Golden Horse Restaurant

There’s this waitress called Irene who was very rude. Didn’t make us feel welcome at all. We had to tell them three times to give us our drinks. The food is so-​so.

Ehhhhhhhm I don’t know, where should I start?
The fact that the vast majority of my friends are Asian (some were born here, some in mainland China or HK), and the fact that I’ve travelled extensively in south east Asia tells me that over the years I can now distinguish good from bad food/​cuisine from Asia in general.
And Golden Dragon is defined what I would NOT define as good Asian food.
Came here on a bday dinner party. Aware of the fact that this is HK style and on a budget, I have to be honest, I wasn’t expecting a royal type of food, but at least, decent.
While browsing the menu I already having a «taste» of very strange combos that thankfully I get reassured isn’t Chinese HK style AT ALL.
So I decided to play safe: no smoked salmon and shredded chicken (urgh @.@) but curry beef and rice.
The rice was the only decent thing out of everything. Yes, because the rest of the plate felt terribly blend. If Steve Wonder would have a taste of it, I believe he would’ve thought that he was having some pieces of cardboard marinated in a tasteless thick unknown sauce.
Being flavourless and without even a pinch of salt, I tried to look at the bright side of the situation: «maybe, and here I say it again, MAYBE, the plate taste so bland because there’s no MSG… which is awesome»!
Other people ordered other items, mostly from the special menu. A special order is an item where you get a main course along with a tiny soup and a choice between tea or coffee.
Feedback wasn’t much different than mine which then led me to the conclusion that maybe this restaurant isn’t a very good value of your time and money (despite isn’t too expensive) if you like food.
If you are the type of eater that sees food just as a way to get you full, then go ahead, come here and order anything your eyes like.
In my opinion, despite the service is cordial, prompt and fairly fast, I wouldn’t consider this as a lunch/​dinner destination especially when I’m in an area like Richmond Hill/​Markham where I can get far better food that won’t do wrong to my tastebuds and digestive system.
Sorry :(
D

Came here for a late lunch and it was full, but we only had to wait for about 5 minutes before a table freed up.
We were provided with the lunch menu (11:30 to 5:30) and the afternoon tea menu (2:30 to 5:30), along with the regular menu.
We ordered:
Baked Portuguese chicken with spaghetti from the lunch menu, which came with a soup and hot drink. The portion was smaller than average but it tasted pretty good.
Guilin soup noodle from the afternoon tea menu, which came with a hot drink. I think the afternoon tea portion is supposed to be smaller than the one from the regular menu, but we were given the full-​sized bowl by mistake and by the time the server realized her mistake, we had already finished eating it! After realizing this, I wouldn’t order it again because it is about half the size of the regular bowl — so beware!
Food was okay, but it is more expensive than your average HK style café. I would only come back out of convenience.

Came here on a Saturday for lunch. The place was vey busy but we were lucky enough to get a seat right away.
Pork Cutlet bun $ 6.50 — the pork was very lean, juicy and tender.
Pork cutlet on rice $ 9.75 once again the pork was as the pork bun described above. Portions were very filling.
Spaghetti bolognese $ 9.50 — Not very saucy in terms of tomato sauce. It was more like spaghetti with ground beef and cheese. My mom didn’t like it much but I thought it was pretty good.
Fried sticy rice $ 11.25 — no complaints here. Its a simple dish and it tasted good.
All meals came with soup and milk tea except for the pork cutlet bun.
Service was really fast. Everything tasted good and the pork was amazing.
3.5 stars

Super bad service with giving table in reverse to other group, as my family was the first group in the table queue. They finally offered a table for us, and kids of my family seated. A waitress came over and yelled them to get up, and need to return this table for another reservation group. But I heard this waitress told that group already with this fast food restaurant doesn’t provide reservation service at all, only in the other branch. Funny! How good manner with this! Never go back of course!

I went here last week. It was pricey and the staff was rude. I did not feel like it was a welcoming environment. The food was mediocre at best. I will not be coming back and don’t recommend anyone to go here.

Decent Chinese fare, lunch specials are great however their prices are high considering the type of dishes they offer, this is expected since its Richmond Hill so I wouldn’t knock off a star for that as they are on par with the rest of the restaurants nearby. Just note a 7 min drive south will get you much better bang for your buck for the same food. Lunch combos come with soup and hot drink (typical upgrade to cold for extra $$).
I like that when you get take out they separate all their sauces from the meats in different containers which keep better for transport. The other few Chinese restaurants in the area do not do that.
Not a very English friendly place as all the servers speak very little English however the menu is all in English/​Chinese so its not that difficult to order.

We always get takeout from golden horse where they’ve been consistent and timely in their execution! The only con I have of this place is their prices are more expensive than most hk style cafes! If I want my iced milk tea and noodle fix, this is my go to for the convenience! Buddy noodles are the bomb!

