Ever since I moved to downtown Toronto from the Richmond Hill/Markham area, I've been craving me some hearty Northern Chinese carbs; especially beef noodle soup. So I was quite excited to see a grandma preparing fresh dough in the window of Dumpling Queen. My my experiences uptown, usually places that make dumplings also makes their own noodles. When I got into the restaurant I noticed the distinctive Northern Chinese accents of the servers and chefs (who seemed to be related) so I knew I was in good hands. OK. So far all signs are pretty promising. Juuuust one little thing: my own dumb assumption. For some reason (maybe it was the cute grandma in the window), I thought that they hand-made all their dough-related dishes (including their noodles). So I was not to pleased when I got my order that not only were the noodles not hand made but have been over cooked to a level of no return. They were disintegrating between my chopsticks. The soup was very soy-saucy and had very minimal beef taste. I also ordered the family style salad which was pretty tasty but I was too grief stricken over my beef noodle soup to appreciate it.
To be fair this place is called Dumpling Queen and I did not order any dumplings. I have a feeling that they will be better than the noodles because at least they are handmade from scratch. I feel bad about writing this review because the people who work here seem to be really nice so maybe I will come back and try their dumplings.