R&D Restaurant - Toronto

Went for our daughter’s 15th birthday and she loves MasterChef. She was delighted to see Eric Chong preparing the meals. Lovely dinner, very tasty. A few more vegetarian options would be great. Would definitely go again!!

Great food. Would go again.

Excellent restaurant with great innovative Asian cuisine

The Spring Rolls aren't worth it, I suggest getting the chow mein and duck. Service was fairly slow and they seemed to have too much of a lax attitude when it came to service. We were 5 people and were only served with one water bottle. We liked the ambience but restaurants who do the couch seating need to remember that the table height should be proportionate to how high or low the person will be in relation to the table. Overall, would recommend for drinks with friends and sharing plates.

Great food. Looking forward to returning to enjoy the delicious duck that I saw flying out of the kitchen.
Suggestion to whoever set up the seating availability, Counter seating should be the “Bar” Or “Chefs Bar” (where we ended up being seated)
I had selected Bar when reserving as I was under the impression that it would be a table in the Bar area.
Ended up smelling like food the rest of the evening.
Also, we waited a little longer to be served than normal.. seemed as though our waiter was unaware we had arrived, luckily a fellow waiter asked us if we had been served and suggested some great choices. Overall good experience.

Great food, excellent service and cocktails to die for.

Complex, tasty flavours. Super service. Awesome ambience.

R Pork Hock Sliders; Fried Rice; and the Sweet 'n Spicy Tofu - the names may sound plain but I assure you the dishes aren't anything like you've had before. That goes for the cocktail menu, too! I can never choose just one and stick with it, because the bartender is so creative - they are ALL delish! My favourite (can never remember the whole name but it's Buddha's Secret or something like that) is SO good. I promise this is a sincere and genuine review - my family and I truly LOVE R&D and I can't say enough great things about it! - T Wright,
Sarnia, Ontario

I think the menu is too limited. I enjoyed a few of the bites we had but found very few items on the menu that really appealed to me. I heard in the past that the short ribs were good but they were no longer on the menu. Same with the Tuna ... it was no longer on the menu as well.

Perhaps it would have been better if we had a larger group and could have shared the duck but there was just two of us and a whole duck would have gone to waste. Perhaps you could serve 1/2 duck for smaller groups?

It was our first time at R&D and we had a great experience. We rooted for Eric and he won Master Chef Canada, so we always wanted to try his food. We were not disappointed. The only improvement could be less salt/soy sauce for the short rib appetizers (with sushi rice, nori wrap) as they were salty. Everything else we ordered was tasty. We also loved matchamisu, and the wildblueberry tamarind hand pie. So creative and delicious. Our server, Arthur was incredibly courteous. He went beyond his duty and made our dining experience even more positive. We’ll bring more friends and be back soon. Next time, we’ll definitely ask for a photo op with Eric, our favourite Master Chef Canada champion. Thanks again.

Had a wonderful dinner on Monday as part of the Travelzoo package. What was really great was that R&D actually offered dishes off their main menu, rather than substitutions. Food was excellent with nuances in Asian flavours in a modern presentation. Drinks were also great value with the Crazy 7's cocktails offered all evening on Mondays. Service was great, but the restaurant was also not that busy.

As a chef myself, R&D is somewhere I’ve been looking forward to trying. My partner and I were fortunate enough to be there in an evening Eric himself was in the kitchen. We loved the open concept of it- being able to see the entire kitchen, their team and what they were doing was quite entertaining. The ambience was great, good vibes music and server was nice. Was very hands off, which may have been intentional as sometimes they can be at the table every other minute but ensured to quality check after each course. Expensive on the drink end however food was just to the quality I expected- probably some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. Bibimbap tostadas delicious, you can tell the flavours are a little more mild than traditional bulgogi and Kim chi however I’m sure also intentional as per their clientele . Great visit in all.

Excellent food,a refined dining experience ! If you don’t want the typical Chinese food this is a must try. Spring rolls with meet and smoked cheese and dumpling with truffles are out of this world. Slow cooked octopus melts in your mouth. This is definitely one of the best Asian restaurants in town.

Friendly environment and great duck!

It was a nice cozy restaurant, and the food was lovely. I ordered the matchamisu dessert and it was the best thing i ate

Love the food here! And the cocktails are great too!!

Such an amazing time and a fun experience

The food as usual was outstanding, and the athmosohere is good; the service was not too friendly.
But the toilettes were extremely dirty, no paper and stinky

Have been here on a number of occasions - with the exception of 1 main food was excellent. Seafood Chow Mein had virtually no seafood (6 small shrimp 8 very small scallops - no squid no red pepper)> Menus had been handed back so we only realized after the meal that it should have included squid. The lack of seafood just felt like a bit of a ripoff.

From a safety point of view handicap washroom grab bar very loose - I am handicapped and holding it felt very tenuous.

I was not impressed with overcrowded place, tables were almost touching each other. It was hard to get out if you were siting on the bench. The place was very loud, people were talking loudly over the music, leaning over the tables so they could hear each other.
The food was not the best either: my appetizer popcorn shrimp was overdone, shrimp was rubbery. Main dish hardly had any seafood in it. Desert was good though.
I would not go back.

