The food is just ok. I tried a variety of dishes and found them to be quite one dimensional in flavour and many times more on the oily side. What I appreciated was that the noodles had a good texture to them, quite different from any other Chinese place I've had (more like a ramen or hand-pulled noodle type of elasticity/firmness to them). In particular, the peanut sesame noodles were quite good, but everything else was pretty standard. If I could, I'd give this place a 7/10, but I've decided to round up because of the great service there. It isn't particularly fancy or over-the-top, but the servers are all quite pleasant and courteous, especially for Chinese restaurant standards. We had someone celebrating their birthday in our group, and they happily accommodated our cake and even presented a complimentary dessert. They were also good with splitting the bill for us. The decor and vibe of the place are excellent as well. I always appreciate a place with an open kitchen. The food isn't quite to my liking but that's perhaps because it is a different style of Chinese cuisine from what I'm accustomed to. Overall, I'd still say the place is worth checking out if you've never tried it before. read more

As I really like this restaurant, I took my best friend who was visiting me from Barrie yesterday. Their customer service was great as always, however I have to say some of their food were not as good as before...I was a bit disappointed....We ordered their signature pork soup dumplings, deep fried vegetable spring rolls and chow mein. 1. Pork soup dumplings were so good as always. You should not miss this! 2. Deep fried vegetable spring rolls - one of my disappointments...it was very salty and peppery. I could not taste the flavour of vegetables. 3. Chow mein - my biggest disappointment...no flavour (too plain) and too oily :( I had always enjoyed their food (Everything was good before) so I feel like their main chef(s) was/were changed or it happened just yesterday? (I hope so!) I wanted to write my honest feedback here for them to improve their food as I still want to come back! read more

Your standard Chinese food, just overpriced. You order off an iPad and your food comes relatively quick. The service was excellent. The portion of the popcorn chicken for ($7.99) was pinch. read more

This is a pretty decent restaurant. Good for food and atmosphere. Not bad for business meeting or dates. The food we ordered was good. See pictures I uploaded for the good ones. I left out the ones which were ugly. Definitely not a food mine and worth the time. It was otherwise a tad expensive. read more

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This was a disappointing experience. I came here for lunch with 3 friends. From a service perspective, it was a mess. One friend's entree came out in about 4 minutes (not sure how fried rice can be prepared that quickly), and then the other dishes started to arrive (all staggered) over the next 5-10 minutes. What's the point of putting one dish on the table? They should just hold off until most of the dishes can be served. This isn't a fast food restaurant. Worse yet, the two appetizers we ordered came AFTER the entrees had arrived. Food was very mediocre. I ordered Beef and Broccoli with a side of white rice, and for $20 I expected more beef. I basically received a plate of broccoli and mushrooms. The vegetable dumplings we had didn't taste all that great. I'm not sure why this place was busy when we arrived. There are so many better Asian places in the area. Definitely won't be back. read more

Shao long bao wasn't that taste than i was expecting but others foods were much tastier so i would go next time too. Service was ok read more

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Really great food with a really nice staff! Food came really quick and the soup dumplings and fried rice and braised tofu were all really good! I would also recommend the seseme balls! read more

Food: 5/5 Environment: 4/5 Service: 5/5 Value: 4/5 As a shanghai native, I approve of this restaurant. The Wuxi spareribs are to die for. It is better than the ribs I've had in China! Unlike most Chinese restaurants, Lee Chen offers a clean and comfortable dining environment. It is a lot pricier than most Chinese restaurants, but the quality of the food and service makes up for it. The servers don't hustle you for your order and check. Lee Chen offers authentic Chinese comfort food in the heart of Toronto. read more

