My friend and I came here, he actually wanted to try out this restaurant so we went and ordered two dishes. I am not a super big fan of spicy items, but this restaurant made me love spicy food. Defraud to come on a little bit slow, and the food itself wasn't very cheap, but overall, it was alright read more

Xin Jiang Restaurant - Chinese Near Me - Markham, Ontario

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The lamb skewers were pretty good, but they were kind of small compared to other restaurants. I love their beef tendon skewers though. Their lamb and vegetable pot was delicious as well as their Bbq fish. The lamb dumplings were just okay. The skin was too thick imo. Lamb fried rice was decent. Downside to this is that they only take cash and not credit cards. I would come back again no doubt. read more

Xin Jiang Restaurant - Lamb hot wok - Chinese Near Me - Markham, Ontario

"No Tip...Dont come back!!" Appalling service even for a Chinese restaurant more to follow.... Good food no doubt We were the only non Chinese at the restaurant a spectacle among other patrons Went at 9 pm were greeted by a waiter and led to the table, great welcome as most of such establishments ignore you at the entrance during rush hour(Friday night perhaps.,,Anyways they were out of leg o lamb n skewers the sole purpose of my visit and our waitress suggested we try alternatives i got 1 which i liked but i still wanted skewers she goes "same meat u dont eating skewers" i tend to give people benefit of doubt especially the fresh off the boat kind and dont judge them too harshley Food arrived it was great xin jiang, uyghur style, our waitress was nice enough to offer my 3 yo high chair at first and after serving food never once visited or made eye contact.... we needed more cutlery Anyways paid the bill $50.13 for 4 items as we were about to leave she puts the bill in front of my face and says you dont pay tip, we were taken aback said u didn't have the things we wanted she says dont come back!! And throws our left over in the pile as my wife was packing it for my son, when we demanded to see the manager she goes "no manager here" we requested thru other staff a lady sitting in the corner skewering meat and made an effort to help by smiling sorry We were shocked and laughing all the way back home in a "did that just happen??!!" State I remember seeing a documentary about how people are enslaved thru trafficking and paid next to nothing when they come here, sorry lady youve got my sympathy but No Tip!! read more

Very busy restaurant located within a plaza filled with other chinese restaurants and food courts. Had to wait 15 mins for a takeout order of 4 lamb skewers (2.50 each). They were very tasty, had a bbqd taste, well-seasoned. The meat was very soft and had good fat content. I will return for a snack again! read more

Found this gem in yelp, was in the area looking for a place to eat. After reading reviews after reviews, I knew we had to try. It isn't much to see storefront and interior. My guess is that they were going for authenticity as decors were very simple, almost like the ones you see in food joints amongst Mongolia or Northern China. The food however was unexpectedly very delicious. The reviews prodded me to order the Lamb skewers as it was present in every single review that I read. I am not a big fan of Lamb Skewers but these guys knew how to make me love it enough to make me order it twice ! . The meat was very juicy and tender void of any unsavoury smell lambs are known for . Seasoned with just the right amount of cumin and salt. My other new favourite is the Hand Pulled Noodles with Stir Fried Vegetables and choice of meat (we had the lamb). Hubby and I loved it. The taste is uncommon in the GTA's food scene. light tomato based sauce over chewy noodles that bounces on every bite is this noodle lover's pure heaven. Its like eating Bubble Tea Pearls only stir fried and slurpy. I am no great cook, but the onions seemed to bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes for the dish. Anyhow it wasn't all perfect, I gave a four star rating because the 3rd dish we ordered was a miss. Homestyle Beef Brisket Stew. 1.) Meat was a bit on the tough side 2. Flavor was a bit off 3. the most expensive out of the dishes we ordered. Sad to say it was not worth it. Price wise, its not cheap but not crazy expensive either. Servers were nice and accommodating. I saw tables ordered the BBQ Cabbage, shredded Potatoes dish and dumplings. Cant wait to come back to try those. read more

