Chinese Wedding Location

[BigDL]

Looking at venues for Chinese wedding for next year for about 20-25 tables.

I have got info from Forbidden City, Regency, Chinese Cultural Center, and Silver Dragon.

What I would like to get feedback on is the food from these place, but only if people have been to a banquet at these restaurants in the last year, so 2014+ only.

I have been to weddings at Forbidden City, Regency and Silver Dragon, but those were a few years ago. Since then I know things have probably changed at each location. For example, I heard there has been chef and staff changes at Forbidden City since I been there.

It would be good to hear some recent reviews of banquets held at these locations to help figure out which ones to go to and at least try their food again without having to go out to all of them. The Cultural Center is low on our list of possible restaurants but, we have it on our list just in case.

[jwslam]

First hand and very recent experience at Regency: Food quality is definitely deteriorating over the past 2/3 years.
They're also very disorganized with their staffing and their setup was about 2 hours behind for my gala (last week, 56 tables and they barely started setup at 2:30pm). Definitely would not be my first pick even though I have no recent opinions on the others.

Silver Dragon: The plot plan is a little funny. Not sure if you can accomodate all your 20-25 in just the main part where you walk in but I know that I've been in the back section during a wedding and saw nothing of the stage.

Also consider what period of the year you do this and if you need a coatcheck; we had to run our own at regency and they only provided 2 racks and no tags.

Other places not on your list (I also don't have opinions on these): Central Grand (very limited parking), Ho Won (no elevator access), Golden Central (not sure if it accomodates 20+ tables), Grand Pearl (also not sure on size, not even sure if they do banquets)

[realazy]

T.Pot and Forbidden City is probably the go to for better quality food. They would also need the most advance bookings for popular days as they are very popular restaurants.

Regency food is horrible, but it's the largest and most open venue (space) if you need 30+ tables.

[lasimmon]

Only ever been to one Chinese wedding and it was at the Silver Dragon. The food was amazing! (for a white guy like me).

[98type_r]

Originally posted by jwslam
First hand and very recent experience at Regency: Food quality is definitely deteriorating over the past 2/3 years.

+1

They've changed management and ownership over the last 5 years and things have progressively gotten worse. We average probably 1-2 weddings there per year and have definitely noticed the decline in food quality/taste.

[GQBalla]

TPOT and silver dragon IMO.

silver dragon is catered to the caucasian crowd but for their banquet foods, its pretty good actually. Costly though.

[chongkee_]

Had my wedding at Regency in Oct. 2014.
Can't comment on the food personally as I barely got to eat the whole night other than a bite of my cake and 2 of the 10 course.
Talking to guests after the wedding, they all said they loved the food. Depends on which of the 3 meal selections that you choose. Pick what you think majority of your guest will like. For us we picked the mid-tier one and paid extra to have a few dishes changed.

My wedding was around 24 tables including the head table.
If you are going with 20-25 tables, be sure you are at the stage side half.

We were looking at Silver Dragon as an option but as mentioned by jwslam, layout wasn't really the best.

Let me know if you have any other specific questions.

[95EG6P]

i had mine at grand central and it was good price was point as well

[hrdkore]

you can do it at cultural center, the restaurant beside it can cater to it. My friend also just rented a hall and had a restaurant cater it, full 10 course meal.

[Pihsiak]

I looked at TPot when I got married a few years ago. If food is your thing, go there I guess.

But there were some thing that did not work for us when we inquired.

No change room for the wife, they said that they could "close off" the Handie stall in the woman's washroom and put down some carpet. But your wife would still have to walk across the restaurant and through the HK cafe portion to get there.

Those big holes in the wall on the restaurant side. Unless you want to fill up the openings with something or your wedding takes up both sides, ppl gonna be lookin' in and your won't have that much privacy.

Finally the tables can not be moved around. They are not like traditional tables with a circular board on top. They are heavy tables that the restaurant did not allow us to move in order to fit more people.

Maybe they have changed, I don't know.


