We also have an independent review of Lobster Port’s dim sum menu, so if you’re looking for a variety of dim sum places in Greater Toronto, I recommend trying it out.
Their address is 8432 Leslie St, Thornhill, ON L3T 7M6.
Our dim sum experience wasn’t the best due to the bad service. However, the food isn’t terrible. Their dim sum menu includes a range of dumplings, steamed buns, soups, and desserts. We really enjoyed the durian pastries which were full of creamy flavour!
Since my parents really loved their dim sum, so they booked a reservation to come back to Lobster Port for their Chinese New Year dinner.
Along the way, you can also check out our totally raw and honest review of Lobster Port’s dim sum here.
At the dinner table tonight, we had 6 adults – my dad, mom, sister, aunt, husband, and me. We ordered combo B in addition to a couple of items from their à la carte menu.
Their combo B was $288 (before tax and tips) with an advertised serving of 4 people. However, given their big portion size, we thought it was a lot of food and was enough to feed 6 adults. This is especially true for the lobster – they gave us A LOT of lobster!
Here are our thoughts about their food and service.
1. BBQ Suckling Pig with Jelly
Some of us really enjoyed this classic suckling pig with jellyfish, some others didn’t as much. My husband and I liked it because the meat was lean, which is something we prefer. Even my aunt had a few more pieces because she enjoyed the lean meat.
My parents, on the other hand, thought the meat was too lean. They like it when there’s a little bit of fat.
For us, we thought, “uh, no thank you!”
Here’s a glimpse of that piece of meat. Oh, and yes, the skin was very nice and crunchy!
2. Dry Conopy Fish Maw Sea Cucumber Thick Soup
Oops, forgot to take a picture of the big bowl, but here’s a shot after scooping it into each individual bowl.
A soup like this is actually one of my favourite soups of all time! I also enjoy the shark fin soup, but it’s pricier!
It’s thick and filled with goodies inside, which makes it a perfect starter before your meal.
One thing that bothered me a lot was the crab shells throughout the soup. This made it harder to enjoy because, for every couple of sips, there was a piece of shell in my mouth, which I had to spit out. Other than that, the taste was great.
3. Half a Free Range Chicken
This type of free-range chicken is honestly not something I would order.
Ever since a kid, my parents would always buy half for a whole chicken (with the yellow skin) home for dinner, but I never enjoyed it.
I didn’t think this tastes special. It was just like any other “free range” yellow skin chicken.
The one thing that really disappointed my dad tonight was that they ran out of the soy sauce version. We had already booked this menu ahead of time but they never warned us.
Supposedly the “soy sauce” free-range chicken is the more popular one, but they forced us to swap it for this plain one. My family was really looking forward to the one soaked in soy sauce, so that was a bummer that we didn’t get to try it.
4. Stir Fry Lobster with Maggi Sauce (4lbs)
My first impression of this lobster was its size. There was a lot of lobster on the plate and I think it was a bit excessive for six people.
I was a little surprised to hear that this is supposed to be serving four people because that’s a lot of intake of lobster per person.
It was delicious and filled with loads of flavour. But obviously, anything with MSG will taste good, right?
Anyway, I can’t complain about this dish. My parents loved it and my husband thought it was fantastic.
5. Steamed Sea Bass
I always look forward to good fish.
I like it when my fishes are silky, smooth, and what they call in Chinese, “youthful”.
Although this fish wasn’t bad, it was not the best. They gave us an older fish. You can tell because the meat was not as smooth or slippery as a young one, but it was still naturally sweet.
I did not take my fish with soy sauce, and I still thought it taste pretty good. It still had a nice, sweet, and smooth texture to it but again, I’ve had better elsewhere. But for the price, I don’t think it’s worth it.
6. Stir Fry AAA Beef Tenderloin with Garlic
My husband, Rui, and I limit our beef intake to once to two times a month. He really enjoys beef when he does have it, so he was really looking forward to this dish.
Unfortunately, Rui was no happy camper.
He said, “Don’t be deceived by this picture”.
I agree. It actually looks pretty good when it’s in front of you. But when it came to eating the beef, it was hard to chew on, and almost impossible to break down with your teeth.
I had only one piece and I wasn’t impressed at all. Rui’s also made a comment and said, “even beef and steak from all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants tastes way better.” That is just sad.
7. Daily Sweet Soup Dessert
I was really thrilled about the dessert because I don’t eat a lot of sweets as much nowadays. So, whenever we go out for dinner, I get a bit excited about treating myself!
