Qin Tang Taste

Good taste, lousy service, highly questionable hygiene, and stupid owner.
After waiting for 45min as a group of 4 adults + 1 kid, our booth was finally ready. And the owner gave it away to a 5+2, then asked me if we could fit in a 2-​person square table. Are you fucking kidding me?! When I confronted him, he said he thought the other group came before us, which was obviously a lie!
I kept confronting him and he put two square tables together for us.
If you like the food here, you better order take-​out!

The lamb kebab price must have increased. I saw a number of reviews mentioning 99c, but when we went it was 4 for $ 6.
For kebabs I still prefer Yangs BBQ, but this place is good as well.
Stick skewer kebab was really good. I guess they can use big chunks of meat since its a strong stick. Meat was juicy and flavor was great. Note this is pricier than the regular lamb kebabs, but still worth trying imo.
The fish kebab and cabbage kebabs were pretty good, but I’ve had better elsewhere.
The Biang Biang Noodles was a very interesting dish. First time having this. I’d say its basically Chinese pasta (which is not too strange a dish given pasta’s origins)… it has what appears to be mince meat and tomatoes. I really liked the texture of the noodles. And the flavor was interesting too… pasta with a hint of Chinese flavor imo
Parking lot is fairly big. Takes debit

Went on a Saturday evening dinner time, wait in line for about 20min to be seated. The ventilation is not so great, it was a little smokey. However the food was tasty, it’s like restaurants in China. Bbq fish was very tender; biang biang mian is their signature dish and it didn’t disappoint!
Price is also very affordable, 3 people comes to about 36 dollars. Cash or debit card only.

3.5
Pros:
Very good portions
Unique items to be had
Cons:
Service can be hit or miss
Came here based on the previous reviews. I can safely say the food was almost everything as promised. This place is a bit on the smaller side if you ask me. They have two booths at the front and a larger table at the back. Everything else is tables for 2 ideally. You can fit a third person but that person is probably blocking the walkway for the waitresses and will be a bit awkward. If the booth and the large table are taken, good luck trying to get in with a party of 4 or more. The place is also super busy even at 530pm!
This place has a lot of unique items available I have not seen elsewhere. They have a skewer that uses a stick of wood as the skewer which is a Toronto first, it even says it on the menu! We ordered a large size beef brisket noodle, the wooden skewer, regular lamb skewers, a corn skewer and some dumplings.
Like I said, the food is mostly what everyone has said in past reviews. The skewers were all very good. They all had a good amount of spice to them. The noodles came in a huge bowl that could easily feed 3 maybe 4 if you’re not big eaters. The corn skewer was very good, my little one can attest to that. It was nothing but yum yum yum from her as she was eating it. The dumplings seem to supermarket dumplings which in the end I’m OK with because it’s not the specialty of this place.
The service is where I had issues with. There three younger servers and one older one working at the time. The older one was very good and proficient. The 3 younger ones seem to all be working for the first time in my opinion. They must of dropped plates and cups at least 6 – 7 times while we were there. It became a running joke with all the other customers as well. Every time it happened the customers would all giggle together. We had asked for tea (which is standard at every table) because we had not gotten ours. We had all of our food and it still hadn’t shown up. Finally the older server noticed and got us our tea. When she questioned the younger server why, she just shrugged and moved on like it didn’t matter. i would of easily given this place 4 stars but I think the shrug irked me a bit. It’s not something I like to see at all.
All in all, still a great place if you like northern Chinese food. I’m hoping my experience there in terms of service was just a red herring.

QinTang Taste is a Beijing-​based chain, and with their first international location they bring Shaanxi (Northwestern) Chinese cuisine to Toronto (or at least a Scarborough condo). If all you associate with Chinese food is rice-​this and rice-​that, the complete lack of rice on the menu will be the first thing to kick you in the ass. Dishes of the region skew towards wheat, and with that, noodles and lots of it. Also, spices, which will be the next thing to kick your ass.
It is gluttonous nonetheless when you start piling on noodle orders and whatnot. Many of the food here are quite spicy, which will disappoint chili weaklings, but on an extreme cold-​as-​fuck winter day it comes as a relief – request extra napkins for all the sweatin’ to be had! The menu was a bit perplexing and amusing to read, as many of the noodles were listed as either traditionally hand-​pulled, or shamelessly «robot-​made.» The difference in quality between the two is probably in the chewiness.
The grilled meats come with plenty of wow factor. The lamb skewers coated in a liberal dosing of cumin seeds were great with blast of gamey and spicy flavours. Even crazier were the barbeque bullfrog legs, which does literally taste like chicken (not to be cliché or anything) with an extreme chili kick. Sweet and floral, garnished with osmanthus petals, the rice balls in osmanthus soup was a great surprise from all this gluttonous and spicy eats we’ve been having.
Qin Tang Taste is relatively cheap and crazy-​spicy, and with the amount of food you get, you feel you own the world. Service is generally good, and one can get by with basic English communication with the Mandarin-​centric staff. Just don’t get the pineapple beer, it is novel nothing in a can. If you’re hungry at Pacific Mall, you’re better off in my opinion heading south a short bit to check this place out.
{TTC: take either the 42 or 43A to McNicoll at Kennedy Road.}

