Sunlock Garden Restaurant

Since the 1970s, the Snow Gardens, and now Sunlock Garden restaurant have come to define what Chinese food is to me — most other places I have eaten at in many parts of the world do not measure up to the taste and enjoyment I reliably experience here.
I suppose the décor and ambience leave something to be desired, but frankly, we have eaten here so regularly that I don’t really notice it any more. As with any resturant, the takeout/​delivery food is not as tasty as eating it right from the kitchen since the balance of crispy/​soft and hot/​cool suffers when it takes time to get to your home, but even with that the food is excellent.
We will continue to frequent this establishment for the foreseeable future.

Ordered
Hot and sour soup very good
Juicy buns– overdone and not juicy at all
Chrispy fried pork — Fresh and meaty
Vegetable wraps — tasty
Vegetables tasty
Overall home cooked meal tasty like. Price was okay.
Would not return again. Restaurant is old and dirt. Has not been dusted for years. Cobb webs

Awful. Just plain awful.
We really really wanted to like this place based on the reviews and the proximity to our place. We threw most of it out. Pretty much purely based on taste — oh that aaaaand the multiple pieces of wood that were in the Buddhas feast we ordered. Not talking nice tasty Szechuan wood, I’m talking dirty painted blue chipped off the side of a pallet wood. I know it’s a vegetarian dish but that’s a stretch
Seriously — never ever again

Our family has been going to various incarnations of this restaurant since the 1970’s so to be fair nostalgia may have some influence. But in all honesty they make some of the best Chinese food I’ve ever had, and I am never disappointed with the quality and consistency. The restaurant itself is, uh, unprepossessing. Down to the unadorned fish tank and the grimy looking bathrooms (they’re not actually grimy) but apart from décor this is the greatest neighbourhood Chinese restaurant in town.
The steamed pork buns are unusual and delicious. These are not bbq pork, they are much better. The wonton soup is delicious. Chicken and cashews BEST EVER with a rich, cashew-​heavy sauce and NO CRUMMY CELERY! Instead there is lots of chicken and lots of nice green beans. Once they used broccoli instead cause I guess they were out of beans. Verdict; still good. Mu Shu Pork: delicious. Beef or pork with chili, sour and garlic, delicious. Spring rolls and fried rice and all that kind of stuff is good too, wonton soup is very good. Hot and Sour is OK, and chicken and corn is good if you’re looking for some other kind of soup. If you want some, like, gai lan with oyster sauce they’ll make it for you even though it’s not in the menu.
There’s a pretty extensive menu and I can’t speak to all of it because we always order the same favourites but other tables always have delicious smelling food. I also can’t speak to its authenticity! But I can speak to its deliciousness and superiority to other Chinese restaurants (ChongQing I’m looking at you).

Best chinese takeout comfort ever!!! Been eating this food since 1982. Beef and broccoli, cashew chicken, spinach with chili, garlic, deep fried pork chops, crispy rice, curry chicken are the best

Amazing food! Quick, polite service. Great prices. You can feed 6 people with tons of leftovers for under $ 100.00. Ours friends introduced us to this restaurant and now we drive over 45 minutes just to get there because it is that good.

One of the best Chinese food in the city. The quality is on par with the food you will find in high end restaurants in Hong Kong. Easily my favorite Chinese place.

We love this place! Food is delicious, staff is so friendly and service is prompt. Our favourites are the cashew chicken, beef and tomato and the wonton soup.

Sunlock is the kind of place you could walk by a million times and never give it a second glance. It looks run down, it looks seedy, and it looks like the kind of place that would be happy to ruin your weekend plans by giving you a nice bout of food poisoning.
HOWEVER… appearances aside, this is one of my favourite take-​out spots. I’ve really only tried two dishes here: chicken chow mein and ginger beef. The chow mein is my absolute favourite out of anywhere I have ever been. It’s oily and greasy and buttery in a way that is not sickening. I don’t know how they do it, but it’s pretty spectacular.
The ginger beef is crispy, perfectly balanced between sweet and spicy, and it comes in a glorious abundance. Ginger beef for DAYS!
I have always, ALWAYS gotten take-​out from here so I can’t comment on the dine-​in experience. I’m sure it’s great, but not as great as stuffing your face full of noodles and beef in front of the TV.

Dishes to try:
Lion’s head = stewed pork meatballs with bak choi.
Crispy rice with assorted toppings
Stir fried shrimps
They take credit card + free street parking.