Ho-Lee-Chen! After a productive day of shopping on Bloor, I was in the mood for some noodles. Across the street from the reference library I saw a "We're now open" sign and a newly renovated restaurant. This "Asian Diner" is the newest addition to Asian eateries in the Yonge-Bloor area and one of the better ones. The owners and waitstaff are super friendly and immediately greeted and served me. They offered me a glass of water while I looked through their take-out menu. The restaurant has only been open for two days and it was pretty quiet. A lot of people peered curiously into the window. The restaurant is nicely decorated, dim lit with dark wood, and ample seating. I liked that the kitchen was open and you can see the food being prepared. The music was loud and repetitive. I wonder if Chinese restaurants use the same CD. Probably from the album Exotic Sounds of the Far East. I felt like I was trapped in a never-ending OMNI movie. Anyways... The menu had a assortment of traditional dishes and more western dishes. You can order.... sweet potato fries.... or tofu! The menu is very similar to Asian Legend and so are the prices. They had cold peanut noodles($4.99), spicy beef noodles in soup ($8.99), basic dumpling offerings (6 for $5.99), siu mei (4 for $4.59), a variety of fried rices (around 9 bucks), kung pao chicken, general tso, green curry, etc. They said that their xiao long bao is good. I'll have to give it a try next time... And perhaps the sticky rice roll with dried pork and onion pancake too. The Shanghai noodles didn't have that weird fake orange color. The eggplant was not saucy but fresh. Pan-fried dumplings were surprisingly satisfying. I was happy with my meal and service and I'm sure I'll be back for several reasons. * It's not Hue's (Horrific) Kitchen. * It's less pretentious than Spring Rolls and about a billion times more authentic. I hope this place stays around, Yonge-Bloor can use some more Asian flavour! read more

This was a last minute decision and I am so glad we chose to try this place. The food and service were fantastic! And two people (including a bottle of plum wine) and samples of at least 8 dishes? Was just around $100. No one in their right mind needs as much food as we ordered. We couldnt finish it all but when you see the menu you will understand why we wanted to try everything! We had their special dumplings with soup cooked inside - sinfully delicious Rice cakes - new to me - extremely flavorful and generous portions! Pulled pork dumplings - softest dumpling I have ever tasted, pork tender and well spiced Green onion pancake - im not an expert here but my companion claims they taste very authentic Did I mention the plum wine? Well worth adding to the feast. Then for mains we had the pork ribs (fell off the bone), a tofu dish with vegetables in broth and a traditional noodle dish I am told is served on food carts back home. The sesame coconut balls for dessert are a must try! We also had the more traditional balls in soup dessert...like I said we tried a lot of different food options - most of which were new to us. The servers were extremely helpful explaining what we were eating - and although the restaurant was packed - we felt like the only patrons there. Super attentive (but not in a creepy way). We will be back for sure. read more

This place is overpriced and the food is quite salty. However, I still really like the Szechuan fish ($14.95). The fish is very tender and garlic-y. This combo comes with rice, Edamame and a spring roll. Their Pan Fried Shrimp, Pork & Garlic Chives Dumplings ($7.50 for 6) are pretty good too. read more

Lee Chen Bistro - Relatively $ and the food is way too salty - Dim Sum Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

I've been dying to find Shanghai dim sum in downtown Toronto. SURPRISED TO FIND THEM HERE!!!! My strong cravings for Shanghai dim sum (#1 favourite food) are definitely satisfied for these reasons: - Lee Chen is not westernized or whitewashed. Food isn't like crap from Spring Rolls - dumplings are decent!! I've had WORSE Shanghai dim sum at Chinese dim sum restaurants. Lee Chen is good and I will return. - prices aren't THAT bad.... This is Yorkville after all Soup Dumplings (xiao long bao) $6.50 for 6 These are probably the tiniest xiao long bao dumplings I've ever seen, but they were pretty good. The soup isn't hot, there's a lot of soup, agree with Bernie that the meat is tiny. However the dumplings are still very very tasty. Also the skin isn't thick. Pan Fried Pork Dumplings (wor teep) $6.50 for 6 These were alright, probably 3/5 in my books. My favourite of this dumpling is from a small mom & pop shop in First Markham Place food court. Shanghai restaurants in Markham could create 4/5. Lee Chen does 3/5 which I'd say is good enough in Toronto. They're softer (less fried), smaller-size dumplings, less filling, thicker skin. Spicy Beef Noodles $11.95 I was afraid they'd serve a "western" size, but this dish surprisingly comes in a big bowl. You start digging into the bowl and you'll find that there are plenty of tender meats, enough noodles for 1, and lots of soup. I actually enjoy the noodles here!!! Jen K says they're not made in-house, however they DO taste like they're made in-house (chewy and aren't falling apart). The soup is pretty flavourful (NOT SPICY) and the beef is very tender (tasty enough, and of course I've had better). We actually ordered a second bowl of Spicy Beef Noodles! The prices are decent for a Toronto "fancy"-looking Chinese restaurant. $11.95 for a big bowl of soup noodles is fantastic!! Okay yes this isn't Chinatown cheap, but Lee Chen is very clean, has good service, and the food is good. I'll be back!! oh and: Bubble tea is actually yummy!!! (the price of BBT is fking expensive though, $4.95 + $0.50 for taprioca for A SUPER SMALL GLASS) read more