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Lamb skewers at $1.50/skewer with a $20 VIP card. A bit of a joke, non-VIP customers pay $2.50/ skewer but get more lamb pieces on their skewers. A discount for less food! Wings on skewers are better. Tofu on skewers were rotten masked by the spices they use. Taste is good....don't bother with the BS VIP card. Cash-only restaurant. Not good for society in the long run if businesses don't pay taxes. read more

Xinjiang is a province in Northwestern China that is predominantly populated by the Hui minority (muslims). Thus their food has a mix of Chinese and Muslim influences. This is one of the few places in Toronto serving this kind of cuisine - as I walked in I could smell the cumin-y goodness that reminded me of Xi'an's muslim quarter. Came here with my parents and Gr!andma, who remarked how clean this place looked, a top priority when she is dining out. It was quite packed with Chinese people of all ages. We ordered the La Mian (pulled noodles) with potatoes, so not the soup based one, lamb and beef tendon skewers, stir fried veg, and the lamb and fennel dumplings. Next time I'd like to lrder the soup based noodles instead, I feel like that would be better. The skewers were great and had a lot of spices, you can even order less spicy if you have dining partners that can't take spice (akthough they'll miss out for sure!). The dumplings were great and had a lot of fennel, which for me is not a bad thing. The veg were your typical garlicky oily stir fried veg. Value wise it may be a little pricier than other restaurants in the plaza, but their cuisine is a bit harder to find in Toronto read more

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Lambs skewers all day baby. Hit that flavour town when you want that inner China taste. The price is decent enough and on point. Don't forget to pay the $20 and so you can get the VIP/ reduced price on the menu. It pays for itself in a meal or two. Plus the later nights are great. Would recommend! read more

We had (1) beef with stir fry pancake bread (2) bean cold noodle - a staple wherever I go (3) the special lamb tripe stir fry (4) mild lamb with noodle. It was all delicious. There is a club card that's worth it if you come here three times. I know I'll be back for some lamb skewers and fish which I had no room for. read more

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The lamb skewers are tender, juicy and cooked to perfection. The taste of the meat is delightfully soft. The onions sweet aftertaste is a wonderful contrast to the beefs rich spices. The prices are relatively in the steeper side but well worth every penny. read more

Xin Jiang Restaurant - Delicious. - Chinese Near Me - Markham, Ontario

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Average in my opinion. Service was a bit cold and unfriendly - but food is decent. Had the cold noodles, minced lamb wrap, hand pulled lamb noodles and red bean pancake. Compared to other restaurants that serve similar dishes, portions here are on the small and pricey side. I would've given them 4 stars if the servers were friendlier lol. read more

My favourite place to grab lamb skewers. Their other BBQ options are good too, but the lamb is tops. They close at 3am so it's a good place to relax after a long day at work. Definitely check it out if you're in the area or get cravings for skewers. read more

The food was good specially the lamb skewers but the service was horrible and the prices were steep for less food. Don't order the soup for they taste like water. The lady also forced us to pay 15% of tip plus the 20$ vip card. You gave them business by coming in to their restaurant to eat and pay for the right price and will scam you by this bs vip card and 15% tip! We are not coming back again for they scam dinners! Your place was not even clean. Very bad customer service! read more

Xin Jiang Restaurant - Chinese Near Me - Markham, Ontario

Came here for the lunch special (weekdays before 5pm, excluding holidays). It's a really good deal as quite a few of their regular menu items are about $2-3 cheaper, around $6-7 for most dishes. Their regular menu has a normal price and a VIP price in red, the VIP card is $20 and last for 2 years. It's worth it if you like the restaurant and the food because the VIP prices are about $2 cheaper per dish. Ordered 6 dishes from the lunch special menu, the lamb soup was good, strong lamb flavour but a bit over salted - goes well with the green onion pancake that comes with the soup. The hand pulled noodles are fantastic, ordered the lamb and vegetable and the lamb with shredded potato, both are good - a bit greasy and salty, but to be expected. The seafood fried rice was forgettable, it was a good flavour but mild in comparison to the other dishes, huge portions though. The cumin chicken fried rice had a strong cumin flavour and it was unexpectedly good. The lamb and fennel dumplings were good, but not the main attraction for coming here (if I was looking for dumplings I'd probably go to dumpling house next door). All in all a good meal and would come back, great service from our server too, though it can be hit or miss here. read more

