New Sky Restaurant (Toronto)

by Maxpower & Beauty

MaxPower: How do you choose a Chinese food restaurant in Chinatown when there are about 50 in a 5 block radius? You look for the one that is packed with Chinese people at 6:30PM and then pick that one. That’s exactly what we did one night when we were looking for a good (and cheap) meal.

Beauty: Of course, before entering the restaurant we looked at the billboard with their specials and then checked the public Health Service announcement posted on every window of every restaurant in Toronto. The City of Toronto Health Inspectors post a big green sign on the window of a restaurant when it passes an inspection. A yellow sign means it got a warning and a red sign means that there were major health violations. That is nice to know when you are trying to find somewhere new to eat!

MaxPower: So we enter the place, the windows were steamed up and it smelled so good! It might have helped that we were starving, but still the place was packed and a couple huge tables at the rear of the restaurant were reserved for what looked to be a big party coming later on.

Beauty: From the back of the restaurant a waiter raised his chin in my general direction and raised four fingers, I nodded and then he pointed to one of the only free tables in the place. We were seated without a word of English being exchanged, a harbinger for the meal ahead.

MaxPower: Man, the seats were tight in there; they sure pack the tables in. One couldn’t help but notice that white people were in the definite minority there, which is what you want if you’re looking for good authentic Chinese food.

Beauty: One of the first things I noticed was the table cloths were made of multiple layers of white plastic, the texture of garbage bags. Cheap and efficient table cloths, but more on those later.

MaxPower: We were all hungry and looking to get one of the ‘Meal Combos’. There were four of us, and what do we do? We order the ‘Meal for Five’! Why? Because we are all really hungry that’s why. We can finish five dishes no problem.

Beauty: Included with the meal was green tea, a choice of soup, steamed rice, five main dishes and a dessert. We all chose the hot & sour soup.

MaxPower: But when our soup came, of course, they brought five bowls, because we ordered the ‘Meal for Five’. And this was no thin broth soup either, huge hunks of tofu, vegetables, egg and ginger. Needless to say we didn’t even touch the fifth bowl. Our non-English speaking waitress must have been thinking ‘Dumbasses, why did they order for five when they are only four’?

Beauty: By the time our five dishes arrived, there was a lineup out the door. We got sesame beef, sweet and sour chicken balls, lemon chicken, shanghai noodles and a curry beef vegetable medley. We didn’t notice at first that the steamed rice didn’t arrive, and even though we reminded the waiter halfway through the meal we never did get it.

MaxPower: Wasn’t like we needed it though, we had so much food that there wasn’t even enough room on the table. They plainly didn’t anticipate four people having a ‘Meal for Five’! Additionally, halfway through the meal, one of the many busboys running around decided to move a new table right beside ours. When I say right beside ours I mean it was touching it. And sure enough they seated a couple beside us. Awkward looks ensued as we basically shared the table with these new people. Lineup was still out the door.

Beauty: The meal was very good, and there were lots of leftovers so we made up two doggie bags full for later. (It was self-service doggie bag making.) And then dessert arrived… it was a plate of orange segments!

MaxPower: That was a quality dessert, just like at half-time when I used to play soccer. (No one at the table got my soccer analogy at the time either).

Beauty: We paid the bill and it was 30ish dollars for four people and a ‘Meal for Five’ so it was reasonably priced. The total amount due was written in English but all of our meal choices were written in Chinese, so really we had no idea what we were paying for. Not only that but the people beside MaxPower and D4V had to get up and move to let us out from our table.

MaxPower: On our way out we glanced back to our table. Lo and behold, the busboy grabbed the four corners of the ‘table cloth’ and tied it in a knot, leaving all of the dirty dishes inside! Now it all made sense, the multiple layers of plastic, and the garbage bag like texture, it was just a quick and efficient table cleaning system.

Beauty: As we made our way past the lineup at the door, the staff had already set our table up for the next customers.

MaxPower: A great authentic Chinese meal, I would heartily recommend if you ever wanted a tested and reviewed restaurant in Chinatown.

Beauty: By the way, walking back, we glanced in the windows of other Chinese restaurants and noticed two things. They weren’t as full as the one we had been in, but they all had those white plastic table cloths.

New Sky Restaurant
307 Spadina Ave. Toronto ON
416-596-8787

Maxpower & Beauty