Green Tea Asian Cuisine

Our favourite Asian food in London

My family come here fairly often, especially for Dim Sum, (midday Saturdays & Sundays). The Dim Sum is excellent in general, and they feature an number of authentic Chinese specialities. The non-dim sum is also very good with many authentic Chinese dishes On the whole Green Tea is our favourite Asian restautrant in London by a wide measure. (Many people of Chinese descent seem to frequent the place too.) We tried their take-out on one occasion and found it relatively ordinary: not so highly recommended.

Quest for Dim Sum

Since my last review, we have returned to the Green Tea Restaurant twice. The 2nd visit was forgettable for me but enjoyed by my Chinese relatives (wife, mother-in-law). On this 3rd visit we travelled 100 km specifically for the recommended dim sum. We arrived on a Sunday morning, 15 minutes after opening time (11:00) and were immediately seated. At that time the restaurant was at about 20% occupancy. The wait staff seemed to be all CBC’s and there were no language issues apart from my relatives thinking everyone spoke Mandarin. Servers were very polite and reasonably friendly. Service was not really speedy but it was acceptable. I prefer the crowded dining room atmosphere with the dim sum carts circulating between tables. However at the Green Tea dim sum orders are taken on an order card so you don’t get to see the items before you order. We started with stuffed eggplant which was really delicious and ended with custard tarts which were okay. In between, we had deep-friend squid tentacle which was over-cooked and poorly seasoned. The other dishes we had ranged from acceptable to good. The bill for the three of us before tip was $37. That’s pretty good value. The restaurant filled up to 90% occupancy while we were there. We noted a party of 8 who had also driven over from Sarnia. The clientele was roughly 40% Chinese young adults, 45% Chinese families, and 15% “Canadians” as the newly-landed Chinese refer to us white folks. My Shanghai wife’s evaluation of the Green Tea dim sum: “good but not great”.

No dim sum on Wednesday - I knew that !

We had heard that this restaurant had a very good dim-sum operation and there were wait times for a table late on a Sunday morning. My wife, who ought to have known better, on a Sarnia to London excursion, wanted to make a side-trip there for a dim-sum lunch on a Wednesday. It didn’t happen. Sometimes I am right ! When we arrived at the plaza where the restaurant is located, we found lots of parking spaces. In fact there were only two cars parked near the restaurant. Not a good sign, at noon hour, even on a Wednesday. We decided to go in anyway and try the place out. The only customers were a couple of Chinese students. Chinese customers in a Chinese restaurant - that’s always a good sign. Our waitress was very good. We were seated, menus were distributed, and drink orders (jasmine tea for all) were taken, very efficiently. We ordered Thai Spicy Egg Plant ($9.00), Beef Ho Fun ($11.00), and Steamed Scallops ($20.00). The Egg Plant dish was okay. It didn’t really warrant the “double red pepper warning symbols” and it seemed to me to be more of a Cantonese dish than a Thai one. The Beef Ho Fun was also okay, but I’ve had better versions of it in most places in Toronto. I thought the last dish, Steam Scallops, was an extravagance but my wife orders what she wants and she said the scallops were fresh and the dish was good. The scallops dish came quite a while after we’d tucked into the first two dishes. Maybe that was unavoidable. As we ate, more customers arrived. There were 15 people in there as we were preparing to leave. By then the one waitress was getting busy and the level of service at our table dropped off slightly. Our bill before tip was $45 for three. Overall, I thought the food was acceptable -I’d go back with anyone who wanted to go there. I think I’d like to try the weekend dim sum. But for a weekday lunch – it was okay if you worked nearby, but to me it wasn’t worth the long side trip. However, my wife would go back just for the fresh steamed scallops.

We ordered for pick up and first of all they did not include the spring rolls, but did charge us. We have never tasted such terrible food, we threw it out, $52 worth, We had general tsao chicken, it was not chicken and I don't know what it was but it was not eatable then we had sweet and sour pork that was hard and not chewable, the fried rice had a funny taste, we will never go there again or recommend this restaurant to our family or friends!

Great food, great place but

We have eaten at Green Tea twice and really enjoyed the food. The first time we ordered the 2 course pecking duck which was delicious and the second time we ordered the lobster for two which was excellent. The decor is very nice and the service is good BUT they are too quick with the food. The main entrees were brought to our table as we were still eating our appetizer. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. I like to enjoy the meal and take my time and felt rushed.

Pretty Good

I came here a few times now and the food is pretty good. They have very authentic chinese cuisine I was impressed. The ambiance is pretty nice too, maybe because it is new. The service was friendly. I was suprised that they had the roasted duck meal. I have never seen it in London but usually in Toronto, Scarborough or Mississauga. It's $36 but I think it is worth it because it takes a lot of work to prepare and theres like 2 courses. It's my favourite thing to order. For the first course you get to wrap it with a rice crepe, the crispy roasted duck skin, hoisin sauce and cucumbers. For the second course its minced duck, chopped vegetables, hoisin sauce and crispy noodles wrapped with lettuce. Their smoothies are really huge too! I had an avacado while my aunt had mango. The mango was a bit sour but the avacado smoothie was nicely done. The avacado was ripe and the smoothie was nice and creamy. The dim sum was pretty good as well.

Will go out of my way for this restaurant

Ordered take-out food from their menu inside. They gave me some great suggestions according to my likes and dislikes. The time frame was 15 - 20 minutes and before the 20 minutes were up, I walked out the door with the food. Service was excellent and when I got home the food was amazing. Fresh, the right proportion of veggies and meat compared to the rice and noodles. Price was comparable with similar restaurants.

Great Authentic Chinese Food

First visit - large party for birthday - pre-ordered meal with 13 courses. Every dish was perfectly cooked, service wonderful. Finally, an authentic Chinese restaurant with great food

Great Food! Take-Out is awesome!

The food is amazing, The service is adequate, and the atmosphere is great. We have been a couple of times before, but we tried the take-out option this time and it was awesome! They gave you twice the amount of food in a take-out order than on a plate. I will sure be back next time!

Mediocre dim sum and rude services

The Green Tea Asian Cuisine at Wonderland Rd S in London, ON, was opened about a year ago. A dim sum connoisseur, I tried it several times. At first, I liked the place - it looked new and the setup looked like a typical dim sum restaurant. But soon I was more and more bothered by its slow and rude services. Once I ordered a little dim sum dish and it took more than half an hour for it to arrive. I made a quiet inquiry about the dish while waiting for it, and the manager simply asserted that it was normal to take that long and he sounded as though it was my fault to inqure about the dish. That guy often interrupts customers loudly . Some waitresses and waiters working there are okay, but they are unfortunately managed by a person who I think is terribly rude and incapable. If the food there is really good, then such slings and arrows might still be worthwhile bearing. But the fact is that the dim sum there is not as good as in some older places in the town such as Dragon Court and Tak Sun. I have decided to not go there any more.

Take out option - amazing! YUM!

Well, what can I say... ? Finally, an affordable place where I can get pad thai all I want and get 3 meals out of the huge portion! I am very picky about my 2 fave dishes - pad thai and singapore noodles and this place has the BEST in London and I have tried them all. My husband each time gets the wonton soup and the special fried rice. He loves these items and his order never changes. Worth the drive across town. When ordering, service is always friendly. We cannot say too much about the atmosphere as we have never dined in. Temperature of the food is always good and quality of the ingredients is there. Simply, the best.