The Grand Chinese Restaurant was a planned venue for lunch recently — a first time experience for us.  We (threesome) arrived just before the restaurant opened at 11 am, and were able to finding parking almost immediately in front of the restaurant’s entrance door.    

The restaurant, with its dark colours, et al, was rather warm & cosy looking inside, and seemed much bigger than it looked like from its small footprint outside.  The kitchen is off to one side, behind glass, so quite open for customers to see what’s happening (and to catch some warm and nice smiles from the chefs doing their thing!).  For us, the ambiance ‘felt’ comfortable.      

Service was friendly, and very attentive, ensuring our water glasses and tea mugs were kept full.

What was ordered and shared:  (names of dishes and descriptions of ingredients, as per menu listings)

—  Garlic Pea Leaves (pea leaves lightly stir fried w/minced garlic)  —  Salt & Pepper Squid (deep fried squid tossed in spiced salt & diced chilli pepper)  —  Seafood Chow Mein (fried noodle w/prawns, sliced fish, squid & greens)  —  Spicy Ginger Beef (crispy shredded beef tossed in a spicy gingery sauce).

Nice presentations, good-sized servings, and dishes from kitchen to our table in a nice, timely sequence.  Preparations were warm, and distinctly very flavourful, and tasty.  Seasoning (spices, etc) was definitely, and distinctly apparent in all dishes, but at an about perfect ‘medium’ level for us, and not overly done in any dish ordered.  The pea leaves were very lightly cooked, leaving them nice and fresh and crispy to the taste - the minced garlic added a nice flavour without overpowering the overall taste.  Beef in the ginger beef was tender and chewy, the sauce pleasantly ‘gingery’ - a very well-prepared, flavourful, and tasty dish.  The squid was tender and juicy, coatings light, seasonings spicy hot (picked out those little red & green guys for daughter!) - the dish about as perfect as one could expect.  Ingredients in the chow mein were also very well-prepared - noodles perfect, seafoods and veggies, tender, and juicy - a flavourful and tasty dish.  

The ‘Grand Chinese Restaurant’ turned out to be a great choice for our lunch venue — food was very tasty and well-prepared, and service attentive — we thoroughly enjoyed our total dining experience there.

Grand Chinese Restaurant (such a typical name for a Chinese restaurant) is a newish restaurant that opened up near Brentwood in a small strip mall. We stopped by on Christmas eve because we were in the neighbourhood and quite enjoyed the food here. The kitchen is open to to the diners and you can see them making their hand-pulled noodles behind a glass wall. The menu is similar to what you’d find at Peaceful and we wound up ordering the same type of dishes that we order when we go to Peaceful.