Going there on a Saturday for dinner was a bet. It seemed a bad idea after we passed by and look a crowd waiting. We were tense while the hunger was kicking in and the parking spots were inexistent…
We scored when we got a spot for 2 at a funky column with a bar table!!! Sorry for those groups waiting.
I would advise you to watch the items you order because the portions are big. A soup can fill four of the cup bowls, and the 3 orders of skewers were too much for a want to be fit couple.
The order of a hand made noodle specialty that was forgotten for our waiter was lucky for us; we were surrounded by plates, thinking about asking the 2^nd soup to go.
This restaurant gave me the thought: If I ever want to prank someone, or make them suffer, I will bring them here and ask for the ultra spicy skewers…
What we got on those chopped members on a stick, was a lazy attempt to deliver that pain/​pleasure sensation the chili addicts constantly search. The taste was artificial, the meats were completely covered with that red dust that tried to kill us by drowning; making us cough, cry, and… wonder why we asked them.
The goat soup was delicious: comforting, with tender slices of meat, and consistent pieces of pancake.
The black mushrooms came cold, with slices of red chillie and a wasabi after taste. They are an interesting option if you like crunchy-​chewy textures, or if you are into exotic veggies.
It is definitely an affordable, authentic, popular, and interesting spot to visit if you are in the area (just avoid the infamous red dust).

When it comes to food, i’d say its a 3 stars. For the service, i’d say its 1 star! We specifically asked for a non spicy meal but got chilli’s swimming on the soup. Servers barely understand english and quiet hard to ask for napkins, a glass of water with ice & they dont have some drinks listed in the menu. They need service improvement!

Just came from a lunch here and I have to say that this is my new favourite place for Shaanxi-​style Chinese food.
We ordered a lot of stuff so I’ll just give some of the highlights. My favourite by far was the slice noodle with stir fried pork slices. The pork flavours really permeated through the wide, chewy noodles, giving the dish a lot of KAPOW. I would definitely come back for this. The house special salad was also awesome, with a healthy dose of sesame flavouring on the vinaigrette dressing on the vegetables.
Also, they got a kickass lamb stew, another Northwestern Chinese specialty. It’s warm and comforting and the lamb is super tender, while the soupy bread somehow maintains its consistency and didn’t descend into mushy nothingness. This one is a must order for anyone who’s not a fan of spicy food.
The skewers were also awesome, they had so many to choose from. The chicken wings were delicious but my favourite were the frog legs. So tender, so yummy, and you know what? These things ACTUALLY taste like chicken (but better). You better like cumin as a seasoning though, these things are on everything here.
Service was very friendly and the restaurant was comfortable. It wasn’t sparkling clean or fancy (most Chinese restaurants aren’t anyway) but it was more than suitable for our purposes. And you know what’s the best part, you can actually request them to tone down the spice. As a result, we still get somewhat spicy food that doesn’t, you know, burn our tongues off. Major kudos for that.
And the best part? All of this deliciousness is with a very low price point. Two people can eat like kings (and have leftovers for another full meal) for around $ 20. And for good quality food, too. Fan-​DAMN-​tastic.
Did you know that this restaurant is the first international location for this particular brand? That’s right, bet nobody knew that this is a chain restaurant in China, with quite a few stores in the Beijing area. Here’s hoping they do well here.

