Ming City Restaurant & Bar

So this is my local Chinese takeout spot. I’m trying to compare this place to Swatow or other notable downtown joints, but for the area, this place is great. Price is right, lots of spicy Szechwan if you want and a good selection. The only reason I wouldn’t give it 5/​5, is that the place inside looks weird. I wish the owners would change the interior and get rid of the strange jewelry display, bracelets and even the odd clothing for sale. Do not eat in. Get it to go, and enjoy a great meal at home. Word to wise, pick the family meal. Dinner for 4 is really big. Enough for 5 or 6. Dinner for 6 can easily feed 8 – 9 and still have leftovers.

ming city, above average chinese food thats a little overpriced, but it is the best chinese takeout in the area. However ming city“s delivery times are exceptionally long, expect to wait double the estimated time for arrival.

Great people. Fantastic food. Plus they have beer and liquor (if you are in to that). Give it a try.

If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody’s there to hear it, does it really make a sound?
If I place an order for chinese food delivery, and it never arrives, can I give it a one-​star Unilocal review? Damn right, I can.
Ming City is the kind of mom-​and-​pop chop suey shop I usually love. A few tables out front, a massive steel take-​out counter at the back, and a host of old-​school dining options to devour.
Walking by this stretch of Eglinton, I was impressed by it’s relative cleanliness and bright, colourful takeout menus. I grabbed one of these menus and hurried home, waiting for the opportunity to order. Perhaps I had found a replacement for my former fix, Tasty Chinese just up the street.
Last night, my ship came in, or so I thought.
I ordered hot and sour and wonton soups, spring rolls, moo shu for the wife and something with pork for myself. Maybe an order of vegetable chow mien, too. I really don’t remember…
Why don’t I remember you may ask?
BECAUSE IT NEVER ARRIVED.
Seriously. Ming City is roughly a ten minute walk from my house. Ten minutes if I’m pushing a stroller, stopping every few minutes to comfort a squealing baby and navigate a large cup of Tim Horton’s dark roast (which I highly recommend). I accept that the trip by car could take a bit longer, given construction on Eglinton, although cutting through side streets could make that time up.
But seriously, we waited over an hour for our food, then called to follow up. «Ten more minutes» we were told. We waited another 20. Called again, and were told that dinner was still 15 – 20 minutes away. Despite low blood sugar, I politely advised the person who took our order of our proximity to her restaurant. She advised that the driver was out, but would we like to come by want take it out?
If you’ve taken high school physics you may be familiar with Schroedinger’s Cat; a thought experiment wherein a key variable in unknowable. In this case, either I could walk over to pick up lukewarm soggy Chinese food which had been sitting an hour and a half, or they simply hadn’t bothered to fire our order.
I hated physics, and I was hungry. I cancelled the order and we ate frozen pizzas instead.
So if you’ve ACTUALLY eaten from Ming City, you may be able to recommend it. I cannot.

Best Chinese food in my delivery area. We always get the dinner for 4 which is hands down delicious. The crispy beef is insane.

Soooooo horrible. Ming City is Ming Shitty! Their chicken chow mein was absolutely awful. The only redeeming quality of my meal was the spring rolls, and even then they were pretty horrendous. It was also overpriced and barely hot when it arrived. I threw out 70% of my Cantonese Chow Mein, and my boyfriend nearly finished his — only based on the simple fact that he was THAT hungry.
Absolutely disgusting.

