Tai Pan

From my experience at the restaurant, I am actually quite surprised at the good ratings. The food here is nothing special and can be easily replicated by most Chinese restaurant in the city. The problem with this place is the food comes out so slow when they are busy and service is sub-​par even for a Chinese restaurant. It is also difficult to carry out a regular conversation because of the noise level partly due to the low ceiling and packed restaurant. It is crowded every time I have been there and the tables are packed very close to each other. I just don’t see what the allure of this place is other than the price and the free parking.

I have to say that the Peking duck here is quite delicious! After reading a few reviews I would agree that it is one of the best in the city for sure. It’s hard to find the place because it’s inside a mini strip mall under an apartment building but worth the hunt. The 3-​course meal comes with the Classic Peking duck wraps, followed by the duck soup, and ending with duck lettuce wraps. Definitely a good place to stop in for. Their dim sum is on my to eat list.

First time trying Tai Pan. Had heard from various people that this is the place to go to for Peking Duck. I have to say that it was very good. The duck was sliced very well, with a good amount of meat in each slice. Our group of 4 ordered the 3 course & salt and pepper squid. The soup was plentiful and came out nice and hot. The duck lettuce wraps were also very good. And of course the duck with pancake wraps were the main event and was delicious. Salt and pepper squid were tender and not chewy. Service was friendly and fast. They always kept our tea pot and water glasses full. And the bill was very affordable, $ 60 divided by 4… not too shabby for a hot and satisfying meal. Please support this restaurant as it looks family owned and they work really hard!

This place hands down has the best peking duck in the city. It’s crispy, not super fatty and you get duck meat and not just skin when you order it with the wrapping crepes. Usually we get the 3 course with the soup and the lettuce wraps (which are duck based), and a few other dishes (the battered shrimp and S&S pork chops with biscuits are a must try)
Like most Chinese restaurants, service is not their strong point but what they lack in that, they make up in their food.

You can’t ask for better here if you’re from Vancouver or Toronto and have been longing for good, authentic Chinese food. There is finally real congee, properly made wonton noodle soup (not the knockoff «wor» kind; the REAL deal with shrimp and thin noodles) and very reasonable prices. You could have lunch for two here for under $ 15 with a generous tip if you know what to order. Portions are also very generous and the evening dishes are well made. I’ve yet to find anywhere in Calgary serving proper wonton noodle soup (certainly nowhere in Chinatown where they pass off pork dumplings for $ 9 as a reasonable offering — this places serves it for $ 6 as a far superior product). A true gem in a difficult city for authentic Chinese food.

Good (not exceptional) dim sum, dumpling 3/​5, pork short ribs in blk bean 4.5÷5, sticky rice 3/​5, tofu skin shrimp ²⁄₅
Service good, little pricy $ 25 for 4 dishes

This place used to be a Malaysian restaurant called Tropika. Now it’s a Chinese place that offers decent dim sum and Peking duck a la carte. Modestly priced, the service is quick and pleasant, more so than other places that offer the same dishes. If you find the aboveground lot full, there’s underground parking (recommended).

After discovering that Shikiji was closed during the Christmas holidays, we stumbled into Tai Pan (which was in a strip mall next door). We didn’t know what to expect, but after seeing that most of the customers were Asian, that was a good sign!
The first dish to come to our table was a complimentary pork rib and winter melon soup. The beef and five kinds of mushroom dish (with a generous helping of wood ear, button, straw, enoki and abalone mushrooms) was seasoned perfectly and made our son very happy! The Shanghai noodles with shredded pork was devoured in less than 5 minutes.
Despite the fact that the steamed man tow (soft white fluffy buns) with condensed milk was not on the dinner menu, our server was able to accommodate my son’s request (man tow is one of his favorites). The salt and pepper squid was fabulous – it was fried to perfection with a minimal amount of batter and best of all, there were no raw onions on the plate!
Well, what else can I say? There were no leftovers to take home. This is what happens when you take a teenager out for supper…
One of their specialties is Peking duck and duck wings (a few people at adjacent tables seemed to be enjoying these dishes). We’ll have to try these and their dim sum another time.

I can’t believe I haven’t Unilocaled yet for Tai Pan. I’ve been to this restaurant both to eat dim sum and to eat dinner.
Dim Sum: You order via a check-​off list. Their dim sum list is not as extensive as other dim sum places but the food does come out piping out! The congee was quite tasty and it was served steamingly hot!
Dinner: Very tasty and quite authentic Chinese cooked food.
Servers speak both English and Chinese.
Parking very limited.
Free Shaw wifi.

I love Chinese food! Haha I have no idea how or why or perhaps it gives me that nostalgic Filipino party feeling when every party has a selection of Chinese food.
Tai pan is great! We went there for dim sum with some friends after a night of heavy drinking and did you know dim sum cures hangovers? Jokes, but it sure makes my belly happy
The quality of each dish was up to par with other dim sum places I’ve been to. Less expensive than T-​pot and regency. And they serve a larger amount for the Chinese donut. We ordered the usual sio mai, steamed Shrimp dumplings, tripe, ribs, deep fried shrimp dumplings, sticky rice, donut with crêpe, etc. and even tried the congee and wonton soup. There was nothing that I didn’t like.
Service was the same at most Chinese restaurants. nothing special but everything was done quickly and efficiently. Food came out pretty quick.

