Forbidden City Restaurant
• Pacific Place, 999 - 36 St NE | Calgary, AB | T2A 7X6
Average User Rating:
7.91/10
7.91/10
Recommended by:
77%
77%
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"Very Nice Signature Dishes"
Keith
September 2011 — "My friends and I dropped by Forbidden City on a busy Sunday morning because the dim sum is supposed to be incredibly well done. For the most part, this is in fact true. Especially when it comes to some of their signature dishes.
Between our party of four, we ordered several items that covered the gamut of standard dim sum items like shrimp dumplings and chicken feet to more adventurous dishes like stewed pork hocks and preserved meat with sticky rice. The standards are all done very nicely, but frankly the servings when compared to the cost of the dishes were a little small. The chicken feet in particular was a very small portion. On the other hand the pork hocks, beef flank crepes, and preserved meat sticky rice was fantastic and from what I can tell the only place to go to get this stuff during dim sum hours is at Forbidden City.
As good as the above dishes were, the service at Forbidden City is pretty awful. We waited a good 10 minutes to receive our tea and it took considerable effort to get even a busboy's attention."
User Rating
6.33/10
6.33/10
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"Great Dimsum"
Jason
December 2010 — "Forbidden City is located in NE Calgary inside Pacific Mall. I always see long line ups weekday mornings, so is a good indication of its quality. Ive been here a few times in the past, but only recently started to come again. We arrived Saturday afternoon for Dim Sum and waited about 25 minutes for a table. While we were waiting we just walked the mall, which made the time past very quickly. Once inside, it has a very nice décor but because its so busy they really stick a lot of tables into their space. This left us almost elbow to elbow with other tables. It made for a hectic type of feeling as everyone was loud and cramped. However, that aside, the food was very good. You order from a checklist menu and everything arrives fresh and hot. We ordered many items including the sticky rice, har gow, black pepper spareribs..etc, all the usual items and I was impressed with them all. The were a little slow in refilling the tea pots and water cups, but wasn’t too bad. Prices were about $4 to $5 per item, so is on par with the other dim sum restaurants in the city. Since its not located downtown, parking was easy to get and free. The only concern I have, is that they must use a lot of msg, each time we finish eating, we find ourselves extremely thirsty. That said, I still like this place a lot and will probably make it one of my usual dim sum spots in the city."
User Rating
8.33/10
8.33/10
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"Easily some of the best dim sum in the city"
Mary
December 2010 — "I tagged along with my boyfriend when he met up with some old coworkers over the weekend for Dim Sum. I don’t know why we don’t come here more often! The food here is actually quite good! I don’t know why I’m so surprised – every time we come to shop at T&T, there’s a line up. I think I figured it was because of its location, not because the food itself was particularly good. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The service was prompt, and the food came out in a quick and brisk manner. They took away empty trays quickly. Best of all, the food was really good. It was really fresh and tasted great. I think this may become one of our regulars. It’s so convenient as somewhere to eat and then get errands done, you can go grocery shopping after. Two birds, one stone – that’s my kind of restaurant!"
User Rating
8.83/10
8.83/10
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"Keep on Hoping"
Mary
May 2010 — "So it's been a while since we went to Forbidden City Dim Sum and seafood restaurant and you would hope that nothing much has changed, but it always ceases to surprise me how much everything has changed. The dishes that I thought were good and well done are gone and in its place, dishes that are different - poorly put together with thick wrappers, and oily gloss. Forbidden City's quality has undoubtedly went down in my books, but the clean, comforting setting is what lures you back. On our order, we had their special Malaysian rolls (take a pass!), fried pork dumplings (a disappointment from their past dish), lychee jelly (store bought - I swear to it) and some other normal, comforting dishes. Though the service wasn't to great, it is passable. We got in and out painlessly and without much fuss. I guess for Calgary, if you stay away from the off dishes, it's still a good place to go - considering. You will just be paying top dollar for something close to the real good. I guess I will just hope for next time. "
User Rating
7/10
7/10
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"Awesome hot pot!"