I’ve ordered from them perhaps 15 or so times, and what Ming City is is mediocre and inconsistent.
There are a few dishes that are always standouts, which are namely the the Crispy Ginger Beef, Hot Spicy Peanut Beef and the Hot Spicy Ginger Chicken (The Spicy Peanut sauce is also available with chicken or shrimp. I know this because they have twice given me chicken when the beef was ordered). I’d give all of these five stars. All of their meals, good or not, have also been very generous in terms of portion size.
Other dishes however are disappointing in several departments. The General Tso, while decent in flavour, has always been slightly over cooked the 5 or so times I’ve ordered it (Get the previously mentioned Hot Spicy Ginger Chicken instead. It’s very similar in flavour, but the breading and texture is far superior). The Orange chicken sauce was bland and had sogged into the meat, making the coating mushy instead of crispy. The sweet and sour pork sauce was similar to the orange chicken sauce in nature, and the pork used had bones, meaning they had to be annoyingly spit out during the meal. Lemon chicken was also rather unimpressive, yet edible.
Wait times can also be an issue. I once ordered a meal, explaining I’ll be back in 20 mins. to pick it up. Upon returning, I had to wait another 45 mins to receive my order. In the mean time, a friend of mine coincidentally ordered from them as well 15 minutes later than me, showed up to pick-​up his order while I was there, and received his 20 minutes before I got mine (which was a single dish). There have been other times where I’ve waited for extended periods as well (45 mins — 1hr), while the odd time it comes out in a relatively quick 15 – 20 minutes. I’d say 25 – 30 minutes is the average in my experience (I’ve yet to have them deliver).
Despite their shortcomings though, they’re still a better bet and value than the other Chinese joints in the neighbourhood (Jade’s, Hai Feng, etc).

Ordered today, Aug. 10, 2013 for lunch, the following:
1. Special fried rice
2. Sweet & sour chicken
3. Crispy pork-​Peking style
4. Cantonese chow mien
5. Chicken wings
Over $ 35 (before tax), you get a FREE chicken fried rice.
Paid: $ 40.
Ming City has an Unconditonal Pass (Toronto standard).
Okay, to be blunt, if you are into cheap Chinese food with bland fried rice and Sweet battered *questionable* meat — too fried/​dark that you cannot confirm whether you are eating pork-​chicken-​beef (also, the oil is contaminated with seafood/​meat combo– all fried into the same batch of oil– hence, the dark-​coloured chicken wings etc…)…then, this place can be your BFF! However, if you want to get your money’s worth and a general peace of mind as you swallow each morsel of any dish… just head over to McDonald’s.
If you are still craving for Chinese food, you will be better off going to a sit-​down Congee franchises (Congee Wong, Congee Queen, Congee Star), they all serve the same fare with real meat inside any dish that is fried.
I know that we all occasionally get curious with Chinese take-​out joints from time to time, call it nostalgia or plain «chemically-​induced addiction» from our childhood, but these Canadian-​Chinese food joints are no longer competitive in nature, hence, the quality in its food is decreasing while its quantity has increased. It is a mere survival out there… Unfortunately, food quality/​preparation will be compromised.
«The more, the better» adage will lead you to poor health later on.
Overall, if you don’t need to go, don’t go. Chinese take-​out joints/​food courts
Situated in a predominantly Asian neighbourhood (except Chinatown) will render a smile on your face after eating (Market Village-​Steeles &Kennedy).
This neighbourhood where Ming City is situated has clearly been chemically brain-​washed by the sub-​par quality of (Chinese) food offered to them. I, personally, find Mainsha, a Carribean-​franchise, offers a better selection/​quality, though not Chinese, than Ming City. And I am Chinese-​Canadian who had my fair share of Canadianized-​Chinese food.
My trek continues. Happy eating everyone.

some of these reviews are whack! I mean, three stars!!! get the fudge outta here!
I never knew what love was until I went to Ming City. I brought my twin here from Ottawa and she can’t get over how good this food was. General Tao chicken was crispy and I would drink the sauce if they added ice. You’ll never understand what an eye-​opener this place is. Hai feng was so amazing, but NOW that I’ve been to Ming City, it’s a laughing stock!
The only thing that broke my heart about Ming City, is that they wouldn’t deliver to Parkdale. I knew it would be too far away when I called, but dammit, I HAD to try. I literally begged the lady on the phone. If I were a chicken, I would die a terrible death just to become part of that delicious general tao. They also have good pig slices and the shrimp fried rice is just… ugh I’m tearing up…
I almost forgot the best part about Ming city; they sell handbags. The bags were obviously knock offs but the tiny Asian man asked $ 35 and $ 45 for them. No disrespect sir, but you’re outta your mind. Good try though. They also have electronic slot machines and they also sell earrings and a lone hair dye (auburn #66)
You have my respect Ming City… and my heart xoxo

