Pine House Cafe
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Good value HK style cafe in Scarborough. I had the afternoon tea items like the cubed French toast and the beef brisket noodles, which were both pretty good. The restaurant itself is fairly clean and spacious and the service is pretty good, so it's a solid choice.
Great local HK Cafe along Steeles Ave east that's serving up traditional hk style food. They've got menus for different times of the day; breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner. We came here for their all-day breakfast set meal which includes entree, sandwich and a hot drink. Prices are very reasonable. Service is robust. Dinner, they've got a great selection as well at affordable prices averaging $13 which includes soup (not HK tea). Portion-wise it's worth it!
Fast-forward 7 years from my initial review in 2017 and boy have times changed! The menus got updated again are now closer to $14-20 per entrée (ouch) and no longer comes with a drink. The only thing that hasn't changed is that their HK-style Borscht soup is honestly still the best one out there. A delicious rich tomato broth with a good amount of vegetables and if lucky, small pieces of braised beef. After having tried so much of their menu over various visits, here are my thoughts on the would- and would-not recommends. Would recommend: -Curry beef brisket with rice (fragrant herb curry sauce) -Fried thick noodle with shrimp and pork in Shanghai style (very good wok hei) -Sliced beef spaghetti with black pepper (decent, not too peppery) -Grilled eel fried rice (decent, drizzled with a sweet sauce) Would not recommend: -Baked pork/chicken chop with tomato on rice (the sauce is too one-dimensional) -Pine house basket (the deep fried scallops and spring rolls were not good, not worth $20) -Hai Nam chicken with chicken oil rice (rice was very bland, chicken pieces were not very meaty) Portions for the stir-fry noodles and rice dishes (except curry beef brisket) are on the larger-end so you can expect to have extras to takeaway unless you're a big eater. Do note that they charge 25 cents per takeout box. Cash only.
We had come to this plaza with the intention of going to a different restaurant for lunch but my friend, who's been here many times, suggested I try this place. I'm always open to trying new places so why not? We got there just in time to get the last table. It was busy! After looking over the menus, we ordered Pork Ribs with Bitter Melon and Black Bean sauce, served over white rice, and Rice Noodles with Beef and Bean Sprouts. Both dishes included a bowl of soup and a warm beverage. Almost every dish on the menu was under ten dollars so it was a very good value. The soups arrived first - a Chinese herbal broth and Russian borscht. Huh? Russian borscht? In a Chinese restaurant? Whatever. They were good. I tasted both but had the borscht and enjoyed it! The other dishes showed up shortly after and they both looked good! They tasted good, too! The servings were very generous, enough to take home for dinner. Unfortunately, while eating the leftovers for dinner, I encountered a problem, a potentially very big problem! I was chewing and felt something tough. At first I thought it may have been a piece of dried noodle but when I spat it out, it was a piece of stainless steel scouring pad! I could have swallowed it! Needles to say, I lost my appetite. As much as I enjoyed the food from this place, this experience has turned me off from giving them another shot. Sorry.
I have been here 3 times now and each time im left super content with my meals! Been here twice for early morning breakfast and it is such a steal! For under 8$ you can get 2 eggs, bacon and toast with butter, satay beef rice noodle soup and a hot milk tea! Plus bonus chinese news paper per table if you come early enough!! Theyre always quick and its a good cheap eat before starting your day. Recently also came in for their afternoon tea special which is from 230 pm to 5 30 pm. Ordered their fried chicken wing and fries(6.99), pineapple bun with butter ( 4.99) and thick french toast with peanut butter inside (5.50?) Each item came out pipping hot and fresh. Similar to breakfast you also get a drink with each item as well. If you want to upgrade it to an iced milk tea, then you would add a dollar to the price. Came in on a saturday afternoon for afternoon tea and there were lots of people enjoying a mid day snack! Staff are also super friendly. I think it is a cash only place.. but not too sure if that is accurate. Either way, when going to an asian restaurant of this sort it is always best to have cash on hand! Cant wait to return and try other stuff next time!
I don't really come for lunch/dinner anymore. I find the breakfast is the best deal here. You can get an omelette, toast, a drink and a noodle for $7.50 breakfast special. Good deal and definitely fills me up. The service is really depending on the day. We've done take out and got the most sassy rude service, but when dining for breakfast, service is great!
