Ottawa Foodies

This is my favorite chinese restaurant in Ottawa! I always go with family or friends! Be careful to make a reservation or come in advance because it can be pretty full on sundays though!
My favorite dim sum dish is the eggplants filled with shrimps. Great chinese broccolis with garlic too!
On the menu, I like everything with duck (soup and then crispy barbecued duck).

Normally, we had family dinner together at home on Chinese New Year's eve. This year (the year of Rat), I didn't take the day off and didn't feel like cooking after work. So, we headed off to Chinatown for family dinner.

Glad that I made the reservation. The place was fully booked. We ordered their specialty from their special menu again:

- Crab meat and sea foam soup
- BBQ chicken
- Stir-fried choy sum
- Salty and spicy shrimps
- Bay scallops with cashew nuts

I think Chinese New Year eve is their busier time of the year. But they didn't have enough staff to handle the crowd. Every one on the floor had hard time to get the server's attention. We waited for an hour to get our food.

Our soup was served by the owner's son who was the host at the door. He told us that this was his first time to serve soup and his dad (also the chef) called him to help out when he was home relaxing.

Overall, each dish tasted good except for the Bay scallops (not that fresh). Again, their BBQ chicken were very juicy and tender (always our favourite here).

Words of Advice: Most of the Chinese will go to Chinese restaurants for dinner on Chinese New Year's eve. So, if you want to eat Chinese food, try not to pick that day unless you don't mind the longer wait.

We took my sister and brother-in-law (from Toronto) to try a few Chinese restaurants in Ottawa. I was hesitant to take them here for dinner since Chu Shing earned a reputation for bad service.

I took my chance any way and went with no high expectation. Surprise! Surprise!!

When we arrived there at 6:30 PM, the restaurant was only half full. This was not a good sign for Sunday (a long weekend).

Later on, we bumped into a friend who is known to be a foodie (basically he eats everything that moves, no kidding!). I felt a lot better since he also picked this place for dinner. I asked him for his recommendation and he told me that most of the non-fish dishes on their Special menu are very good at pretty reasonable price (I think it is either $8.50 or $9.50 per dish on the special menu).

So, we ordered the following from their Special menu (the one in the transparent photo holder):
- soup: Crab Meat and Sea Foam Soup
- Crispy BBQ chicken (this is their chef's specialty) - must order if you come to this place
- Salty & Pepper Shrimps (with head on)
- Stir-fried snow pea tips with garlic
- Bay scallops with cashew nuts

Overall, each dish was very delicious except for the soup. My sister said the crab meat was not fresh and I said the soup taste was vey bland (felt like they added water to fill the big bowl).

The service was not bad. They hired younger waitress and they were more efficient and the rude ones are no longer there. Our waitress came to ask if we wanted more rice without us asking.

The bill was $62 after tips and tax (around $15 per person).

We used to like Yangtze. But not any more! We haven't been back there for dinner for a long time. Chu Shing's food was not bad. But they don't offer good service (I guess they don't care since they have a good customer base). There are so many new Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, Kanata, Orleans and Nepean. But I am sure both Yangtze and Chu Shing have lost some of their business to others. In addition, I do find the place at Chu Shing not clean.

If you were to ask a chinese person where (s)he would go out for dinner in Ottawa, the two places that come up are Yangtse and Chu Shing.

After the overall oligopolistic price increases in the chinese restaurant business in the last year, Yangtse has priced itself out of the league. Chu Shing is the place I would certainly go to. But I know the owner and most of the staff.... so service is not a problem. It's the food, variety and traditional cantonese fare.

I also know the owners and most of the servers at Yangtse and get great service, but think it is rather expensive.

Don't ask me about Palais Imperiale and Mandarin Ogilvie.....(the owners are the same)

I agree. People go here mostly because the prices are a bit lower. The last time we went (a long time ago), we ordered a soup and were enjoying it when the waiter asked us if it was better than Campbell's. Ha! We felt like white trash in a big way. Cheeky bastard. :-)

Good food, but terrible service! Also found the food dirty.

Simply the best

When you come to Chu Shing for dinner, their BBQ chicken is a MUST ORDER dish. This is their specialty and they do a very good job. No other Chinese restaurants in Ottawa can beat this in my opinion. Very crispy skin with juicy chicken meat (marinated)!

I think this dish is also Chu Shing's specialty. Shrimps were big and taste was yummy. We all gave a good rating to this dish.

I will order this dish again if I come here for dinner next time.

This is the Bay scallops with Cashew Nuts. There were a good number of bay scallops. Taste was pretty good. Another recommended dish for you as well. I think the price tag is $8.50.

This is the stir-fried snow pea tips with garlic. The taste was not bad, but can't compare with the one I tried at New Sky in Toronto.

Their Crab Meat and Sea Foam Soup was the worst I have tried in Ottawa. Crab meat was not fresh and the soup taste was bland. I tasted that water was later added to the soup.

So, don't bother ordering this soup here.