Did not expect to walk into such an upscale and authentic Chinese restaurant in St. Catherines. We…read morewere visiting nearby for a photoshoot, and just needed a place to unwind and grab some food. With its nearly two thousand Google reviews and tasty looking menu, it was a no brainer. Instantly as we stepped in the restaurant we were blown away by the elegant decor and ambiance. You could have a classy dinner date, birthday celebration, or even wedding here if you wanted to! The space is built for all kinds of occasions and has many private rooms and spaces for the same. We, of course, sat on the main floor, with a couple other people eating at 4PM. The service was professional and fast, although I didn't feel too confident on the menu suggestions they gave me. We ended up ordering the Braised Beef Noodle Soup ($18), DongPo Pork ($27) and Xiaolongbao ($7) to share between two people. We did not need the dim sum dish - the other two items had sufficient portion to have us full. The star was definitely the DongPo Pork, which was perfectly braised and super tender. With rice, it was delicious. The noodle soup, while tasty, was a bit overhyped by the waiter who made it sound life changing - not at all mad at it, but I have definitely had better. In St. Catherines, I would assume that 'better' does not exist, so I understand. Overall, great visit. On the pricer side for Chinese food (around $80 all in for two people) but it certainly is upscale dining. I don't live anywhere close to St. Catherines so unlikely to be back, but I will recommend it to my friends if they visit the area.

It was recommended to us by local friends. It's a very big restaurant with plenty of seating -- a…read morebit dark, but still comfortable. Even without a reservation, we were seated right away. Service was great, and so was the food. They offer quite authentic Chinese dishes alongside some more Westernized Chinese options. Either way, portions are generous, so maybe skip a side or share one. Prices are more than reasonable. We could even bring our own bottle of wine for a corkage fee of CAD 25 -- a nice touch. The one downside -- the menu offers a staggering 200-ish dishes, so be ready to make a decision. But this is definitely a place worth visiting in St. Catharines.

Good food for authentic Chinese food. Feels like a "find" and the lobsters are amazing!…read more Love it!

Talk about authentic food and great service. HLDS is the spot!!! Definitely recommend to any and…read moreall. I ordered several dishes and all of them were amazing. The Hungry Hardhat is a return customer. So let it be written... So let it be EATEN.

When I did a staycation in Hamilton in February 2020, I remember passing by an August 8 restaurant…read more It has a handful of locations that offer all-you-can-eat sushi. Last month, I was back in Hamilton for a mini staycation. I needed dinner. I looked on my Uber Eats app and saw that this August 8 had a number of BOGO items. I had to get in on the deals. I ordered the following items: - Avocado salad - California roll - BOGO - Sticky rice (3) - Salmon sashimi (3) - Steamed sponge cake (4) - BOGO I drove over to the eatery to pick up my order. It's located in a tiny plaza with limited parking. I managed to snag the only parking spot available. I had to careful back in, as there was a car parked illegally in the parking lane. It's the downside to fetching or heading over here to dine. The parking situation is atrocious and downright dangerous. More on that in a bit. I headed to the counter and got the nicest young man. I let him know that I had an Uber Eats order and stated my name. He found my order and handed a bag over to me. I thanked him and left the eatery. There were a handful of students hanging around outside. One of the guys was sweet to open and hold the door for me. Kindness isn't completely dead. It was a nice touch. The downside was that the woman who parked illegally parked in the fire lane didn't bother doing a check behind her and decided to back up. I don't get why she needed to back up, but she nearly backed into me. I was not impressed. I actually managed to get out of the way and had a good look at her from the passenger side of her car. I let her know through some arm gestures that she needed to be careful and that she nearly ran over me. My gestures did have words accompanying them. I can't state them here. They weren't pleasant words that I use regularly. I got to my car and safely placed my food in it. I then drove back to the hotel room to chow down. The food was yummy on the whole. I will break things down: Avocado salad The miso dressing was flavourful. The avocado slices were delicate and were starting to turn brown. The veggies were fresh, but I didn't love the iceberg lettuce. I'd skip getting this salad. California rolls Excellent! The filling was warm, which was different. I loved them. The fake crab, avocado, and julienned cucumbers were so good. They did have black sesame seeds around them. Sticky rice (3) It was a bit weird seeing white paper wrapped around each bundle of sticky rice with its own leaf wrapping. I felt that it was a waste of paper. The bundles had more white pepper than necessary. The filling was generous, with small chunks of pork. I ate one each day. They heat up nicely. Salmon sashimi (3) The best! Each piece melted in my mouth. You don't need to chew much. The sashimi was super fresh. Steamed sponge cake (4) I am a huge fan of traditional steamed sponge cake. There was a twist with the version here. You get dainty triangles with layers of sponge cake. I'm not sure what separated each layer, but this cake was subtly sweet and still warm. I loved it so much. I want to return and get some more food. I'd avoid the avocado salad. The parking situation makes me want to fetch food from a different August 8, though. Maybe I should try coming during lunchtime when I'm in the area and see if parking is better. (442)

