First Markham Place

It is a good place for dining, so much choices, and price is cheap too. Less than $ 10, you can grab a very nice meal with main course, side dishes, soup and pop.
I often go there when I have no idea what to eat. Large food court, plenty of seating, better than some packed restaurants.
Only problem to me is there are some smell of chinese herbs in the air, maybe because the chinese herb shops opened in the mall.

This is a shitting shopping centre that I won’t even consider it one. Their stores are horrible like the clothes are not that good no offence. People only come here for the food nothing else to be honest. The only thing I like about this plaza is their food court. The food court has so many hidden gems.

You’d be surprised how much I came here as a kid! My grandparents used to watch me and my brother during summer breaks, and they were part of the exercise groups in the morning, so we ended up here in the mornings, before any of the shops even opened! Oh, memories…
Overall a good place to get food! If you look at the plaza as a whole, there is a large variety of Asian cuisine to choose from. The foodcourt in the mall itself is quite good as well! They have one of the best BBQ Pork places inside, and is pretty much my go-​to for foodcourt food!
The stores in the mall are less than stellar. Optical, Chinese herbal, and jewelry stores populate majority of the mall, so makes it quite stale to walk through unless you have a specific reason to go. The plaza doesn’t have a movie theatre anymore, so that’s one less reason to go! Parking is a nightmare at all times of the day, every day of the week as well.
If you’re looking for an Asian mall with tons of people and horrendous parking, I would say tough it out, and head to Pacific Mall!

First Markham Place is a large Chinese mall and it definitely beats Pacific Mall for me.
Parking here is just fine as long as you aren’t one of those people that HAVE to park in viewing distance of the sidewalk. Really, parking is very plentiful and the only time you’ll really struggle to get a spot is at peak dinner hours, which is usually between 6:30 and 7:30pm on a weekday or maybe an extra +/​-​half an a hour on the weekend. And in this case, you can usually find a spot if you roam around enough. The thing that annoys me is that I find a lot of cars just sit in one spot, hoping a spot will magically appear and the lanes are just not wide enough for that.
The food court is the definite draw here as this is a large selection of different types of items. The food court is generally kept pretty clean and the people at the individual food places are very pleasant people. I’ve gone to the point where some of them recognize my sister and I. In five-​plus years of going here, I’ve very rarely had a problem with my order and most are pretty quick — obviously depending how busy they are. In addition, there’s always a place to sit down and eat — though there are take out options if that’s what you like.
The individual shops are there though none of them are particularly exciting. Smart Maple and Uny are two of my favourite shops for animé related items (though Smart Maple doesn’t seem to be restocking Gundam Models anymore). Even still, the people who work there seem to be pretty happy and the Uny shop owner in particular always makes sure to say hi with a smile on his face.
My only real problem here are the little ‘concerts’ or ‘events’ that they have here. In the middle of the food court, every so often, they have a stage set up with musical entertainment of some form and I find it to be pretty distracting while I’m trying to eat. In addition, they tend to have the volume levels way too high (you could hear it pretty clearly from a few feet away from the entrances). I’m not sure why people think this is an ideal place for these type of things.
If you want some good food, bubbletea or want to go to any of the little shops around the mall, then this is a good choice. The food quality is very consistent and the people there are usually pretty happy to help you. I’d definitely recommend going here, especially if you’re like me and dislike Pacific Mall.

Great food court but nothing much else. This plaza is not a great place for shopping but it’s a great place to get a bite to eat.
Parking is usually a nightmare. People can’t drive and the parking is always filled up so if you got a meet, don’t be late.
Really not much to say about this place other than that.

I was once asked by a YRT driver what First Markham Place was and why there were so many of us getting off that stop. I had three words for him: Cheap Good Eats! I think this sums it up. There’s a large food court where you can feed an entire family for under $ 30 and have lots left over. All sorts of restaurants can be found along the perimeter of the mall. It also has shops that sell eyewear, specialty toys, cellphone goodies, etc

Very cool chinese mall here in Toronto. lots of good things you can buy here instead of going to China

The main thing I usually go here for is the food court, as I assume 80% of people do.
Huge food court, with tons of options! Ranging from Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese the list could go on!
I’m particularly a huge fan of the Japanese food stall. It’s owned by this cutely meek Japanese couple, and the food from there is always amazing!
They’ve got your run of the mills store, from a cutesy stuffed animal trinket shop, to fresh dumplings that you can watch them make, to bubble tea and optometrists!
If you’re not feeling the food court, there’s also tons and tons of food options in the same plaza outside of First Markham Place.