Initially it was hard for me to transition from my usual dim sum spot, to Tai Pan. I’ve been going to the same place for years and loved them for their consistency. However, my boyfriends coworker suggested Tai Pan and we took a chance and tried it. I was blown away! It was delicious! I ordered my usual deep fried shrimp dumpling and loved it. Of course it came with the sweet mayo! (Don’t mistaken this for actual mayo people… it’s not the same when you use it for your leftovers. Haha). Oh! The Chinese donuts are also amazing! It’s been years since I’ve had these, but now I order it everytime I go to Tai Pan. If there are extras to take home, even better!
One thing I should tell you though, is that you shouldn’t wait around for the dim sum carts… because they aren’t coming! Everything is ordered through their dim sum menu and made-​to-​order. If you haven’t been yet and love dim sum, this I definitely worth a try!

I thought the service during dim sum was pretty good — we weren’t rushed out and the server even asked if we wanted change from our bill (the answer was no). Tea was refilled constantly. Spring springrolls (full crunchy prawns) and eggplant with shrimp were well done. The rice wrapper of haw gow and other steam dumplings were a bit too gummy, but adequate for the price. Cheaper than our usual favourite– Golden Central. The dim sum at Golden Central is better, but after the last time we were at Golden Central — the service was so bad (and I have a high tolerance) in which we were told to leave (in a very blunt manner) so other people could have our table, we decided we wanted to try a new dim sum joint. Good value dim sum. Go early as it gets really busy after 11am.

I’m actually quite surprised by this restaurant. A decent reasonably authentic chinese restaurant outside of the chinese core, and I like it… a LOT. I would give it a much better rating if it wasn’t for some things here and there that a little off, here and there.
The buffet, comprised of dimsum items and a decent mix of other items is pretty good for lunch. But the difference between the lunch and dinner is the addition of snow crab legs. For the extra $ 5, it’s hard to say if it’s justified. Still, I did enjoy the meal though their version of haw gow (shrimp dumplings) with corn?!? is a little odd.
Pricing is surprisingly quite reasonable, and the all you can eat freshly made dim sum on weekends (1 to 5 pm) is an incredible value. I wholeheartedly recommend.
I do have to try a regular dinner (non buffet) but for value and quality, this is probably the best chinese resto in the south west of Calgary overall (though admittedly Leo Foo is better but not in price).
One last word, the fact that ½ the place is usually filled with chinese diners is always a good thing.

It was surprisingly very busy on a Wednesday night. I arrived with a party of 13 (with reservations of course: D) at around 7pm.
Most of the tables and booths were full and many seemed to be enjoying the Peking Duck that was on special. Our table was located in the private room with another table and we ordered the preset banquet meal for 10.
The Peking duck was delicious. I found the meat to be very tender and not too fatty. In addition, there was lots of pancakes to wrap it up. Unfortunately after the duck and wraps arrived, we had to wait 5 minutes before we realized they had forgotten our sauce and I had to flag someone down for that. Our request for ice water also took two tries.
The food was mostly standard and filling, however there was not anything that stood out and everything sort of seemed bland??? The rice was overly yellow and moist and unappetizing. I found the shredded duch thick soup was too watery and the crab was very small. Interestingly, when the lobster dish arrived one of the claws was already missing its meat– I suspect it met an untimely demise…
Also, the chinese broccoli was very hard and I have the impression that they either undercooked it or skipped that step entirely. The salt and pepper fish also seemed like it could have been given more attention, as several chunks were deep-​fried together into fist size pieces and it took quite a bit of tearing to get a sizeable portion.
Yet, one of the most surprising aspects was that even though the Peking duck was exceptionally juicy and tender, the whole crispy fried chicken was very dry. I think it may be because they have perfected the duck since its in such high demand.
I did like the shanghai noodles and they had one incredibly huge prawn on the three kinds of seafood and mixed greens plate.
Unfortunately, I found the food to be hit and miss and the service to be rather slow and unattentive– maybe due to us being in the secluded private room??? Overall, I think there are much better restaurants out there, I may return on occasion, but certainly not anytime soon.

Tai Pan serves pretty authentic and pretty tasty chinese cuisine. Dined here over the Christmas holidays with family and we ordered the preset meal for 10. OMG, the food kept coming and coming … it was endless.
I can’t remember all the dishes/​platters (I think there were over 10!) but they were all excellent.
Highlights include:
1) the fish dish — firm morsels of white fish on beds of greens,
2)noodles — pretty standard but the texture was chewy, interesting, and the accompanying brown (oyster sauce base?) was addicting,
3)lobster — deep fried and then bathed in a white cream sauce (I didn’t have any actual lobster — too messy — but I did eat the sauce with rice — yum!)
Prices are extremely reasonable — I am not too sure how much the dinner for 10 cost since I didn’t pay the bill but I suspect it may be around the $ 200 — $ 300 range … which is actually pretty reasonable considering the quality and quantity of food.
I hear they serve pretty decent dim sum too.
Décor and ambience of the restaurant is average — typical chinese style restaurant. Nothing special, nothing glaringly awful.
There is a cash machine located in the restaurant. Not too sure why since the place does accept credit card.
Washrooms are meh.
Parking is not too bad. The restaurant is located in a strip mall so the few parking spots out front are shared. I can imagine parking may be more of a challenge during peak times like Sunday Dim Sum.