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After decades of bringing people together over Dim Sum, Cantonese dinners, and wedding banquets, Yangtze Restaurant is closing, leaving a hole in the heart of Ottawa’s Chinatown.
Some places you just expect to be there, like the mall or that one park bench with "Jon loves Suzie" carved into it. Yangtze Ottawa was one of those places. It’s hard to imagine that a place with so many memories could simply…close.
Now confirmed on the restaurant's website: yangtze.ca. The iconic Yangtze Ottawa, with the fish tank at the front steps, lobster tanks by the steps leading to the restrooms downstairs and dozens of round tables made for share plates, is closing.
For over forty years, this restaurant has been a fixture in Chinatown, where families, friends, and foodies alike gathered for dim sum weekends, special dinners, and even a few hundred wedding receptions. You almost always saw someone you knew at one of the tables on a crowded night or weekend.
Yangtze wasn’t just a restaurant; it was practically a community centre with a menu, a piece of Ottawa’s cultural fabric—and now, it’s closing in mid-November. Just like that, after decades of dinners and Dim Sum.
It’s a little heartbreaking. Yangtze Restaurant was a place you could walk in, and it’s all so familiar: the bustling tables, the Dim Sum carts of steaming Siu Mai weaving between chairs, the clink of teacups. Whether it was by the windows people watching or under the big Golden Dragon on the wall, everyone had a spot at the Yangtze Ottawa.
This November, our spot is closing. According to the CBC News, the Ng family, who have been running the restaurant since the 80's are moving on. The family simply felt it was time to rest, move on, and to step back after giving so much of themselves to their community. With this decision, they’re ending an era, not just for themselves but for all of us who grew up with Yangtze as part of our lives.
What will replace the Yangtze? It's still unknown at the moment. The business and property went up for sale in March 2024 for $3.28 million. And while the Chinatown BIA has made efforts to keep it a Chinese restaurant, they are "Open to change" and want to make the area a more "culturally diverse" neighbourhood... But let's be honest, the last thing most of us want is to walk in to this building expecting Dim sum and leaving with a new gym membership.
The Oriental Chu-Shing Restaurant, a competitor of Yangtze directly across the street on Somerset had already closed 2 years ago, and there have been rumours that a new fancy gym and wellness centre will soon be opening in that space.
It's hard to think of anything but another restaurant replacing a spot that once served up endless plates of amazing Cantonese and Szechuan comfort food. Sometimes change just doesn’t taste as sweet.
Places like Yangtze leave a mark, a culinary fingerprint in the city’s history. This wasn’t just a restaurant; it was where you took Grandma for her birthday, where you caught up with old friends, and where a regular Sunday morning could turn into a dim sum adventure.
It was a place that greeted you with warmth and left you in a happy food coma. You knew what you were getting. Those experiences are irreplaceable, the kind of memories you can’t just order off the menu.
As we prepare to say goodbye, we hold out hope that something special will fill the space. Maybe another restaurant will step in and carry on the tradition of hot tea and dumplings, of bustling weekends and shared memories.
But for now, let’s take a moment to remember Yangtze as it was: a place where Ottawa came together over good food and laughter, where dim sum wasn’t just a meal but a ritual. A place we’ll miss more than we probably realize right now. Thank you, Yangtze. You’ll always have a place in our hearts—and, for many of us, in our cravings.
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