Salt and Pepper

The food has improved a lot lately with the new management it seems. The used to be my absolute favorite Hakka spot about 4 yrs ago and then they went completely downhill as I assume the chef changed. But now getting better again.

This used to be one of my favourite restaurants but the quality/​taste of food has gone down lately… I hope the new management can revive the good old taste of the food here. Otherwise, good place for hakka food.

Good hakka (Indian-​Chinese) food is definitely a suburban phenomenon, and Salt N Pepper does it really really well.
It’s well-​located near the 401 Hurontario exit in Mississauga, in a somewhat questionable looking strip plaza, flanked by a banquet hall and a club.
All food is 100% halal and no liquor is served.
Food is served family style. For 5 people we usually get 2 rices, 1 noodle dish, and 3 meats or curries and everyone is well-​stuffed by the end.
The hot n sour soup to start with is really good, packed with tangy flavour and a plethora of veggies, tofu and chicken.
The Manchurian chicken rice and noodles are equally delicious and not too spicy. Great accompaniments for the curries.
Speaking of…
They have a vast array of meat options, with the menu divided by chicken /​fish /​shrimp /​beef and vegetarian. They come dry (i.e. fried) or fried then covered in gravy. My favorites are Manchurian chicken, Chili chicken, chili beef. A lot of the gravies consist of battered cubed meat, hanging out in some gravy. The drawback though is that although the menu is extensive, I find that most of the curries have VERY similar taste, with little variation. So I just end up ordering the same thing each time. Also, be warned that the curries do NOT come with a default bowl of steamed rice, like in other places. Ask your server for details.
The Manchurian noodles are my favorite dish. They have some kind of secret seasoning which delivers a pop of flavor straight to your taste buds, and are complimented with plentiful veggies and chicken. Also good to eat on its own.
The sweet n sour shrimp is VERY delicious. You get big shrimp and dough balls, battered and fried and swimming in a sweet/​sour gravy.
Prices are reasonable, and start from ~$ 9.00 per item.
Service: don’t’ expect above average, or even average service. You do get seated right away and a server will take your order quickly too, and the food comes out pretty quick too. But don’t expect extra pleasantries beyond that. No one will come to you in the middle of the meal and ask if everything’s OK etc. They also set the table after you’ve sat down so it may involve some awkward leaning over and reaching around without saying ‘excuse me’. My strategy is just to lean away and try to get out of their way.
Environment: The place was recently renovated and expanded so there’s more seating. But I didn’t like the harsh fluorescent lighting much. It’s good for large groups though. We always just drop in (5 – 6 ppl) and have found seating right away 90% of the time. There has been a recent change in management and crowds have thinned since then, partly because it’s not clear whether they’re open or renovating, I think.

I went there for the first time, and the restaurant looked pretty nice although this place was empty.
We ordered soup and then went straight to on trays… The food tasted weird and it wasn’t really hot. It wasn’t bad until we had to pay $ 80bucks for this kinda shitty food.
The next day when I woke up, I got a swear stomach ache and after going to the doctor, I found out it was a food infection. Thank you salt and pepper. never coming back again. HORRIBLE

I go here quite often and the owner and the management are very good; quite possibly the best halal Hakka Chinese place in the GTA!

