Marigold Restaurant

Marigold Restaurant
1380 Ellice Ave
(204) 783-1067


January, 2011

Most Winnipeggers refer Chinese food synonymously with the Marigold Restaurants. Thanks to a prominent and historied (but no longer existent) location in Chinatown, and some active word-of-mouth, Marigold is locally every bit as popular as the most fashionable chain restaurant—but does that make it good?

For many years, the downtown business crowd flocked to Chinatown’s Marigold for their lunch buffet—and everyone raved about it. Being of Chinese descent, I would never be part of the buffet line; dim sum was always at the top of the preference list. While I can’t speak on their buffet, the dim sum was never very good. In 2008, Marigold’s owner retired and sold the establishment. Now the business crowd flocks to its successor, Golden Terrace (see my review for further info). Although the flagship location is no more, Marigold continues to boast six locations across Winnipeg. As far as I know, none of them serve dim sum on the trolleys (or at all). I guess I finally have to try the buffet.

The Polo Park location sits in the middle of the commercial shopping district, on the corner of Ellice Avenue and Empress Street. The subdued dining room looks shiny and new, which is a considerable contrast to some of the shabbier, glummer locations. The buffet table stands at the back of the dining room and features the usual and expected selections. Yes, everything that I call “Canadianised Chinese” waits here.

The obligatory sweet and sour chicken balls come with a fragment of chicken meat, encased in a considerable clump of dough; the sickly sweet, fluorescent pink sauce finishes this option. Marigold makes their deep fried pork ribs out of the rib ends, which means lots of bone, very little meat. Seriously, out of the eight pieces that I scooped onto my plate, I cannot strip more than a shard of pork off the bones—and what I manage to scrape away from the bones tastes tough and dried, reminiscent of jerky. The only meat item worthy of mention is the fried chicken, which consists of drumsticks and thighs. The crispy, unbattered skin covers the moist and flavourful meat. For white meat lovers, you’re out of luck, but it may be just as well as heating lamps and white meat make a bad combination. Stir fries include chicken with broccoli and cauliflower in a white, tasteless gravy, and beef with assorted vegetables, in a brown, tasteless gravy. The chow mein has a smoky taste, not the perfumed hickory or mesquite smokiness, but the burnt, charcoally smokiness, although the mein doesn’t appear burnt. The vegetable fried rice only has a smattering of vegetables for colour, to contrast the soy-colour rice grains. While having a lot of colour, this fried rice has absolutely no taste. It’s very hard for me to believe that something with this much colour can have little more taste than plain white rice.

Normally appetiser items, the egg rolls and wonton soup sit at the end of the buffet gauntlet. The egg rolls have sat under the heat lamp for so long that wrappers turned to rubber. I cannot bite through the end folds, but digging through the side of the roll reveals some limp and lifeless bean sprouts. I think I’ll pass on the soup.

Here’s the best piece of advice I can give you. Grab your plate and pile it high with fried chicken. Don’t look elsewhere, and don’t look back. Scoot back to your table and order a Chinese beer (forget about wine). The service is good, so settle back for a few beers; it might help your poor palate.

*½ /5

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