Didn't visit during covid and the xiao lon bao and dumplings were not as the same as before. Hope they can do better next tine. The plaza entrance was blocked on the main street and we have to go around the side streets to get in there.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Freeman Wong
As a Yangzhou native, I can say that the food here is pretty good, but I can clearly feel that the chef is a little weird when cooking. For example, I ordered the lion's head. It can be said that the taste is not bad, but the heat is much different, and the eel paste is too thick, which has seriously affected the texture of the eel in my mouth. Generally speaking, this restaurant still replicates the taste of Huaiyang cuisine or Nanjing cuisine, but the cooking still lacks some rules, especially at this price point.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Yuchun Xue
I'd choose a negative score if I could.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Victoria Merkin
The place was very clean and all the tables are beautifully set. All the food we had was amazing and came very quick. The owner is the sweetest person. We paid a very reasonable price for 3 people and raved about it to all our friends for the next day. Will be coming back!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Steamed Soup Dumplings, Pan Fried Pork Dumplings
Victoria Noskova
The food was amazing and the lady owner was so sweet!! Highly
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Steamed Soup Dumplings
peter
It's so delicious, don't even give it a
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Disen Liao
Garbage
Leonard Loo
The restaurant advertises itself as Shanghainese cuisine but IMO it is more accurate to refer to this as a Huaiyang Cuisine restaurant, which Shanghainese cuisine is heavily associated with.Upscale Huaiyang/Shanghainese restaurants are dying in the GTA, but Tian Xin Place is one of the few remaining stalwarts. Established over a decade ago, it has thankfully survived the pandemic.This restaurant is currently a two person show with a skilled chef in the back putting out showstopping traditional Huaiyang dishes, and, I believe, his wife running the front of the house. I would skip other items on the menu that are not Huaiyang in origin.For those who are not familiar, Huaiyang cuisine is a prestigious Chinese regional cuisine from the Jiangnan area, covering the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The menu features dishes with provenance from the various cities in the Jiangnan region such as Squirrel Fish from Suzhou, Crab Meat Lion's Head Meatball from Yangzhou, Candied Shredded Eel from Wuxi, Pine Nut Fish Rice from Shanghai, Longjing Shrimp from Hangzhou, Salted Duck from Nanjing, etc. I believe the chef is from Nanjing specifically. Just a warning: some of the dishes can be cloyingly sweet, but this is an authentic characteristic of the region.Unfortunately, as noted with other reviews, the portions are small for the price. This is a noticeable issue with all the Huaiyang restaurants in the GTA attempting to do upscale dishes, and are not content with being just dumpling houses. The lack of staffing also does not do the skill of the chef justice, but I doubt they can afford more staff. Alas, post-Covid it is hard to keep a restaurant afloat without extensive outside financing. With an upgraded venue and upgraded ingredients, I suspect there would be less sticker shock. The lavish QJD for instance serves a lot of the same dishes at a higher price point.If you can manage your expectations with the above two issues, you can have a good experience here. It is hard to find this kind of cuisine outside of China. I suspect there is only a limited amount of time before these restaurants fade away in the GTA, and I doubt there will be replacements. Until then, I will continue visiting Tian Xin Place.
Yi Cheng
Very pricy and almost insulting price. The plate is medium sized for a small portion of meat selling at $18.99.And it’s not Shanghainese style by all
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Green Mushroom
Had a meal with a friend here. The server there is very polite and nice to customers. He expressed his respect to customers and this is the reason I still would pay the tip, and this is the only positive thing I got from here.Other than that, I didn't have good experience to be honest!!The quantity of dish is so little, so the price actually becomes very expensive for such little quantity. With that price paid, I could have enjoyed much better food in any other restaurant. It's my fault I didn't choose a good restaurant enough and didn't bring the best food experience to my friend.Dish serving speed is very slow, in addition to their very little quantity. Maybe I shouldn't even pay the tip! It's such mixed feeling:Someone shows their extreme respect to you, expressing their nicety, and the actual product they serve to you, is very contradictory to what they make you feel like. To be honest I feel I am fooled. I'll never come to here again. Be cautious when coming.