2.5÷5, +.5 for service
Golden Horse opened a second branch in the Major Mac/​Leslie plaza, in the previous location of Kenny’s Noodle (which for the record is down to one branch only).
The setup and layout is quite similar to Kenny’s Noodle, although they did modernize it a bit. It wasn’t too busy on a Sunday at around 8:30pm, and we were treated immediately as a result.
First thing I noticed when I opened the menu: Holy crap the prices are very high! I’ve been to the Highway 7 branch, and I’m quite sure the Highway 7 branch has lower prices compared to here. I’ll definitely visit there again just to make sure, but for HK style café standards this place is definitely on the high end in terms of prices.
I ordered the clam and fresh tomato spaghetti. It was around $ 9 and unfortunately did not come with a drink, so I had to order a separate drink. The food and drink both came out quite fast, and I have to admit that their portions are quite big. However, I didn’t find my dish memorable at all. There honestly wasn’t a lot of sauce or clams, and most of the dish was a large plate of spaghetti. Whatever sauce and clams were there tasted decent, though.
Service was excellent the entire way. However, with so many HK style cafes in Richmond Hill/​Markham, I don’t see myself returning unless I’m in the area and want a quick food fix.
I honestly think I’m being generous with this review, but to be fair the food wasn’t «bad». Just not worth the prices you pay.

I gotta say for this restaurant, the food is ok. But the reason I am giving this a two stars, is because of the price you paid vs the quality of food you get. And mind you I do categorized myself as the type of customer who prefer quality over $$. But i think what this restaurant offered is abit expensive. For example, a «mixed grill on the hot iron pan», it cost $ 28… while I can get it from other similar restaurants in the same category for less than $ 15. Yes, the quality is better but not worth this big jump of price using my price/​performance scale. It is subjective but this is how I feel. I would put this restaurant in the category of «I have given it a try — it’s not bad — but I probably wont go again», because there are many other substitutes out there…
If you haven’t been to this restaurant, give it a try as the food is not bad, maybe their pricing won’t impact you as much as it had impacted me.

Second time here and everything is the same as the other location. Food is still good and service is still very good. This time is better then last time. I would come again if I’m in the area.

We ordered 3 lunch items: a friend rice, a baked rice and a soup noodle. All of them were bold in flavours. All had lots of proteins and other ingredients, on top of the carbohydrate ingredients. They were well portioned, too. In hindsight, 2 of these items could have fed the 3 of us to stuffed.
The tricky thing is the rating of Golden Horse is subject to whether you like salty and/​or oily food. All the dishes we ordered happened to be salty. The fried rice was on the oily side. The baked rice was the least oily entrée among what we had ordered. Therefore, if you are conscious of sodium and oil intake, you might want to choose the entrée very carefully.
In terms of services, the business was understaffed this afternoon. They were slow in assigning numbers to the people lining up for tables at the door. I was not sure there was even a greeter, as I had to wave a server down to assign us a wait number. After seated, it was almost a game to get a server’s attention. They were not avoiding us to be clear; they were busy running around serving and cleaning up tables. Once we could get their attention, the services was effective, efficient and polite.
I happen to like salty food, so the food tasted good to me. Yet, I dislike oily food. Together with the slow services, I consider Golden Horse a 3-​starred Hong Kong café. If you enjoy salty and oilier food, you will likely have higher opinion of them.

Newly renovated to replace the old Kenny’s and it’s a good difference. Good service actually exists for this type of Chinese café style establishment. Morning breakfasts are simple and well priced. I would come back for casual weekend mornings anytime.

Came here for dinner with my dad on a Monday night and it wasn’t too busy. The menu is extensive but a lot more expensive than regular Hong Kong style cafes. They also had quite a few servers but the kitchen was pretty slow. We waited about 15 mins for my dads baked pork chop on rice with tomato sauce and then I had to wait about another 15 mins to get my baked «garoupa». My dad was already done eating at that point but he said it was just alright. While the fish on my rice was a good size, it was just one of those frozen tilapia fillets you can get at any grocery store (they prob got it at the freshco next door when it was on sale) so I could taste the fishy-​ness even under all the cream sauce. I did like the sauce with the rice and the portion was big but at $ 10.99 I expected more. I probably won’t be back cuz I can better tasting baked rice dishes that are cheaper if I just drove down to hwy 7.

Came to try this new place out for dinner on Sunday. This location was nowhere as busy as the Markham location.
The menu is quite extensive but I noticed that the prices are a lot more expensive than the Markham location. and most of the menu items for dinner are combos. (i.e. no drink, no soup, etc). For that price, I would expect the dish to come with a beverage or something at the very least.
We ordered stewed ox tail with rice ($ 15) and pumpkin congee ($ 5.50). the congee was a decent sized bowl, but the rice dish was only enough for one person. quite pricey for a HK style café.

