Reviews for Cai's Kitchen in Nova Inn in Yellowknife, NT

Amazing place in Yellowknife to have Chinese food. Being from Toronto, I have had Chinese food from the likes of Mandarin, but I... can clearly say one of the best places to have Chinese food, if not the best, in Yellowknife. The owner and management issuper-friendly from early morning breakfast serving to dinner at night. My only disappointment was I tried the restaurant on thesecond last day of my trip. The atmosphere is really felt like home and was served with smile. Would definitely recommend anyonewho wishes to have good Chinese food with a smiling service! Read more

A decent breakfast menu, good at taste. Location is nice in Downtown, Yellowknife within the hotel Nova Inn's third floor, the... staff is friendly and approachable. ******Updated after Lunch******* We also dined in for lunch today. The lunch was absolutelydelicious and not that expensive as the breakfast. The setup and ambiance is really good and feels like home. The portion foreach meal is huge and can be enjoyed by two or more people. We had ordered the barbecue duck, it's a must have, I highlyrecommend that to all duck lovers. It was well cooked. The chicken egg fried rice, kimchi fried rice and spicy chicken fries aredefinitely worth trying.. we loved it. Only one drawback is that the food was served one at a time .. we were expecting all atonce but that was not so. Still I had an amazing experience for lunch. Will definitely and highly recommend this restaurant forlunch/dinner/breakfast. ******Updated after Dinner Takeaway******* After having lunch as the taste was absolutely delicious weopted to have a take away for dinner as well. We ordered the egg chicken fried rice with extra chicken and wanted two take awayboxes. The lady was extremely helpful and understanding so she divided the food in two boxes with the required cutleries. Ireally appreciate her warmth and friendly gesture.. I wish I could give some more ratings than 5. Read more

I was visiting YK and was recommended to visit here. Had the spicy seaweed and kelp salad, fried beef rolls, stir fry elk, and... the twice cooked pork. Everything was not bad considering that it's Yellowknife, though the pork was a tad too salty. The beefroll was also pretty good except that the sauce was too sweet and overpowered the other flavors (the bites without thesauce/with less sauce were delicious). Waitress was really nice and friendly. Read more

All of the good reviews about the food are probably from local residents because there are very limited choices of Chinese... restaurants in Yellowknife. Being a Chinese living in Vancouver, I am spoiled by the Chinese restaurants here. Being polite, Ican only rate Cai's food "2". The friendliness of the staff is "5". However, it really bothered me that they charged us $3.50for each cup of tea without telling us in advance. I have lived in North America for 30 years and were never charged for regularhot tea in Chinese restaurants unless going to dim sum. The dim sum restaurants usually charge $1 to $1.50 per person and it isonly for dim sum services. Otherwise, the tea has always been free in Chinese restaurants. It is OK if they want to charge fortea but at least the waitress should have told us in advance. **Edit after owner response** Although I appreciate that livingcosts are higher in Yellowknife, my point is that the waitress should have informed us that tea would be $3.50 per personinstead of offering "tea or water", which we would typically assume that both are complimentary options. Most Asian restaurantsin Vancouver offer complimentary tea (except for dim sum restaurants) and if they don't, they will disclose that there is a costfor tea and not offer it freely with water. Furthermore, even when we've had to pay for tea bags at restaurants, usually theywill offer it in a tea pot that can be shared vs a tea bag per person. I was considering changing my review to 3 stars becauseI understand the hardships of running a restaurant in a smaller northern community. However, I feel personally insulted andattacked by your response and will not be changing my rating. My rating of two stars was based on the food - it was too oily,too salty, and really not that authentic. The comment about the tea was a side comment. I am, in fact, very well-travelled, andhave experienced fine cuisine from different cultures. I have also enjoyed Chinese food in all sorts Read more

High expectation because all the great reviews but actually the food was just ok, I still gave them four stars because it's... hard to find a decent Chinese restaurant around the place Read more

Best Chinese food i ever had. Owners are really nice too.

Was introduced to Cai?s from a friend, the food is delicious and staff are so friendly! It?s our new takeout spot, I highly... recommend checking them out Read more

Went to Cai?s kitchen for the first time. Staff was kind and asked if it was our first time. They went through the menu and... explained the size and heat of the items. Highly recommend the kimchi fried rice! Read more