Tai Pan Restaurant
• 171 1518 Centre St NE | Calgary, AB | T2E
Average User Rating:
7.10/10
7.10/10
Recommended by:
42%
42%
Sort Reviews by:
"New name, new quality!"
Lindsay
November 2011 — "My boyfriend and I saw that one of our favorite places for Chinese buffet had changed names, so of course we had to try it out. Tai Pan is located on the top floor of a busy stripmall on Macleod and Southland Drive. It used to be called the Empress. However, it would seem the change in name, and probably in owners, did it good! The decor was much classier and the food was much fresher. I loved how they had a large selection of fresh and tasty seafood in the buffet, making it well worth the $20 a person. They also had a great selection of dim sum items, which were all better than the last dim sum place I went to eat! The bathrooms were clean and the service was great, with our plates being cleared and our water being filled often. We will definitely be back again to make it our new favorite buffet in Calgary! "
User Rating
9.20/10
9.20/10
Ambience
••••••••••
Cleanliness
••••••••••
Quality of Food
••••••••••
Staff Service
••••••••••
Value for Money
••••••••••
"Fantastic Duck, Limited Service"Keith
May 2011 — "My friends and I have heard from people in the know, that since Ginger Beef in Sunridge Mall closed down, Tai Pan is now the place to go for outstanding Peking duck. Last Friday, we decided to see if the rumours were true.
It is fair to say, Tai Pan really is the king of Peking duck in Calgary, however the rest of the menu is another story. We ordered a Peking duck ala carte and accompanied it with a standard mix of western-Chinese and traditional dishes that included, ginger beef, eggplant and ground pork hotpot, peapod shoots with garlic and beef ho-fan (flat rice noodles).
What sets the duck above the rest of the competition was the care in which ours was prepared. the duck was carved very thin, which not only made wrapping it in the delicate rice pancakes easy, but also made it nicely coalesce with the cucumber, green onion and hoisin sauce also inside the wrap.
The rest of our order was really run of the mill. Not that it was bad, but just that it was as good as any number of Peking/Cantonese restaurants in the city, and was about the same price.
If anything will stop me from coming back here, it is the service. Now for whatever reason, Tai Pan has become THE Chinese restaurant to go to for dinner on a Friday. So much so, that I had to actually make reservations for our dinner party, not to mention our duck! The end result of this was service that was paltry to say the least. Maybe it's better to come here on a weekday, I'm not sure.
So if you're looking for Peking duck and are willing to put up with sub-par service on a weekend, give Tai Pan a shot."
User Rating
5.17/10
5.17/10
Ambience
••••••••••
Beverages
••••••••••
Cleanliness
••••••••••
Quality of Food
••••••••••
Staff Service
••••••••••
Value for Money
••••••••••
"Give this place a miss..."
Albert
September 2010 — "I came here on a Friday night with a small group of friends. The restaurant was packed so we had to wait a while. This is a smaller Chinese restaurant, located in a mall just off of Centre Street. The inside is simply decorated and comparable to other Chinese restaurants. We ordered the duck meal along with a couple of other dishes. Everything looked fine and was aesthetically pleasing, but the taste was not so great. The restaurant was very busy and the food came out relatively fast but the food was all luke warm to cool, which made a really disappointing dinner. It was also not very tasty at all. We had some fried rice, Peking duck, soup, pork dish and noodles. The price is decent and perhaps even a bit lower than similar restaurants, but considering what you're getting, I would not go back or recommend this restaurant."
User Rating
5.83/10
5.83/10
Ambience
••••••••••
Beverages
••••••••••
Cleanliness
••••••••••
Quality of Food
••••••••••
Staff Service
••••••••••
Value for Money
••••••••••
"Good Food, Fast Service "
Ricky
February 2010 — "There's a good promotion currently at Tai Pan. For dim sum it's buy 2 items get one free. For dinner you can choose a few dishes for free for order a couple other dishes too. One of the free dishes is crab which is what we got. Including the free dish we got 9 dishes. We had everything from steamed fish, fried pork chop, cold chicken, fried tofu, and fried rice. All the dishes tasted good and they were served in less than 10 minutes after they're ordered. This was amazing since the place was pretty much packed. There's only a few places that can keep up with a packed dining room with no long wait for food. The serves made sure our tea of refill and empty dished was collected as well. Over all there's no compliants and we'll be back for more. With all 9 dishes and dessert as well for 8 people the bill only came to $100 plus tips. Pretty good deal!"