Kind of disappointed as I thought it is good to have another choice after finding out the other new one (Golden Sunrise Kitchen) on Bayview/​Elgin Mills fails.
Food quality was ok, however it is pricey as comparing to other HK café around it. It is like charging 20−30% more for the same items. In terms of selections, there are nothing too special on the menu.
If you want to go to a HK café type of restaurant around that area, I would suggest to go Tin Tin café on Leslie (south of Major Mac) or Billy’s Bakery & Café on Bayview (south of Major Mac) instead. Billy’s even sells live seafood and dinner combos, a lot more choices at more reasonable price.
For that price and selection, I think even Congee Wong on 16^th would be better with a lot more choices if you don’t have to go to a HK café.
If nothing changes, I guess they will soon be like Kenny’s gourmet. In facts, Kenny’s had even more selection than them.
Anyway, they were crowded when I went. But I guess it was due to grand opening and recent commercials placed. I will see again in 3 months.

We had it to go, so not sure what service is like in person but over the phone, they were courteous.
Food tasted good. The spaghetti bolognese (Hong Kong style) was very meaty, as opposed to be saucy. It came with drink & soup even with takeout. Though I agree with another reviewer, it’s pricey compared to other Hong Kong Style Cafes, …so that deters me from revisiting.
I can think of one other HK style Café that I know tastes better and is priced more competitively… If they were located next to Golden Horse, …I would no doubt select the other option instead.

2.5 Star
Came here during Soft Opening and the experience was a little disappointing.
I have been to the Golden Horse Restaurant location in Markham numerous of time and though it was not the best but at least a consistent 3 star experience.
I have to admit I was a little excited when this location opened up as the interior is more spacious and not as dark as their first location. But I guess there is a price to pay for that? Everything is more pricey than the original location and one of the most expensive HK style café in the area.
Their set dinner starting at $ 13 or so. And it is a fried rice with soup and drink. A bowl of Beef Brisket Noodle without drink is $ 7.75. And if you want one of those Sizzling Hot Plate Dinner is $ 20.99 and up.
I don’t mind paying if the food is amazing but what we ordered were quite standard.
Cordon Bleu Pork Chop ($ 13.25) and Buddy Minced Pork Noodle ($ 8.25) both as a la carte were so so. For the Cordon Bleu, some better sides should be offered instead of just plain boiled unseasoned broccoli and spaghetti/​rice.
Service was lacking as the servers were busy eating their own dinner. I have to wave them down furiously to place my order, ask for sharing bowls/​plates and even to pay for the bill.
Maybe my conception of Hong Kong Style Café as restaurant where one can get good food at affordable price is no longer valid? I doubt I would be back again as there are so many restaurants in the area that has much better food at more competitive price.

Taking over the spot where the Kenny’s used to be is a new location of the Golden Horse Restaurant in Markham. It offers all of the typical HK style café food and the menu seems to be identical to the other location as well.
Service was prompt and the food came out fast which I was surprised considering they had just opened maybe a day or two ago. Ordered the Portuguese chicken baked rice, curry beef brisket and rice, deep fried tofu with spicy salt, and a plate of gai lan. The food was pretty consistent with the other location in terms of how it was cooked and plated and taste wise everything was good though nothing really exceeded my expectations either.
Pricing is a little more expensive compared to other HK cafes maybe due to the nicer décor though décor is the last thing I’m looking for when it comes to HK cafes (the dirtier the better to me!). Overall it’s not a bad option, I’d recommend the guilin noodles which I’ve had numerous times at the other location, and it’s still a welcome replacement to the old Kenny’s which went downhill a looooong time ago.

Didn’t realize Kenny’s gourmet was closed down until tonight. I believe they just opened, so there’s a huge sign on the window saying «soft opening» (whatever that means lol). This location looks so much better than the one on Kennedy/​hwy 7. The décor looks nice, kind of modern. There are two big screen TVs mounted to high up to the wall which was perfect where I was sitting. Surprisingly, both was airing the Jay’s game and not a Chinese drama/​channel lol. Service was kind of slow because there were a lot of people, so it’ll get better in time. Or they need to hire another person to wait tables.
The food was pretty good and the menu was huge! The Kennedy location never had such a big menu. I felt kind of overwhelmed looking at it. There were Chinese food, baked foods, English foods, sandwiches, soups, noodles, steaks, ribs, drinks and alcohol. Out of all the dishes, I chose curry chicken… Lol typical me.
Ok, the curry chicken wasn’t a bad choice. This was typical Chinese curry, which wasn’t strong but I feel like they threw in more spice than other places. I’m a huge fan of curry (red, yellow, green, Indian, Chinese, Malaysian, Thai). The curry was on thing, but the chicken was made pretty darn well. They were mostly white meat and the chicken was tender to he bite, not dry or rough. The dish came out smokin’ hot, which probably made it spicier than it should be.
I also ordered the sour and spicy soup. It came last, so I wasn’t very happy with that. I imagined it would come in the beginning, so I can prepare my stomach for the feast. Oh well, no big deal!
No matter how good the food was, the service was just too slow. Perhaps it’ll get better, or maybe not. We’ll see when u revisit this place. It was also super humid/​hot inside, so that didn’t help the overall score for this place. Not like it wasn’t hot enough today already… Lol