Sam Woo BBQ — Restaurant in Toronto

I've been eating from Sam Woo since I was a little girl when they were at the Alton Towers plaza. My dad would buy bbq pork from them for take out (fond memories =D) and ever since then, their bbq pork has always stood out from everyone else's in my heart.

This Sam Woo at Bamburgh has been around throughout my childhood as well and they also make their bbq pork the same way till this day. I kid you not, I've eaten bbq items at a lot of places now (i.e. many bbq places in Scarborough, Markham, Downtown, etc. and even in Taiwan as well as the Chinatowns in Montreal, New York City, and London, England) and Sam Woo is still first place when it comes to bbq pork. It is especially delicious if you request for half half (半肥瘦) meaning half fatty half lean so you would get a more marbled piece of bbq pork. Their bbq pork is tender, succulent, and has a tinge of honey and ginger flavour to it that nobody else has managed to rival till this day. A close second when it comes to delicious bbq pork is Hong Fatt BBQ in downtown Chinatown (on Dundas in between Spadina and University) as they have also mastered the art of making their bbq pork have a tinge of honey and ginger flavour to it.

Aside from Sam Woo's scrumptious bbq pork, a lot of their other dishes are also irresistibly delicious that I highly recommend. Their steamed chicken with vegetables (菜膽上湯雞) is one of the best that I've had (Chef 88 Oriental Cuisine being one of their only rivals) as they manage to make the chicken tender and juicy and the vegetables nice and crispy (爽). Their black cod steamed in black bean sauce will make you ask for more as the flavour just explodes in your mouth! It even inspired me to learn to make that sauce and to cook black cod using that method =D. Another memorable dish is their delicious steamed grouper tail dish. You've seriously gotta try it out! When it comes to their crispy chicken dish, rest assured that the shrimp crackers that accompany it will be nice and crispy as opposed to sad and soggy. Their fried noodles dishes are also amongst the best as they have good "wok hei" (breath of the wok or 鑊氣). Their stir fried rice noodles with beef (干炒牛河 and 時菜牛河) have a smoky flavour to them as they have good "wok hei" and the saucy one that includes vegetables (second one) also have vegetables that are crispy (爽) and cooked just right.

Although the number of yummy dishes they churn out are endless, I've gotta talk about some of their other aspects too lol. They recently stopped making dessert (糖水) for some reason but they give out slices of fruits instead. As such, don't expect to get any red bean dessert, tofu pudding, mung bean dessert, etc. to wrap up your meal. Prior to Covid-19, they used to have a deal on their steamed Tilapia but the deal is gone now. As for the atmosphere, their restaurant has looked the same since the 90's, but if you are anything like me, you might prefer it to stay this way as it's nostalgic. In regards to the service, it's the type of service you would expect in a typical Chinese restaurant (fast and to the point, little to no pleasantries, etc.) so some people might perceive it as a lack of warmth. However, if you've grown up eating at Chinese restaurants of that generation, you won't find it to be anything alarming as you know that that's just how it is.

TL;DR - I highly recommend this gem that's been around for decades as they have the best bbq pork and an endless list of other delicious dishes that will leave you asking for more. Don't expect Western style customer service and fancy elaborate decor though and you will not be...

One of my favorite restaurants in Markham when I want to get some bbq pork (which is one of the things they’re most famous for). You would think that coming at night on a Sunday wouldn’t be as busy, but actually they’re always pretty packed. When we came, all the tables were full of diners. You can also choose to just buy the meat at the cashier to take it home, and don’t have to dine in. The workers here all spoke Cantonese which made it a lot easier for us to communicate.

The menu offers a good selection of their specialty meats, as well as rice, veggie and noodle options as well. I would write the item number plus the name on the sheet as not every server remembers the whole menu. Food came fairly quickly, esecially the bbq pork since it was already made. The bbq pork was very soft, tasty, and one of my favorite things is that they have a slight crisp on the edges to them. I honestly don’t think i can find better bbq pork here than them.

Service wise was pretty good as the servers were attentive to us, but as a Chinese run restaurant, don’t expect the service to be top notch. However, for Chinese standards, they were pretty nice which made the experience...

If I could give this restaurant zero stars I absolutely would. Picked up some take out on the way home after heading to a barber shop in the area. HUGE HUGE MISTAKE. Grabbed two dishes because I wanted my GF to get a break from cooking tonight. Dropped about $40 on two dishes but never going to come back again. In addition, going to tell all my friends to avoid that place too. Portion size was minimal. Taste was so so. My dish - the brisket was actually mainly FAT. I’m Chinese & I know what brisket should taste like. My gf got the chicken & black bean sauce. The container was like barely half full. Nothing to write home about. After the pandemic I thought it was good to support local businesses. But lesson learned tonight. I was in a rush & made a huge mistake. No doubt, after a few bites, I began to get a weird headache. No doubt the dreaded msg. I blame myself initially but I want to avoid anyone else from making this huge mistake. AVOID SAM WOO BBG PLEASE. (There is a McDonald’s in the same plaza. Truth be told, I know for a fact, a burger & fries from there, would have been a better decision in comparison to this Chinese...