Two Penny Chinese

I would give it a higher mark if it does not call itself Chinese restaurant as it is not. I took some business partners from China to Two Penny as I wanted to avoid China town and have a quiet place to talk, but still have good Chinese food. Well, there are 8 big different classes of Chinese food and Two Penny Chinese is none of it, not even a mix. The menu was small and combination is different. We ordered a TouFu Bao, thinking it is Toufu in a pot slowly cooked for long time. But it was not. So it wasn't a "bao" in Chinese dish. We also had the smoked duck. The duck tasted good. But it was served with milk bun and pickles. Not sure how the chef designed this dish. The duck has bone in it so it is not meant to be put in the bun with pickles and eat it like a sandwich unless you want to manually take the bone out. Do I suppose to have one bite of the bun and one bit of the duck?
The decoration of the restaurant is not Chinese either. You might call it oriental as there are some Japanese element, some Thai element etc.
Overall, food was OK but expensive. And it is DEFINITELY NOT a Chinese restaurant.

Very expensive and unauthentic Chinese cuisine. You get 6 wontons/dumplings for $12-14. They are $4-5.50 in Chinatown for the same portions. We ordered the Shanghai noodles and the portion was tiny, not enough for 2 people for $18. Possibly because we removed the cabbage but there shouldn’t be that much cabbage in it. In Chinatown it’s a huge portion for $10-12. Everything is over priced

Great format, great food, excellent value. Well worth spending an evening with Two Penny.

Really liked the food but wish the value was a little better.

The food and service were exceptional! We will be back.

Enjoyed a delicious meal, sharing several eclectic and well prepared dishes. Server was helpful for my food allergy, made suggestions that were safe. Cocktails were delicious too! The restaurant is roomy so other tables were not too close.

Overpriced food

Service was super slow on a dead Sunday. We were one of two groups of patrons (the other was two gentlemen having drinks at the bar). Took our food 30 mins to arrive, with the food trickling in in the wrong order (appies were ordered first yet it didn’t come til later!). Food was either too bland (dumplings/wontons/wonton soup) or excessively salty (beef noodles). Too bad because the restaurant itself is beautiful. Unfortunately, I did not find it worth the hype.

The ginger beef was really unique and delicious.
Server was attentive.
Cocktails were good.
The other dishes we got were okay but really overpriced for what they were.
And the sugar pie dessert was really unappetizing. When I asked the server about it, he had asked the chef and the chef said that the dish was executed to her vision. It just tasted like a mistake.

Was really disappointed with the food. Was really over priced for the quality and taste of food.

Two Penny is absolutely worth it. It’s hard to pick a favourite dish, but definitely start with the pork buns and don’t bypass the veggies with garlic or almond chicken. I will go back to try the ginger beef next time.

The ambiance is nice and the attention to detail is predominant in both the decor and menu.

Food was fantastic and service was top notch! Great new spot. Can't wait to go back.

3rd time eating here and it’s really the best. Had the drunken seafood, bbq buns, Shang need noodles, their famous bone rice, lobster wontons and ginger beef. So impressive. One of my favourite places to eat.

Food was great and ambience was great too. Maybe a bit slow to get food out, otherwise really good!

We were disappointed. Dumplings for appetizer were okay. Wonton soup was fine and flavorful. Ordered two entrees - Almond Chicken and Ginger Beef Shortribs. The latter cooked for hours and a speciality. The almond chicken was the best dish. The ginger beef was greasy, fat infused and oven cooked to a dry condition. The meat actually tasted very strang as though it had sat out for awhile.

A bit disappointed given all th OpenTable reviews and hype.

Maybe it was a rare problem.

Manager comped the ginger beef and actually came out to ask us about it as we ate very little of the plate (90% went back to the kitchen.)

Great food and service. Would defiantly go back.

The food was amazing and the staff timed the delivery so as we finished one dish the next was being delivered. I highly recommend Two Penny for a great dining experience.