Let’s have a quick test, shall we? Pop quiz as it were…
Scenario: Let’s say you own a restaurant. Let’s say someone calls your restaurant asking if it’s possible for you to accommodate 60+ people, and they want to know about the catering options that you have available.
What will you do? Choose the appropriate response:
(a) Explain the various options available because you’re about to make $ 1,000+ for food and services provided. Then provide adequate customer service and yummy food with the awareness that you’re not only going to make money (a good thing), but maybe a few fans in the process (also a good thing).
(b) Refuse to honor the prices shown on your website stating instead that those prices are wrong. Only give in when you realize that the $ 1,000+ that was within your grasp is now slipping away.
© Offer absolutely nothing additional because you’re an anus who strives to fit every cheap, stingy, chintzy stereotype associated with people from the country of India (I’m Indian, I can say this).
(d) Present your paying customers with food in small amounts so that your paying customer has to keep requesting that more food is brought out for all of the guests.
(e) State that to-​go boxes aren’t allowed for the people that were supposed to come but couldn’t get to the restaurant in time before closing, even though there’s still food leftover that will go to waste.
(f) All of the above except (a).
There’s a correct response to this question. Salt & Pepper did not choose the correct response. They chose the incorrect response. They chose most every incorrect response possible. Like a bored student who couldn’t be bothered to prep for his test, so he instead starts filling in the Scantron bubbles to spell out his name because why not, It’s only a standardized test that determines the rest of your life (I had to follow through on my metaphor). On that note, what’s the Canadian equivalent to the SATs or ACTs? I could Google it, but whatever…
In case there was any confusion: Salt & Pepper was disappointing. Not the condiments. Those are great. I’m a big fan of pepper. Salt & Pepper the restaurant was meh. There are significantly better Hakka options in the GTA.

I find the negative reviews perplexing because I’ve been a regular customer since 2008 and aside their occasionally slow service and the annoying door chime, this restaurant is amazing, at least when it comes to the food.
To all the people complaining that this is nothing like traditional Chinese food: that’s why it’s so good. It’s an adaptation of Chinese cooking techniques to South Asian (Indian and Pakistani) tastes. It’s pretty close to Thai food, I would say.
The Hot and Sour soup is a good starter. Small is good for one person but for a group of people I would recommend a medium. When I’m feeling fat I get the chicken pakoras because they are good to nosh on.
Everything on their menu serves about 4 people. If you’re dining alone, you will naturally have left overs.
The fried rice here is nothing like the bland, greasy converted or parboiled rice you get at a lot of North American Chinese joints. I recommend getting the chicken egg fried rice. If you’re feeling adventurous, get one of the Chinese Biryani varieties. It’s packed with flavour and other stuff.
Hot Garlic Chicken is probably my favourite. You can ask them to make it with white meat. It’s an extra dollar but well worth it, in my opinion. Chilli chicken, Manchurian chicken and Salt & Pepper Chicken are also good. I liked their Orange Chicken but it’s nothing like the stuff you get at other places (not sweet and crunchy) so if you’re seeking that flavour, you won’t get it here.
I’ve never tried and their beef, fish, and shrimp dishes but a lot of them are variants of the chicken dishes so I imagine they’re great.
Now the noodles: they’re the best. I have brought several people here and everyone agrees that they’ve never had noodles like this. I recommend the Szechuan Chicken noodles. You can add shrimp for an extra dollar if you’re me. It’s pretty good. Manchurian ones are also excellent.
I wouldn’t bother with the desserts here but the mango lassi is pretty epic.
Other stuff: décor is whatever but not terrible. It’s not embarrassing to bring people here. Bathrooms are relatively clean. Sometimes it’s pretty noisy. After 6:30 pm it gets quite busy. Weekends are busiest. If you can, sit away from the door, especially during winter. That door chime is pretty irritating. Music can be that way also.

This is so far from traditional Chinese food, that you can’t go in with expectations. I did, but after looking at the menu, I conceded any anticipation of mainland Chinese food and went into exploration mode. Once the pre-​conceived notions are gone, it is a new experience similar to Indian cuisine – strong, thick sauces, and powerful flavours.
I ordered the Hot Garlic Chicken, an $ 11 dish that arrived hot and visually appealing. The flavours were powerful, not bland or slack in any way. The cubed chicken was cooked nicely, and not overdone. The sauce was mildly spicy, abundant, and not oily.
But boiled rice? Pasty and starchy, with virtually no texture, it really took away from a pretty nice meal. The plate of rice was $ 4 on its own! The chicken dish was good, the rice was gaggy, so I came to some conclusions:
First, don’t go alone. You need at least 4 people to order 4 different dishes to share.
Second, avoid the rice.
Third, this is not a «date night» kind of place, more like a truck stop diner in appearance. You go for the intense food.
Fourth, almost everything on the menu is breaded in some way.
Fifth, Vegans need not apply.
The flavours are so powerful and satisfying, that I would go back again, mainly in winter. Who knows, it might even become addicting. Except for the rice…

