Rol San Restaurant

The Yangzhou fried rice has no taste, and the Cantonese noodles (a lot of fried noodles, very few vegetables and meat) taste average, not as delicious as the ones I made myself. Also, the fried pork belly was too dry and tasted like dough.

This restaurant serves delicious Chinese dishes. Especially the breakfast dishes at reasonable prices. Good service.

Amazing food, worth the wait.
If you go during peak times, it may be 45 to 60 minutes to get in.
The pan fried pork dumplings are way better than you'd guess, they can't be skipped. I specifically went for dim sum, and the siu mai didn't disappoint either.
Neighboring tables got noodle dishes, and everything looked amazing. I had instant FOMO.
Would definitely go back in the future.
Cash or visa only, come prepared!

My go to dimsum place in downtown. Because of their popularity, their food is always fresh.

If you haven’t already, you have to try their fried eggplant and shrimp dimsum. My all time favourite. Perfection.

The rest are also great, shu mai, har gow, sticky rice etc

Always come here for dim sum. This place is great if you are looking for a casual yummy experience. Nothing fancy but overall the new location looks updated and clean.

Hands down, the best dim sum place in the town! Their dim sums are amazingly delicious. The service is great, i also like their tea and hot sauce. Har gow, shiu mai, shrimp rice roll, bbq pork bun, deep fried squid are my all-time favourites! Their regular food other than dim sum are also very good. Highly recommend this place!

Whenever I’m traveling to a city with a Chinatown, I always have to check it out. Toronto’s is quite unique and I appreciate how big it is! Just off the main drag is Rol San. I love that they serve dim sum all day. And it’s not some limited menu/reheated stuff. You get the full dim sum experience until midnight here! The food comes out hot and steamy and they have a great selection. Steamed to order! Rol San is on most “Top 10 Lists” of places to eat in Toronto’s Chinatown and it’s not hard to see why.

Very delicious food, friendly staffs, the only issue was little space for many people to dine in. Need to wait for others to finished.but everything is good except the space

I'm not sure if it was because it was a busy night or if the staff had a long day, but service was sub-par to say the least. My friends and I just wanted to grab dinner after a long day at work but our experience was not the greatest. One of my friends had reccomended this restaurant as his last experience was great. We could barely wave down a server, we didn't receive the food we wanted, and we were not told about the service charge that was automatically added to our bill - even though it was a dinner for 3. I work in the food industry so I was shocked because I knew that most places added an auto gratuity on parties of 6 or more. So we paid more than we thought we were going to for a dinner experience we could barely enjoy. Another thing was that I met my friends there and they were already sitting, so I went and joined them, however no one asked to see my proof of vaccination. Nor did it seem like others were being properly checked. During these times it's a little unnerving to be honest. Besides that, the food was good.

Basic service needs some work.
Food was tasty, but asking for rice, iced water or two bowls shouldn't take 15 minutes. The male server didn't seem to care and was the same person we asked for all three things. I get you have a lot of takeout, but with five waiters you need to do better.

Today I came into the restaurant with my family hoping for a some delicious meals one of the dishes we ordered was vegetable one and as we were eating we noticed that there was a dark coloured worm after calling the server he mentioned it was from the vegetable and not the restaurant which is ridiculous after canceling the meal we were really disgusted to stay but we did and ordered more food. I was expecting that they give us another complementary dish but did not I wish I took a picture of the worm to share it with safety inspectors

We ate here during a dumpling crawl and although nothing in particular jumped out to us as amazing all around everything was quite good. Worth checking out if your a dim sum lover like us

This place is legendary after Kensington bars. I think the food is better at Swatow, but they are not open so late anymore: - (They kept trying to upsell us. We were all sober. It was more money than thought it was worth.

Delicious dim sum/ yum Cha. Great efficient friendly service. Excellent value. Sticky rice not as great as other dishes, but still good. Would return.

Since CoviD the food has gotten amazingly good and customer service has improved a lot. But what I did not like is forcing 15% gratuity on customers. Our bill before tax was around $75 and after tax and 15% service charge it was almost $100 which is not right, the management needs to pay your employees, don’t force your labour cost on customers.
If you are expecting the bill to be a certain amount add 27% to the bill.

The food is fantastic, the service is quick, and the price is absolutely fair. Great Toronto staple. This is definitely one of the restaurants that I will visit time and time again.

