Ming Lou Chinese Restaurant

My sister works nearby, so when she told me I had to try the spicy peanut soup (dan-​dan? Dang-​dang?) I came running. It was that good.
After that, a flurry of plates. A beef with rolled noodle dish? A spicy beef, fried rice with pork in an clay pot? I was confused and elated with all the flavours.
Got some sideways glances fro staff and patrons as I was the only blonde kid there. I’d return for the soup.

This is a authentic restaurant that serves decent Chinese food for a good price. The food is good but not the best. Some dishes include the Congee with Shredded Chicken, Shrimp Noodle Soup and many others. However, there are some problems that hurt this restaurants score. The service is very bad at this restaurant. Service is slow and I am left waiting for my food. The waiters are very disrespectful and it damages the restaurants overall quality. Another problem is the restaurant décor. It is fairly decent but needs to be modernized. I would recommend this to families looking for dinner to eat.

This place was a pleasant surprise I have to say! Atmosphere is decent. It’s not as crowded as other similar restaurants and service is the usual fare for Chinese restaurants — fast and straight to the point.
We had several dishes and most of them were good. The green beans with pork was excellent and so was the bok choy with oyster mushrooms and tofu. The snow pea shoots with garlic was decent. The fried rice with chinese sausage and taro was excellent! The crispy chicken was alright. a bit bland. The soy sauce drenched duck wasn’t so good.
All in all the price is right and so is the food (for the most aprt)

Lunch Specials and Late Night Specials! Ming Lou Chinese Restaurant is just my kind of place!
After all those drinks and mini snacking at the Elite Party, we were still hungry. We tried to look for a place that opens late in North York that we have never Unilocaled before… using my Unilocal friend’s drive around looking for light method. we found Ming Lou.
2 can dine from $ 8.99 that includes a congee, a noodle dish and a snack… The food was plenty, we ended up having leftover to pack home!
Chiu Chow Congee/​Chiu Chow Style Fish Noodle/​Veggie $ 13.99
— Big bowl of congee really hit the spot. and the Fish Noodle is chewy with a distinct texture which I enjoyed.
Deep Fried Duck Chin ($ 4.95)
— You do need the skill and the patient to eat those chins, as all the good meat are just in between all the bones…
— It is a great dish to munch over some iced cold beer, sharing with your friends and just talks about nonsense!
BTW, the beer here is $ 2.50 a bottle for domestic and $ 3 for an import.
The staffs here were so nice and joke around with us… and food was delivered to our table minutes after we ordered… but we were the only table there… so I cannot comment on how it would be during busy dinner time!

What do you feed the Lunch Special Queen at 10:30 pm?
How about Late Night Special?
Yeah, she’s some kind of «SPECIAL“alright! :P
So you had the Peking Duck at Ming Lou? I might have just consumed that same Peking Duck you had. How nice of you to share. I am truly the clean-​up eater of any group even when meals are days apart. While I’ve had Duck Tongues and Duck Necks, I’ve never actually had Duck CHINS. Whaaa?!? Duck’s have Chins? They do now!
Deep Fried Duck Chin ($ 4.95) — Not not bad, not not amazing either. Imagine Spicy Salt Pork Chop but applied to Duck Chins. Not spicy enough and the flour applied for deep frying wasn’t distributed evenly. Duck Chin itself was flavourful like Roasted Duck rub flavour. Btw, did they ever serve you the Duck Head along with your Peking Duck meal? They must have saved it for this dish.
Chiu Chow Congee + Chiu Chow Fried Fish Noodle + Vegetable ($ 13.99)
[Late Night Special]
Good value as if Food Court pricing.
Chiu Chow Congee (Dried Fish, Oyster Dices, Minced Pork) although not flavourful soup as others, it also means less saltiness which is a positive comment. Easily worth $ 5.00 regular priced elsewhere.
Chiu Chow Style Fried Fish Noodle (Shrimp, Beansprout, Scallion, Shreds: Carrot, Egg). First time I’ve tried Fried Fish Noodles and it’s not bad realizing Chiu Chow is famous for their Fish Mousse items such as Fish Balls. Easily worth $ 8.50 regular priced elsewhere.
Vegetable (Vegetable) tastes like Vegetable.

The key to enjoying your meal at this restaurant is to recognize it for what it is. I don’t think that it tries to sell itself as a fine dining establishment. When it comes to this restaurant, it’s all in knowing what to order. The speciality is Chiu Chow Cuisine, so things like a cold platter (comes with Jelly Fish, Marinated Duck, etc), Deep Fried Fish Skin, Oyster Cake are what Chiu Chow Cuisine is all about. Their Peking duck is not the best in town, but it’s pretty yummy! I’ve eaten there about 3 times this year, and I would have to say that sometimes the consistency isn’t all there. I’ve had the oyster cake every time I’ve been there, and I remember that ²⁄₃ times was perfect, but then that one odd time was a disappointment.

Came here for dinner tonight — I didn’t pick the venue and would never recommend this place.
It’s like all the other restaurants in this little plaza — greasy spoon Chinese joint trying to pass for fine dining. Let me make this clear — I don’t care how many linen tablecloths you throw on the tables, the fruit flies fluttering around the restaurant give this place’s «quality» away.
The food is passable quality but nothing I would rush to order again — not too greasy or salty. The Peking Duck wasokay — the usual side dishes and garnishes were missing but the duck was well roasted. The roasted chicken was undercooked. Sweet & sour pork was all batter — not an ounce of meat to be seen. Dessert was watered down red bean and tapioca dessert soup. Obviously they were nearing the bottom of the dessert pot and threw in some water and sugar.
The restaurant was noisier than Chinatown on a Saturday morning — not exactly a nice atmosphere for a relaxed dinner. The wait staff were quick — although I did hear one lady yelling at a customer.
Wasn’t impressed, would never come back unless it was to humour an elderly relative.

Tasty food and friendly wait staff make our visits delicious.