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Days of Carltons Past
The appeal of New Ho King Restaurant(416 Spadina) is fairly obvious; affordable, promptly served, after-hours Chinese. After a long night of throwing back beverages on College St., the mix of Hunan beef, sweet and sour chicken balls and BBQ pork admittedly make for the perfect night cap. And relative to the neighbouring Burger King or the 7-11 frozen burrito rack, the restaurant even seems like the more refined choice in the area. But one look at the soiled plastic table clothes and the noticeably goo-covered chairs, the New Ho King charm fades fast.
One step up from Ho Lee Chow but far from Lee Garden (331 Spadina), New Ho King definitely nails down the generic, good-every-time Chinese fast food aesthetic - complete with the bow tied servers and China-kitsch decor. Unfortunately, sanitary concerns outweigh any menu item or positive experiences with the "cold tea." For list of New Ho King's attacks on common cleanliness, look at the City of Toronto's Dine-Safe website. It's true there are pest control issues everywhere, but it's still a little on the gross side.
Sorry, New Ho, but Torontoist will stick with the homemade Guacamole at Sneaky Dee's (431 College) instead.
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A couple years ago when Vazaleen used to take place at the old El mo (up the street from The New Ho King) some people went to eat there afterwards and one of them (Vazaleen's MC) got bashed in the restaurant and THEY WOULDN'T LET THEM CALL AN AMBULANCE! Basically they had to grab the phone from them and call 911 without anyones help.
This is a true story - ask anyone involved with Vazaleen.
Funny enough, I was about to write the exact same story, but I think it's different one, because I was there with a group of my friends who had nothing to do with El Mo. We went in for a late night meal, as we'd done many times before (no joke this was the choice place for our drunk-dining, and sometimes lunch, needs for our entire University career). We were having our meal when a large table of Asian kids got really loud. One friend turned around to see what was going on and this provoked a tea-pot and plate throwing assault. The rest of us at the table broke it up but there was no cooperation, this is a very kind way of putting it, from the staff. One of the people at the offending table offered his credit card to the waiter but the waiter told him to come back the next day. Then when asked to call 911, he told us that we should leave and watch ourselves in Chinatown. Someone had a cell and the cops arrived soon after, but the staff would not cooperate in any way.
We went to the hospital where our friends received multiple stitches. None of us have returned since then and I'd encourage other people not to either as the staff obviously has no concern for certain groups of clientele.
yikes! they also once lost my brothers friends favourite holiday sweater...on purpose! so thats stealing. not as criminal i know, but sinister nonetheless.