Everything was so delicious and tasty! Our servers even made a couple suggestions based on what we ordered, a nd their suggestions turned out to be extra delicious! This staff we're all very kind and it's super easy to order they give you a paper and you mark on it what you want and they come pick it up. The front entrance is accessible so you can get in on a mobility device. During the summer time they also had an outdoor small patio. Everyone wore masks for safety!

This food was so delicious that I severely over ate and threw up in my mouth and swallowed it back.

Great food! Especially for a late night dinner when you’re drunk. Everything is so tasty with huge portions which are so so good for leftovers! Love the fried rice and the wonton soup and just everything!

The food is really good, however a secret charge was snuck into the bill for the tea that was already provided. Additionally, the restaurant charges a service charge in the bill, along with asking for a tip. Food is good, but some of the practices are a bit sneaky.

Food was just meh. They pretend to check vaccination status. The service was mediocre as expected. What I didn't expect was that they forced a gratuity of whopping 15% onto the bill. ONTOP OF THE HST! So it works out to be close to 17% of the bill before HST. When I asked about the tip (because the forced gratuity was not indicated anywhere), the server said yeah it's added on and quickly walked away. Don't know if I will get much but filed a complaint with City of Toronto.

Great selection of dimsum at reasonable prices. Left very satisfied, not only by the food but also by the friendly service.

Amazing shrimp, seafood, chicken dim-sum! Loved it, quick and good service. If you’re looking for dim-sum this is the spot!

Be careful, and make sure you ask for the bill and look at it.

I have been dining here for years and years. Yesterday, I felt cheated by this place. For years I have never asked or looked carefully at the bill, I just pay and ofcourse tip them. My girlfriend noticed yesterday that the waitress was deliberately not showing me the bill (I stupidly choose to trust people), and made every effort to hide it (e.g staying away from me, not showing me the bill) so she specifically asked for the bill and turns out there was 12% fee already added to the bill. It’s totally fine to add it. I can empathise as I am sure there are outliers/customers who don’t tip the staff well so they proactively add the service fee. But, why deliberately hide it from me? That’s a form of cheating for me. Hope others are mindful.

I've been going to Rol San for almost 20 years. The service and food have all always been inconsistent. They dropped the ball big time this time. Asked for water 3x. Forgot to enter a few dishes then tried to blame us for ordering last minute. Bait and switch - menu prices were lower than final bill. Automatic 15% service charge. Quality of food has also gone downhill. The male manager/server with glasses is the worst. He ignores requests, brings take out containers while we're still eating and treats female employees with no respect. Head to Markham for better dim sum and service.

I found this place pricier than other restaurants in that area. And be aware that tip may be already included in your bill, even with a small group - mine was only 2 people. Food was okay.

This is the best, most authentic dim sum in the city.

Be warned this is not a cheap place, but it is definitely worth it. Come hungry, leave happy!

Rol San is a staple of Dim Sum in downtown Toronto since 1994. Some people say the food is just okay, others say the staff are rude. Like I said it's a staple of dim sum at 3 am Saturday night or 10 am Sunday for brunch.

What i do not like is they charged another 15% on top of total bill+hst. Therefore there is no need for tip but still.price vs quality, 4star.

For people who live downtown, Rol San is considered a gem for dim sum lovers. It’s not as good as the dim sum places you find in the suburbs like Markham or Scarborough but it’s passable.

Some of the food here are quite good, the only drawbacks are the service and the price. It seems every 2 or 3 months they hike up the price. Good service is also nonexistent here so don’t be disappointed when you don’t feel welcome the moment you walked in, or when you feel ignored by servers, or you’ve been overcharged, etc. This is how they are and they’ve been in business for more than 20 years because people come here for the food and not for their lousy service.

I have tried all their dim sum dishes and IMO these are the best tasting dim sum to order in Rolsan:

Shiu Mai (Pork Dumplings with Shrimp) :
Shiu Mai is my all time favorites and the first thing I grab whenever I go to dim sum restaurants. If you’ve never had this, it’s kind of like a juicy meatball, held together by a soft dumpling wrapper.

Rol San’s Shiu Mai is one the best I’ve ever tried. The texture is toothsome but juicy and tender at the same time. The filling is bursting with rich and meaty savoriness. One order comes with 4 pcs of delicious Shiu Mai and I bet you will eat more than one.