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This restaurant was amazing!!! The food was over the top delicious and huge portions. We asked for a dish that was off the menu and the chef made it to perfection. Michelle was our server and she was attentive and gave us great guidance on how to order. Unlike the regular restaurants, she told us several times that we didn't need to order so much and we can add to the order if we needed to. She was right and we had more than enough food. If we return to Toronto we will return!!! read more

Nice traditional Xinjiang food! And a lot of deals at lunch time. Almost wanted to try out this place. read more

Xin Jiang Restaurant - Really good food!!! Nice xinjiang traditional food - Chinese Near Me - Markham, Ontario

I would give 0 stars if I could. They're disorganized and not polite or apologetic that they were putting multiple tables before my group of 13. And yes we did make a reservation. We called and asked if they could accommodate for this many people, they said yes and when we arrived our reservation was gone. They said they would put us at a table for 8 instead. We pointed out that there were multiple other tables that could accommodate us but they wouldn't give them to us and said they couldn't accommodate. We tried working with them but instead they rolled their eyes at us. Too bad for them, I took my money elsewhere and spent close to $500 that night. Just goes to show what kind of service this place will give you. read more

Came here for lunch for the first time! Ordered two bowls of noodles, and also got a free bowl of soup with the order. Good food and a good price! read more

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Went here with a group of 14 (!!) Even with this many people, we barely managed to put a dent at trying everything on the menu, lots of choices. Still, we did manage to try a large number of dishes, most of which I cannot remember the name of. We ordered both lamb and chicken skewers (think they cost $1.75 each). These were fairly tasty, but not really overly delicious. The meat was cooked well (not overcooked) and had a cumin spice mix rubbed on top. I thought they needed a bit of saltiness. We also tried a few veg dishes (broiled eggplant, green beans and bok choy), a HUGE dish called "big plate of chicken" that was served with noodles, one with a naan bread "pizza" base topped with slow-cooked lamb and another lamb dish served with a dry rub on the side. Most of these dishes were good but nothing special. I would give the naan bread dishes a pass next time as the bread itself was kind of horrible. Most of the dishes were quite spicy but every dish we had seemed to have the exact same flavour as the others. Strangely enough, the star dish of the show was something we couldn't quite remember ordering. We thought it was fried cubes of some kind of root vegetable mixed with some other veggies, but we realized after that it was actually "deep fried naan bread". Hilarious...but very tasty. The service here was excellent....considering we had a table of 14 people and the rest of the restaurant was packed, our dishes came out quickly and we were well taken care of. Would probably go back if this was closer to go home. read more

I read the glowing reviews for this place and was really looking forward to it. As soon as we got there, it smelled really good so I got really excited.. Then the beef tendon skewers came. Tendon? I doubt it. more like grilled chunks of pure animal fat (which were flavourless btw). That was enough to kill if for me. That and the fact they messed up my order (i tried to get that shredded lamb and pancakes dish and they brought out some microscopic pieces on toothpicks instead - not only awkward to eat but subsequently awkward to digest!) The service wasn't particularly great either. they completely forgot about the last dish we ordered. We had to politely remind them to bring us our final heart attack on a plate. The food there is WAY too oily. The crispy beef is heavily deep fried chunks of beef with no flavor. The only saving grace was a lamb noodle dish with a tomato garlic and onion sauce (You really do kinda see where the italians ripped it off from). An island of goodness in an otherwise sea of greasy terror. For all my criticism and negativity, I will say that I can see how if you go into the place, know exactly what's good, and what to order, you might actually really like it. The ridiculously large menu doesn't help a newb to the regional cuisine. In either case, be prepared to live a shorter life for your visit! read more