Ended up having our wedding at Central Grand in 16th and Center. Tho they were pricy and their mandatory gratuity went up from 15% to 18% last time I heard.

[Prelude_dude]

Had my baby girls one month celebration at Forbidden 2 years ago, a lil outside your range, but as usual the food is great. Probably my first pick to host another big gathering. Not sure how many people they can accommodate.

Just went to another one month baby celebration last month at Golden Central, there was about 6 tables. Food was pretty good, the rest of the restaurant was packed and food still came out relatively quick.

[bleu]

I've been to 3 weddings at Silver Dragon this past year. Food was delicious everytime. For all three we were seated in the back part...family was in the main part. We couldn't see anything that was going on and I'm sure the older crowd was happy not to see what was going on in our wing. LOL

We had a great time for all three.

[BigDL]

Thanks guys, I have good times at Silver Dragon, helps every time we went for a function it was for my friends family whose dad was a chef there for many years before he retired. If we go with Silver Dragon, I would max out the main room then 4 tables on the side area + setup the photo booth there. Probably stick friends, misc friends and people I dont know at that area.

T-pot is too small, but I do agree that the food is pretty good and consistent, just had my nephews 1 month dinner there for 9 tables, but the layout just wouldn't work for 20 ish tables and it is close to everyone.

See I had really good food experiences with Forbidden City, but my soon to be MIL says it sucks and not good recently, so I wanted to get second opinion from more people, I'll probably drag everyone there for a dinner and see for myself with her there too.





Also for people who are looking at this in the future here is some extra info for people doing research.

Regency
- 25 tables or more, anything less and you are not getting a summer Saturday date
-Bridal room behind the stage
-2 projectors and screens on either side of the stage
-non refundable deposit

Forbidden City
- 25 > tables you get the whole restaurant, max is like 30 tables but super tight 28 ish is okay.
- bridal room by the stairs to the washroom
- Free parking and can setup a nice reception table at the entrance of the restaurant

Silver Dragon
-28 tables max, 10 on the side wing, 16 in the middle, 2 in the room by the entrance
-bridal room by the washrooms
-3 tv screens via HDMI for the videos
-refundable deposit if canceled at least 3 months before the wedding.

[AzNxHyDrA]

Bump!

My fiancee and I were planning to have our reception next summer at Civic on Third with Silver Dragon catering a full 10 course banquet. Due to some contractual issues, it's likely not going to happen.

With 400 guests, our backup plan is Regency since I don't think we fit in any other Chinese restaurant .

I was hoping to see if anyone knows of other event halls/hotels/etc that can accommodate 400 people and serve a full 10 course Chinese banquet?

We also looked at Carriage House Inn down south but their quote was a bit out of our budget.

If we have to, I'm sure we can reduce the guest count down to 300 people but probably not much lower than that.

Thanks in advance.

[jwslam]

Originally posted by AzNxHyDrA
I was hoping to see if anyone knows of other event halls/hotels/etc that can accommodate 400 people and serve a full 10 course Chinese banquet?

http://www.culturalcentre.ca/index.p...how-auditorium
Cater from the basement (the restaurant has new ownership btw).

[rage2]

I had my Chinese wedding at Silver Dragon. I'm now divorced. YMMV.

[AzNxHyDrA]

Originally posted by jwslam

http://www.culturalcentre.ca/index.p...how-auditorium
Cater from the basement (the restaurant has new ownership btw).

Thanks!

In regards to the note about new ownership, is the food better or worse now

[jwslam]

Originally posted by AzNxHyDrA
Thanks!

In regards to the note about new ownership, is the food better or worse now

I haven't tried it but it's now owned by a friend of mine so of course I had to recommend it

[AzNxHyDrA]

Originally posted by jwslam

I haven't tried it but it's now owned by a friend of mine so of course I had to recommend it

thanks for the info!

[403ep3]

Carriage house inn wasn't bad when we did the initial taste test for my brothers wedding, but when it came to the event the food was no good. It had no flavour. That's my experience though.