666053 Tue Nov 10 08:26:42 -0800 2009 26 23 Ontario (including Toronto) 0 5169931 8 people are heading to O'Mei in a couple of weeks to experience lobster cooked 4 ways. I understand that many authentic Cantonese dishes appear on the Cantonese menu but not on the English menu. I'm not sure if anyone in our group has proficient reading skills for Chinese characters. Can people please throw out some strong recommendations for their favourite dishes there? Also, can anyone give me an idea of the cost per pound for lobster done 4 ways and what each preparation is? One last request: what size lobster would be best for 8 hungry people who will also order other dishes? We are adventurous eaters, so any suggestions/recommendations are welcome. Tue Nov 10 08:26:42 -0800 2009 239809 1sweetpea 1 5170328 I live around the corner from O'Mei. I ordered a takeout from there once. Never again. The food was horrible. Up there with the worst Chinese takeout I have ordered. I haven't tried the lobster and haven't ordered from the Cantonese menu. I just ordered some standard dishes from their English menu. Don't remember what I ordered, one of them was Kung Pao Chicken I recall. Worst Kung Pao chicken ever. I am not exaggerating. Tue Nov 10 10:43:04 -0800 2009 5169931 1122494 ManAbout 2 5171172 Thanks for your comments, ManAbout. However, you've reported on the English menu, which is exactly what I'd like to avoid. Based on what I've read in other threads, O'Mei does some dishes really well, while others aren't great. I'm looking for the inside track on those great dishes. Tue Nov 10 15:49:32 -0800 2009 5170328 239809 1sweetpea 2 5171259 When did you visit? I went a few years ago, and I agree it was pretty horrid. However, they have a new chef, and it's now our "go to" spot. I think you'd be surprised if you tried it again. Tue Nov 10 16:27:00 -0800 2009 5170328 1104506 FrankD 2 5171414 First, O'Mei specializes in 'Cantonese style' seafood! Kung Pao Chicken is a 'Northern Chinese' dish requiring special sauces to make it authentic! So, no wonder?! Though not exactly a great analogy, but its like trying to order Southern fried chicken in Red Lobster! Every ' Chinese food specialist' chowhounders on this board, be it skylineR33, Aser, Royaljelly, Bokchoi....etc all give O Mei a big thumbs up! Back to must have dishes. First, I would go with their house-special free-range chicken. Some of their 'wok-hay' stir fry dishes are worth trying too. A simple stirred fry Chinese broccoli with beef can be executed perfectly. Another flavourful dish is their sauteed veal with mushrooms and spring onions served in a sizzling hot pot. A touch on the expensive side, but, when available, the steamed live French Turbot with premium soy, ginger and scallions can be superb. Actually, a favourite of ours is their sweet and sour pork??!! Very nicely done! Lastly, their interpretation of stirred fry string beans with minced pork and preserved olives produces a dish thats better tasting than most. For 8, I would order about a 9-10 pounder! ( seasonal pricing ranging from $18-22 a pound which includes cooking of the beast ). The 4 ways usually entails the following dishes: - Steamed claws with minced garlic on a bed of rice vermacellis - Deef fried head and body in an ultra light spicy salt and pepper crispy batter, - House secret stirred fry lobster tail - ultra yummy! - Lobster brain rice rice OR braised e-fu noodles with lobster brains and shitake mushroom. Personally, I prefer the latter. You have to let the waiter know otherwise they'll automatically give you the fried rice! Have fun and good luck! Tue Nov 10 17:47:01 -0800 2009 5170328 10810 Charles Yu 3 5171476 Thanks, Charles! And thanks for your comments regarding Northern Chinese dishes. I didn't want to be the one to make that comment, lest I seem ungrateful toward the first person who replied. I'll write your recs down and take them with me, plus any other intriguing ones that come in over the next 10 days or so. I'm all over the e-fu noodles choice. Sounds awesome! Tue Nov 10 18:12:18 -0800 2009 5171414 239809 1sweetpea 4 5171484 Just give them a call, ask for Ringo the owner and ask him for the daily price! Tue Nov 10 18:16:44 -0800 2009 5171476 10810 Charles Yu 5 5171493 Sorry Charles. I replied to your post before I'd read all the way through. I was very excited by the suggestions. I've