Harbin Bbq

Awesome Sichuan style Chinese BBQ here… I am from Chengdu and I totally think the food is authentic here. Good spiciness and also flavorful. I ordered Fish BBQ and they served in a big portion. I would say the more people share the dishes the more cost efficient. and you could also try all different BBQs. They have veggie options too if u r a vegetarian like my husband. Would come back again during my next visit in Toronto. The reason I gave 4 stars out of 5 is the service… staff is not that pleasant and they seem in bad mood when we visited.

Not really sure why the previous reviews gave it low stars.
I came here with some friends and we ordered a lot of lamb skewers and pitchers of beer. The skewers are decently sized and pretty cheap at $ 1.50 each, and a whole pitcher of beer is only $ 7 which is the cheapest I’ve ever seen in Toronto. The skewers were pretty flavorful. Also we got a intestines and peppers dish that was pretty good. Overall, I would definitely recommend this restaurant and I will for sure be back.

Meh. All I could remember was the spiciness of the BBQ skewers. Honestly speak, if it wasn’t for the chili power the meat would be favourless. The meat wasn’t well marinated at all. We had to order those herbal tea because of the spiciness. I liked their lamp skewer and chicken kneecaps for BBQ items, and that fried sweet and sour pork. The cold tofu was pretty good too.
The environment was pretty loud and not really that clean. It was packed at night and you had to yell to talk to each other. There was free wifi but it was slow.
The price was ok, we ordered like over 10 dishes of skewers and some vegetables and total was about $ 20 per person for a group of 9.

Came here for a late supper with my hubby and brother. They ordered a pitcher of draft beer for $ 6.99. Needless to say, it was from an obscure brewery and my brother said it tasted like water. But for the price, not bad. We got a variety if bbq skewers. They were quite good but everything is covered in the same spices, so everything tastes the same. We got lamb, tofu sheet, chicken wings, squid, green chillis, cabbage and yellow croaker fish all done in the bbq style. Everything was moist and not too overdone or charred. We also got a pickled veg and pork belly soup dish too. Tasted ok with a slightly sour taste and had glass noodles and tofu in the dish too. The food brought out to other tables looked appetizing but were drenched in oil and glistening, really.
Service was crap, waitresses were miserable and we had to order extra beers twice. Also, they don’t have a cart for dirty dishes, clean bowls, tea cups etc they just had them in plastic trays on the floor!
Not a bad place for food but I wouldn’t be rushing back again. Would come if I wanted to eat late at night because it’s open till 2am. The order sheet is also only in Chinese, so if you don’t read Chinese, like me, you’re stuffed.

I usually order lamb skewers, fried fish, squid, and potAto chips. All are really good. Dont order the lamb shank its very small for what it is, had a better cumin shank else where too.
Saw our neighbors table with crawfish too looks good
Service is bad here but you dont expect anything from Chinese service.
Ambiance is not too good too don’t expect anything.
Half a pitcher of beer is $ 3.50 which is good too.

When I came, they did not have an English menu in the house. At all. I also could not find an English name for the restaurant, other than Harbin Restaurant. Upon entering, my first thought was that everyone else in the restaurant, other than my family, was from Mainland China and Mandarin speaking. I came because I had just come back from a trip to Harbin, and I wanted to show my family what the food was like.
We ordered Harbin style sausage. Harbin is known for its sausages. What was served to us were wieners that had cumin and pepper seasoning on them. Totally not Harbin sausage. Not cool.
What was totally cool was the cabbage skewers. The cabbage is BBQ-​ed, then seasoned with cumin spice. Odd combination, but the sweetness of the cabbage and the earthiness of the cumin go really well together. I now order this every time I go to a Northern Chinese restaurant that has it on the menu.
I recall their fried rice being pretty good, and their lamb skewers being the same. I have not gone back since my first time here (so much to try and so little time!), but my brother, who did not particularly enjoy Northern Chinese food, seems to have enjoyed it quite a bit, to the point that he remembered it and wanted to go back (and so he did). He now also enjoys Northern Chinese food.