Only had one waiter and one cook for the entire restaurant. Waited 1.5 hours and only received two dishes. Had to walk to the waiter many times ourselves to get their attention.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 1
Shelley J
This is our first time at the restaurant.We ordered only three main dishes and rice, which took about an hour and a half. Rice was the first item brought to the table. It got cold when the first dish arrived.Customers should be told honestly that they will have to wait longer than usual. Secondly, a server brought us a combination of sweet sour fish and chicken, instead of the sweet sour chicken we ordered. when we told a manager, she didn't wanted to listen and didn't take a close look, kept saying it's chicken. we were sorry for her response. Fish and chicken are both good for most people, but we ordered chicken. There is no way you can unrealize your mistakes after you have made them.The waiter, a young guy, he was nice to customers. he apologized for us to this experience.
A C
So I kind of have mixed feelings about this place.There is 1 server and she’s just the sweetest lady. I’d go just to support her :) she’s a 1 lady show though recently they got a robot to help.The food - I’d say stick to the Shanghai dim sums, like xiao long bao, pan fried dumplings, hot and sour soup, Shanghai noodles. I decided to veer to the other side of the menu this time and the food was ok. I guess it’s true when they say ‘stick to what you know’.I’d be back, but for what I usually get :)
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Rachel Shen
The food is extremely tasty here, you won't be disappointed taste or authenticity wise. All the other reviews are correct though, what this restaurant lacks is service and good value, which cannot be totally offset by the delicious food. The prices are reasonable until you see the portion of food you're paying for - they're really small. I also don't believe the prices online are up to date.We ordered the Salted Pork & Bean Curd Soup, Braised Minced Pork Meatballs with Greens, Yang Zhou Sweet & Sour Ribs and Braised Pork with Preserved Vegetables. Everything was delicious and I would 100% recommend. As mentioned, the portions are small, especially for the meatballs (which only came with 2). The Sweet & Sour Ribs were a decent size.The service was also quite bad, but I didn't expect 5 star service. There was only one lady working all parts of the restaurant when we sat down, and the restaurant was actually quite busy for a Tuesday. We did get another waiter as the meal went by which made it better, but we had to constantly go to the front to ask for a menu, water, etc.Overall I will be back because my father, who is from Shanghai, really enjoyed the taste of all the dishes and we have been unable to find anything comparable in recent years. But I do hope they improve their service and consider making prices more reasonable. We paid around $110 including tax and tip for the 3 dishes, small soup, and 4 bowls of white rice.
Didn't visit during covid and the xiao lon bao and dumplings were not as the same as before. Hope they can do better next tine. The plaza entrance was blocked on the main street and we have to go around the side streets to get in there.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
As a Yangzhou native, I can say that the food here is pretty good, but I can clearly feel that the chef is a little weird when cooking. For example, I ordered the lion's head. It can be said that the taste is not bad, but the heat is much different, and the eel paste is too thick, which has seriously affected the texture of the eel in my mouth. Generally speaking, this restaurant still replicates the taste of Huaiyang cuisine or Nanjing cuisine, but the cooking still lacks some rules, especially at this price point.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
I'd choose a negative score if I could.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
The place was very clean and all the tables are beautifully set. All the food we had was amazing and came very quick. The owner is the sweetest person. We paid a very reasonable price for 3 people and raved about it to all our friends for the next day. Will be coming back!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Steamed Soup Dumplings, Pan Fried Pork Dumplings
The food was amazing and the lady owner was so sweet!! Highly
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Steamed Soup Dumplings
It's so delicious, don't even give it a
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Garbage
The restaurant advertises itself as Shanghainese cuisine but IMO it is more accurate to refer to this as a Huaiyang Cuisine restaurant, which Shanghainese cuisine is heavily associated with.Upscale Huaiyang/Shanghainese restaurants are dying in the GTA, but Tian Xin Place is one of the few remaining stalwarts. Established over a decade ago, it has thankfully survived the pandemic.This restaurant is currently a two person show with a skilled chef in the back putting out showstopping traditional Huaiyang dishes, and, I believe, his wife running the front of the house. I would skip other items on the menu that are not Huaiyang in origin.For those who are not familiar, Huaiyang cuisine is a prestigious Chinese regional cuisine from the Jiangnan area, covering the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The menu features dishes with provenance from the various cities in the Jiangnan region such as Squirrel Fish from Suzhou, Crab Meat Lion's Head Meatball from Yangzhou, Candied Shredded Eel from Wuxi, Pine Nut Fish Rice from Shanghai, Longjing Shrimp from Hangzhou, Salted Duck from Nanjing, etc. I believe the chef is from Nanjing specifically. Just a warning: some of the dishes can be cloyingly sweet, but this is an authentic characteristic of the region.Unfortunately, as noted with other reviews, the portions are small for the price. This is a noticeable issue with all the Huaiyang restaurants in the GTA attempting to do upscale dishes, and are not content with being just dumpling houses. The lack of staffing also does not do the skill of the chef justice, but I doubt they can afford more staff. Alas, post-Covid it is hard to keep a restaurant afloat without extensive outside financing. With an upgraded venue and upgraded ingredients, I suspect there would be less sticker shock. The lavish QJD for instance serves a lot of the same dishes at a higher price point.If you can manage your expectations with the above two issues, you can have a good experience here. It is hard to find this kind of cuisine outside of China. I suspect there is only a limited amount of time before these restaurants fade away in the GTA, and I doubt there will be replacements. Until then, I will continue visiting Tian Xin Place.