My family has been coming to Sun Lock my whole life! The food is delicious — best cashew chicken in the city. The owners are very sweet and know our order by heart. Would recommend to anyone wanting yummy flavorful food.

Great value with tasty food and low prices. Service is friendly. Try the wonton soup, you won’t be disappointed.

Just got back from this place and will NEVER return. We ordered two chicken dishes, a beef dish and some noodles. The food was very tasty. The experience went south the moment I glanced at a piece of chicken on my dad’s plate and noticed it was pink. When we looked at it more closely we saw that it was nearly raw and bloody. When we mentioned this to the server, she took the dish back to get cooked properly. We then decided to inspect the second chicken dish and noticed it too had undercooked pieces of meat. Again, we mentioned this to the server but asked instead to not have the dishes back and instead removed from the bill as we no longer felt we could trust the chicken dishes. The server took this info to the cook/​owner who came to our table to not apologize for possibly giving us samonila poisoning but rather argue that we ate part of the dishes already and should therefore pay the full bill. We reinforced the fact that we were served unsafe food and should not be expected to pay for it! The bill came and the server did indeed remove the dishes but upon leaving the restaurant the cook/​owner pulled my dad aside and again argued that we should haved paid the full bill then said that we are never allowed to return to his establishment, not that we had any plans to! WORST RESTAURANT EXPERIENCE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!

A very great and wonderful associate where I work treated me to a very delicious and filling lunch at this restaurant. This is one of those places that you would never really think to walk into. From the outside, it looks less than inviting and if someone didn’t recommend it, you’d probably think twice when you walked in as well. But I highly recommend people actually take a seat and try their food, It is delicious!
The inside of the restaurant is your typical hole in the wall, but the service is great and attentive. We were sat down quickly and tea soon followed.
After skimming the menu for a bit we decided to go for the ginger beef, peppery chicken, and shanghai noodles. All dishes were delicious! I especially liked the ginger beef, it was crispy and very flavorful! The peppery chicken was just the right amount of spiciness served with green beans and water chestnuts. The Shanghai noodles were thick and slurp worthy, with a very smokey and savory flavor
Definitely going to come back here again. I get left overs at work tomorrow yay!
St3Fin

Being a fan of the old Sun Gardens I was pleased to discover that the cooks were working just down the street from me at Sunlock. I stopped by the other day to try some take out, fried rice and ginger beef.
I was the only customer in the place and I sat down for a few minutes to read the menu and pick my items.
It was then that the Host began one of those long loud horking sounds and deposited his phlem in the garbage can behind the counter. Well that sure didn’t help my ordering process and if it wasn’t for the hockey game that was about to start I would have gone elsewhere.
As I was waiting for my order there was another loud hacking hork, this time from the kitchen, mmmmmmmmm.
When I got home with my food I put the unpleasant experience behind me and enjoyed a couple of pretty good dishes. The rice was a little greasy but hey what fried rice isn’t!
If I was rating just on the food taste I’d give it at least three stars maybe even four. Unfortunately the distress my stomach was in the next day prevents me from giving it a decent rating and combined with Phlem-​gate this place rates a very solid one star.

Great Chinese food. Haven’t tried a dish I didn’t like yet. Been here many times.

My family has been going to this restaurant for 30 years! It used to be on Main street and 51^st and was called Snow Garden, but the same chefs are now at Sunlock. The food is amazing, and we have a large family that aways meets at this place even for special occasions. The best dishes by far are the Diced Chicken Chilli with Spinach, the Beef and Broccoli, the Tomato Beef Chow Mein, the Spare Ribs and the Steamed Buns (dip them in the dishes)!!! You have to check it out!!!

I get that craving every now and then to come here for their Crispy rice with shrimp and tomato sauce, Lion’s head, and Peking Duck (have to order in advance).
They have a lunch special menu and there you can try a Lion head, comes with soup and rice for a cheap price.

Chinese food places are such a crap-​shoot. This is the kind of place you’d likely never walk into of your own volition. If you did end up walking in, the look of the place would probably make you wish you hadn’t. If they were aiming for that «small-​town hospital cafeteria that hasn’t been re-​decorated since the 80’s and decorated with chinese beer posters» look, they nailed it.
The upside, and it is a considerable upside, is that the food is fantastic. Chow mein with slightly crisp bean sprouts, hot & sour soup that isn’t full of those gelatinous jellyfish, and generally friendly service.
5 star food + 2 star ambiance + 5 star pricing = 4 star rating. Check it out, especially if you’re in the hood.