since edited my reply. Tue Nov 10 18:19:29 -0800 2009 5171484 239809 1sweetpea 3 5178759 The 4-Way lobster was perfect, we had both the rice and the noodles with brain, they said this was the automatic option. The beef and Broccoli was very well done as well. didnt care for the free range chicken, a bit on the dry side. 10 pounds of lobster with 4 extra dishes proved more than enough for 9 people. what great time! Fri Nov 13 09:15:05 -0800 2009 5171414 221740 shekamoo 4 5178920 Great to know, Shekamoo! My party's grown to 9, so we'll be largely mirroring your order next weekend when we're there. Just of out interest, how far in advance did you reserve your table? Also, to continue a question from another thread regarding this restaurant, did they charge you for tea? The answer is not important, I just want to know. Fri Nov 13 09:54:54 -0800 2009 5178759 239809 1sweetpea 5 5179237 We only called two days ahead, but this was a Thursday night so that is probably not a safe indicator for weekend nights. We were not charged for tea, nor for the 4 rounds of dessert that followed our meal without our having ordered anything. maybe this had something to do with the fact that we were having a birthday celebration, I do not know, having been there only once Fri Nov 13 11:21:32 -0800 2009 5178920 221740 shekamoo 6 5179576 One last question, if you don't mind, Shekamoo. What did your bill come to in the end? I'm not asking how much you left for tip or anything, just the food total before or after tax. A couple of people in my group are wondering what this dinner might cost. Without a menu, I can't really guess. Fri Nov 13 13:14:26 -0800 2009 5179237 239809 1sweetpea 7 5181031 320 for 9 people including tax before tip. The exact number of dishes we ordered in addition to lobster escapes me (I was pretty sure it was 3, now I am not so sure )but it was either 3 or 4 Sat Nov 14 08:01:02 -0800 2009 5179576 221740 shekamoo 8 5181399 Thanks so much for answering all of my questions! I can hardly wait! Sat Nov 14 11:11:39 -0800 2009 5181031 239809 1sweetpea 9 5181511 my pleasure. I hope you will enjoy your time as much as we did Sat Nov 14 12:09:45 -0800 2009 5181399 221740 shekamoo 9 5196516 Let us know how your visit went please 1sweetpea! Fri Nov 20 10:19:47 -0800 2009 5181399 259720 haggisdragon 9 5196975 We order a 7.5 pounds with 4 people in the party ! With a dish of vegetable (Dried fish Gai Lan), we are all stuffed. The fried rice is not very consistent, it is really good if they make it good that night, but sometimes it is too wet. I actually like it more than the noodle if they make the fried rice right. Fri Nov 20 13:41:56 -0800 2009 5181399 62525 skylineR33 10 5197008 I preferred the rice as well Fri Nov 20 13:55:17 -0800 2009 5196975 221740 shekamoo 1 5170359 I second the question of how much lobster to order for 8 people, if you will also order side dishes, but no main dishes Tue Nov 10 10:53:01 -0800 2009 5169931 221740 shekamoo 1 5195645 Yeah, the lobster fried rice is the only method I didn't care for out of the four. Get the noodles if there's a choice. For a veg dish, the pea shoots ("dul miu") is a dazzler if they have a good batch in that day, so ask. I think they call it 'green sprout and prince mushroom stir fry'. The 'juicy sea bass' is a fun option, a sort of grown-up take on fish sticks, the pieces of bass lightly battered and tossed in a spicy salt. (Complimentary) desserts are also a winner, with my favourite being the unique mango glutinous rice dumplings. Seriously good food here. Thu Nov 19 21:57:33 -0800 2009 5169931 14419 Chester Eleganté 1 5197307 Went for my daughter's 13th birthday last night. We had a set banquet, no special dishes. Soup was crab with fish maw, cold appetizer platter, shrimp and (huge!) scallops with snow peas, pork rib in lemon sauce, shrimp and dried scallops with baby bok choy in crab sauce, steamed chicken, wok-fried lobster (Note: not the lobster 4-way, just the standard prep), steamed fish in soy with green onion, rice, and dessert. Everything was tasty, but nothing was "knock your socks off". On the other hand, as noted, this was the standard banquet menu, and we didn't make any special requests. The only thing that bothered me was although the restaurant was practically deserted - a table of 4 Chinese, and another table of 2 white people, and the nine of us. That was