Not much to say about this mall. Definitely can’t beat Pacific mall lol. I would, however, choose this over the latter for one reason. toyS2! The toy store here is just. Fantastic. Has all the toys I need/​want to buy here — from Hot Toys, Neca, Sideshow Collectibles, etc. The food court is also pretty good here. A lot of variety and relatively cheap eats.
This place certainly doesn’t deserve 4 stars, but I’m just biased because of ToyS2 LOL: D

Parking, also known as, do you wanna give up on life?
Parking is so so so so bad here, especially on weekends, oh my goodness.
The mall is like a crap version of pacific mall, except an expensive version.
Phone cases/​stickers here are $ 5+ more than pacific mall, so ew. No. Avoid.
If you need phone screen protectors, hit up pacific mall because it’s only $ 5-​$ 10 there and they help you put it on. Places here are like $ 15 – 20 for a screen protector (and they help you put it on as well if you ask). However, a few places suck at putting it on, I paid and I got bubbles in the protector within a few minutes. Not good.
The food court is pretty good, there’s cheap phở, jap chae, gamjatang, etc. It’s not a bad price either, and not bad for what you pay for.
The best thing is probably the bubble tea places! There’s two right beside each other and bbt is only $ 2.50 (tax included + free topping). Of course, it’s not as quality as chatime but the bubble tea is not bad! Also, they have burnt japanese coffee, which is a gem to find.
Mall is too small for my liking, and there’s like a gazillion optical and ginseng stores. literally RIGHT. BESIDE. EACH OTHER. I don’t understand.

Buddy’s Kitchen …
In the food court of first Markham place. This place recently changed their name… I can’t remember the previous name but it is located at the corner of the food court directly across from the Fido booth.
Can’t go wrong with this place… for $ 6.80 (tax incl.) You get rice/​noodles… and a choice of 3 sides with a drink or soup. Food quality is not bad at all. I would have to say the sweet and sour soup could be better. They are very generous with their portions… chances are, you’ll not be able to finish. I am a pretty big eater and I am usually full after eating here.
I have been supporting this food court for the last 6+ years… and I would have to say this food court is one of the better ones in all of GTA. They have great food selection and the prices are very reasonable (compared to Chinese food in western malls).
I would definitely continue to support Buddy’s Kitchen and this food court in general.

First Markham Place has an awesome food court and I am giving it 4 stars solely on that. The shops here are strange. This place is a little bit like Pacific Mall. There are lots of places that sell ginseng and other Chinese medicine items, lots of opticals, lots of jewelers, and a handful of Asian clothing shops. This is not a place that I would go to shop, but it is definitely a place to go to eat!
The food court is fairly large and everything is cheap. Many dishes are less than $ 6 and they include a free tea or soy milk. Bubble Tea here is around $ 2.50 tapioca and taxes included! There was one place that had it for as little as $ 2 and another that was 2 for $ 3.50.
The Cantonese Chow Mein ($ 5.50) at Markham Delight is delicious. They are generous with the toppings and the noodles are crispy. The free soy milk was good.
The food at HKS BBQ is also awesome. The BBQ Pork is lean and flavourful. Their Roast pork and Peking duck on rice with broccoli ($ 5.95) is really good. Huge portion with lots of meat! The free cold sweet iced tea was awesome!
The Pad Thai at Malay Thai ($ 5.97) is ok. I probably wouldn’t order it again. Small shrimp, small slivers of chicken, and strange tofu pieces. Nothing really special. The free hot tea was a little bitter.
The bubble tea ($ 2.50) at Fruitti Mix was not great. The tapioca was soft and mushy and the lychee milk tea had hardly any lychee flavour to it. I will try one of the other bubble tea places next time.
Outside of the mall there are tons of sit down restaurants in a long row. I haven’t tried any of them yet. But I would say that this is a good place to go eat because you have a lot of selection between the food court and sit down restaurants.

Parking can be nuts.
Other than that, this place has a plethora of places to eat at. Restaurants everywhere and a food court inside the mall. The food court is awesome. You can get a filling meal with a drink for about $ 5. It’s all authentic tasting.
They have the usual cutsie stores that sell Hello Kitty items, etc. Bubble tea shops and Chinese bakeries, this mall has you covered.
If you’re at First Markham Place, a must try is Ding Tai Fung. Soup dumplings are delicious!

