Here we go. It’s going to be a tough year.
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I have only dined at Mandarin twice, and both times at this location. My friend and her family would go for a big Chinese buffet before her parents spent 5 months in Greece each year.
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Interesting that what used to be such a popular location is closing. I ended up at this Mandarin once many years ago, in the company of people that like buffets. Fortunately they had steamed snow crab legs, so I focused on these and had some stir-fried veggies.
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Funny story. My friend and her dad have big appetites. Mandarin had a crab special, with unlimited crab legs, and my friends , a 20something girl, and her 50something dad were going to town.
The manager kept dropping by their table, at least twice, asking if they might want to try the delicious roast beef, and maybe not have anymore crab. I don’t think they were asked to leave, because they remained loyal customers . Both my friend’s parents and my friend and her husband moved from Wychwood Park to Etobicoke some time ago, so I’m guessing they have all become loyal to another Mandarin location.
I have another friend with a big appetite, who is a comedian, who made a joke about a buffet owner giving him money to eat at the competition ‘s buffet down the street. 
I don’t know if it was based on a true story.
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Here’s a blast from the past: while living in London, Big J and I took a friend, who was a very big eater in every sense of the word, to Captain John and Suzy Wong’s. I remember there being an absolutely enormous bowl of steamed shrimp that had about a quarter of the amount left by the time he was through with it. I remember him settling in and saying “They’re going to lose money on me tonight”. Fun times!
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haha🤣
I never made it to Captain John and Suzy Wong’s. I loved going to The Fishery that was located in the same building in the 70s and 80s. They had a Manhattan Clam Chowder on their menu.
Sadly, London doesn’t have any good seafood restaurants with tables, specialized in seafood anymore, other than 5 or 6 fish and chip shops and maybe a lone Red Lobster.
We had Anthony’s, The Fishery and The Lobster Hutch in the 70s and 80s.
For Buffet, we used to go to The Bavarian, The Great West Steakhouse, The Garage, and The Seven Dwarves. None of those places are in business anymore. The site of The Ridout Tavern and The Garage is now a big high-rise condo or apartment
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Mimi Chinese is on “pause”. Last day is today
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I understand Luna in the Junction closed in December 2025
Hmm… that’s a short pause. Looks like they’re reopening in Feb with a dinner with Mei Lin [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mei_Lin_(chef)]
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Natural selection, aka the culling..
God, yes. We have so many sandwich shops, dessert joints, and cafes we could be Toronto The Tea Party.
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It’s going to be worse this year, probably the worst we have seen in my 52 year lifetime.
Sad that diners and family restos serving a full breakfast for $15 before tax are having a much harder time making a go of it than take-out sandwich shops selling $20 before tax sandwiches without potatoes that are open 4 days a week from 11 am to 4 pm. Of course, the diners have longer hours, higher rent, more employees, higher costs, and some customers steal the toilet paper, or dine and dash.
I had been an Emmer fan girl from 2019- 2024. The line outside Emmer and the prices Emmer is charging while keeping very short hours, has almost become symbolic. Seems kind of Marie Antoinette. I think I mentioned this before, that Emmer will have a 15 person line outside their door, starting on Harbord, then running down Borden St along the side of their enclosed patio. At College and Borden, around 500 m South, the Fort York Food Bank will have a line of 15 people outside its door, running along College St. Often, some of the people in line at the food bank are food delivery people with their food delivery bags on their backs.
I will keep better track this year of where my dining, coffee, and bakery dollars are going in Toronto.
I have changed my dining habits a lot over the past 2 years.
My last pretty fancy resto dinner was a nice meal before Xmas with rstuart at Viaggio on Dundas W.
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I truly feel bad for them, but there’s too many people in the business that know nothing about the business.
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I know. Not enough Greeks and Macedonians to run them right.
Haha. Tongue not really in cheek, after yesterday’s disappointing pizza from a former Greeky Spoon. The old owner showed the new non Greek owners how to make the pizza the way he had made it for 39 years, and someone in the new kitchen is not following the protocol.
I feel bad because I want to support a local greasy spoon but the food just isn’t good enough right now.
Another Greeky Spoon run by a Kosta and an Athena I know was sold to a Romanian family in 2021. Kosta and Athena ran it for 25 years, from age 40 to 65. We knew the Greeks who ran it for the 25 years before Kosta and Athena bought the diner.
I understand the Romanians who purchased the restaurant have already sold it to another Romanian family, and that the food isn’t as good as it has been under Kosta and Athena. I will check out their Greek omelette and hash browns at some point.
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They were smart and got out when the getting was good, or they’re now the landlords 
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And, if the Greeks and Macedonians, or their kids are still in the business, they have a business model that works for the demand or location.
2 of my friends are running successful Greeky Spoons in the small Ontario towns , giving the invasive Chuck’s Roadhouse a run for its money.
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That whole block in midtown is being re-developed …
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Please put Chuck’s out of business. They have the distinction of being the worst roadhouse franchise of all. I don’t know anyone in Durham who eats there. Its just that bad.
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