QJD Peking Duck （Markham）Restaurant

Had dinner on Nov 28 (walked in). Food was below average. Service was subpar (we barely saw our waitress). We had to call (raise hand) someone ourselves few times to remove the empty plates / to refill the teapot / to get more napkins. We won't return in the near future. With this price tag and subpar service, there are many better options in this neighborhood.

November 29, 2024 on Google

It’s no longer the same level of service and food quality than it used to be! We paid $500+ for this menu and the duck was not even presented to us, the duck in flower pattern was packaged at $30 premium and everything did not come hot. Service was poor as the servers accidentally served us the wrong dish, but subsequently took it away after one minute and said this was not ours!!! we all took a bite of it anyway I’m not sure what the server did to it… Every dish was smaller than it used to be. The tofu dish was very bland. Overall the place and decor was not well maintained and seems like there was a change of management and owner. It was definitely not worth this price point and you should go somewhere else for Peking duck, lots of places to choose from and competition in Markham.

October 12, 2024 on Google

TLDR; good service for a chinese restaurant as there is mandatory 15% tips added, atmosphere and decor WAS great when first opened, but now needs desperate refresh from cutlery to menus to walls, seats were too close together, food is decent but for the price point you can find better value. QJD, 160 year history, the supposed authority for Peking duck. Overall the duck was ok but the skin wasn't crispy/dry the way other chinese Peking duck restaurants have it. It's a different style so I can't fault them for it. Also they introduced a new way to eat the duck, the first set of skin was served with a mound of white sugar and was advised to dip, which no other place has. The wrap they keep on the table with a warming device aka steamer and hot water which was a nice touch. There was no option to cook the duck a second way like other restaurants as well, which was not disappointing but again, probably not the traditional style. Rest of dishes were pretty good but higher price than normal, which normally I wouldn't mind paying the higher price but the atmosphere didn't match at all. The decor was nice but the dishes were chipped, menus were old worn and dirty, walls were all scuffed up, washroom doors had small holes in them just to name a few. Also when I first walked in, it smelt like bleach which is good I suppose since they are cleaning but kind of a turn off for obvious reasons. Finally service, so for a Chinese restaurant is pretty good as they did earn the tip, checking up on the table a few times. So no complaints there. Overall I would still recommend coming here as we did have a good time overall, I just really wanted to like it more.

September 27, 2024 on Google

I had a sudden craving for Beijing Roast Duck and decided to try Quanjude in Toronto based on recommendations. However, the overall experience was quite disappointing. The food did not justify the higher prices, and I don't think it's worth a visit. Premium Whole Duck: The duck skin lacked crispiness, the meat was too lean, and the accompanying scallions were minced. Even the signature dish fell short of expectations. Given the relatively high prices in Toronto, this was a letdown. Not recommended! Crab Meat Tofu: The addition of frozen mixed vegetables seemed out of place. The flavors didn't mesh well, crab meat was scant, and sauce was watery, making it unappetizing. The kitchen did make a second attempt after our feedback, which was an improvement. Fragrant Eggplant with Assorted Nuts: Decent taste. Fried Rice with Dried Scallops and Egg White: Slightly overcooked but still decent in flavor. Squirrel Fish with sweet and sour sauce: Not recommended. Unimpressive taste and overpriced. Only good for social media photos. Lamb: Fatty meat but acceptable taste. Overall, the meal was quite ordinary and did not justify the prices, especially with the mandatory 15% tip.

September 2, 2024 on Google

I do not recommend this restaurant and will never return. Probably the most poorly managed Chinese restaurant I have ever been to. The Peking Duck was good. Everything else was bad. Our table of 2 ordered half a Peking Duck plus 3 dishes and two $20 soups. The first dishes that got served was the 3 dishes (veggies and meat stir-fry). Then they started serving the Peking Duck And when everything was finished, they started serving the soup. Absolutely ridiculous waitress and kitchen staff. IF their plan is to do everything in the opposite direction, at least warn us in advance. It’s like going into a fancy steak house and they serve you the ice cream first, then the potatoes, and then the steak, and the soup last. The soup was a complete rip off, the $20 veggies soup I had tasted like it was made in 2 hours as opposed to 20 hours. The other soup was order, wasn’t even the correct order, and the waitress insisted and argued that we order the wrong dish. None of the food at the restaurant was memorable. The only memory I have of this restaurant is bad customer service, poor management, and unexperienced staff.

August 10, 2024 on Google

This place offers more than the Peking duck, other menu items were also worth to try. We had the razor clams in black bean sauce, soup and stir-fry duck gizzards with chilies. All of them were good. Service was quick and attentive.

August 4, 2024 on Google

We ordered Uber Eat on a rainy day. Take an hour to get the delivery. Foods arrived in good condition and warm. The lunch box came with 3 side dishes and a sweet soup as desserts. Taste good, it deserves prices.

July 20, 2024 on Google

For the price point, this is surprisingly a poorly performing place. Duck prices at the time of the review averages at nearly $100 for a full duck, and around $60 for half, when opting for the traditional Beijing duck experience (involving a dough wrap with onion and cucumbers as additives). A lot of mishaps noted: - The duck was overcooked, mitigating the natural sweetness to duck meat and instead resulting in a rough chewiness. - Duck slices were somewhat haphazard in shape and size. - Good cuts in similarly priced restaurants will avoid cutting close to the glands that cause a strong gaminess to the flavour; this wasn’t done with our serving. Other dishes we ordered were similarly disappointing. Dishes typically looked much worse than their menu counterparts, as you will see in our photos. More specific issues that we had: - The Japanese tofu dish is marketed as refreshing, but diners aren’t told that the tofu is deep fried. The tofu itself uses a very common tempura batter; in our experience, this was so heavily coated and poorly fried that the result was nauseating, with bites leaving a strong tempura batter aftertaste and a heaviness from the overuse of oil. A surprisingly very poor performance. - The red wine beef brisket is sold as a bit of a fusion dish. While there is some sweetness to the brisket at the end, the flavour is otherwise very trite and regular for a dish of this style. - We had also ordered the winter melon dish and couldn’t help but notice that the restaurant chose to use a combination of plate and dish that made scooping up the actual winter melon pieces impossible. You can pick up the pieces directly with chopsticks, but the whole point is to scoop the melon and sauce together. We usually don’t nitpick on these things — but again, as you’ve seen with the $$ amount, this is not a cheap dining experience. The average meal cost would suggest a certain level of attention to these details that wasn’t there. A really disappointing experience overall.

July 1, 2024 on Google