The food is delicious and the prices are reasonable. The restaurant is clean, including the seating area. However, the service provided may not be exceptional.
After being here for Afternoon Tea and Dinner for a few times, I have to update my review of Pine House Cafe. The food is good in general and the service always excellent. The main problem though is the food lack consistency. It have been opened for almost 2 months and what I ordered can be a hit or miss even on the same item! Even their Borscht soup can be rich and with chucks of vegetables and beef on a good day and a week later tasted watery and blend. Same with the sauce on their Baked Pork Chop and Rice. I hope the kitchen can have their standard sorted out. It might be the most important factor to keep your existing customer keep returning.
Always serve hot with soup and HK tea,, it hits the spot, portion are huge for take home.
Random visit. This was my second time here, gave it a second chance after a not so pleasant initial experience a few years ago. Service was typical, food was average. One ordered Singapore vermicelli that came with a choice of soup and drink, another had a set combo of a corned beef sandwich with macaroni in soup with a choice of drink. I had the black pepper steak with rice, which came with an egg, and a choice of soup and drink. Surprisingly, I wasn't asked how I wanted my steak but how I wanted my egg, ALTHOUGH they weren't able to offer me scrambled egg instead of a fried egg because "it's not available." Hmm? Whatever. With my bad luck with steak, I was fortunate it wasn't hockey puck. Cash only.
Convenient location, reasonable price but low quality of food! We ordered two breakfast combo; beef congee +fry noodle with Bean sprout, steak with eggs + toast. Congee is tasteless , beef is thickly cut. Fry noodle with few bean sprout. I noticed the customer on my right ordered stir fry beef noodle which is one of their signature dish. Yet, the colour of the dish is terribly pale ( not enough soy sauce added) and he ended up take out more than half portion. The customer on my left keep adding soy sauce to her dish while eating. I think their food are consistently tasteless, Overall, service 3.5 stars, price 3.5 stars. Food 1.5 stars. I round up the average .
2 years ago
Our new favorite HK-style breakfast - super affordable and huge portion sizes! For $11.99, we ordered combo A and D. Each included an egg sandwich and milk tea/lemon tea. They're usually very busy on the weekends so be ready to wait in line for a bit. They have quite a bit of seating, best for 2-4 people. Thank you Pine House Cafe staff for the wonderful service. We'll definitely be back to try other items on the menu soon. read more
2 years ago
Good value HK style cafe in Scarborough. I had the afternoon tea items like the cubed French toast and the beef brisket noodles, which were both pretty good. The restaurant itself is fairly clean and spacious and the service is pretty good, so it's a solid choice. read more
3 years ago
Great local HK Cafe along Steeles Ave east that's serving up traditional hk style food. They've got menus for different times of the day; breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner. We came here for their all-day breakfast set meal which includes entree, sandwich and a hot drink. Prices are very reasonable. Service is robust. Dinner, they've got a great selection as well at affordable prices averaging $13 which includes soup (not HK tea). Portion-wise it's worth it! read more
Fast-forward 7 years from my initial review in 2017 and boy have times changed! The menus got updated again are now closer to $14-20 per entrée (ouch) and no longer comes with a drink. The only thing that hasn't changed is that their HK-style Borscht soup is honestly still the best one out there. A delicious rich tomato broth with a good amount of vegetables and if lucky, small pieces of braised beef. After having tried so much of their menu over various visits, here are my thoughts on the would- and would-not recommends. Would recommend: -Curry beef brisket with rice (fragrant herb curry sauce) -Fried thick noodle with shrimp and pork in Shanghai style (very good wok hei) -Sliced beef spaghetti with black pepper (decent, not too peppery) -Grilled eel fried rice (decent, drizzled with a sweet sauce) Would not recommend: -Baked pork/chicken chop with tomato on rice (the sauce is too one-dimensional) -Pine house basket (the deep fried scallops and spring rolls were not good, not worth $20) -Hai Nam chicken with chicken oil rice (rice was very bland, chicken pieces were not very meaty) Portions for the stir-fry noodles and rice dishes (except curry beef brisket) are on the larger-end so you can expect to have extras to takeaway unless you're a big eater. Do note that they charge 25 cents per takeout box. Cash only. read more
2 years ago