Let me say this first: This establishment is named after the northern district of China, where the temperature is always edging towards the cold side. From this region, most food are prepared hot and spicy to counteract the cold weather.
In this sense, the flavor of the food here at Harbin BBQ reflects the Northern Chinese cuisine pretty well. Everything has some sort of spiciness in it, and it is not a taste that anyone can walk in, without prior knowledge of the food in that region, to appreciate.
I went there late night after a small gathering with a group of 8 people. With such a big group, we managed to order quite a big selection of food. And if you know the Chinese cuisine culture, we share everything anyway.
One thing to note, is that each order of «kebab» style barbecue meat comes in 4. For example, 3 orders of lamb kebab will give you 12 skewers of meat. The metal skewers themselves are exaggeratedly long (a good 3 feet), but the meat always covers a good foot on the skewer, which makes it very good value.
How do I put this… Everything, as I mentioned before, is (properly) excessively seasoned with herbs and spices. Eating kebabs like this, one cannot really tell the taste of the different kinds of meat; rather, the texture of these meats becomes quite important.
We ordered the regular beef kebab, the famous lamb kebab and the chicken cartilage kebab (Yes, the first reaction is usually «What the hell is that»). I am happy to report that the taste of all these skewers are quite excellent. Again — properly spiced up. However the beef kebab is edging towards the rubbery side. Now, that does not mean it is bad; it is advertised as the lean part of the muscles anyway. I just wish, at this time, there is slightly more fat to the meat.
The lamb kebab is what one might expect from the western region of China (Xinjiang). The meat is not rubbery, and has the right amount of fat it in. Quite delicious.
Now, the weird one: The chicken cartilage skewers: This is the part of the chicken that usually no one wants. It is an acquired taste — not everyone will like it. A couple of my group gave us the «what-​the-​hell-​did-​I-​just-​eat» faces when they tried. The texture is a little crunchy, yet chewy. It is a delicacy in some parts of China, and they are great for making kebabs. Imagine when you are eating a chicken leg. The tissue between the drum stick and thigh — that’s what cartilage feels like. Note that I said «feels.» Obviously alone it doesn’t have much taste to it. But it is a very interesting texture in this style of kebab.
In addition to the skewers, we also ordered a spicy hotpot of fish. The literal Chinese name of the dish is «Fish Cooked in Water,» which totally isn’t what it sounds like. Before you even see the hotpot, you WILL smell the spiciness from the soup. The bowl doesn’t look hot, as there isn’t any steam coming out of the bowl. However that is deceptively false: The only reason you don’t see steam is because the whole dish is covered by thick, red spicy oil.
It is a different kind of spiciness, unique to the northern Chinese cuisine. It is not just a form of pain. It is actually tasty. And once you get over the first bite, the spiciness will dissipate over your tongue. You will sweat for this dish, don’t get me wrong, but you definitely won’t need to run to the washroom and open up the tap water to run your tongue under it.
The fish in the bowl was cooked well. It is not overdone, yet well-​cooked enough, giving the fish meat a tender texture. However, comparing this dish to similar dishes at other restaurants, the selection of the parts of the fish is… different. Most other restaurants would use pure fillets; but here you will find a lot of bones attached. So if you don’t know how to eat fish with bones, this is not for you.
Arguably, this is how it is supposed to be cooked: with the whole fish in. Maybe I am lazy, I do prefer having just the fillets though.
In addition to the main dishes, we also ordered quite a few appetizers. We had a couple dishes of white cabbage and a plate of mushrooms, also seasoned heavily with the same spices on the skewers. To balance things out, we also ordered a cold-​mixed tofu dish and a «red-​oiled» tofu skins.
The veggie dishes are tasty as the skewers — which may not be what some people expect. Usually in a Chinese establishment, when vegetables are ordered, they are there to «cleanse» the palate. Not so much with these dishes. Spicy, spicy, spicy! Which you may or may not like, really.
The «red-​oiled» tofu skins are surprisingly mild — compared to those skewers, that is. The cold-​mixed tofu, on the other hand, is the only blend tasting dish among all we ordered. Which is GREAT. It balances everything out very well, with the taste of sesame oil and chives.
The bill ended up $ 140-​ish (tips not included). We also had 3 beers and some soda. For about $ 20 a person, this is a steal.
Will definitely come back for late night snacks!

They overuse spices on everything. I mean extremely heavy taste. Poor customer service like they almost throw the food on the table. I will not come back.

First time visiting here, food and service both are poor. We ordered two order skewers, they came out two plates, we were told one plate is actually for another table after we already finished half of them, the server took away the rest skewers in the plate and brought it to the table beside our table. Definitely not coming back…

2.5 star
BBQ skewers and beer and opens late? Harbin Bbq might be the one you looking for!
Live fish in hot pot from $ 19.99. Fish still swimming in the tank.
The Chinese only menu is a little confusing even to Chinese reader like me as I have no clue what’s the different preparation means…
But of course we are here for some bbq. We ordered bbq lamb 羊肉串($ 4.50), fish竹签魚 ($ 3.99) and man tou 饅头 ($ 2.99), and of course some vegetables Cabbage with pork in chili oil 干锅高丽菜 ($ 8.99).
Everything was a bit off. Not the best bbq I had but definitely not the worst.
I might be back but probably not.