Har Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) :
Har Gow is one of those dish that you will either love or hate depending on how it was made. I have tasted Har Gows where the dumpling wrappers are perfect but had a terrible filling. And then there are some that have flavourful filling but the wrappers are either dry and breaks apart when you grab with a chopstick.

Not the case with Rol San’s Har Gow. The dumpling is translucent and flavourful. It has a smooth texture and able to hold the dumpling shape well.

Fried Eggplant with Stuffed Shrimp Paste in Soy Sauce
What I like about this dish is that it’s not oily even though it’s fried. The eggplant plus the shrimp filling makes this dim sum dish even better. Combined it with the flavourful sauce and this is one dish that is very satisfying.

Deep Fried Seaweed Roll with Chicken & Shrimp:
I was surprised on how good this dish was! If you’re not a dim sum aficionados, you won’t even know about this dish as this is one of the lesser known dim sum.

I know people always order the Shiu Mai or Har Gow but trust me on this, try to order this dish and you will be hooked.

Shaped in a form of cigar, it’s crunchy on the outside, chewy bouncy inside and bursting with umami flavour. The smokey seaweed hugging the shrimp/chicken mixture and served with mayo sauce is one delectable dish you will surely enjoy.

Char Siu Bao (Steamed BBQ Pork Bun) :
I love Rol San’s BBQ Pork Buns! They make this perfect snowy white bun which is so delicious. Cracked open on top, you can get a glimpse of the barbecued pork filling. You cannot go to a dim sum restaurant and leave without trying their soft, fluffy buns with chunks of BBQ pork in a sweet savory sauce.

Honorable Mentions:
Fried Bean Curd with Stuffed Shrimp Paste in Soy Sauce - the taste is similar to the stuffed fried eggplant but with fried bean curd.

Pan Fried Beef Short Ribs - delicious and tender, this is one dish you should try.

Steamed Bean Stick Rolls with Mince Pork & Shrimp Paste in Oyster Sauce - another umami flavoured dish. The beancurd wrapper, sauce, coupled with a combination filling of pork, shrimp, mushrooms and veggies is packed with flavour and is absolutely yummy.

Meh and not worth it:
Deep Fried Squid Tentacle - rubbery and tough, enough said.

Pan Fried Turnips Cake with Pork Dry Shrimp & Chinese Bacon - they definitely skimp on the filling ingredients here (especially the turnips) since all I can taste is rice flour and starch. Not good compared to other dim sum places.

Steamed Custard Buns - I find Rol San’s Custard Bun dry and not soft. The custard filling also doesn’t have the creamy texture compared to other Custard Buns I’ve tried so I didn’t enjoy this dish.

I’ll never go anywhere else for dim sum in Toronto. So good and so affordable. Their house hot sauce is super spicy but the best hot sauce ever. I’ve asked them to sell them in jars but it was a no go. Their service is very much “no bs, straight to the point”. They might not be “friendly” but they’re nice.

Worst customer service ever.
We was sitting outside at the patio. The server forced us pay before we got any food on the table without no reason. When i asked him why, he said “just pay it”. I was so speechless. I’ve been come to the restaurant many times but never had to pay before we finished the food.
I was so hungry and angry. We tried to reach the servers inside. Then 1 server came and explained we had to pay first cause there were customers “run” without paying. I was “oh wow” and even can not enjoy the food later.
And also, the 15% for tip is forced into the bill, which we re not aware of when we pay for the food. And last time, when i pay for the food by cash, the same server just didn’t give us any change back without asking us. The tip is for customer service, but we got no customer service at all.
I like the food here, that why i came here so frequently. But i guess no more. So disappointed!

The steamed meatballs, beef short rib fried, soup dumplings (it's a soup with dumplings in it) and minced pork with sticky rice in lotus leaf. Amazing. You will not be disappointed.

What a terrible experience! Forced gratuity of 18% on a bill which we were told we had to pay before we were even served what we ordered. Only option to pay was VISA; no cash, debit, or other types of credit card accepted. Tea was served when we sat done, though we were only informed afterwards that it was not complimentary. Was served the wrong dish; had to send it back to the kitchen. Whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

Very happy this place is still running. I love their dim sum and delicious pumpkin dessert. It's one of my favourite dim sum spots in Toronto

No frills Chinese restaurant with excellent food. The service is fast and the staff are friendly. The first time I ate here I had dim sum and I loved it. This time I had their three meats fried rice and it was so good. I was surprised at the large quantity given and how cheap it was. I’ll definitely come back since I love fried rice!