Overall — 4.0÷5.0
Service was great here and stood out from many other Asian joints. Dishes were well spiced with varying depths of flavour.
Had the ‘hand slapped’ noodles and the texture was great. Will have to try the robotic noodles next time.

im going to give this post a title:
DEATH By Chilli Pepper
tried several dishes while i was here.
1. qq noodles — pretty much their signature noodle bowl. one long noodle unbroken. it was really good. probably the best thing on their menu. very unique chewy long noodle
2. hot and sour dumplings — very very vinegary… pretty much its dumplings in seasoned hot red vinegar. concentrated and not watered down vinegar.
3. cold noodle mixed with sesame and hot sauce.- very good but unfortunately the portion is very small for this. a snack size for me.
4. lamb skewers — not charred enough .i take that back. not charred at all. absolutely no grill taste on my skewers… wish it had more grill flavor
5. squid on skewer — not bad, tasted like hoisin sauce on it.
6. mantao bread skewer — strange for me. not use to bbq bao… it was basted in oil. just a lil strange. i think i prefer it steamed with condense milk
7. i saved the best for last… Green Chili Peppers on skewer.
if you want your mouth to die you can try it… i can take some heat, but this was on another level. after eating it. you might laugh and be like haha delicious. thats all you got? then wait about 45 seconds and prepare for the death of your taste buds. if you like pain and bitter numbness, this chilli pepper will do it…
took me a whole soy milk to get those skewers down. try drinking it with hot tea. it makes it feel even worse.
take the challenge and get the green peppers!
tip: they had a promotion only advertised in chinese. where you add them to your wechat and get a free bowl of noodle soup upon your next visit. dont know if that promo is over now.

Saw some good reviews of this new place, so we decided to try it out.
Service: friendly and prompt
Food: personally, I love spicy food and I found the food has different depth of spices for each dish. Therefore, even we were eating different spicy dishes and won’t feel they are all the same after all.
These are the dishes I enjoyed
Hand-​slapped and pulled noodles — love the chewy noodles and the spices make it taste so special.
Sour Soup dumpling (it is spicy) — it is another kind of spices we tasted which is well-​balanced with the sour soup — my favourite
Grilled lamb skewers — they chose the fatty lamb meat so the skewers are juicy and soft. Love it
Grilled squid skewers — fresh and tasty squid. I can eat a lot of these
Dish that I did not very enjoy —
Shanxi style Pork Burger (fatty and lean pork) — the filling pork is tasty and juicy, but the «burger» is too hard to be enjoyable.
I will definitely go back to try more dishes. The hand-​slapped and pulled noodles (biang biang mien) is definitely must try dish if you can handle the spiciness.

Environment:
And you thought beijing had bad air pollution!?! This restaurant had poor ventilation and no regard for the cardio safety of its customers and staff. I know they use charcoal because you can smell the fumes as soon as you walk in. I was gagging because I am very sensitive to smoke. I ate and got the hell out of there as soon as possbile. It cant be good for you to inhale charcoal fumes for an hour. I should add: the chinese people dont seem to mind at all. The place was packed and had a line up. This is a deal breaker for me.
In correct use of charcoal:
When using charcoal you can use lighter fluid to start the fire. But you always let it burn away the carcinogens for a good solid 30 mins before putting anything on the grill. These guys dont seem to practice this as the food tastes like lighter fluid. Twice now I have tried the bbq skewers and every single time it comes with the taste yiu get when you use lighter fluid and when you don’t wait long enough for the carcinogens to burn off.
The food:
In terms of quality these guys are pretty hardcore and make mainland xian style noodles better than some of the places in China. They are the real deal. But they aren’t good at all thing. Depending on what you order its either a ³⁄₅ or 4.5÷5.
1. skewered lamb — ⁴⁄₅ minus 0.5 for tasting like lighter fluid = 3.5÷5
2. Skewered fish — ³⁄₅ minus 0.5 for tasting like lighter fluid = 2.5÷5
3. Cold noodles (not hand made) in chili oil and garlic — 3.5÷5.
4. Hand made, one strand flour noodles in tomato, minced pork and chili oil.
Conclusion:
The only real standout here are the hand made noodles. If i come back it will be for take out to avoid breathing in the toxic air. All the other xian/​shanxi style bbq items can be easily had at other similar restaurants without the lighter fluid flavour or the cancer causing polluted air. For a sit down meal, i will be going to my usual Shannxi restaurant on hwy 7.