We had come to this plaza with the intention of going to a different restaurant for lunch but my friend, who's been here many times, suggested I try this place. I'm always open to trying new places so why not? We got there just in time to get the last table. It was busy! After looking over the menus, we ordered Pork Ribs with Bitter Melon and Black Bean sauce, served over white rice, and Rice Noodles with Beef and Bean Sprouts. Both dishes included a bowl of soup and a warm beverage. Almost every dish on the menu was under ten dollars so it was a very good value. The soups arrived first - a Chinese herbal broth and Russian borscht. Huh? Russian borscht? In a Chinese restaurant? Whatever. They were good. I tasted both but had the borscht and enjoyed it! The other dishes showed up shortly after and they both looked good! They tasted good, too! The servings were very generous, enough to take home for dinner. Unfortunately, while eating the leftovers for dinner, I encountered a problem, a potentially very big problem! I was chewing and felt something tough. At first I thought it may have been a piece of dried noodle but when I spat it out, it was a piece of stainless steel scouring pad! I could have swallowed it! Needles to say, I lost my appetite. As much as I enjoyed the food from this place, this experience has turned me off from giving them another shot. Sorry. read more
I have been here 3 times now and each time im left super content with my meals! Been here twice for early morning breakfast and it is such a steal! For under 8$ you can get 2 eggs, bacon and toast with butter, satay beef rice noodle soup and a hot milk tea! Plus bonus chinese news paper per table if you come early enough!! Theyre always quick and its a good cheap eat before starting your day. Recently also came in for their afternoon tea special which is from 230 pm to 5 30 pm. Ordered their fried chicken wing and fries(6.99), pineapple bun with butter ( 4.99) and thick french toast with peanut butter inside (5.50?) Each item came out pipping hot and fresh. Similar to breakfast you also get a drink with each item as well. If you want to upgrade it to an iced milk tea, then you would add a dollar to the price. Came in on a saturday afternoon for afternoon tea and there were lots of people enjoying a mid day snack! Staff are also super friendly. I think it is a cash only place.. but not too sure if that is accurate. Either way, when going to an asian restaurant of this sort it is always best to have cash on hand! Cant wait to return and try other stuff next time! read more
I don't really come for lunch/dinner anymore. I find the breakfast is the best deal here. You can get an omelette, toast, a drink and a noodle for $7.50 breakfast special. Good deal and definitely fills me up. The service is really depending on the day. We've done take out and got the most sassy rude service, but when dining for breakfast, service is great! read more
3 years ago
The food is delicious and the prices are reasonable. The restaurant is clean, including the seating area. However, the service provided may not be exceptional. read more
10 years ago
After being here for Afternoon Tea and Dinner for a few times, I have to update my review of Pine House Cafe. The food is good in general and the service always excellent. The main problem though is the food lack consistency. It have been opened for almost 2 months and what I ordered can be a hit or miss even on the same item! Even their Borscht soup can be rich and with chucks of vegetables and beef on a good day and a week later tasted watery and blend. Same with the sauce on their Baked Pork Chop and Rice. I hope the kitchen can have their standard sorted out. It might be the most important factor to keep your existing customer keep returning. read more
4 years ago
Random visit. This was my second time here, gave it a second chance after a not so pleasant initial experience a few years ago. Service was typical, food was average. One ordered Singapore vermicelli that came with a choice of soup and drink, another had a set combo of a corned beef sandwich with macaroni in soup with a choice of drink. I had the black pepper steak with rice, which came with an egg, and a choice of soup and drink. Surprisingly, I wasn't asked how I wanted my steak but how I wanted my egg, ALTHOUGH they weren't able to offer me scrambled egg instead of a fried egg because "it's not available." Hmm? Whatever. With my bad luck with steak, I was fortunate it wasn't hockey puck. Cash only. read more
7 years ago
Convenient location, reasonable price but low quality of food! We ordered two breakfast combo; beef congee +fry noodle with Bean sprout, steak with eggs + toast. Congee is tasteless , beef is thickly cut. Fry noodle with few bean sprout. I noticed the customer on my right ordered stir fry beef noodle which is one of their signature dish. Yet, the colour of the dish is terribly pale ( not enough soy sauce added) and he ended up take out more than half portion. The customer on my left keep adding soy sauce to her dish while eating. I think their food are consistently tasteless, Overall, service 3.5 stars, price 3.5 stars. Food 1.5 stars. I round up the average . read more
