Pearl Court Restaurant

Sometimes I love this restaurant, other times, I can't stand it. The hot & sour soup is among the best in the city. Candied walnut chicken and paper wrapped chicken are both extremely good and quite unique. Generally, for take out Cantonese or Schezuan food, it's better than most restaurants in the east end. But for eat in, it's kinda weird. The restaurant is huge and generally quite empty - except during dim sum hours. There are many tables where heating/air conditioning ducts blow down on you. Sometimes they purposely - yes purposely - play only one short song repeatedly and endlessly. Some night you walk in and the lights are just blaring down on the white plastic table clothes in a most unbearable way. Also, the smell of bleach permeates the place. So, while the food's always quite good, the atmosphere is often terrible. I've walked in and right back out again on more than one occasion. Yet, it's quite clean and modern. And sometimes, none of these atmosphere problems seem to be in play. For dim sum, I've taken my business down the road a few doors to a place that's reliably dingy and yet more comfortable for me at least.

Update: (July 2/09) Hey, they've done some renovations. It looks nice. They've replaced the hot pink trim. The changes make the place more physically appealing than it was in my original review. Nice job.

I remember eating at this restaurant when I was a child. My family decided on this restaurant to celebrate my birthday. Since our family normally eats a lot of chicken and beef, we decided to indulge in an all-seafood experience.

The lobster was exquisite, although it is rather average-sized. Note that they will serve the entire lobster, even the parts which don't have much meat in them. If you order two lobsters, the price is $35. They also have a "jumbo lobster" option at $10 per pound (5 lbs. minimum) if you feel adventurous. Easily the best part of our dinner.

The crab was below average. I'm not a big fan of eating straight crab because it is rather difficult separating the meat from the cartilage. My family didn't think too highly of it.

The fried shrimp dish contained about eight to ten shrimp, which is excellent value. Normally one pays that much for processed chicken nuggets. The skin is left on, so like the above dishes, it is also a finger food.

The deep fried crab claws were served with sweet and sour sauce. The batter was not as crispy as I would have liked, but it was acceptable. The meat surrounding the crab claw was plentiful. Worth the money, but we had to call the server because he forgot to write it down during our initial order.

The grouper itself was made of low-quality fish meat, but a generous amount of sauce is provided to mask its inferiority. I used this sauce to flavor my rice. If you don't like fish with a very fish-like taste, avoid. The pieces are bone-in, so take care when eating this. It was an acceptable dish, although nowhere near as good as the lobster and deep fried crab claw.

In addition, they provide free tea (dinner only), soup, and dessert! This is good enough for me to give a 10 on the "other" rating.

Overall, the meal came out to $62 after tax and tip. It was quite filling, so we'll come back again soon. It's not the best food I've ever tasted, but it certainly hits the sweet spot when it comes to value and amount of food provided.

Note that you will get much better service if one of the party communicates in Chinese. It is also recommended to go as a group so that each person can sample a variety of dishes.

Pros:
- Free tea
- Free starter cabbage soup
- Free red bean dessert (mmm!)
- Meal ready in 10-15 minutes
- The crab and lobster are fresh

Cons:
- A distinct aftertaste on many of their dishes. It's not bad, but it is advised to rinse your mouth once you finish your meal.
- Communication in Chinese is recommended for best service

My husband and I went for lunch for dim sum expecting good food and not expecting to pay too much. Boy was I wrong. #1-don't order the fried rice, it's too oily (I could feel my arteries clogging) #2-don't order chinese tea!!! What is usually free at many restaurants will cost you $2. #3-don't order pop. A regular can of coke etc that usually will cost $1 will cost you $2.25!!! #4-the Dim Sum sucks!!!!! not much variety #5-they forgot to give the customers beside us their change, the customer had to ask for it and the restaurant wasn't busy. #6-the fork they gave us had green onion on it ewwwww!!! All I can say is this place SUCKS!!!! and they will RIP you off like they did to us!!!!!!! We will NEVER go here again and I recommend that you don't either!!!!

The restaurant needs more variety of dim sum items. Most items consisted of shrimp. I like shrimp but not shrimp in almost every item. This place is a bit over charged for its items. Would rather travel a bit to get better dimsum.

Fav Dishes
Shrimp Dumpling
Fried Turnip Cake

Restaurant needs renovations, esp the washroom. Best Dim Sum place in Broadview.

This restaurant was fabulous!

Very good food. We didn't have to wait long at all, the food was very flavourful....not too greasy. Their Vietnamese beef dish is quite good!

This RESTAURANT is AWSOME, It tastes so GOOD, EVERYONE should go to PEARL COURT IT IS AWSOME.