While still good this place has fallen off my list of "must eat whenever within radar distance". They have new kitchen staff and half the front of house wait staff has changed. Their menu was updated a few months ago and removed some delicious stand-bys and replaced them with new flavors that are oilier and less flavorful. For a while the quality of food was sustaining a 2am closing time every night, but now that has been trimmed back to midnight most nights, earlier when business is slow by 11pm. Take-out orders are invariably missing something these days (a bowl of rice, and order of bread, a beverage) and there is a rain of scatter-brained-ness about the place. Still more hit than miss but I hit less often. read more

Brought a Xin Jiang friend here, many items on the menu were legit, and we indeed enjoyed most of the food. What threw us off would be the service, a bit sloppy and inattentive. I ended up leaving a 10% tip (should have done 0% instead) just to get out of this restaurant. read more

We came on a Saturday night around dinner time and the restaurant was packed, we had to wait about 20ish minutes! However it was definitely worth the wait! My bf and I are skewer fanatics and this is probably our new go to! Prices are a tiny bit higher than the others skewer places we've been to but still reasonable for its quality! Great seasoning on their skewers! In particular to their beef, lamb and cabbage skewers! read more

Xin Jiang Restaurant - Beef and lamb skewers - Chinese Near Me - Markham, Ontario

Lamb/wing/tendon skewers, hand pulled noodles, dumplings, green onion pancakes..... Oh my how this place rules! I haven't made a review in a while so what better way to kick start things with a 5-star smorgasbord of delectable delights! I was introduced to this place by Tony and initially I was a bit hesitant because this restaurant prides itself on its lamb dishes and I detest lamb very much. It's the smell and taste I can't handle. Some people would classify this as "gamey" but to me, it tastes like plastic. Don't ask my why I associate plastic with it because I haven't tasted plastic itself but it just induces that taste in me. I'm sorry if I offended you lamb lovers with my comments and acknowledge that taste is subjective obviously! Anyways, I still gave it a shot because you need to be open minded in order to try new things and boy am I happy that I did. I'm going to forgo my traditional review structure and just highlight some dishes: (one thing to note is that most of the dishes can be a bit spicy so just tell the waitress to go mild if you can't handle it) Skewers: Lamb or Tendon or Chicken wing? So many choices...well, get them all! Each skewer comes with about 4-5 pieces. Chicken wings come in 3 and are HUGE. Hand Pulled Noodles: Do you know hand pulled noodles? Do you really? "You don't even know!" (Dane Cook) These are the characteristics of a successful hand pulled noodle. a. inconsistent thickness b. a bit chewy That's what the noodles here are like and I love it. It's really hard to find good hand pulled noodles in the city because it's labour intensive, but the end product is worth it! So right now, this place has the BEST hand pulled noodles in the city. I just recently came back from China and they are almost on par. Dumplings, pancakes, etc. Most of you should be familiar with Shanghainese food. Well the usual menu items are available but so much better then places like Asian Legend without a doubt. To Conclude: Get off your butt and cruise/bus/run (you might want to run to justify the grease and carbs:P) on over to this place. Ironically, it's in the same plaza as Asian Legend. Competition? If you think China (Xin Jiang) vs. Canada (Asian Legend) in ping pong is competition =P p.s. the lamb was awesome. Tasted and smelt nothing like it as it was seasoned well! p.p.s. I did not mean to personally attack Asian Legend btw:P Just needed to give a base-line for people to compare to since it's such a popular restaurant. read more

I love this place for xin jiang style cumin lamb skewers ! My usuals are lamb and beef tendon skewers, beef pancake roll, and noodles. If I come in a larger group, I would get the braised lamb on naan. I absolutely love their lamb dishes here. They have a full menu page dedicated to lamb dishes and I just love it. If you love lamb, do come here. The service is quick even though there may be a wait during dinner times on the weekend. Great place for cumin lamb skewers and spicy dishes. read more