Food was alright, staff was very friendly. I guess the price is ok for Yorkville area but I still feel like there are better places with cheaper costs. The decoration inside is very nice although the seats in the booth we sat in are wooden and stiff so it was difficult to get comfortable. The overall atmosphere was nice. We ordered hot & sour soup ($6ish) and was able to share it among two people. If you like spicy food, this was definitely spicy enough for me and I love spicy food. We got their signature fried rice ($13ish) and it was just typical yang chow fried rice with a fancy name on it. It was also a little oily for our preferences. With the rice we got their mapo tofu ($12ish) and I didn't think it was anything special. Finally tried their onion pancake ($6-7ish) which wasn't bad, a little salty for my tastes but my friend liked how layered and crisp the dough part was. Also I got a corona ($6-7) with a nice looking chilled cup to keep it nice and cold. Probably won't go back because I have better places to try and nothing made me want to specifically come back but if I were in the area and not willing to blindly try something new, I would want to try their other food to give them another chance. read more

A little over priced, but its in a premium area located one block above the yonge and bloor intersection. I've been here once and it was really some great asian food. I got the pork belly steamed bao and it was probably the best steamed bao i've ever had. The meat melts in your mouth. I also had some shrimp and noodles which was very good too. I would go there again in a heartbeat. read more

Placed an order through Uber eats. The food is meh at best. Paid $80 for an 2 kinds of dumplings, one entree and one veggie plate. No thanks. read more

This location offers take in or dine out. If you take dine out make sure to check the order before leaving the location. My order was missing an item (a soup). 3/5 * read more

We really enjoyed our dinner here tonight. Having just moved into the neighbourhood it is good to know that there is a good Chinese restaurant nearby. The place is very contemporary in decor. The service is good and quick. The food is very tasty and hot. We loved the king mushroom and pea shoots as well as the black pepper beef. The Lee Chen fried rice was great as it wasn't greasy. We'll be back in the future again to try more things on their menu. read more

Really good food and decor. Priced were reasonable as well. Ordered dumplings which were flavorful, wonton soup, and a rice dish. All tasted great but portions were on the smaller side. Only miss was the pork belly buns, which you created yourself fajita style and curiously had spicy mayo that IMO didn't go with the bun at all. Thanks for trying though, and you can just eat without. Another major gripe that I wish the restaurant would fix is the cups. They are notoriously hard to hold with such a tiny handle. read more

Good vegetable dumplings and shrimp fried rice. This place is clean too. Service is not bad. I'd come back.

I did not expect to like this place as much as I did. Everything was absolutely delicious! My friend and I had the Vegetable Dumplings to start and thoroughly enjoyed them! They are steamed to perfection and super flavourful! These are very filling, so definitely good for sharing! For our main course we had the Black Bean Chicken and an order of Egg Fried Rice. I have never had Chinese food like it before. It wasn't greasy at all and the chicken was cooked PERFECTLY! It looked like a lot of food at first, but the two of us managed to pretty much polish it off. I really had no intentions of ordering dessert, until I saw the Coconut Sesame Pillows on the dessert menu. Who the heck can turn down a pastry referred to as a "pillow"?? It sounded too heavenly to pass up and I am so glad that we didn't. You have GOT to try these - they're addictive. The service was also fantastic. The waitstaff are very friendly here and they really strive to provide a relaxing dining atmosphere. Our waiter made excellent recommendations and was very attentive. They even put a little cooler pack around our white wine carafe - nice touch! read more

I love their lunch specials and of course, my favourites, the spicy beef noodle soup and soup dumplings. For a Chinese restaurant downtown, it's actually a pretty good place, and the food quality is pretty close with the Asian places up in Markham/Richmond Hill. The decor and atmosphere gives you a pretty modern Asian feel to it. Service and cleanliness of the restaurant is also pretty decent. Although the cooking style and taste is not the full on traditional type, where you'd expect a much stronger taste in spices, I'd still recommend it for Chinese food lovers around the area. read more

Came for lunch with some friends. The restaurant looks fancy and traditional inside. My friends recommended the Spicy Beef Soup Noodle. The broth was good but wasn't spicy enough, so had to add a bit of chilli oil sauce. The noodles were thin and curvy, which are rare to found elsewhere. The beef was tendered but cut averagely small which I would prefer to be a bit bigger. There were 2 pieces of Chinese cabbage and some pickled vegetable on the side. Overall it was a good meal. read more