Overall was a nice evening. The cocktails are great. Service was wonderful. The mushroom dumplings also great. However overall the food was just not worth the price. Go to a really great Chinese restaurant in town and you can have similar dishes for half the price. The food was still good (tastewise) and I'd probably go back to try some other dishes and cocktails for sure!

Great Ambiance, nice seating , clean environment.

I’ve had slat/pepper squid before but our meal was unbelievably salty. The kung Pao potatoes looked so good but once again were very very salty

The mushroom dumpling were delicious ....


At the end of the night , a woman filled up my glass with water and spilled a huge puddle all over the table. The problem wasn’t that , it was that she walked away leaving us to clean it with no towel or napkins


Overall experience wasn’t very pleasant
I’m not a hater , I eat out ALOT!

I’m a restaurant junkie and I just wasn’t satisfied with the service or food

I've heard mixed reviews about this place but we loved it. The staff were great. We ordered what they recommended and it was delicious. I'd go back.

Food was really tasty and is what would entice me to return. Service was less than average - possibly a case of midweek lack of focus. Was not greeted by server, waited 15 mins before hostess took drink order and another 10 minutes before our actual server took food order, even though same server had been tending to the table right next to us they didn’t even acknowledge us or say “be with you shortly. Will give you time with the menu” etc. It wasn’t even busy to use as an excuse for not acknowledging your table. Food, once was ordered, arrived in a timely fashion.

WOW. Everytime I come here, I find something new to be obsessed with. Robust, delicious tea menu alongside tons of bao and other small plates, as well as some beautiful heavy hitters that will surprise you when they come to the table (Kung Pao Potatoes? wtf are potatoes allowed to be this good; Ginger beef, Special fried rice with marrow, wonton noodle soup... the list is endless).

I should really go to other places i'm sure but whenever I have time free I always find myself returning to Two Penny. It's usually packed but i'm glad the service is fast but NEVER rushed (we ate like 10 things in under 90 minutes!) and everything is clearly made with a lotta love.

Felt everything was very pricey for the amount of food, and the cost of the wine.

This was our first time at this restaurant. We ordered a few different appies to start. Mushroom dumplings, roasted cauliflower and lobster wontons. The dumplings and cauliflower were so salty I couldn't event eat my portion. The wontons were pretty good and very spicy which i like! Would have tried a couple of other dishes but the food was so salty it really turned us off.

We used to love Two Penny, but have found recently that our last few visits have been disappointing regarding value. It’s one of the most expensive restaurants in Calgary for what you get. Food, atmosphere, and service is all great, but everything is so extremely overpriced that it’s no surprise that it’s not as busy as it should be on a weekend.

My new favorite. So good.
Amazing food, impeccable service.

Awful, 630 reservation and didn’t get seated until 710.

Great food

Great ambience, creative items on menu and craft cocktails , great taste and attentive service

It was great service & the experience was welcomjng

Nice decor; ok service; food: 2 dishes, excellent, 4 mediocre.

Absolutely the best Chinese food we have ever tasted. We took friends to celebrate my wife's 60th birthday and they were so impressed they are planning to take their family to Two Penny for a meal. We would definitely enjoy another meal there again. We don't live in Calgary, and in fact it is over an hour's drive for us to get there but it was definitely worth the effort to go there.

Great restaurant and great personal service from the owner as well. Highly recommended as a fun spot to dine.

We enjoyed the cocktails, food, and ambiance but the service lacked in care and attention.

First visit...liked it very much. Great service from Sarah.

Try the milk oolong tea - incredible taste! Half-duck is a tasty number.

Amazing food and the staff was great. Second time coming here and I will be back again!

Awesome. Brought a toddler, everyone had a great time.

Great food but the service was terrible! Waited forever to order drinks and food and nobody bothered coming back to ask if we wanted more. The server was disengaged and busy with his friends at the table next to
us. Probably won’t go back even though the food was excellent.

My husband and I went for our wedding anniversary and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves
The service, cocktails, food and especially dessert were exceptional. We’ve already planned to come back next week!