Oh, how I wish sugar would be the lesser evil – but it’s not!
So, the first thing I noticed was the sesame balls (tong yung), snow mushrooms, almonds, dates, and goji berries inside. I love all of these ingredients in my Chinese desserts (minus the dates because I hate dates) so this was a win for me. The good thing is it wasn’t overly sweet, but I am darn sure there’s still a lot of added sugar in this bowl. Sigh.
Other than the evil of sugar, it was a good balance of sweetness along with a natural taste/texture of other ingredients – particularly the snow mushroom!
Look at that delicious and chewy sesame tong young.
Overall, this was a delicious dessert and I would definitely recommend!
8. Chef’s Special Fancy Pastries
I skipped the pastries just because I don’t think it was worth it.
They are just your typical jelly and Chinese new year cookies – the Chinese sesame laughing cookie balls. And yes, deep-fried cookies.
My entire family enjoyed it and said it was good like usual.
I asked Rui if it was worth eating. He told me, “no, not for you”.
But for everyone else, yes, it was worth the bite because they actually enjoy stuff like this. So, he told me to just skip it and save the calories for something better.
I also asked my family what the green jelly dessert tasted like and they honestly couldn’t tell me. They just said it tastes like sugar and Jell-O.
9. Pumpkin Vegetarian Bowl
Everything above was the eight-course meal for four people. If you ask me, we think it’s enough for six people.
My dad wanted to order extra food just because it was Chinese new year and he thought, “sure why not just spend a little bit more and try something different?”
Because he knows that I don’t like conventional meats and that I try to limit my meat intake, he decided to order the pumpkin vegetarian bowl.
We weren’t expecting anything from this, but surprisingly, it was a pretty good dish!
In fact, it was probably one of the best-tasting dishes we had tonight.
There were a lot of pumpkins, and the center was filled with mixed vegetables, shiitake mushrooms, dates, and chestnuts.
I do have to say that the sauce was a little bit too overpowering for me. I personally don’t think they needed to flood this bowl with so much sauce. However, I think this is what most people would like and enjoy. My whole family thought that the flavour was perfect. They said to pair it with white rice and it will taste heavenly!
10. Fried Ginger Rice with Crab Meat, Scallop, and Egg White
The fried ginger rice with crab meat, scallop, and egg white was pretty delicious.
I had a small bowl myself. Um, I thought it was too carby for me since I’m not a fan of white rice, but I would say the taste was pretty comparable to other good restaurants that serve something similar.
My family really enjoyed this dish and thought it was a good call.
Overall, I would say: good flavor, not excessively greasy and oily like congee Queen.
So, I would say yeah, go ahead and order one. I think most people like it!
Food: 4/5
The dinner at Lobster Port One is pretty good. I think their dim sum is OK, and in this separate review, I talked about our really bad experience, so that sort of left a bad taste in my mouth. But apparently, my parents thought their dim sum was amazing. It looks like everyone has different tastes.
I would come back for dinner when a special occasion comes up. You know, a birthday, anniversary, Chinese new year, or any type of celebration you can think of.
Service: 1/5
The service was very slow. I have to say that the service during our dim sum visit was even worse.
One thing we are grateful for is our server tonight was nice and apologetic. She came to change our plates, refilled our water and tea, and apologized a few times. She knew that the place was hectic and extremely busy so there wasn’t anything she could do to help.
I would say the lack of staff made this day somewhat of a disaster. I think they need to hire more workers because this restaurant obviously is flooded with people.
Ambiance: 3/5
The main room is huge, bright, and spacious. Unfortunately, it was packed so they took us to another room. That other room was packed too and was excessively loud. It’s not a place that’s quiet, so if you’re looking for a more calming environment, this is not the place.
Despite the beautiful decor in the main restaurant, we were not pleased with the busy environment.
Price: $$$
Dinner here isn’t budget-friendly, but it’s not extremely high. I would say it’s still generally expensive.
We paid over $480 with tips, so that works out to be around $80 per person. But it also depends on what you order, so you can go lower or higher than this range.
Overall Rating of Lobster Port One’s Dinner Menu: 4/5
My parents, aunt, and sister loved both the dim sum and dinner. My husband and I weren’t impressed with their dim sum menu, but their dinner was really good.
Other than the fish and beef not being at their freshest, we think the food overall is good quality. All we can say is it’s not as greasy as your traditional “dirty” Chinese food, but are you willing to pay for this price?
We definitely think it was worth it for a special occasion.
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