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I was eager to find a reasonable (and Asian) dining option in the Yorkville area when I shop @ anthro (quite regularly). *sigh* So i was excited to see Lee Chen on the Yorkville radar. I came here for lunch today; it's steps from the Bloor TTC and the restaurant is huge. Contemporary Asian Teahouse is the best way to describe it. The prices here are reasonable, albeit higher than the usual Chinatown fare; but this ain't Chinatown folks...it's the borderline snooty Yorkville. Had the Shanghai Dumplings (xiao long bao) steamed in a bamboo basket, and freshly made to order. The dumplings were quite delicious; delicate skin, savory filling with a drop of soup in the dumpling. I also had the Shanghai Spicy Stewed Beef Noodles. I dumped a ton of chili in the soup coz i like it extra spicy...and it was delish. The noodles tasted handmade, the soup was yummy and the generous pieces of beef were tender and flavorful. The bowl of noodles was Huge. Service was good; efficient, friendly, nice. I'd come back for lunch with friends to try various dishes. Highly recommend for the area. read more

Come here all the time. As a Chinese born this place has some of the best Chinese food in downtown toronto

a little bit pricey. the interior is clean and chic my friend and I ordered the soup dumplings, house soup rice cake and shrimp lettuce wrap. The soup dumplings have thin skins and are juicy inside. They are delicious, but of course, not as good as those served at Joe's Shanghai(nyc). the house soup rice cake really reminds me of China. The taste of home, finally! (Although it is over priced($11.95). )I will definitely go back for more. The shrimp lettuce wrap has a crispy and refreshing taste with cubed carrots and celery. In a word, Lee Chen is truly Chinese ! read more

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Xiao long Bao is tasty, we have to order another 2 baskets after polishing 2 among 4 people. The pork belly melts in your mouth Service was great read more

Asian Bistro disappointed me. The dishes are priced far beyond their value and you leave feeling like you ate a pound of salt. My dining partner and I had pork soup dumplings, shrimp and chicken steamed siu Mai, and crispy pork belly. The dumplings were uninspiring and bland. The soup wasn't as flavourful as it should have been and the texture of the dough was plasticky. The pork belly was incredibly salty, although nice and chewy. The shrimp/chicken steamed siu Mai left no impression, which I suppose is better than a negative one, Service is fine. Decor is fine. Atmosphere is what you'd expect. For quite sub par Chinese food, the price will make you cringe. Will not return. read more

Staff remains very nice but not as attentive as at the begining of this place. Whereas they once decided to be open until 11pm during week-ends, now they are back to 10pm only, every day. More importantly and very sadly, whereas the freshness remains, the quality of the food has degradated... dumplings were amazing and now they are too oily and blander. I almost thought that Asian legends was better (this latter is good but not as good as this place was before, but at least they proved to be consistent). Please react, do something, I want to go back and be as flabbergasted as I was the first 2 times I came here. Work on the quality. I don't care about fancy printed menus with pictures. I care about food. read more

Came here for the first time today. It was for lunch. Interior is very big and clean. Wait staff was friendly and attentive. I had the beef brisket noodle soup. It was delicious. My friends all took the lunch options, and they all enjoyed it. I would come back for lunch in a heartbeat since it is tasty and the price is reasonable. Did find the menu a little pricey for dinner. read more

Went for brunch here last Sunday and it really wasn't set up for a traditional 'brunch', but, no matter! The food was delicious and tasted 'authentic'. Everything was presented well, and I felt satiated upon exit. The bill for four of us came to less than $100. My only gripe would be that they open at 11:30am on the weekend - I think they should open earlier and serve a full dim sum menu - I'm sure many would come. read more

Lee Chen has become one of my favorite staples in the neighborhood for Chinese food. I come here mainly for the soup dumplings, which are absolutely delicious and satisfies my soup dumpling cravings without having to drive all the way out to BFE for DTF (that's ButtF***Egypt -- aka Markham -- and Ding Tai Fung, if you're not acronymically inclined). The dumplings are small, bite-sized, and filled with porky broth and meaty filling. It's like having an inside-out wonton soup. :) So nom-tastic. The rest of the menu is good, but not as good as the soup dumplings. The siu mai is large and meaty, and the Lee Chen Fried Rice is fresh and filling. The black bean beef is a bit too salty for my taste, though. I keep wanting to try the Wuxi spareribs, but every time I go to Lee Chen, I stuff too many of the soup dumplings in my face-hole and then unfortunately get too full to order spareribs! (First world problems!) Service has always been great at Lee Chen. Attentive, but never annoying. I just realized while I was writing this review that they also deliver. Yay! read more