Very pricy and almost insulting price. The plate is medium sized for a small portion of meat selling at $18.99.And it’s not Shanghainese style by all
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Had a meal with a friend here. The server there is very polite and nice to customers. He expressed his respect to customers and this is the reason I still would pay the tip, and this is the only positive thing I got from here.Other than that, I didn't have good experience to be honest!!The quantity of dish is so little, so the price actually becomes very expensive for such little quantity. With that price paid, I could have enjoyed much better food in any other restaurant. It's my fault I didn't choose a good restaurant enough and didn't bring the best food experience to my friend.Dish serving speed is very slow, in addition to their very little quantity. Maybe I shouldn't even pay the tip! It's such mixed feeling:Someone shows their extreme respect to you, expressing their nicety, and the actual product they serve to you, is very contradictory to what they make you feel like. To be honest I feel I am fooled. I'll never come to here again. Be cautious when coming.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 3
Restaurantji Recommends
Restaurant open over 20years.Authentic Shanghai foodTaste good, price raised, still reasonable.Vegetarian options: Many veggie dishes can be order
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Fried Egg Whites, Steamed Soup Dumplings, Hot & Sour Soup, Drunken Chicken 香糟醉鸡
Only had one waiter and one cook for the entire restaurant. Waited 1.5 hours and only received two dishes. Had to walk to the waiter many times ourselves to get their attention.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 1
This is our first time at the restaurant.We ordered only three main dishes and rice, which took about an hour and a half. Rice was the first item brought to the table. It got cold when the first dish arrived.Customers should be told honestly that they will have to wait longer than usual. Secondly, a server brought us a combination of sweet sour fish and chicken, instead of the sweet sour chicken we ordered. when we told a manager, she didn't wanted to listen and didn't take a close look, kept saying it's chicken. we were sorry for her response. Fish and chicken are both good for most people, but we ordered chicken. There is no way you can unrealize your mistakes after you have made them.The waiter, a young guy, he was nice to customers. he apologized for us to this experience.
So I kind of have mixed feelings about this place.There is 1 server and she’s just the sweetest lady. I’d go just to support her :) she’s a 1 lady show though recently they got a robot to help.The food - I’d say stick to the Shanghai dim sums, like xiao long bao, pan fried dumplings, hot and sour soup, Shanghai noodles. I decided to veer to the other side of the menu this time and the food was ok. I guess it’s true when they say ‘stick to what you know’.I’d be back, but for what I usually get :)
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
The food is extremely tasty here, you won't be disappointed taste or authenticity wise. All the other reviews are correct though, what this restaurant lacks is service and good value, which cannot be totally offset by the delicious food. The prices are reasonable until you see the portion of food you're paying for - they're really small. I also don't believe the prices online are up to date.We ordered the Salted Pork & Bean Curd Soup, Braised Minced Pork Meatballs with Greens, Yang Zhou Sweet & Sour Ribs and Braised Pork with Preserved Vegetables. Everything was delicious and I would 100% recommend. As mentioned, the portions are small, especially for the meatballs (which only came with 2). The Sweet & Sour Ribs were a decent size.The service was also quite bad, but I didn't expect 5 star service. There was only one lady working all parts of the restaurant when we sat down, and the restaurant was actually quite busy for a Tuesday. We did get another waiter as the meal went by which made it better, but we had to constantly go to the front to ask for a menu, water, etc.Overall I will be back because my father, who is from Shanghai, really enjoyed the taste of all the dishes and we have been unable to find anything comparable in recent years. But I do hope they improve their service and consider making prices more reasonable. We paid around $110 including tax and tip for the 3 dishes, small soup, and 4 bowls of white rice.