The restaurant is located on the 2nd floor of the hotel. The staff are friendly and are attentive. As far as the food is concerned, I would say it is average and undeserving of the step price tag or rating. We ordered a peking duck and a beef rice noodle dish and it came to 130 before tax. I would say you can get same quality if not better in Markham or Chinatown on Spadina. I have had a lot of peking duck in my life and its the first time that the wraps came cold. Even though the duck itself was good, the cold wrap made it feel like putting a wet sock in my mouth.
JLSD
Extremely overpriced dim sum that doesn't rival so many others in the city that are a quarter of the price. Paying per dumpling... seriously thats a thing?
AliceC
Very sad that the restaurant will close down next week. Hopefully, we can be there again in the near future.
TonyM
If you want high class chinese cuisine, then you have arrived at Lai Wah Heen. The peking duck is amazing.
SolM
We saw a cockcroach crawl on multiple surfaces. Ownership has just given up apparently. Sorry to see such a great place completely turn into a kitchen nightmare. RIP!
HNR25
I've been coming to Lai Wah Heen since it opened many years ago. Sadly, the restaurant has not changed a single thing (including dirty menus, and stained furniture) since it's opening. This used to be a special place to come for high-end Chinese food. Now it's just an old, dirty, run-down restaurant that has been neglected. The food is tasteless and the menu has limited variety. There was nothing redeeming about the dining experience. On top of this, it is still relatively expensive for Chinese food that I would expect from a Mall Food Court ($300 for two). I will not be returning.
WilliamK
The location was at the Hilton hotel downtown. The restaurant is located on the 2nd floor of the hotel. The staff are friendly and are attentive. As far as the food is concerned, I would say it is average and undeserving of the step price tag. We ordered a peking duck and a beef rice noodle dish and it came to 130 before tax. I would say you can get same quality if not better in Markham or Chinatown on Spadina. I have had alot of peking duck in my life and its the first time that the wraps came cold. Even though the duck itself was good, the cold wrap made it feel like putting a wet sock in my mouth.
JudiB
◦This was a much anticipated bday celebration. I have wanted to go this restaurant for quite awhile as it is advertised as a high end Chinese restaurant in an elegant atmosphere. We arrived to find the front glass doors dirty and smudged, the entryway is full of plants that all appeared to be brown and dying. This is not ideal as a first impression. Nothing about the room is elegant unless they think white table cloths qualify. Our server asked if we wanted a drink but we had to ask her for a wine list. Both drinks arrived in dirty wine glasses. The dim sum was definitely good as an appetizer however our entree was cold since it arrived halfway through the first course. A few minutes later the server arrived to say “ you done “ and went to take our plates when we were nowhere near finished. The meal was not inexpensive, the dim sum was very good however the terrible service and unfriendly wait staff effectively ruined the evening. Having been at Winterlicious many many times over the years to various restaurants in the city this was by far the biggest disappointment, I would never recommend it to anyone. I would like to add that I have never written a bad review for any restaurant.
ArlyB
Service slow. Food is not as good as when it was part of the Metropolitan Hotel. The restaurant decor is very tired & worn out carpets, wall coverings . Too bad
Adrian Julian
It's decent place, the service is top notch compared to other Chinese restaurants around the city. I ordered few dim sum items but my favourite actually their foie gras fried rice. Definitely will come back even just for that one dish.The other dimsum items nothing really out of ordinary in terms of the taste.Some of the dimsum, they put high end ingredients like truffle or even wagyu beef to make it fancy but personally I still prefer the traditional ingredients.Wagyu inside dumplings is kinda a waste of good quality ingredients in my opinion, something that should be a star ingredients become a insignificant taste in the background and become forgotten about.The venue itself feels old and not fancy considering the high price point that they set.
Service was quite poor and the food was average at best. Not sure what they hype is all about. A 100 places in Chinatown are better.
Matt v
Upon arrival, we were soon greeted efficiently and ushered to our table. No pleasantries, purely functional. Soon after, without introduction, a server appeared asking if we would like a drink. Order taken and off she went appearing moments later with our drinks. Then, someone else appears and again, without introduction or conversation, asked if we were ready to order. We chose from the Winterlicious menu and were told we had to order dessert then, as well. Most unusual. The food arrived to our table efficiently and was fine but far from outstanding. Dessert was most underwhelming. At no point did anyone ask whether everything was fine. Food delivered, check brought, done. Not a very pleasant experience. Only redemption was the bok choi was fresh. Won't be back.
elizabetel
Food was ok, but nothing that special. The restaurant was very full an noisy like you would expect a large Chinese food place. Very dirty bathrooms.
DrHunt
I chose this restaurant for Lunar New Year because i expected it to be higher experience. The servers were disorganized and the food was not in the average range of what would be found in chinatown. The duck was poor, the house noodle dish was bland as was the fried rice, etc...
sanddc
Had a prix fixe menu $118 per person. It was bland and mostly flavourless. Service was iffy at first but improved as the meal progressed. Although their wine and cocktail list indicated that they had a number of top shelf items my wife wanted a Martini and they were out of both the Bombay Safire and the Tanqueray that were on the menu. Even though the wine list is very limited they were out of the wine that we ordered.