Want to stay warm this winter? Eat here! Their spicy food will warm you up from 0 to 100 in no time.
My absolute favourite thing (s) here are the skewers. They. Are. BOMB. They have a pretty good variety (ex. lamb, pork, chicken cartilage), and they can go for as little as $ 0.99 when you order 5+! I’d be happy to just come here with friends and throw back some beers to go with a meal comprised of only skewers… Try the whole fish skewer too. Super crispy and smoky!
Their noodles are handmade here so definitely get a bowl of these to try. They offer the thick noodles here too — the width is similar to the size of the bandages you use to wrap around your hand! Super chewy, or «QQ» as some would describe.
They also offer great value with a giant spicy bowl of vegetables and meat for only $ 12.99. They say the portion is for 1 person, but trust me… This can probably feed a family of 4.
Pro Tip: Make sure to ask for a glass of soy milk to keep you cool… And some extra napkins to wipe your sweat too!

Qin Tan Taste is a kid on the block. Originated from Beijing, Qin Tan Taste serves up authentic noodles, dumplings and skewers!
Tucked away in the «grave site» for countless restaurants — Kennedy and McNicoll, Qin Tan Taste is the best of its kind. Each dish is filled with unique flavours, not a single dish shared the same flavour.
We ordered a range of dishes including season soy-​based jelly fish ($ 5.99), sour and spicy dumpling ($ 8.99), spice braised-​beef thick noodles ($ 7.99), sour and spicy potato salad ($ 3.99), cumin spiced lamb skewer ($ 0.99 each, 5 orders minimum), spiced sausage ($ 5.99), Chicken soft bone skewer ($ 1.59 each, 2 orders minimum), five spice bean curd with cucumber (instead of celery in the menu) ($ 4.99), and cold mung bean noodle ($ 5.99). The only dish I would not recommend would be spiced sausage. Spare your change for more delicious skewers!
Also worth noting is Qin Tan Taste’s staff. They are by far the most polite staff in any Asian restaurant I have even been to! For the first time, in the history of Asian restaurant explained the dish to you and ask if you are finish with the plate before taking it away. I was shocked at their etiquette.
Overall, Qin Tan Taste is a feast in flavour town! Can’t wait to try other dishes!

Tucked in the corner of Kennedy and McNicoll is this newly opened hidden gem! My boyfriend and I love noodles so we were really looking forward to trying this place out.
We ordered the lamb skewers which is a minimum of 5 orders @ $ 0.99 per skewer which isn’t bad at all. You also have the option of getting spicy or non-​spicy. It appears to be one of the most popular items as we saw almost every table ordering this. Good quality, super tasty lamb. Heads up for those who are sensitive to the smell of lamb meat that it’s pretty strong especially since it’s grilled. But really worth it and a must order!
My boyfriend opted for hand slapped & pulled ribbon noodle in clear beef soup and I got the biangbiang hand-​slapped and pulled ribbon noodle. We got the bigger size for a dollar extra ($ 8.99) and the bowl was huge! We were absolutely starving and we struggled to finish (I didn’t and took the leftovers home). The noodles were fantastic. Biangbiang bowl had eggs, bokchoy and minced pork. All the components were delicious and worked really well together. The clear beef soup had no wow factor but again, pretty solid. The broth was good but pretty much looked like a bowl of phở. My dad had the leftovers the next day and he fell in love with the noodles. Will definitely be back to try some of their other stuff!
Service was friendly but a bit lacking becayse none of the servers could really speak English. Only language there is Mandarin so expect some communication difficulties if you don’t speak it. So I’m taking off 1 star due to the service.
NOTE: They currently only accept cash or debit but not sure if it’s only because they just opened.

I love noodles, those home made chewy QQ ones are definitely my favourite!
Hot and Sour Dumplings Noodle was really good! A great balance for hot and sour which further enhanced by finely chopped scallions. At first I was a little confused and wondering where’s the noodle? Apparently they were used to made the wrapping of the dumplings.
I will be back for some real noodle next time. And maybe some BBQ skewers. The lamb skewers $.99 each with minimum of 5
Biang Biang Noodle The noodles, touted as one of the «ten strange wonders of Shaanxi» (Chinese: 陕西十大怪), are described as being like a belt, owing to their thickness and length.* source Wikipedia

New restaurant in the town. I’ve been there for twice since it’s launched about two weeks ago. They might make the best Shanxi food in Toronto. Recommend their Biang Biang noodle, vegetables cooked in home special chill sauce. I’ve already made a membership card there, will try more food every weekend.