the menu is cool (drinks named after communists… love it), and the food is wonderful. GET THE GINGER BEEF, you will not be disappointed! I also love how they serve a Colt 45 in a paper bag, I would never get it but I think it’s hilarious. The last time my boyfriend and I went late-​night and we had a really cute table by the fireplace, super romantic. Ming is awesome!

I went to Ming for my friends birthday and we had a blast! She had chose Ming as her dinner location as she saw they had a shrimp stir fry she just had to try. Didn’t get her input on the food, but everything that was ordered looked amazing! I had saw on here that the ginger beef was worth they try and when it comes to Chinese food, ginger beef is my fave! HANDS DOWN THE BEST GINGER BEEF I HAVE EVER HAD!!! The beef wasn’t too crispy and just enough spicy to it that I wasn’t downing my drink. I also had the chicken club, which was Delicious! Such large portions for the price you pay. I could not finish all my food.
We had excellent service, our waiter was very friendly and we never had to wait too long to get our drink/​food. Our waiter was also very patient with us when it came time to pay as we all wanted to pay separately (and all had had a few drinks as well.)
My only problem with this place is we were seated in the «red room» which consist of 2 large hanging red lights, and that’s about it. It was very hard to see the menu or even each others faces. But realistically, this did not affect our night out.

So after my boyfriend and I escaped Vinyl, we drove to Ming because we needed to gather our wits and dignity in a more civilized environment.
It was around 1 am that we arrived here and there was quite a few tables available, thankfully. So we went to the alcove-​ish area and got a table. Ming felt like heaven at that point because exactly half an hour earlier I was at Vinyl, and saying that a tacky underage club lit up with tacky blue lights is not my scene would be the understatement of the millenium.
Anyway, our server floated to us like an angel in heaven and informed us that the kitchen was open, which was music to our ears because we were hungry. We promptly ordered a pizza and 2 drinks. My cocktail was a tasty concoction of pineapple, coconut, vanilla and lime juice. We sunk into the deep couches and bathed in the red glowing light and felt sane again. The pizza arrived, we dove in, and I savoured every bite of it. THIS was exactly my scene. And apparently my boyfriend’s too, because he commented more than once that he liked ‘this place’. Chill music which lets you have a conversation, an ambiance second-​to-​none, delicious affordable drinks, and a kitchen that stays open late — Thank you for existing, Ming.
And thank you for salvaging what was left of our Saturday night. We can’t wait to be back.
²⁶⁄₃₀

Crystal H chose Ming for us as a happy hour pit stop based on their Unilocal reviews. Score one in Calgary for Unilocal and for Crystal.
When I sat in Ming sipping my glass of bubbly I felt like I was somehow involved in a covert operation. I mean this in the absolute best way, too. The rooms are dim, with red-​hued lights and feel very sexy. The seats huddle around tables making you lean in, as if to tell secrets. The TVs show old movies to distract would-​be listeners from overhearing your secrets. If there were any other people around at all that is.
And for all you non-​spy people, or people who don’t have an overactive imagination like me this spot is awesome for plain old happy hour drinks, too. Besides the cozy interior they have quite a lovely patio to enjoy the short summer days. The service was super, super friendly and the drink menu magnificent. All good things in my book.