. "6"^^ . "1"^^ . "Food: 4 stars\nAmbience: 3 stars \nService: 1.5 stars\nCare for patrons: 0 star (I will explain this later)\n\nI finally got around to visiting Casa Imperial for a Monday afternoon dim sum. I was hoping to host a party here for my daughter's first birthday for 50+ guests and needed to check it out before sending out RSVPs. Since I did not want to schlep out to Markham with an 11 month old in tow, I called them with some basic questions first. In this phone inquiry, I was told that their \"private dining room\" could accomodate 50+ guests. A BIG FAT LIE. Yes, they have a small private dining room but it can barely seat 25 guests comfortably. Instead, we were told upon arrival that that they could make the entire 2nd flr available for us which opens to the rest of the dining area. This is not the same as having your own room where your event can be closed off to the rest of the restaurant. I did not appreciate that they were outright deceitful over the phone to get me to come in to their restaurant and they did not hesitated to do this when I told them that I would be coming in with a small baby. This is the short explanation for the 0 star for \"care for patrons\" rating above. Oh yeah, that and their laughable \"change table\" for my little one. Anyone interested in exploring this further, you can send me a message.\n\nSo here we were. 4 adults and a baby (11 months old) on a Monday afternoon...arriving around 11:30 and the parking lot was packed! Already a bad sign. I'm sure they will not have adequate parking available for my party guests on a Saturday if the place is this jammed on a Monday. Upon entering the restaurant, I was not amused to see the once beautiful Devonsleigh Place turned into this garish operation. Gone were the old world charm and understated opulence of the former restaurant and what I found in its place was an ill-fitting juxtaposition of a noisy, wanna-be-high end Chinese restaurant. All the servers were dressed in formal attire in attempt to convey attention to detail and class but they did not know how to address guests properly and this became painfully evident when we had to ask for a high chair twice and still wait some 15 min to get it. And to top it all off, they sat us at the farthest corner of the second floor dining room when they could clearly see that my mother in law was walking with a cane. Sigh....\n\nBetween the 4 adults, we tried a healthy variety of dishes off their dim sum menu and I must say, the food was good. Here is a quick run down of our food experience: Shark's fin soup tad too salty for my taste, Beef shumai moist and well seasoned, Steamed chicken with black fungus and orange daylily was one of our favorites with juicy (but boney) morsels of well seasoned chicken cooked in lotus leaf. Chicken feet, baked abalone & chicken pie, crispy taro dumpling, crispy bean curd roll, fried turnip cake were all good, as expected. However, the tripe was too chewy and tough. Perhaps my favorite thing about their dim sum was the milk and papaya puff. These cute flaky pastry beauties held creamy, milky custard filling studded with pieces of papaya. I almost wanted to order more to bring them home. All this came to $75 including tax and tip. Not bad at all. \n\nAfter a mixed dining experience of good food and bad everything else, I have decided that Casa Imperial is not where I would like to have my daughter's first birthday after all. I can put up with bad service if I'm on my own but I refuse to subject my guests to it and Casa Imperial's laughable \"change table\" for my guests with babies. As for vising Casa Imperial again, sure....I would drop in if I'm back in the area but I will not go out of my way to eat there any time soon.\n\nWhen I called the restaurant to let them know that I will not be holding my party there, the manager (older Chinese gentleman whose name I will not mention here) was extremely rude on the phone. His exact response was, \"whatever, I don't care\" before promptly hanging up on me without even asking why. If Casa Imperial really wants to be high end, they have a lot to learn about genuinely caring for their patrons and providing much better service than just putting on a uniform and buying a Victorian mansion."^^ . "2014-02-06T00:00:00"^^ . . "2"^^ . "4"^^ . .