Well-known Toronto brand Jumbo Lobster to take over former Yangtze location early in 2026

December 22, 2025

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A popular Toronto-based Chinese restaurant will be taking over the space formerly occupied by the iconic Yangtze Restaurant in Ottawa’s Chinatown early in 2026. The owner of Jumbo Lobster, Chris Xie, confirmed to OBJ on Monday that his business will open an Ottawa location at 700 Somerset St. W., the corner site that had been home to the Yangtze for more than 40 years. Jumbo Lobster is a large, high-end Chinese seafood restaurant based in Richmond Hill, Ont., about 30 minutes north of downtown Toronto, that caters to big groups. Xie also owns Sichuan restaurant Foodinator on Somerset Street East in Ottawa. Yukang Li, executive director of Ottawa’s Chinatown BIA, heard the news about a month ago and said it was a relief to see that the location would remain a restaurant. “I was excited and relieved,” Li told OBJ. “This is such a prominent location in Chinatown, given its size. It has been a go-to place for many important community events, such as birthdays, weddings and other community celebrations.” Since Yangtze closed its doors in November 2024, Li said the BIA and the property owners have been on the lookout for a business to fill the prime Chinatown location. So when Jumbo Lobster showed an interest, Li said the BIA was overjoyed. “Jumbo Lobster is a very fancy and popular restaurant in Toronto, so it’s already an established brand. People will know Jumbo Lobster and the food they serve. From the BIA’s perspective, it’s really good that it isn’t just any business that’s coming to take over the Yangtze (location).” Having a new business in what Li calls an “anchor location” means other businesses will benefit. “When Yangtze closed, Chinatown wasn’t only losing one big business member, but it was a hit on many other businesses, especially after the pandemic,” Li said. “I’ve spoken to some of the smaller restaurants nearby and they were as excited as I am because they were hoping that (a business in the former Yangtze location) could serve as a business leader in the community by building a brand and attracting more customers to come down to Chinatown.” The Yangtze Restaurant and Dining Lounge, which served Cantonese cuisine since the early 1980s, was listed for sale in early March 2024 for an asking price of $3.28 million. The listing included the business name and the existing building, which features two floors at about 4,800 square feet each, a lower-level banquet hall that can accommodate 70 people, all food service equipment, and 11 parking spaces. When the Yangtze closed, Li said it left a hole in the community, especially as another marquee business, Oriental Chu Shing restaurant at 691 Somerset St. W., had closed its doors in 2022. “We were losing a very important venue,” Li said last week of the Yangtze. “It was one of the two biggest restaurants to close. As a matter of fact, this past year (2025) the BIA didn’t have a place big enough to host our AGM.” The listing stipulated that the building, which was constructed in 1977, could be demolished to make way for an apartment building, which added to the anxiety of a community that has been struggling with vandalism, an increase in crime, racism and subsequent closures of local businesses since the pandemic.