it (well, except for the noisy mah jongh game going on behind closed doors) - but when we asked to sit at a larger table (they had squeezed us into a table for 8), the maitre d' looked like he had had a sudden attack of indigestion, but after some quiet insistence on our part, we were moved. Even then, sitting at the larger table, the dishes came out so quickly there wasn't room for everything, and we were sweeping remnants of some dishes onto small plates so that there was room for the new ones. Honestly, if I wasn't going for one of O-Mei's special dishes, I'd rather go to Ambassador, where I feel the level of service is a step up, and the banquet standards are prepared just as well, if not better. Fri Nov 20 16:56:38 -0800 2009 5169931 1104506 FrankD 2 5197328 How much do you spend on this banquet set ? Probably the set is around $2xx something from the description of your dishes ? You are right, with this pricing, the stuffs are pretty much standard everywhere. A typical better quality banquet which good quality stuffs starts at $500 (before tax and tips) and up for a table of 10. Fri Nov 20 17:07:18 -0800 2009 5197307 62525 skylineR33 3 5197397 I don't disagree; you get what you pay for to some extent. But my point was that, for a "standard" banquet, at Ambassador, they serve some of every dish to each person as it comes out - they just don't plunk the platter down in front of you and skedaddle. Dishes get changed every few courses; they were never changed at O-Mei. If the restaurant was crowded, I could forgive any of this, but we were the only large table in the place, and as I noted, the other tables were a 4 and a 2. I should have thought we'd receive better service. Again, if we were ordering some of their special dishes, I'd recommend O-Mei in a heartbeat, but for standard stuff, I think you get comparable quality and better service elsewhere. Fri Nov 20 17:58:03 -0800 2009 5197328 1104506 FrankD 4 5197417 That's true, you got a valid point. Fri Nov 20 18:09:31 -0800 2009 5197397 62525 skylineR33 4 5197631 FrankD, they way you describe the dinner scene is similar to what I've experienced a few times as well on a weekday (scarce tables, mahjong playing in the small rooms). While I haven't had an issue w/ their service in the past, I do agree that they are a notch below Ambassador, Casa Imperial or any of those "fine" chinese dining places for service (food is a different story). Nonetheless, I do find it odd that they didn't even bother to change your dishes during your meal, particularly since you had one lobster dish in your meal (almost a given that they need to rid of your shells, chicken/fish bones). Fri Nov 20 20:47:19 -0800 2009 5197397 64010 Royaljelly 5 5197808 We thought it a bit strange that 1) they didn't change the dishes, and 2) the stuff came out of the kitchen without any pacing at all. We surmised afterward that they were ticked that we wanted to move to a larger table, and just wanted to get rid of us. Fri Nov 20 23:38:41 -0800 2009 5197631 1104506 FrankD 6 5199501 We had the $300 set dinner menu tonight for 8 (only 5 adults, 2 kids and lots of left overs). Service was quite good and they must've changed our plates 4 times without prompting. The kitchen did forget our last 2 dishes (soup noodle and fried rice) which took forever to get to us, since the place was packed (the giant lobsters and crabs were just flying out the kitchen). This was after I notified 2 different servers and to no avail, I finally had to ask the manager and he apologized profusely and gave us 3 rounds of free dessert. Had the following: -seafood soup w/ shark's fin (very little fin!) -peas w/ scallops and squid (a bit tough to chew) -8 dried scallops, shrimp on sea cucumber (sauce was rich and hearty) -fried chicken (little too salty and dry) -fried lobster dish which was cooked differently than their usual method (more of a wet sauce, which I didn't like as much) -steamed fish (good as usual) - if I could only get my nanny to cook it that good -soup noodle (like the one you get w/ wontons) - fried rice (huge plate), just so so I don't think any one of these dishes are considered as "must have". I find that they aren't the greatest w/ their red/white meat dishes, but seafood is usually their strong point. Next time I'll just stick to the lobster 3-4 ways. Sat Nov 21 22:57:35 -0800 2009 5197808 64010 Royaljelly