Vince Seafood Restaurant

When one is driving down a busy stretch in Markham Ontario and looks out their window and sees Vince Seafood Restaurant, it is difficult to imagine that people would correlate it as a dim sum place.  This restaurant at this location had gone through a few ownership changes and at first glance, it appeared that the latest changes revolved it being a seafood restaurant as the name would suggest.  However upon further review, not only is it a seafood restaurant at night, but it also doubles up as a dim sum restaurant during the morning.

Siu Mei

We approached the restaurant recently on a Friday morning and was amazed to see that it was actually lined up outside the door.  We were surprised that we actually had to wait approximately ten minutes before we were given our seats.  It was surprising to see how many people actually didn't have to work on Fridays but that would be another story to be discussed.

Egg Tart

Once we got our seats our sever would ask what time of teas we would like and unlike some Chinese restaurants where pushing carts and yelling out the food name would be the norm, at this place, the food was ordered through a tick box on a sheet of paper.  Since there were only three of us, we decided to go with some of the more traditional items including Shrimp Dumplings, Turnip Cake, Egg Tarts, Siu Meis and Baked BBQ Pork Buns.

Baked BBQ Pork Buns

Looking at the food as they arrived one by one, we could tell that the portions were a decent size and that each item looked colorful.  I have had dim sum many times before and sometimes the food that comes out lacks color which sometimes could mean that the chefs in the back may have skimmed back on some of the ingredients.  As we were about to start, we could see the manager had in his hands a tray full of their Special Signature Item at the restaurant.  These were Deep Fried Taros which were basically taros that were sliced up into rectangular blocks and coated with sugar.  At first I was too sure what to make of it but it was their specialty dish and it appeared many of the diners were clamming for it.  Taking a bite, it was naturally sweet on the outside and nice and soft on the inside. It was like eating a hash brown except it was more like eating fried yams because of the sweetness to it.  The sugar layer was relatively thin so it provided just enough sweetness to it but at the same time not make one feel like they were eating a spoonful of sugar.  I actually liked the dish as it certainly was unique and provided a nice alternative for a dessert.

Deep Fried Taro Dessert

Overall, we all had a decent time there.  It was really inexpensive and the food was acceptable although some did say that the price was probably just a tad higher than some of the other dim sum restaurants in the neighborhood.  The rest of the dim sums were average. As colorful as they were, there really wasn't anything spectacular to them.  They tasted exactly as they would with no special flavors or seasoning to them.  The place appeared to be clean and the waiters and waitresses made sure that our teacup was always filled to the max.  Tax and tip included came out to be about $30.00 for about 8 dishes as each dim sum was about $2.80 to $3.00 each although the prices do drop at different hours of the day.  I have never tried their dinner menu yet so I might go back in the future and give that a whirl.  Overall, I give it a 3.25 out of 5.

Vince Seafood Restaurant
1661 Denison Street
Markham, Ontario

(905) 604-8218