My favorite dim sum place! I’ve been coming for over 6 years. I travel 45 minutes just for their take out. I strongly suggest the har gow, taro spring rolls and the minced pork dumplings (#35 on the dim sum menu).

We showed up prime time on Saturday and waited only about 5 minutes. We ordered about 10 dishes and everything was very good. Supposedly Markham outshines any downtown spots, but coming from Queens and Manhattan Chinatowns in NYC, this place was on par or better than most spots in New York. Not as good as Markham, but great when you don't want to make the voyage out to the burbs. I gave the restaurant 4-stars as the service was typical of most dim sum spots, especially when you are a non-Chinese speaker.

We always order from Rol San and we love it! No matter what we order it's always tasteful and huge, very good price for the value. Try the 'steamed pork bbq buns', it's beyond words, amazing!

2 Short hair old lady Waitresses forced us to give them a $5 tip for their terrible service (she did not make eye contact with us the whole time and was rude) when our total is only $35. Or she won’t let us leave.

If I could give zero stars I would. Honestly an unpleasant experience from entering the door to exit. Don’t know why this place is so popular when you can literally find the same items anywhere down the street.

THE BEST! The dim sum is second to done. Really really yummy dumplings. I have been many, many times and have always left very full, and happy, having never spent more that $25. This is the place to visit in Chinatown.

Important: they have off-menu dim sum items! Just ask the server about an item you want but don't see on the list and they will likely be able to put in the order for you!

Good dim sum. My family were eating here more than 20 years ago until now. More than a decade ago, this was the 2am late night spot for my high school friends and I to eat plates of fried rice and noodles and pork.

Prices for dim sum have hiked up a lot since those days but it is still a delicious restaurant in Chinatown. I went there last month to eat the chicken feet, turnip cake, steamed rice rolls (chicken) and a dessert.

To begin with, If I could give stars in negative, I would do that. Perhaps one of the worst service experiences ive ever had in my life. The two women servers in this restaurant treat other human beings like dust and when aren't tipped for the brutal service, they shout and make it clear with their actions that if only they had a gun, you wouldn't see another dumpling in your life. This was my first time here and of course the last simultaneously (thank god). Spend your money elsewhere since neither food nor service is worth steeping into this dump. If by chance you happen to go there in spite of reading this and many other reviews, wear some armour before you approach the servers.

We only had dim sum here so can only comment about that. It's standard old school dim sum. Stuck in the 80s (your call if that's good or bad). If you're in the area, it's good enough to satisfy a craving but it's not worth a dedicated trip.

Smallish place so it feels pretty intimate. We went midday Saturday and the place was full with maybe ten people waiting at the door. Despite being at capacity in a tight space, conversation at the table was easily heard. Some other dim sum places leave your ears ringing!

Our party consisted of 4 adults and one child. The bill came out to $118 before tip. The quantity was fair, the quality was acceptable. Nothing special though. I don't see myself coming back.

Food was ok. Service was not great. When it came time to pay we were told it was cash or VISA only. We don’t have VISA. We were shown the ATM beside the till. Cost us $2.50 to get the cash to pay the bill. ️ So got cash and paid my bill. Then the manager came after me for a tip!? !? !? ! As if! I told him his tip was in the ATM machine. We travelled to Rol San on a suggestion from friends in Toronto as we headed to the airport we figured why not. Don’t believe the hype. You can find better food and service elsewhere.

Fast, fresh and authentic all day dimsum. Limited selection at night but still great. No white table cloth here, more like white plastic table wrap. Service is efficient and no frills as to be expected for this kind of cuisine in Spadina. Overall still one of the better ones in Toronto. Bad reviews about the service is hilarious, come on guys, this is downtown Chinatown, and this place has outlive all its neighbors for over 30 years, they are always packed and clearly are doing something right. If you want service and ambiance, go to Lai Wai Heen, and expect to pay significantly more for prettier version of the same thing.

DONT GO THERE. The service there is so rude. After giving me bad attitude, they still forced me to give them a good amount of tip. It’s not just one person, but the whole team. At the end, they even yelled at me and tell me never come back again. Ridiculous people.
千萬別來這家餐館，服務態度很差。他們強迫我給很高的小費，所有的服務員都很不禮貌，最後在我離開的時候還對我大吼，讓我下次別來了。難以置信竟然有這麼差的服務。

This is my family's go-to place.the quality is just a bit above the see of sameness in the area. The dimsum is great. The ala carte stuff is also great. Open late. Huge space (there is an entire second restaurant in the back behind the kitchen). Staff is pretty professional and not clueless. Go here.

