Huibin

When I walked into this place I thought wow, it’s such a charming place, the booths look beautiful and the prices are good. Sadly my first impression didn’t last long. The table had a very old can of tea with soggy tea leaves inside, I was willing to overlook that since it wasn’t a huge deal breaker for me. But here’s where it gets good, I waited nearly an hour for a plate of egg fried rice that never arrived. ONE HOUR FOR RICE. After waiting for about 40 minutes I asked the server how much longer it would take for the food to arrive and she replied «5 minutes», 15 minutes later I’m still waiting on a VERY easy to make rice dish that most restaurants would have served in 10 minutes or less. It’s worth noting that I am not asian, but coincidentally two chinese couples arrived 30 minutes after me and GOT THEIR FOOD BEFORE ME! One of those groups of people even ordered extra food and had it made before my food. I will never step foot in this place again and if you value your time you should stay away from it. The waitress that seated us did not care to even apologize for the long wait time or see how we were doing.

I’m so torn on Huibin, but I believe in my heart I will definitely return.
Endless cheap pitchers of beer were had by four silly philosophers who chatted over the company of a little girl, who presumably lives at the restaurant. That’s a touch of a strange sentence, but I think you get the picture.
We had some delicious foods the server was unsure we’d like and some not-​so-​hot foods that are westernized Chinese classics. The fried dumplings and cilantro-​heavy northern Chinese hot and sour were pretty tasty, and this layered pork stew-​like number was out of control. We ordered other things, too, but mostly I just remember the cheap beer.
Robert Kitz, LLB. Thanks for always knowing about these places.

Where do I start??! It was my first and last time here.
I walk in to grab some take out from their lunch menu for my colleague and I. So I order some deep fried beef dumplings and some soy sauce stir fried rice noodles (ho-​fun) to go. It was $ 17 and charge, I left $ 18. I put my order in with a young man who could barely speak English but he was a cashier so it didn’t matter too much at the time (I refer to this man later in the story). Once I pay, he verbalizes my order to the chef who is in this make shift play house for a staff lounge with who I can only assume is his young 1 or 2 year old daughter who is giggling through the curtain. A minute later he comes out holding a dirty diaper. RED FLAG #1. So here’s my dilemma, do I act like a total bitch and kindly say «so, um, you’re going to wash your hands before you make my food, right?» or do I give him the benefit of the doubt, say nothing, and cross my fingers this man will wash his hands before food preparation. We are on Spadina here, so my concerns are legit as far as I’m concerned. I do the polite thing — I don’t say anything. I pray that the other chef in the back preps my food.
I sit and wait for my food. I notice a few things: the young 1 or 2 year old popping in and out of the kitchen without adult supervision, a hazardous accident waiting to happen; her toys and little play house out in the open; the cashier reading a «how to pass your driving test» book; old and crusted over hot sauce and soy sauce in containers on the table.
My food arrives and I leave. I’m starving so I’m excited to eat it. Back at the office, I open the bag and to my disappointment the bottom of my pan fried dumplings are totally BURNT BLACK! The dumplings were completely inedible (see the picture). The bottom of the dumpling was burnt all the way through the wrapper so they were like dry, crusted over, brittle cardboard; the tops were overly pan seared with flecks of burned food all over them. Absolutely the worst preparation of dumplings I’ve ever seen in my entire life. There is no way the chef could have missed the BLACK and half burned food he put in the take out container. He obviously saw the food he mishandled but still served it bottom side up, so the burned bits are staring at him in the face. If he saw they was burned, make me a new batch, don’t serve me that shit. They knew I was doing take out and that I wouldn’t open the container until I was out of the restaurant — very dishonest and crooked.
The rice noodles looked like they were cooked in the pot after the dumplings because they had black flecks from the dumpling bottoms throughout the noodles. Not sure why the cook wouldn’t rinse out the wok, especially if there was burnt food at the bottom. We tried a few bites before we had to THROW THE WHOLE MEAL IN THE GARBAGE, the burnt taste and smell of the noodles was very unappetizing.
I hate wasting food. I hate being ripped off. I hate being deceived. After work, I called the restaurant and the same young man at the cashier picks up the phone. I say «hello. I came in at lunch time and I ordered food — «I was interrupted, «No. You cannot order food, you have to come in[to the restaurant]». I try again «no, no, I had ordered food at lunch today. Two lunch specials -» again, interrupted, «lunch specials are lunch specials. You can’t order on the phone.» This goes on 2 or three more times and my sentences got shorter and simpler, when finally I said «I’m not ordering food. I don’t want food. I want to make a complaint. I ordered the dumplings and noodles at lunch, remember me? I sat in the chair in front of you with a black jacket. The food I had was bad. Very bad.» he seems to recall me in the restaurant. I tell him about the burnt food and low quality etc. He says «oh ok. Sorry.» He offers nothing else; there’s silence on the phone and he says nothing else. No customer service. He gives zero shits. I tell him that I’m letting him know the food was shit because maybe he was not aware of how the chef was cooking and that they are losing customers by serving burnt food. He says «OK thanks. I’ll let him know. Bye».
I have never called a resto to complain after I got my food before. I wasn’t expecting anything, but I thought they would be more… embarrassed about the shit food they served, but they weren’t. That’s concerning. Will never go back.

Want to try Northern Chinese food? This is the place to go! The food is in large portion and the taste is really traditional. Their noodles were really good, you should definitely try it! Their price is cheap, and more than that, the owner is really nice and usually give me a 15% off.

I first came to Huibin to try their 煎饼果子 (savoury crêpe with crunchy filling), which is a famous Chinese street food I used to eat in Northern China. For $ 3.99 (lunch time special), you get a savoury eggy, doughy crêpe, filled with delicious green onions, wrapped around crispy spring roll wrap bits. Traditionally, in China, the 煎饼果子 are crepes with Chinese fried-​crullers in the centre. Huibin’s chefs are from Tianjin and have improved on the original recipe with this healthier alternative. The result is a highly-​satisfying, carbsy, proteiny lunch or snack.
I would also recommend their beef fried dumplings and their spicy cucumber salad. Also, knowing Northern Chinese food, anything with cumin in it is worth trying.
Keep in mind that Northern Chinese food tends to be spicer and saltier than what some people are used to.
The owners are super personable. They have limited English, but I’m sure they would be willing to accommodate requests for less spice or less salt.
I’ll definitely be coming back here when I’m in the area and am craving some savoury crêpe.

Very authentic northern Chinese food, dumplings are really tasty, lamb kabobs too, worth a try!

Do you like ok Chinese food and $ 7 pitchers of beer? Then this is a place where you can get both of these things!
Celebrated a pal’s birthday at this restaurant a few weeks back. The new owners were very accommodating for our large group, and even gave us a 15% off discount as a promo since the restaurant re-​opened.
Spicy shrimp were maybe a touch too salty but also go well with extremely affordable cheap beer. Dumplings were also pretty good, however not the best I’ve had in the hood. Moral of the story: go for the draft lager, eat the dumplings when you need to sober up.