A La Kitchen is located behind First Markham Place and features Shanghai-style cuisine. When we arrived before noon on Sunday, it was absolutely packed, and we had to wait for a table among pushy groups of Cantonese families. Although a packed restaurant is a good sign, I wasn’t too pleased that I couldn’t hear a single word of Mandarin. Was this really Shanghai-nese cuisine, or was it another one of a hundred Cantonese-Chinese restaurants in the area?
The restaurant is less than five years old, so the interior was still in good shape. However, they had tried to cram so many people inside that all the aisle space was taken up and chairs were back-to-back. I am pretty sure that’s a fire hazard, but nobody seemed to care.
When we were finally seated, we had to share a table with another family, which is never something we really enjoy. The other family was speaking rapid Cantonese extremely loudly non-stop for the entire meal. I think what they said in minute was more than what the three of us said combined for the entire meal.
The food arrived relatively quickly, and in a sensible order much to my surprise, starting with appetizers, then steamed items, and finally dessert.
The Nanjing Salted Duck was very tender and delicious. The Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs were definitely mainland style, although they were under-cooked, and they didn’t use the best cut of pork ribs.
Ji Cai Fish and Egg Drop Soup was thick and fragrant. It was not too salty, and naturally xian without MSG.
The xiao long bao were very savoury, second only to Ding Tai Fung‘s soup-filled dumplings.
I haven’t had sheng jian bao since my summer in Shanghai, but these definitely did not live up to the savoury pan-fried pork buns in my memory. The baos were too big, and the pork filling was not savoury enough.
We don’t usually order fried noodles, but we saw this dish on every table, so we decided to try it. It was very average. It was surprisingly bland, despite the dark colouring.
Green onion pancake was my favourite item, the best I’ve had anywhere in Toronto. It was the perfect thickness, very crispy on the outside, with just enough green onions to savour.
I’ve had these red bean rice cakes before in Ding Tai Fung but these were still warm. They’re supposed to be room-temperature. Because they were hotter than normal, they were extra soft. There was also too much red bean paste inside, and the candy toppings were overpowering.
The food was Shanghai-nese after all, but the clientele certainly wasn’t. We were seated near the door, so throughout our entire meal, there were pushy people waiting right next to us, hovering over our table and practically elbowing us or swinging their purse and smacking us in the head. These people clearly did not know how to keep a respectful distance. One lady sneezed into our food. Another lady kept leaning over our table to get the waiter’s attention. She was there for 10 minutes and the entire time, we weren’t able to eat at all. I was appalled by how pushy they were; they had no sense of propriety despite the angry glares I tried giving them. What was worse, the waiters clearly saw that about 10 people had spilled into the dining area (all crowded around our table, as it happened) and wasn’t asking them to step back and wait in the foyer area. Customer management was non-existent apparently.
So even though we ordered eight dishes, we barely finished and left as quickly as possible. Would you be able to enjoy a meal with five people elbowing you in the head, leaning over your table, and sneezing into your food?
Rating: 
Author’s Note: I had to take cameras with my phone, so they came out very low quality. Some photos have been supplemented courtesy of Marz.
I’m sorry to hear about your awful experience with A la Kitchen. It’s a shame because it’s one of the few places in Markham that I actually like going back to. Like you said, the food is pretty good. I’m quite certain that you would have a better dining experience if you were seated nowhere near the entrance/exit. Hope you’ll still give it reconsider going back!
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I honestly looove this place!
I’m shanghainese and this is my absolute favourite go-to restaurant for shanghai food. It definitely ranks high in its authenticity!!
I hope you’ll reconsider going back sometime
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My family, boyfriend and I decided to try this restaurant on new years eve as recommended by a family friend. We usually order a set menus for the party number as it makes ordering easier and usually ( and let me emphasize on this “usually” word) better value than ordering separately and house specialties items are sometimes included.
The set menus was 98 dollars for what seemed like a pretty good deal with soup, appetizer, 5 entrees, rice/noodle and a dessert. Typical set menu at a Chinese restaurant! HOWEVER, when the dishes arrived, WOW it was the SMALLEST PORTIONS I have ever seen in a Chinese restaurant. The dish sizes were the size of a side plate with only the noodle dish maintaining the size of a real plate size. I was so disappointed by the portion size that I waved down the server to literally ask him why in the world were my 5 entrees SO SMALL that it looked like a side dish.
Two servers came and both had inconsistent answers while one said that it was just the plate and not the content that was small. (which is BS because we are not blind and the content was clearly 60% of the actual full size.) the other server said that it was smaller and then my mother became so angry and asked them why did you not let us know that the portions would be smaller?
I have never been to a restaurant that had set menu entrees smaller than the normal menu dish. It was appalling. The dinner was set for 6 ppl and we had 5 ppl and we were NOT FULL. I have never been to a Chinese restaurant and not been full. The other sever told us to order more if we were not full and I just told them to leave us alone as they have already pissed us off enough.
But no, THEY DID NOT STOP AT THAT. They decided to make us even more angry by bringing in the dessert while we were still eating the SMALL entrees in attempt to kick us out faster. We got our food around 650 and by 730 we were out the door and this was not voluntary either. This was a the result of the dishes being so small that we finished it so fast and the fact that they stuffed the dessert in our faces while we were peeved. We could not take it anymore and had to get out.
I had the worst new years eve dinner ever yesterday. I hate this restaurant so much that I will do anything to convince people not to go.
Also, the food is SO SUBPAR that this fact alone does not warrant a first visit, let alone a second visit.
Worst 135 dollars I have ever spent in my life. We still tipped because we are not cheap. We just wanted good food with good company and the first was destroyed by this stuck up restaurant.
IF YOU ARE SMART, DO NOT EAT HERE!!!!!!!
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MiX Reply:
January 17th, 2011 at 3:39 am
I’m sorry to hear your experience LDV15, and frankly a little baffled. we had lunch there a few days after you did and ordered set meal. It was generously portioned and the waiters were all really good with bringing out the food in a sensible order. In fact i think one waiter told us the set meal would have bigger portions. I wonder if it’s because it was a busy time and with new hands that you had such an awful experience.
And I agree with the posters that said the food is the most authentic Shanghai-ese i’ve had in a long time.
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