I haven't been in years but I always loved this place amazing sushi and other things.read more

The customer service was excellent. The woman who took my order was so sweet and kind. I was…read moregetting my order to go and she told me to have a seat and watch some tv while a waited lol. When I got home my food was still hot which I loved. OMG the fried rice was soooo delicious. I didn't need to add anything to it and the ribs were soooo delicious tender and good. I didn't stay obviously, but inside was very spacious and can accommodate a fairly large group. This is now my new favourite Chinese food spot. I can't wait to go back and try more options in the menu.

I'm always in the search of good Chinese food in the Hamilton-Burlington area. Happened to find…read moreIron Chef Chinese Restaurant and try a bit of dim sum at lunch time. It's always a good sign when you can find Cantonese-speaking customers in the restaurant - and we did. The restaurant appeared clean, although was dated. There were basic dim sum choices on the menu, but quite a number of items were crossed out and marked as not available. We tried the Shanghai Style Fried Noodle, Preserved Egg and Pork Congee, Steamed Sui Mai Dumpling, and Steamed Chive Shrimp Dumpling. We ordered the Pan Fried Dumpling with Minced Pork - it never arrived. Just as well because we had enough for two people and were already full. Of all, the congee was the most flavourful. The other items were standard. The noodles didn't have as much flavour and 'wok hei' as we would have liked, but still ok. I did ask if they made the dim sum in house, and the server (owner?) answered, "yes" but I do have to wonder. I would give it another try for dinner entrees.

For an AYCE sushi restaurant, this was definitely solid. The ambiance was nice. The food came out…read morequickly and the service was good. The shrimp dumplings, tempura, scallops, and butterfish were all favourites. The calamari deep fried squid was very tough and not enjoyable. I would consider going back for sure.

We loved the food. The service was good even thought it was extremely busy. Busy because it finally…read morereopened. We were glad we had made a reservation when we walked in and got seated immediately.

Food is not fresh. Service is very poor…read more Expensive for the quality you get. Many dim sum items were not available

Rude, unfriendly service - they did not realize that a member of our party spoke Chinese and knew…read morethat the servers were essentially cursing us and saying rude things. Will not return or recommend.

Really impressed with this restaurant that, despite its humble strip mall location, goes beyond…read moreexpectations in terms of flavor and menu creativity. There are a lot of Canadian/American-Chinese dishes on the menu but it goes beyond that and has things that I'm guessing are more authentic to China and a few fusion dishes also. I was particular impressed by the soft pepper noodle with beef or chicken. I had it with beef and it has a fantastic black pepper flavor and luscious thick noodles with just enough vegetables to give some texture. I'm including a photograph from mid-meal. It might not be beautiful but it's a stand out dish in flavor. One item to skip... The fried wontons. While ours were very crispy (and hot), the predominant flavor was fryer oil and the tiny (truly tiny) bits of ground pork in the wontons didn't help. Also, check out the combination plates if you want some of this and some of that instead a lot of one thing. They are near the back of the menu and are NEAR the lunch only plates but the combination plates are in fact available at night.

Foods are okay, ordered beef with mushroom, beef soup, tendon and shumai…read more Beef brisket wasnt always available. Service i would rate as 3.