One of the best experiences I’ve had in Toronto. Third time I’ve been here and everything is just phenomenal. Cocktails and food are both amazing and thoughtful. Super tasty and creative dishes, I highly recommend the slow cooked octopus and the popcorn shrimp. Sitting at the counter and watching the kitchen staff work is very cool.

We waited over 1 hour for a table even though we had made a reservation. The restaurant was under-staffed, they clearly all looked overwhelmed which resulted in a not so friendly welcome on arrival and long waiting time for our cocktail at the bar. What was the most disappointing was to see the owner arriving at the restaurant and instead of providing support to his staff, had a drink with friends. The food was ok but did not meat our expectations.

Really tasty and fabulous, creative food. The layout is great because there's quite a bit of space between tables so you're not sitting close to other diners. The decor is fun, yet thankfully not overpowering. Our waiter was excellent, but the only complaint we have is that the bar service making the drinks was EXTREMELY SLOW. We waited for 30 min for the cocktails we ordered when we had just sat now. Thankfully, because of the delay, there were on the house, but that kind of delay shouldn't happen.

We were warmly greeted by our Server who took the time to help us navigate the menu and made some fantastic recommendations.

The food was simply amazing. It was my second time here and both times the experience has been phenomenal.

Every time I come to Toronto R & D will be on my itinerary.

Thank you Eric and staff for making our dining experience memorable.

I would highly recommend this restaurant.

Great meal and service as usual! Can’t wait to go back!

Very very noisy restaurant with some fab food but some distinctly average. Prawns and beef spring rolls fab but laksa wasn’t great and wasn’t hot.

We love R&D and it's always a go-to favorite to share with our friends from out of town. There was an unexpected power outage the night we went and the staff and chef handled it very well. The CSB is always my fav!

Chinese and western fusion with emphasis on Chinese, a must try if you are in the area.

A little overpriced for Asian food. Most dishes you can get elsewhere. Just as delicious for cheaper even. you can’t argue the ambiance and service were top notch.

An overall disappointing experience. It started with us waiting for 10min until we got seated. The table was dirty and the seats were covered with rice and other food scraps. Afterwards the service took a long while until taking our order.
Of the main dishes 4 were already sold out.
We ordered only appetizers first. The spring rolls and dim sums were ok, the slow cooked octopus lost all its flavor other then a roasted ti the point of burnt flavor.
Afterwards we waited for another 20min for the waiter, who was talking to other employees and friends instead of taking our order. It was so discouraging that we decided to pay, leave and simply get food somewhere else.
To summarize, we paid way to much money for below average food and awful service.

The peking duc was literally the best duck in town! Amazing meal and highly recommended.

Love everything about R & D! The service, ambiance, music and of course the delicious food! Such a happening place and yet can be so kid friendly too. My girls and I loved our time there and will definitely be returning soon!

I booked this place for my husband's birthday, and we will never go there again!

The host leaded us to our table while the server Micheal is serving other table, we didn't know why but the host looked scared to go up, so we waited with him till Micheal completely left the section. But later we know why, because the server is a BULLY.
We sat down and I went to washroom. Micheal came around and offered us water, he poured water for my husband. My husband was on his phone didn't notice the water bottle, so he asked if we can get some water in my glass too, Micheal stopped. Then my husband noticed the water bottle, he apologized he didn't see the water bottle earlier, we can do it ourselves. Then Micheal came back poured water for my glass and he STARED at my husband the entire time. My husband apologized again and Micheal said nothing but just stared at him.

Later Micheal brought us two cute bowls, left them on the table heavily, I didn't know anything but a little confused. Then my husband smiled and nodded at him trying to get an order, he ignored us a few times, and finally came over. During order, he said nothing just confirmed order in the end. It was weird for me not getting feedback after I ordered two dishes, so I talked to my husband that's quite a different serving style. So my husband started telling me he might have offended Micheal earlier, my husband thought by asking him to pour the water made Micheal felt being bused around.

During the entire dinner, Micheal introduced dishes to other tables pleasantly but said nothing to us, not even ask how is everything. I understand he might felt uncomfortable at first, but we apologized twice, and the way he served us made us felt being bullied.

We said nothing because it's birthday but it ruined our experience with the great food and the birthday. Our appointment was at 8:30pm, we left at 9:15pm.

I understand the place is in Chinatown, but this kind of service? We can get it anywhere else but half priced.

Horrible food

It’s true that they have best roast duck in town :-)

So good to see them change their appetizer menu to includes some seafood appetizers. We have been here for more than 10 times and every time is amazing.

We would ask if possible to bring back the pancakes, we found it goes better with the duck than the bun.

Wonderful dining experience

Came on a Sunday evening and one waiter for several tables meant we waited for some time to order drinks, appies and mains. We had to prompt the waiter each time we needed something

fried rice tasted bitter. The meat on top of the rice was fat and hard to bite through.

The Canadian-Chinese fusion taste was surprising good. Our server was very professional and kind. He gave some excellent recommendation for the menu. I would definitely go again!