The restaurant is located on the 2nd floor of the hotel. The staff are friendly and are attentive. As far as the food is concerned, I would say it is average and undeserving of the step price tag or rating. We ordered a peking duck and a beef rice noodle dish and it came to 130 before tax. I would say you can get same quality if not better in Markham or Chinatown on Spadina. I have had a lot of peking duck in my life and its the first time that the wraps came cold. Even though the duck itself was good, the cold wrap made it feel like putting a wet sock in my mouth.
Extremely overpriced dim sum that doesn't rival so many others in the city that are a quarter of the price. Paying per dumpling... seriously thats a thing?
Very sad that the restaurant will close down next week. Hopefully, we can be there again in the near future.
If you want high class chinese cuisine, then you have arrived at Lai Wah Heen. The peking duck is amazing.
We saw a cockcroach crawl on multiple surfaces. Ownership has just given up apparently. Sorry to see such a great place completely turn into a kitchen nightmare. RIP!
I've been coming to Lai Wah Heen since it opened many years ago. Sadly, the restaurant has not changed a single thing (including dirty menus, and stained furniture) since it's opening. This used to be a special place to come for high-end Chinese food. Now it's just an old, dirty, run-down restaurant that has been neglected. The food is tasteless and the menu has limited variety. There was nothing redeeming about the dining experience. On top of this, it is still relatively expensive for Chinese food that I would expect from a Mall Food Court ($300 for two). I will not be returning.
The location was at the Hilton hotel downtown. The restaurant is located on the 2nd floor of the hotel. The staff are friendly and are attentive. As far as the food is concerned, I would say it is average and undeserving of the step price tag. We ordered a peking duck and a beef rice noodle dish and it came to 130 before tax. I would say you can get same quality if not better in Markham or Chinatown on Spadina. I have had alot of peking duck in my life and its the first time that the wraps came cold. Even though the duck itself was good, the cold wrap made it feel like putting a wet sock in my mouth.
◦This was a much anticipated bday celebration. I have wanted to go this restaurant for quite awhile as it is advertised as a high end Chinese restaurant in an elegant atmosphere. We arrived to find the front glass doors dirty and smudged, the entryway is full of plants that all appeared to be brown and dying. This is not ideal as a first impression. Nothing about the room is elegant unless they think white table cloths qualify. Our server asked if we wanted a drink but we had to ask her for a wine list. Both drinks arrived in dirty wine glasses. The dim sum was definitely good as an appetizer however our entree was cold since it arrived halfway through the first course. A few minutes later the server arrived to say “ you done “ and went to take our plates when we were nowhere near finished. The meal was not inexpensive, the dim sum was very good however the terrible service and unfriendly wait staff effectively ruined the evening. Having been at Winterlicious many many times over the years to various restaurants in the city this was by far the biggest disappointment, I would never recommend it to anyone. I would like to add that I have never written a bad review for any restaurant.
Service slow. Food is not as good as when it was part of the Metropolitan Hotel. The restaurant decor is very tired & worn out carpets, wall coverings . Too bad
It's decent place, the service is top notch compared to other Chinese restaurants around the city. I ordered few dim sum items but my favourite actually their foie gras fried rice. Definitely will come back even just for that one dish.The other dimsum items nothing really out of ordinary in terms of the taste.Some of the dimsum, they put high end ingredients like truffle or even wagyu beef to make it fancy but personally I still prefer the traditional ingredients.Wagyu inside dumplings is kinda a waste of good quality ingredients in my opinion, something that should be a star ingredients become a insignificant taste in the background and become forgotten about.The venue itself feels old and not fancy considering the high price point that they set.
Restaurantji Recommends
Service was quite poor and the food was average at best. Not sure what they hype is all about. A 100 places in Chinatown are better.
Upon arrival, we were soon greeted efficiently and ushered to our table. No pleasantries, purely functional. Soon after, without introduction, a server appeared asking if we would like a drink. Order taken and off she went appearing moments later with our drinks. Then, someone else appears and again, without introduction or conversation, asked if we were ready to order. We chose from the Winterlicious menu and were told we had to order dessert then, as well. Most unusual. The food arrived to our table efficiently and was fine but far from outstanding. Dessert was most underwhelming. At no point did anyone ask whether everything was fine. Food delivered, check brought, done. Not a very pleasant experience. Only redemption was the bok choi was fresh. Won't be back.
Food was ok, but nothing that special. The restaurant was very full an noisy like you would expect a large Chinese food place. Very dirty bathrooms.
I chose this restaurant for Lunar New Year because i expected it to be higher experience. The servers were disorganized and the food was not in the average range of what would be found in chinatown. The duck was poor, the house noodle dish was bland as was the fried rice, etc...
Had a prix fixe menu $118 per person. It was bland and mostly flavourless. Service was iffy at first but improved as the meal progressed. Although their wine and cocktail list indicated that they had a number of top shelf items my wife wanted a Martini and they were out of both the Bombay Safire and the Tanqueray that were on the menu. Even though the wine list is very limited they were out of the wine that we ordered.
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