If you want dim sum, this is the best you’re going to get in the down town area. If you live down town, or are in the area and want dim sum, then this is the place to go. Otherwise you’ll get better results in markham or Scarborough.

THE MOST HORRIBLE SERVICE I had in Canada in my life:

For those who didn't come to this restaurant yet, and for those who came here before but didn't suffer the extremely bad services here yet, PLEASE BEAWARE of what has happened to my family at this restaurant below:

——PREGNENT WOMEN BE AWARE——
We reserved a table for 7 people at 12: 00am today, my wife and I came here on time. The waiter, a tall 50ish Cantonese guy, who claim himself as the manager, said they will only allow us to sit when at least half people arrived. My wife was pregnant and I told him our situation and our friends also called us saying they will arrive soon. He insisted that we cannot sit, even there were 4 big tables empty with no ones/reserved signs. His attitude was extremely rude and almost YELL at us with an angry face. He further howled "this is the restaurant policy".

My question is, if this is your policy, you should tell us when we made the reservation so everyone will be more cautious about the time, and anyway we can choose not come to your restaurant, right? And whatever the customer complaint you don't have to explained in such a RUDE way, regardless of whether my wife is pregnant or not.

——ONE HOUR SITTING LIMIT——

Worsen, when another two friends arrived, we were finally allowed to sit on a table. After around 15 minutes, the same rude waiter came to our table with a fake smile, "I just come here to tell you that, we have a 1 hour sitting limit", pointing to the tiny text on the order paper, "and it starts when you guys sit here”, this made us finally upset because whatever the policy he mentioned, the restaurant told us nothing when we made this reservation. What are all of these attitude about? Is this place still a restaurant? I cannot believe in 2018 this kind of poor service and inhuman restaurant still exist.

——SPEND YOUR MONEY SOMEWHERE ELSE——

Finally we choosed another Dim Sum restaurant not far away. This reminded me the same situation happened when we went to another Japanese restaurant couple weeks ago, we were treated extremely polite and they arranged us a quite table and everyone was polite and nice. If you care about your guests and your family, PLEASE SPEND YOUR MONEY SOMEWHERE ELSE!

Probably some of the worst customer service I've ever had in my thirty years going to restaurants. They were very rude throughout the whole thing with even the small details, they brought the food and then some water five minutes after that when I had to ask. Upon time to pay I didn't tip and they starting making a big seen demanding for a tip like it was an entitlement. Would highly recommend going somewhere else.

Rol San is a popular Toronto based Dim Sum establishment located in the Chinatown district of the city.

It's opened early too late night with Dim Sum all day long. Making it a great go to spot after a night out in the town.

The interior stretches deeper in from front seating the area. The backroom can sit larger groups. Decor wise it's leans toward a mix of modern and traditional Chinese styles.

The menu is typical Dim Sum. Lots of small dish options. Each one priced out accordingly. They are brought to your table via the waiter and not by a cart like some people are used to. Lots of the options taste great. Nothing crazy that blows you away though. Still good options to pick from.

Overall, it's nice atmosphere to be in. The service is decent and not had. Prices are really up to you when it comes to how much you want to eat. There's lots of options for Dim Sum so this place might seem average to others but definitely check it out and let me know what you think.

Really tasty food. One of the most delicious Chinese late good food places in the city.

I would give it a 5 stare except when my wife and I went there, we were surprised by some of the critters we saw while we were surrounding the property.

Made us think twice about quality over quantify.

Hope the staff responds to feedback.

The food is average. The restaurant is fast-paced business. Service is quite bad. I have been here so many times with my friends. Servers just bring the food to the table like grab and go without saying a word. They don.t really get what customers want. When I asked them to give me the cutlery like fork or knife, they tried to ignore or take long time to bring to a table after few requests. I feel like they discriminate between Asian and Westerners, or they might thing Asian can't give them much tip. They don't understand that tip will depend on how they serve customers. Last time I was there with my boyfriend, they didn't give us enough what we ordered on the paper and just corrected when we asked them about it. They didn't ask us about what we wanted to drink and just brought the tea to the table and automatically charged in the bill. I couldn't be more disappointed.
WOULD NOT RECOMMEND.