Tasty food, poor service.
This place was okay. It was my first time trying hakka food, which is Indian and Chinese fusion for those of you who don’t know (I didn’t until earlier today) and I quite enjoyed the food. I like Indian food and Chinese food individually so I figured I’d definitely like them combined.. .. . okay fine I like all food.. . so I guess I can’t go wrong. Enough about me though, the food here was tasty (nothing exceptional) but the service was quite poor. I came here with a group of about 8 co-​workers and it wasn’t packed but they somehow could not figure out our orders. They brought the wrong dishes out twice (lol) and when we told the server it was wrong he had this rude/​angry look on his face. So yeah, needless to say I didn’t tip big.
Also, they brought out each person’s dish one by one, which happens to be one of my biggest pet peeves, because either you are left starving watching order people eat, or you are awkwardly eating trying not to enjoy your food too much because you know the person across from you is jealous that you have food. Or the third alternative, you wait until everyone gets their food then your dish is cold. Just leave the ready dishes on a hot plate and then bring them all out at the same time. It makes for a way more enjoyable experience.
On a side note, the «Hot and Sour soup» was amazing! I really enjoyed it. The inside of the place looked nice too.
Overall I probably woudn’t come here again unless someone else wanted to.

Terrible, honestly disgusting, had to send the cold food back twice. Got excited when it started steaming but was disappointed by the salty gingery chili chicken. The dry as hell and not garicly but soy filled garlic chicken. I can get food 4 times as good for ¼ the price. The atmosphere is comparable to the bathroom in Saw and the wait staff is about as nice as a bullet to the forehead.

Went there on a Sunday afternoon when the place was relatively empty. Took us 40 minutes to get our food. Another 20 to wait for the dessert. Food was ok, chilli chicken was good.

Excellent food, nice ambience, cost effective

I love this place. The food is delicious! I usually get the schezwan chicken noodles, shrimp fried rice, chinese chicken biryani or schezwan chicken biryani, sweet and sour fish (the besttttttttttttttt my meal is not complete without it), chicken pakoras (my baby loved it too) and I think thats all I have tried thus far. But man oh man is this food good or what. Definitely give it a try if ur in the Mississauga area. The food is a bit pricy though 10 – 12 dollars per dish so make sure you bring lots of $$$ or a credit/​debit card. But I think its kinda worth it, especially if u only have it once in a while like I do.

I liked the food generally but the price is too steep for what it is. When you visit a good hakka place and order a «chili chicken» for instance, the assumption is that it comes with rice. Well here at Salt & Pepper it’s a whopping $ 12.99 and doesn’t even include rice. Add yourself a fried rice for $ 9.99 and then a szechwan noodles and you’re up to $ 35 if not more with tax. Just too much. Again, the food was pretty good but there’s no shortage of hakka places around with better prices, so I’m not sure when I’ll return. The one major positive though was they are one of the few places that has Dragon chicken & Chili chicken WHITE meat versions. I tend to always get stuck with gristly chicken with the average chili chicken dish made with dark meat so that was a nice change. Person taking the order is completely unhelpful and unenthusiastic about the food too, the guy in the black shirt. just wanted to add that. Seems catered to Indian and not Chinese like regular hakka.

I love Hakka Chinese food. Salt and Pepper is an excellent example of the genre. The entrees we ordered were Chinese Chicken Biryani, Chili Chicken, and Sesame Chicken. The best item was the Biryani; huge portion, perfectly cooked basmati rice, unique spices, and abundant chicken. The Chili Chicken was excellent as well. The Sesame Chicken was pretty conventional, but that’s what my teenage daughter wanted.
We also had soup. The Tom Yum Chicken soup was very good, but lemony. I was the only one who liked it. My daughter had the hot and sour and it was excellent, albeit a bit conventional.
They lose a star for the typical Desi restaurant service and dirty bathrooms. The men’s room had a live light fixture hanging from the wires. Scary.