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One of my fav Chinese restaurants in Toronto! Been coming here frequently the last few years. New renovations are nicely done. Would come back more often. The food tastes great. Authentic Northwestern Chinese cuisine. Generous portions. Affordable prices. read more

This place will stink up your whole outfit. Forget about going anywhere after dinner. You need to jump into shower and burn all your clothing to kill this stench. It's strong as curry, and, once you are exposed in it, you will grow to love. However for the love of everyone else in town, please go straight home. Because of the smell, you know you stumbled upon on some real Chinese Turk restaurant. I'm okay with their food. Maybe I'm not that much of a fan for Chinese Turk food other than the skewers. It's a good exp to eat here once in a while. I haven't found anything on the menu that's my fave. More than half of their menu is just normal Chinese restaurant food you can find anywhere else. read more

Excellent food with good price. My favourite is their chicken cartilage and cold noodles. read more

Xin Jiang Restaurant - Lamb with bun. Thumbs up. - Chinese Near Me - Markham, Ontario

This place was EXCELLENT! I had the pleasure of eating here when I went to visit friends in Toronto. I was a bit skeptical when my friend told me about this restaurant, but she's a great cook herself (and Chinese from N. China) so I trust her choice. The food was so good! I've never had Xinjiang food, but I am sure you'd be hard pressed to find a Xinjiang restaurant just as good even in China. I had the lamb skewers (since I don't eat beef), then went for seconds. I also had the egg plant, noodles and lettuce wrapped chopped lamb (!?). The spices were amazingly tasty (and not too spicy imo). I apologize for the lack of details but due to many circumstances I wasn't able to review this until 2 months after I went there. I'll just say that, as a foodie, I've become very picky with food. But after having dinner there once, I kept on nagging my friends to go back that same week (I was only there for a week) and they live 2.5 hours away! read more

Handmade noodles are really good, however you like it with any meat. Staff are also friendly. I think this place specializes in lamb. The lamb skewers are $2.50 each but definitely worth it. Seasoned right and grilled very well. the menu is very diverse and there is a wall of pictures for reference. I'm sure everybody can find something they like here. Would come back. No credit tho only debit and cash. read more

This place is great! Authentic and really tasty! I would suggest their kabobs! The price is reasonable too. read more

This place is amazing...it's better than your usual chinese... Apparently it's rooted in the middle eastern tradition, so there is no pork (hard to believe for a chinese place) but the kebabs looked so good I pretended not to be a vegetarian for the night and had the chicken (stopped at that, though) and it was so, so good. The soup was very good, but I only had the broth, as there was lamb in it, but even that was so good. Prices weren't particularly cheap, but nothing ridiculous. The waiters were really nice, too, and let me practice chinese with them (I know one phrase which I kept repeating). read more

Its actually my first time trying food from this part of China and I was pleasantly delighted with the food. We got the stir fry beef noodle for $12.99 and it was delicious. The noodles are hand made and it was thick and chewy. The sauce was spicy and sour, super tasty. Then we got the lamb soup for $13.99 and it was quite refreshing. Im not a big fan of lamb but I was able to eat it and it didnt have that flavour. Then we got the fish skewer for 2 for 4.49$ and it was so so so good. The fish was huge and so fresh and grilled to perfection. The lamb skewer which was 1 for $4.49 I think was not good. That had a super lamb taste which I cant stand. Service was fast but the waitress was quite rude. All our other dishes came except for the lamb skewer so we asked the waiter if they missed our order cuz even our fish skewer came. He didnt understand english so the waitress came and talked really fast so I said pardon, then she got pissed and left. Iunno what happened there, maybe its miscommunication. All in all food was 4/5 and service was 2/5. Other than the waitress everyone else was alright. read more