Albert
December 2009 — "I've been to a few all you can you eat hot pots in Calgary, but I must say, Forbidden City has knocked all them out of the park. I came to Forbidden City with a group of friends on a Friday evening. This was our first hot pot at Forbidden City. The price is not bad at $22.99 a person. If you want a refillable beverage, it's another $2.50 on top of that. There are a couple of soup bases you can choose from, but surprisingly, they don't have satay. They provided a couple different kinds of sauces for dipping. The selection and freshness of the food was top notch. The soup bases were very good as well. All in all, it was a great hot pot experience. The price came to $30 a person, which is comparable to other locations. It's a tad higher since you have to pay for your drink. I highly recommend this place."
User Rating
8.33/10
8.33/10
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"Place to go for Chinese Fondue "
Ricky
October 2009 — "We've been to the all you can eat Chinese Fondue at Forbidden City a few time already. It only runs Sept to Feb or so and it just starting again this year. We decided to try it out again for my mom's birthday. The service was good as usual and so is the food. For about $26 per person you have about 50 items to choose from. From meat balls and veggies which most people would like to pork intestine and jelly that some would never touch. There is even oysters that you can order but limited to only 2 per person. You can also choose from 4 or 5 different soup bases for the fondue. You can get a herbal one or just regular chicken soup to super spicy. Anyone that hasn't tried Chinese Fondue before should definitely do so. There a few different place in Calgary that has chinese fondue. But Forbidden City is my first choice for it's fresh food and good service."
User Rating
9.50/10
9.50/10
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"Satisfying Taste"
User Rating
8.20/10
8.20/10
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"Fresh dim sum but cleanliness questionable"Susan
September 2009 — "Forbidden City Restaurant is located within the same mall as the old (first) T and T Supermarket in Calgary on 36 Street. I came here for dim sum on a weekday morning. The restaurant had a few people but wasn't too busy at all. The dim sum in this restaurant works a bit different than traditional places. Instead of carts being pushed around, you would mark on a sheet what types of dim sum you want and the servers will bring it out to you. I ordered some of the main basics, like shrimp rice crepes, pork stuffed with shrimp and scallop, and other items such as tripe, squid and ribs. I was a bit surprised about the quality of the food. The food came out piping hot and tasted quite good. The biggest downer was finding a rather long piece of human hair in one of the dishes. The bowls and plastic chopsticks supplied were a bit gritty as per usual. I thought the dim sum was decent and the cost was OK. It's too bad the cleanliness is questionable."
User Rating
6.50/10
6.50/10
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"Hot Pot Time!"Fang-Han
January 2009 — "This restaurant has a pretty good traditional Chinese hot pot! And the best part is it is all you can eat and boy, we did!!
They have a large selection of raw foods to add into your hot pot, ranging from Chinese veggies, beef, lamb, pork, various seafood's such as prawns and oysters(limited 2 per person) and lots of other interesting foods.
The food quality was excellent and everything was fresh, especially the prawns -they were decent sized and we must have had about 80 of them between the 5 of us.
To start the meal you would need to choose a soup base for the hot pot, and i would recommend the chicken or tomato soup base if you are a beginner. And if you like hot stuff you may want to try the spicy soup base (beware it is very hot!)
They also had bottomless drinks for a reasonable price, and overall the price per person was fair for the quality of food and in my case the volume!
If you adventurous and haven't tried real Hot Pot before, I would recommend you give this a try. "
User Rating
8.17/10
8.17/10
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DescriptionForbidden City prepares lunch and dinner daily, including dim sum and a lunch buffet. Enjoy a variety of dishes including spring rolls, Singapore-style vermicelli, and won ton soup.
Location InformationPacific Place, 999 - 36 St NE
Calgary
AB
T2A 7X6
