mattbin

To follow up: I was contacted by the owner and he was very responsive to my concerns. He also expressed great appreciation that I had contacted him about the problem. He did offer us a free dinner or gift certificates, but I refused -- I was interested in getting a response, not getting something free out of the deal. My sense is that the problem was with the staff in the restaurant; the owner seems very interested in satisfying the customer. For that reason alone I'd be willing to give Jim N' Nick's another try. I look forward to going there next time I'm in Charleston.

I imagine most people here will know better than to try Jim 'N Nick's BBQ, but we arrived late in Charleston, checked into our hotel, and went looking for food nearby, and Jim 'N Nick's is where we ended up. I had the half chicken, which was actually not bad -- very juicy, with a decent amount of smoke. My partner's pulled pork sandwich was a little dry and bland -- no sauce on it to speak of on it, nor slaw. The real problem we had with the place -- well, I'll copy the e-mail I sent to the company's management, and I'll post any response I receive if I hear back from them. I just wanted to let people know about our visit, in case someone was in a similar situation some time and thought to themselves, oh, a chain restaurant can't be that bad, can it? Well -- apparently it can.

Today's Toronto Star had a Dim Summary (hah!) by Amy Pataki. Her top five picks were: - Lai Wah Heen (easy when the paper's paying your way, I guess) - Pearl Harbourfront (Queen's Quay) - Dragon Dynasty (Brimley Road) - Bright Pearl (running counter to all the opinions here I think) - Royal Teahouse (Applecreek Boulevard in Markham) She also has some not-recommended picks: - City Inn (Steeles Ave, in Market Village) - Yiu Wah (Dundas St, in Chinatown) - Golden Regency (Pacific Mall) The article is here if you are able to open it.

Being from Cambridge, I don't get out to Markham or Richmond Hill for dim sum, but good food is available west of Yonge, believe it or not. Sun Sun (formerly Good Luck, formerly China Palace (?)) on Dundas just west of Dixie (Mississauga) is one option. We were there on Sunday and the food was good, the carts rolled past often, and the price was okay. We tend towards Emerald Palace on Hurontario and Eglinton (Mississauga again) though. The prices seem reasonable, and the food is consistently good. But there are times when it seems you see the same cart five times in a row. Luckily my father-in-law doesn't mind chasing down the servers we want. Further afield, Hamilton now has four dim sum restaurants in its downtown. The best, I think, is Harvest Moon on James just south of Wilson. You have to order off the card and the food is sometimes extremely slow, but it's all tasty and the service is at least pleasant. Also in Hamilton is Crystal Palace, on Cannon near Park. Good food, and the carts start coming around at noon on weekends, but the service is indifferent at best and incompetent at worst. We started going to Harvest Moon in protest after they refused to bring any more items from our card (which we handed in before 11:30) after noon struck. The carts sometimes come around very infrequently sometimes. Cameron is an excellent option in Kitchener (at Charles and Cameron streets). The price sometimes seems ridiculous (it's much cheaper in Mississauga or Chinatown) but the food is fresh and well-prepared, and it comes out very efficiently. I miss some of the standards sometimes -- the deep fried squid is never the tentacles but small pieces of the tubes (well cooked but just not right!), and the dish comes with plum sauce! Sacrilege!