golden duke chinese cuisine

golden duke chinese cuisine is yet another chinese restaurant that serves dim sum and chinese fare in the markham area.  i’m not being bitter about how many great chinese restaurants we have in the area, but we do have quite a lot that sometimes it’s hard to keep track of their distinguishing features or what makes them stand out from the others.

the “fried shrimp and chives dumpling” arrived first. this is not so much a dumpling as it is shrimp and chives spring rolls! this was delicious! it was fried to a perfect light crisp and the inside ingredients were fresh and tasted so good.

what i appreciated was that the restaurant provided generous portions of wrappers, hoisin sauce and garnishes for the peking duck. i often find restaurants stingy when it comes to giving out enough sauce and wrappers for the table.

after a short lived buffet in the same space, golden duke (fine dining) chinese cuisine has taken over. the restaurant is right by our family favourite congee queen, so it took a little push to get me to try this restaurant. the proximity is close to markville mall and in a plaza close to elegant chinese restaurant and harvey’s.

the decor looks typical of many chinese restaurants with a touch of elegance with pretty linens and chair covers. with reservations, we were quickly seated to our table with the requested high chair i mentioned on the phone. as the night progressed, the service remained consistent and attentive. this was a nice change of pace compared to many chinese restaurants.

as their menu had many set dinners, we decided to go with the dinner for 4 for $65. the dinner came with soup of fish maw and shredded chicken, diced steak with garlic, baby bok choy with bean curd in supreme broth, and stir fried garoupa and vegetables. plus, dessert was on the house. for less than $20 a person, this is a great deal for the amount of food and quality. the diced steak was tender and full of flavour!

as my family loves duck, we had to order the peking duck, although the set meal would have filled us up. the duck was a bit fatty but it was delicious. what i appreciated was that the restaurant provided generous portions of wrappers, hoisin sauce and garnishes. i often find restaurants stingy when it comes to giving out enough sauce and wrappers for the table.

at the end of our meal, we were given a voucher to come back for a free peking duck if we spent over $60 a table. that is a great deal given that the peking duck is almost $40 before tax.

overall:

the food is comparable to other chinese restaurants in markham and richmond hill. however, what stood out was the friendly service and reasonable prices for a fine dining establishment. another positive note is that the restaurant also serves dim sum, which is on my radar to try out.

i was really looking forward to a fabulous christmas office dinner here after reading all the great reviews, and my colleague said it's her mother-in-law's favourite restaurant. however, i was deeply disappointed with this restaurant and i would not go back again.

we had a 10 course dinner with peking duck and lobster. the food was ok but here are the reasons i gave such a low rating:
1. very slow in serving the meal - took 3 1/2 hr
2. dishonest in my opinion - apparently, they served us the wrong lobster (5lb) when we should have got a smaller one (3lb). although it was their mistake, the manager made me pay an extra $10 per table

as a business owner myself, if we made the mistake, we would never make the customer pay more than what was quoted. we would just absorb the cost ourself.

on retrospect, i should have refused the lobster dish and made them serve the correct one without paying extra. just want to warn the consumer to be careful about how dishonest these people are.

food is either too powerful, or bland and one-noted. smoked duck overwhelms with sugar and smoke, that it tastes like eating a campfire-toasted marshmallow. fried rice needs something other than msg to flavour it, although the chestnuts are a surprisingly pleasant addition. fish stew with spare ribs is okay, but the pork is extremely tough and overcooked. sweet and sour pork is fine, and beef with mushrooms is delightful in its textures and flavours.

don't come for dim sum or lunch. it' mediocre at best. come for dinner. this is my family's favourite cantonese chinese dinner restaurant. the dishes are usually consistently good and the selection is great. we love the salted duck egg fried bitter melon. the service is great, too. the only thing i've had that was very bad was the roast pork. not sure what happened there, must have been an off night.

don't bother trying. bad food and bad service. that's all i can say about this place.

food is average and the service is horrendous. hostess was busy with a banquet enquiry. stood there with serveral servers passed by without any acknowlegement. after a couple of minutes, two orher parties also arrived. one server came up and tried to sit us and asked who was first, i waved my hand and told her it was me, she continued to sit the other 2 parties first even though there were a lot of tables. i was then sat down without any order sheet. asked the server who was clearing the table next to us for the order sheet, he told me to go to cashier to get it. when i was at the cashier, she told me to go to the front reception to get it. finally, another young hostess overheard and gave me the order sheet and apilogize. if it wasn't her, i think i would have walked out.

first time visiting golden duke, good services ... we ordered set dinner for 4 people ... food is good.

don't bother. went for dim sum and the service is awful. we placed a booster seat the waitress had given us under our seats so that we could take our jackets off first then put my son in it. the waitress came by and in a very rude voice asked if we wanted the booster seat or not because it was blocking her. really?!! the food is ok but you can get same quality and cheaper elsewhere. their sign says fine dining but where's the same quality service and attitude? more than enough restaurants in the city to go to that i don't need to come back to this one.

first visit. early dim sum was affordable. most dishes were average or only slightly better than. the renovations were clean and nice to the eyes. service was a tad slow and finished dishes were not cleared away crowding the table. might return for the price. 70%