Food & Drink

Introducing: Salad King, the Yonge and Dundas cheap eats stalwart reborn

Introducing: Salad King, the Yonge and Dundas cheap eats stalwart reborn

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Salad’s new kitchen and dining room (Image: Renée Suen)

It’s been 10 long months since its kitchen last sent out an order, but judging from the reaction over Salad King’s soft opening this past weekend, there’s no question about who reigns over the corner of Yonge and Dundas. The mainstay of cheap eats might have been shut down on the eve of its 20th anniversary (following a building collapse), but after battling through a tricky renovation in a new space, the King is back, with even shinier new digs.

Designed by Munge Leung—the same team responsible for the old location’s signature stainless steel décor—Salad King’s new 4600-square-foot space is brighter and more open than its former home. The restaurant is perched on the second floor of the historic Thornton-Smith Building, kitty-corner from Gould Street and right above a Foot Locker. The room features three distinct dining areas: a 40-banquette set of seats flanking the bright, Yonge Street–facing windows; a 32-seat semi-enclosed structure adorned with hand-carved Burmese artwork and custom-made bubble pendant lights; and the restaurant’s signature cafeteria-style tables at the heart of the room, with space for 88 communal diners. Meanwhile, those waiting for their take-away orders of golden curry may find a seat in a nook by the takeout counter, away from the dine-in crowds.

Despite all these changes, owners Ernest Liu and Linda Fung are adamant that the recipes and Salad King’s famous 20-chili scale will stay the same. Indeed, that scale is now the star of a mural lining the ground-floor entranceway. In a canny nod to the restaurant’s crazed social media following, the mural also features quoted tweets from fans. Meanwhile, the scavenger hunt we wrote about a couple weeks back began yesterday. Contest rules for the Long Live the King scavenger hunt can be found at longlivetheking.ca.

Salad King, 340 Yonge St. (at Elm St.), 416-593-0333, , saladking.com

Topics: cheap cheap eats Collapse Dining Ernest Liu Foot Locker Linda Fung Munge Leung New Restaurants Openings Restaurants Salad King Toronto Yonge Street

6 thoughts on “Introducing: Salad King, the Yonge and Dundas cheap eats stalwart reborn”

  4. My friends and I went on Thursday night. It was a half an hour wait, they ran out of spring rolls (at 7pm) and we were not told about this until one friend got her pad thai an hour before everyone else at the table got their meal, at that point we were told “it comes out when it comes out”. An hour later, I was last to receive my siam noodles, which was plated with rubbery, undercooked chicken. When I told the waitress, 15 minutes later she asked me if I wanted to cancel my order or order again. I had to wait another 20 minutes for fresh siam noodles, which were overly spicy (not 3 chillies as I asked for), but once again the chicken was undercooked. Come bill time, the waitress didn’t even make the dish complimentary, which is absolutely unheard of when a customer finds something so disturbing and potentially hazardous in their food. I was sick all night because of the undercooked chicken. It took us a total of 2.5 hours to eat at salad king. Needless to say, I don’t know if I’ll be going back.

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