User Rating
9/10
9/10
Ambience
••••••••••
Beverages
••••••••••
Cleanliness
••••••••••
Quality of Food
••••••••••
Staff Service
••••••••••
Value for Money
••••••••••
"Decent Chinese Food"
Susan
October 2009 — "A few friends and I decided to get take-out from Tai Pan one night. We ordered Peking duck wraps, fried rice, fried noodles and sweet and sour pork to go. When we brought the food home, we realized they had forgotten to pack our sweet and sour pork so we had to call back. They wanted us to come and pick it up but we insisted on a refund since we didn't want to drive all the way back. The service was not so great as expected from most Chinese restaurants. The food however, was not too bad. The Peking duck wasn't too dry or fatty so was just right. The side cucumbers and green onions were nicely cut and fresh and the wraps were very good as well. The fried rice and noodles were acceptable and still quite hot. Overall, it was a good takeout experience and I would recommend this restaurant."
User Rating
6.80/10
6.80/10
Ambience
••••••••••
Cleanliness
••••••••••
Quality of Food
••••••••••
Staff Service
••••••••••
Value for Money
••••••••••
"Mediocre Dim Sum"Jason
August 2009 — "Occupying the spot that used to hold Tropica Malayasian restaurant on Centre Street near 16th AVE, this established is in a great location that offers limited but free parking. For those that don’t want to go into Chinatown for dimsum, this is an alternative…however probably not the best alternative.
We arrived at 9 AM on a Saturday morning and found plenty of tables available. We were quickly seated and offered our choice of tea. Instead of having carts being pushed around and choosing your food items from there, you had to order in advance from the menu. It did take a while, but the food eventually came out. It was hot and fresh, however it was not as tasty as I would have liked. The majority of the food was very bland and some basically had no taste at all. Maybe it was an off day? It was an overall disappointing trip due to the food. We ordered about 10 items between 4 people and it costs about $43. If the food was better, I would say the prices were reasonable, but unfortunately this is not the case. Some of items we ordered were the Pork Siu Mi, Shrimp dumplings, chicken feet, spareribs, beef balls, crepes..etc and none of it was satisfactory. Next time, I will gladly pay for parking and go to Chinatown.
"
User Rating
5.83/10
5.83/10
Ambience
••••••••••
Beverages
••••••••••
Cleanliness
••••••••••
Quality of Food
••••••••••
Staff Service
••••••••••
Value for Money
••••••••••
"Tasty Peking Duck"
Mary
July 2009 — " group of friends and I headed here for Peking duck the other night. There were approximately 10 of us with 3 ducks and I believe 4 other dishes. For those who have not had Peking duck before, they cut up a duck into pieces that are used to make wraps. You usually have the choice of dough wraps or lettuce and you put cucumbers and sauce. They also use bits of the duck to be put into a soup. Overall, I was quite pleased with the experience. The servers were attentive and were constantly refilling our water and tea. They brought the food out quite quickly and we actually had leftovers which is quite a surprise in our group. The total with everything came to just under $150.00 so not too bad considering how many of us there were. I think we will come here again the next time we having cravings for duck."
User Rating
8.17/10
8.17/10
Ambience
••••••••••
Beverages
••••••••••
Cleanliness
••••••••••
Quality of Food
••••••••••
Staff Service
••••••••••
Value for Money
••••••••••
DescriptionTai Pan is located on Centre Street NE in a strip mall in the former Tropica location, affording it with a large dining room. They serve dim sum that customers can order off a menu ensuring a good variety of hot dishes.
Location Information171 1518 Centre St NE
Calgary
AB
T2E