Pretty good! I was very impressed with the wait time and the speed at which food comes to the table. I think my whole meal including from the door to paying the bill was around less than half an hour. If you're in for a speedy meal, this is the place to go. I had the breakfast combo: $7.50 includes coffee/tea - I picked the preserved vegetable with vermicelli with ham omelette and toast. There are so many choices and you can create your own combo without extra charges. Loving the versatility and the flexibility this restaurant creates. My only complaint is that there is one washroom for each gender... But this is a small establishment. Still a great place to go for breakfast ! read more
8 years ago
4 years ago
Reasonable cheap eats located inside the plaza where the Field Fresh Market is. My boyfriend and I came here for lunch. Our total of the bill came down to approx $25 incl. tax which was fairly decent. All set meals includes a soup (choice of borscht or Chinese soup) plus a beverage (ice drinks +$1). My boyfriend had the stir fry spaghetti with black pepper beef. It was very peppery and flavourful. And I had the pork neck with rice and egg. Wish that they could of given more meat. Overall, everything taste pretty good except the only complaint I would have was the iced lemon tea we had. The lemon slices were so dry that there's barely any juice in it. I'd definitely come back again to try out other dishes. read more
This is your typical HK style restaurant. With your meal you get a choice of cream style or Russian soup, and a hot/ cold beverage. Today I ordered the eel fried rice (omit the green peas). Not bad. Big chucks of fried eel were obviously present. (Please refer to pics below). I didn't really like the Bonito flakes on top and would have preferred masago or tobiko. But then again, this isn't a Japanese restaurant. Portion was huge and packed half to go. Another good find! read more
Pros: Food is well done Friendly service Cons: Menu is very limited I used to frequent this place when it was called Elite cafe. I really liked it then so I wondered how Pine House would compare. Walking in, they pretty much kept the same decor as the previous business with a few minor tweaks. There are still plenty of seats for the size of this place which is nice. There are tables that will easily fit groups of 8 so big groups can certainly find a table without too much trouble. When you sit down, they hand you the menu. My first thought was is that it?? It was basically a small half sheet of paper with items on both sides. It was a nicely done menu, but so very tiny. I think there were no more than 30 items. Comparing that to the extensive menu the previous business had, it was kinda disappointing. I ordered a fired rice noodle and my wife ordered a baked rice dish. The dishes are prepared very well here. There's a good amount of food portion wise. My fried rice noodle included a very good portion of beef and my wife's dish had a good portion of fish and cheese. Taste wise, it was pretty good as well. The staff here were all very nice. I really enjoyed the service of the last business here and it looks like Pine House Cafe has at least kept up with that tradition. All in all, Pine House Cafe is a pretty good HK style cafe. It could do with a bit more variety in the menu if you ask me though. read more
Service was super fast! Got seated right away and ordered from the breakfast menu. Typical HK cafe food. Chow mein noodles were a bit oily. Beef congee has nice large chunks of beef. Pan fried steak was a little chewy. Gravy pepper sauce was good though. Egg sandwich was kind of plain, not toasted. read more
8 years ago
Recent HK style cafe. If you just want something to satisfy your craving for HK style food this is the place to go Lunch time plates average around $10 with soup/drink. Portion sizes are huge! So I'd advise you to bring a big appetite or you'll actually get 2 meals for the price of one. The taste is mediocre. My spaghetti bolognaise was overly sweet. Free Chinese newspaper given as well (Sing Tao) read more
Pine House Cafe is located in the Matsuda plaza on Steeles and Middlefield! Located right next to the grocery store, parking is perfect for this plaza - you usually don't need to wait more than 5 minutes for a parking spot. The letters and colour of Pine House Cafe is really similar to Matsuda so we guessed they were owned by the same owners - later confirmed that they are owned by the same people because people wearing Matsuda shirts came over and dropped off some milk in the kitchen! For a Chinese fast food type cuisine, Pine House Cafe's prices are reasonable, though the time for food to come out was a little longer - possibly because they are still a new restaurant. We ordered the beef ho fun and the Portuguese sauce baked rice. The beef ho fun was slightly oily and in my opinion not saucey enough. The Portuguese sauce baked rice was rather tasty - though the portion appeared smaller than other dishes such as the fried rice, I think it was worth it. All this came with a drink as well as soup. I will be coming back to try other items on the menu! read more