Their food is very cheap and fairly tasty — a great bargain for the price. This is especially true of their shrimp dishes, which are probably the most generous (in terms of size and quantity of shrimp) of any take-​out Chinese place I’ve been to.
On the downside, they speak very poor English so it’s hard to get an order in without an error.
Although some of their dishes are white meat, it’s not indicated on the menu so I have no idea what items I’ll like and what I won’t. The same is true of their fried items. Their is a real discrepency in quality between their all-​white-​meat dishes and their dark meat/​fried dishes, which is quite shocking considering that they cost the same. So the food is hit or miss, and they speak poor English so it’s hard to ask about it, but it’s really cheap and worth an order to see if it’s your thing.

Food was good. Took awhile to get it. Ended up microwaving some of it. Order online through
if you are able. Communicating over the phone is actually quite difficult.
This was my 2^nd order from them and I would order again.
I am adding to my original review. I have to-​date ordered 5 times from this establishment and am now hooked. I still order through this site because of a language barrier over the phone, as well as having the convenience of paying via Interac.

Cheap and decent. This isn’t gourmet food, but it’s good for the price. They have a few vegetarian items, but will also custom make you something if you ask.
Seems like they have a crazy cheap weekday lunch special — 11am to 3pm, $ 4.99 dealy!!!
Very casual atmosphere. You have to get your own drink and pour your own water. (that’s ok with me!)

I went to Ming city only once. The food was ok and well priced: I went them for lunch and tasted their 4.99 $ menu. My meal came with a soup. The food was good, not overly amazing, but good enough for the price. I first wanted to eat in. There was 2 issues: 1) there is no free parking (not the restaurant fault, but slightly inconvenient), 2) the ambiance inside the restaurant was uncomfortable. That is my biggest issue. The place is dark inside and some of the patrons were loud and little bit grungy. I first thought about eating in, than I changed my mind and ordered to go. So, to summarize, this is a relatively good place for take out, it’s well priced (for lunch), but I would not recommend to eat in per se.

Ok, ok… I gave 5 stars to a Canadianized Chinese restaurant! But as the Unilocal rating system states, 5 stars means «As good as it gets!» and I’m confident that Ming City is as good as an unauthentic Chinese place can get.
I waited until after my second visit just to be sure that they didn’t just impress me with one dish. Today’s «Spicy Peanut Beef» was awesome. Extremely tender slices of beef, smothered in a spicy sweet sauce with green peppers and peanuts. It came with rice and your choice of soup for only $ 4.99! I thought the five dollar lunch had completely disappeared! Apparently not in Ming City.
Ever since the closure of my old favourite Chinese resto, (Peter Street Deli), I’ve been striving to find a General Tao (Tso) chicken that compares. I finally did!
Mayor Ford, get your butt out of Mayflower and over to Ming City. You’ll soon have a new favourite!

When I lived in the Annex, I sometimes lamented the lack of Chinese Food places like the ones I grew up with…
Doughy chicken balls with neon-​red sauce, soggy chicken chow mein, dry chicken fried rice, all the usual.
In the area you really couldn’t get much delivery from places like that which was strange to me, all you could find was. you know. QUALITY, somewhat authentic chinese food. BOO. Sometimes I’m drunk and want crappy food ok?
So now that I’ve moved into the northern end of the city, I’ve found myself lousy with bad chinese food places. Hell yes.
The first place we checked out was Ming City. We found them online and they delivered to our area so we tested out some of our favorite dishes:
— Veggie Fried Rice
— Lemon Chicken
— Beef & Broccoli
Honestly, it was exactly what I hoped for. Tasted good, huge portions, cheap prices, free delivery. Super friendly service with quick times.
The food isn’t amazing but if you’re in the mood for this kind of thing, I don’t see how you can go wrong with Ming City. It’s exactly what you should expect.
Oh and also, it did not hurt my stomach, which is a big test for me.
We ordered a second time a few weeks later and got the General Tso’s + Veggie Rice + Beef/​Broccoli.
Tso’s was really garlicy and sticky but decent. The rest was as it was the first time. Again… you get what you pay for and for this class of food, they hit all the notes.