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The lamb skewers we ordered were more steamed than BBQ grilled. Their salted egg shrimp tasted fantastic however. Their prices are split into two categories - members and non members, with the non members paying more. Not too sure how I feel about this place... read more

Ok, I went here after I couldn't stand the smell of Tai Ping XIang. I've been here before with a friend so I knew I wanted to get their lamb skewers. To be honest, I really really hate lamb. Especially the gamey smell that comes with it. However, there are only two places I've eaten skewered lamb: here and Chung King. I prefer the one here better. However, I still do not like it in the end. There was too much spice, but I guess you need to in order to hide the fact that the lamb was of low quality. You want good quality, go to Metro or T&T or even Foody Mart. They have Norwegian lamb chops for $12 and they are SO MUCH better just a quick grill. I intend no offense to those who actually think that they put in the right level of spice, but anyone who thinks that you need spices to enjoy food should really try to find a place that would use good ingredients rather than hiding the true taste from you with spices. The restaurant was empty at the time, but the service was a bit meh and rushed. What you'd expect from a Chinese restaurant that has no formal training in actually making the customers feel good about eating there. I had a sip of their hot and sour soup. That was SO BLOODY SPICY. I think it would've been good too. What a waste. All I could tolerate was a sip. Finally I just got Beef Fried Rice. That was about the only thing tolerable in the end. So I don't think I would recommend or go to this restaurant again anytime soon. No free wifi read more

Just went here a few weeks ago and damn their kabobs are good! service as always was great! read more

PROS: -authentic regional cuisine -Hand made noodles with lamb, garlic shoots, vegetables was great. Worth it just for this, especially since it has so much of what this cuisine is known for on one plate. -lamb and fennel dumplings fantastic -sweet pumpkin pancakes- great -garlic eggplant mash also great -Jellyfish salad ok but I've had much better jellyfish dishes elsewhere -service was relatively friendly The food here is consistently very good especially if you know what to order 4/5 read more

Xin Jiang Restaurant - Hand made noodles with lamb, garlic shoots, etc. - Chinese Near Me - Markham, Ontario

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I've been a regular customer for five years now. The lamb skewers are the best you can find in Toronto. A lot of other Chinese BBQ places in Toronto deep fry the lamb skewers before grilling them because it's much faster that way, but the lamb skewers don't taste as good. Xin Jiang Restaurant's lab skewers don't taste like they were deep fried (or maybe they were fried but the restaurant found a way to make them not taste like it). I also love their hand-made noodles. (P.S. Chinese hand-made noodles are a thousand times better than Japanese ramen in my mind. :P) I grew up in Northern China so I like food that tastes heavy, and I find dishes at Xin Jiang Restaurant very satisfying. But if you like light food, this is probably not the right place for you. Also the restaurant is halal. read more

I am mostly commenting on the wait time here. We really had high hopes for this place after reading all of the reviews. We came on a Friday, maybe around 7PM I think. The place was already very packed but we were seated right away. We ordered lamb skewers since it was the most recommended dish on Yelp. We also ordered a fish dish that was large enough for two people. It took almost half an hour to get the lamb skewers and the main dish came out at around 50 minutes from us placing the order. There were also other customers who were becoming irate waiting for their pickup orders as well. The lamb was definitely good but not way better than at other Chinese restaurants. Tiger BBQ also has really good lamb skewers. The fish dish was alright as well but not worth that wait time. I don't know if it was an off day for the kitchen that day but we won't go back with that type of wait time. read more

Delicious food, haven't gone wrong here yet. I love their skewers -- they make them with a lot of spice, giving them a lot of flavor. The portions on the skewers are also very generous. Their noodles are some of the tastiest, freshest noodles I've had (they are homemade!). I also love their seafood dishes, especially their fish. Last time I was here it was a weekday evening and not busy at all. We received lots of good recommendations by the waitress, and we were on our way with delicious food very quickly! Definitely recommend this place if you're in the area. read more