I was pleasantly surprised by the lunch here. This place is huge and so are the portions! My friend commented that it was the "Asian Pickle Barrel" because the menu was so extensive! It's actually much better than that. I had a green chili shrimp and it was very good. The calamari appetizer is better than good - the Asian 5 spice kicked it up a notch to excellent! Service was a little off - we didn't get our food in the traditional order - drinks, appetizers, entrees. In fact, the appetizers came last. It also took forever to get the bill - we asked at least 3 times. Still, despite the service, the food was really good, and there was more than enough. I'll likely return. read more

I agree with Christian P. I myself also noticed the quality of food is going downhill. They used to use sushi rice, now they just use those cheap long grain rice....very disappointing.. read more

This restaurant is such a lovely place with well-priced lunch options, a beautiful presentation, very quick service, and a clean and cozy dining experience. As upset as I am that this restaurant is closing down in Yorkville for yet another condo, I am excited to see it reopen on King/University! Also - delicious. I would love to see more vegetarian options. read more

Our waitress Amy has a huge attitude problem!!! She seems like she is in charge. but seriously girl? U don't even know the menu! We ask for her recommendation btw two dishes, she told us that she haven't try it she wouldn't know. As a real shanghainese, I have to say the skin of the soup dumpling(xiaolong Bao) is very good, but man too much MSG in the fillings!! And everything else we ordered had too much salt in it! Especially the steamed vegetable dumplings, they HAVE to be light and fresh so you can taste the freshness of the veggies wrapped inside. But there were just too much salt in it that gave me a headache after eating too!! horrible service and way too much salt in the food. Will never return again! read more

Checked this place out after some Bloor errands/shopping. It's fairly new and usually empty-ish inside. Once inside, you'll be impressed by the simple and elegant decor. Really clean bathrooms (is that key in eating?! Well, you can tell a lot about a place about how well they maintain their WC's, lol.) Menu is on the sparse side so if you're looking for variety, this probably won't be the place to check out. But in terms of a decent Asian style dinner with friends, it's pretty good. Prices are fair, booze is decently priced and there are a few spots where you can seat a big group. read more

I love dim sum but this shanghai style restaurant was very impressive. I had the xiao Lon bao and the peanut sauce noodle with chicken. Amazing! I'm currently obsessed with Taiwanese food and they had some good selection of that as well. My friend ordered the spicy beef noodle soup and loved how the beef was so tender and the soup wasn't overly spicy. The noodle itself was my fav! I may be wrong but I think it was handmade :) The dessert Tang Yuan is my current obsession and was excited when I saw this on the menu! (It's like Mochi with sweet sesame paste inside) To top it off, the price was extremely reasonable so overall I was very happy with the experience here. Will highly recommend! The location is convenient too! :) right by Yonge/bloor station. read more

Amazing fresh, fast, and delicious Dim Sum for lunch - I recommend the soup dumplings! read more

Lee Chen Bistro - Dim Sum Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

I bought a coupon for this place as I've never had the mandarin style soup dumplings. I went with a friend who has tried them so he could tell me what he thinks. We ordered some snow pea shoots with king mushrooms, pork ribs (can't remember the sauce), dan dan noodles in peanut sauce, shanghai? style rice cakes. I think that's it. Now the dumplings were smaller (my friend said ) than he's used to. However, he liked that the wrappers were thinner as well. So overall he thought they were very tasty. I thought that they were a bit shy in the filling as I was thinking i would be more in them but it was my first time. The ribs were okay. My friend like them. The snow peas shoot were fresh and nicely done. (cantonese style -garlic sauce) the dan dan noodles were tasty and spicy though I think a few shredded vegetables would had added to the dish. The stir fry rice cakes my friend thought were heavy. They are, I've had them as you can buy them in the korean grocery store (frozen section) and I've used them in soups, stir fries and yes they are heavy but I like them,. Service is decent. Atmosphere is very nice. They did a great job as it was cozy in there. I would go back if I'm in the neighbourhood. My friend lives nearby so he plans on going back when he wants chinese food. read more

The restaurant is right across from the Toronto Reference Library. I passed by many times but never went in. I went in on a Friday during lunch time and it was packed. Menu looks standard all your Chinese noodle house items. We had two orders of the Xiao long bao, the stir fried dumplings, the spicy beef tendons, the Shanghai rice cakes, and the soy bean soup. All of them were pretty good and make for a satisfying meal. Nothing off the charts or anything with the WOW factor but given the value, the taste and the location, it was decent. read more