Best «shopping» mall ever… in that a woman can’t really shop here and all you can do is eat!!! LOVING IT! lol
This is a giant Asian food court that has at least 2 of every type of oriental food (sushi, Korean, dumpling house, congee places, HK style café) and plus there is an actual food court inside the mall. My favourite places here are Ding Tai Fung, Szechuan Garden and Congee Wong. Oh yeah, besides food, there is a golf store and a movie theatre. Not sure why there is a golf store… but oh well.
The only downside is that it can be hard to find parking here during the lunch and dinner hours, but otherwise, solid food mall (*cough* shopping mall).
It’s a good middle of the night place, where you can catch a movie and eat dinner.

A bit confusing with a lot of similar stores. A lot of travel stores, many spas and the like. Lots of restaurants too. Good Cineplex there. Parking is usually a nightmare.

You can either love this place, or hate this place. I am part of the LOOOVEEE this place group. :)
Sure it’s a pain to find parking when it’s during peak dining hours, but it isn’t impossible to find one if you are patient enough. If you don’t mind walking, park across the way in the Staples/Chapters/Longo’s lot and run over, but beware of the drivers! They are out with a vengeance!
I’ve been coming to this place for quite a few years now whenever I’m in town, and the food options alone make this place worth coming back to. Mei Nung makes my favorite Taiwanese/​Northern Chinese style braised beef noodle soup (with FRESH CUT NOODLES!!), and inside the mall, Tianjin Fine Foods sells great fresh potstickers and dumplings. I have tried the shao mai (steamed pork dumplings in the yellow wrapper) in the neighboring food stall, but wasn’t really all that impressed by it. However, if you’re in the mood for Korean food, there are plenty of choices here that will satisfy your taste buds. What you won’t find? Any Western food.
First Markham Place has a ton of stores: ones that sell Chinese herbal/​medicinal goods; hair salons, video game/​manga/​animé shops; optical/​vision stores; vacation tour companies; banks; Asian novelty gift shops. Outside, there are furniture shops, more technology/​electronic stores, a movie theater — something for everybody!
This place is great for walking, especially after you have stuffed yourself silly with the food choices here. The washrooms definitely deteriorate in terms of cleanliness towards the latter part of the day, but as long as you quickly get in and get out, you’ll be fine!
As a note — If you’re GPS’ing this place, the city limit is listed under Unionville, ON, not Markham, ON.

Shopping center with majority if not all businesses run by asians. Good way to practice your Mandarin & Cantonese language skills instead of hiring a private tutor.
Worth a look if your into mobile phone covers, dvds, etc. Huge parking lot so you have no excuse for not going.
Their food court is a must try if you’re into asian foods, Huge variety of asian food selections all in one court.

FMP is the place to go if you can’t think of what to eat. You can easily spend a whole day here — there’s a movie theater, Golf Town, Bank of China, shopping mall, furniture stores, tech. stores. not to mention an abundance of restaurants!
Recently, the restaurant genre is half Korean and half Chinese. The food court inside FMP is also a good choice for something fast and under $ 10. It can get packed during lunch time, so brace yourselves for line ups and no seats to eat at.
Parking Tip: It can be a pain to find parking on weekends. There’s a parking area behind the movie theater that’s usually empty. There’s a back door that’s usually unlocked which leads to the inside of FMP mall.

First Markham Place (FMP) is the best Chinese mall currently. It has surpassed the past champion (Markham Village + Pacific Mall) and held its place against newcomers (Time Square and Commerce Gate) over time. I love the formula it has — Variety. Other Chinese malls often have one after another Cantonese food stalls. FMP has Korean, Japanese, Northern Chinese, Southern Chinese, Taiwanese, Thai, BBQ, etc. It has variety of restaurants and they are mostly good (the not so good ones tend to close down rather quickly). It has stores of every type that I can think of, except a grocery store.
I do have to take off 1 star due to severely insufficient parking spaces.

When I think about First Markham Place, I think about Food Food Food and more food! It is like a giant Food Court, anything Asian you can find it here!
Most of the restaurants here are reasonably priced and being in such a competitive environment, all of them have to be excellent and good value if not they won’t be in business for long… the turnover of business here is so fast and frequent!
Parking can be a hassle on weekend, but this is nothing when compare to Pacific Mall! I love to come here whenever I have no idea what I am going to have for lunch, and I always find something to eat!!!