Dundas Garden

My fiancé and I ate here during a weekend trip to Toronto. We were in Chinatown for massages and decided to get a bite to eat afterwards. Upon arriving at the restaurant, I noticed that it was pretty empty. We were seated by the window by the presumed owner. He seemed kind of annoyed with us and completely ignored our request for water to drink.

After taking our order, I noticed that he sat at the table in the back of the restaurant. where I visibly saw him scarfing down his food.
No wonder he was annoyed with us… how dare we interrupt his dinner!
The food was pretty ok. We got the broccoli and beef. I noticed there was substantially more broccoli than beef (which was sparse). Since the owner was too busy eating, the waitress took over attending to us. She finally got us our water. However, I also noticed her scarfing down her food in the back. We waited about 5 – 10 min to get the check as she ate in the dining area!
Definitely don’t think I will be back here since everyone working is too busy eating their lunch to attend to patrons.

I used to have a girlfriend who gave me subtle, only slightly down-​nosed signals that she disapproved my enjoying «Americanized» Chinese food. I loved this girlfriend immensely, but whenever I enjoyed my General Tso’s, I was inwardly giving her the finger and chuckling as she picked cautiously at whatever arcane seafood concoction that her whitebread, suburban-​girl, gotta-prove-to-myself-that-I’m-sophistimacated cultural elitism gave her permission to masticate upon.
Look. I like General Tso’s chicken. Or General Tao’s chicken. Or whatever else the place calls those boneless chicken balls in sweet/​spicy sauce served with broccoli, onion, and chili pepper.
So there.
But I’m not sure that I like it from Dundas Garden. That’s a shame really, because this new Chinatown resto is replacing one that stood on the same property some time ago, and *they’re* Tso’s was a hit.
Oh, the place looks swankier than its predecessor. The staff is young and eager. It’s probably a fine place to dine. But my Tso’s was just too bready, hardly spicy at all, and faintly tasted of whatever fish dishes were also being prepared in the same hot oil. Um… eeuw.
You know… fish dishes for authentic Chinese cuisine. For those non-​suburbanites who don’t feel obligated to appear more cosmopolitan than they really are.