6 years ago
Baked Pork Chop rice was average. But the HK style milk tea was weak. Needle more tea flavourm read more
This is a Hong Kong style cafe. Same owners as the Matsuda all you can eat sushi which is a few stores down.They have afternoon from 2:30-5:30pm. Servers are really friendly. Food is on the higher end of the spectrum in terms of taste. Their chicken teriyaki rice was delicious because the chicken was made really well with a crispy skin. Lacked in terms of the amount of sauce in comparison to the amount of rice. Would definitely come here again and try other items on the menu! read more
7 years ago
Typical Hong Kong style breakfast lunch brunch afternoon tea restaurant. On a Saturday they are quite busy. Waited around 15 mins for a seat. They have free wifi but signal is very weak almost non existence. They have an afternoon special starting at 2:30-5:30? Pretty good deals. They all come with drinks, if you want a cold drink add $1.00. For a party of 3 we ordered only 2 dishes and it was plenty for us. For lunch the price for the rice dishes are around $9.00 with drink and soup. The noodle was $8.00 with drink and soup also. The service the drink before the meal which is okay to me. But normally they serve it after the meal. My table was missing sugar but the waitress notice and brought it to us after we borrowed from the table next to us. Don't expect much service or them to speak much eng. it is a typical Chinese restaurant. But it's heap fast and good. read more
9 years ago
Solid HK Cafe that does sizzling plate meals! It's a very nostalgic feeling since this used to be the norm but recently HK cafes have moved away from them because they are heavy and hard to clean up. But the experience of hearing the sizzling and holding your napkin in front of you as the sauce hits the plate and you hear a rush of sound and get that hit of garlic or black pepper sauce is fun! Bonus: they have some of the best cream soup and HK borsche with their meals I've had in recent memory :) read more
4 years ago
7 years ago
A Hong-Kong-style cafe with delicious food and affordable prices. Breakfast in the morning. Lunch comes soup and coffee or tea or a beverage. There's afternoon specials before dinner time. My favourite is the curry beef briskets with rice. read more
3.5 star. Newly opened HK style restaurant in this area that's great for a quick bite and good for Asian style comfort food. Prices are 5-15$/person on a average with food and drinks included depending on what time you go in. The portion sizes are also very generous. They do have a breakfast menu that's from 7:30-11:30am and afternoon tea menu from 2:30-5:30pm. Food is usually cheaper during those times. The place itself is very bright and not too loud. What I ordered: Beef rice noodle stir fry $8: it was very well done! One of the best ones I've had in a very long time. This dish tends to be quite oily so the noodles won't stick to the wok when it's cooked, but it wasn't very oily when I had this one. Seasoning and everything balanced out. The beef portion was quite generous as well. This came with soup of the day and a choice of tea or coffee as well. Club house sandwich $4.50: this is a well known sandwich every single Hong Kong style cafe would have. They substituted the bacon with some turkey ham to make it a healthier option. It was pretty good except it lacked a sauce. You just came have a sandwich without the sauce. Even if it's just plain mayo would be fine! Overall I think this place is definitely a go to if you're sick of dim sum or have a hangover. The ratings would definitely change overtime once I've tried more of there items on the menu. read more
Matsuya Café is one of our favorite HK style cafes, so we've been meaning to try their sister café, Pine House Café for a while. We were seated quickly, and ordered two #D - 2 eggs, toast, sausage or ham and tea. We also received a complimentary Chinese newspaper. My order came out quickly, but my partner's took a while. We ordered the eggs over-easy, but unfortunately the eggs were cooked medium to well done with barely "dippable" yolks. No big deal you might think? Not to someone who likes to dunk! The "sausages" were actually hot dog weiners, so it would be a good idea to reword their menu to avoid confusion, for those we are not familiar with HK style food. Unfortunately, the toast was lightly toasted, cold, and only had a smidge of butter. We also had to flag a server down for our milk teas. I do believe this café serves great lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, but our breakfast experience was a true miss. read more
7 years ago
Great place for breakfast. $7.50 for a bowl of macaroni, toast, eggs and sausages (you can pick and choose what you want) and milk tea/coffee. Very fast service. Comes with free daily Chinese newspaper. The staff are very approachable and try to get to know you when you come once a week :) read more
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