Sam Woo Alhambra — Restaurant in Alhambra

I have been eating at this place for a few years. It used to be one of a few A-rated Chinese restaurants in town, but a recent B rating does not stop me from going. I admit that I normally don't write reviews for places I visit, even as a regular customer, but I have seen a lot of unfair reviews or comments here, and I feel I must say something.

This restaurant makes me feel like I'm dining in a Cantonese cafe in old Chinatown in Manhattan or San Francisco. Its service staff and atmosphere give me a special feeling of history about first-generation immigrants. However, I understand that not everyone likes its "old" setting.

They offer the best-value meal in town. Tell me if anyone can find other places offering a better deal! When the minimum wage for fast-food workers has gone up to $20 an hour already (they are fighting for $24 an hour now), this place still offers many $6.99 meals if the orders are placed before 11:30 AM. It becomes unfair to compare the $6.99 dishes with those at $30 or $60 at other fancier places. So, please be realistic. Their regular-priced menu usually costs about $10ish per dish, but it is still super affordable. Here, I want to give the following reviews about the food and service in a more realistic review.

The food is not bad at all. Most of the dishes I ordered have authentic Cantonese flavor. I won't say they offer the best Cantonese food in town, but I would rather pay $6.99 or $10 for an authentic Cantonese plate than a cheeseburger meal.

I am not sure if it is because I can also speak Cantonese myself and communicate well with the servers, but I heard them speaking in English with other guests. They are excellent servers. I have always received good service from this place. The labor cost is so high now, and it is so difficult for any restaurants to find good servers. Sometimes, there is only one waitress or waiter to wait 6 - 7 tables in the restaurants, but they work diligently to provide efficient service to me whenever I eat there.

We are very fortunate that there is still a place in LA or the U.S. that offers very affordable yet authentic Cantonese food in today's super harsh business environment in general. After I eat there, I often order some BBQ to go, but keep in mind that the servers only take care of dine-in options. All to-go orders must be ordered and paid for in the designated area/counter for takeout.

It is not the best Cantonese restaurant in town, but it is a place with a history. I hope they will continue doing well, and I want to come back again often.

For today's brunch, I ordered three dishes at $6.99 each for three persons (the congee comes with a small plate of rice noodles). We were very full. I uploaded the pictures here for...

A great place for Chinese Restaurant if you don't mind the ambient and just want good food! It's basically a hole in the wall! It's always busy. However, if you have to wait to be seated, it's a very short wait because people go there to eat - No must no fuss if you know what I mean...lol... pretty much everything taste good here! You get a lot and the price is much lower than elsewhere. There are different chains of Sam Woo restaurants. However, I've gone to several different ones in the past, but the taste is much better at this location. The other locations have better setups but for me I can't eat or taste ambient. I want to enjoy my food... That's why I would drive over 100 miles to come to this restaurant! I think that says a lot! Here I highly recommend Beef Chowfun, Shrimp Chow Me (either crispy or dry, they are both good. Just prepared in different style. The "CRISPY" style- The noodles are pan fried to a crisp like a nest and then shrimp and bok choi (Chinese vegetable) stir fry with white sauce are poured into the noodle nest. The "DRY" style - The noodles are soft and stir fry with shrimps, green onion, brown onions, and soy sauce.) The wonton noodle soup is very inexpensive here! It's $3.99 or $4.99 for a huge bowl, which is enough for individual meal! Sorry I can't remember the exact price. I actual remembered it at $2.99 but didn't want to say it because it's been awhile since I've ordered it a year ago...lol... you'll have to see for yourself. Oh, forgot to say that the wontons are filled with shrimps, which is hard to find nowadays to find to good food for such inexpensive pricing!

Updated as 4/11/2019 - I just went there to pick up a to go as I was in town and was surprised to see that the prices on the menu were raised by $2 - $3! Wow! Personally I think that is just too high to stay competitive with the other restaurants in the area, especially if it is lacking in ambiance. The food do taste great but I personally can't say I will be dinning here at the new menu prices though. I had left my old review up, but please DISREGARD ANY REFERENCES TO GOOD VALUE...

DON'T COME UNLESS YOU'RE 1) mid-50's and speak fluent Cantonese, 2) part of the local Cantonese crowd. For everyone else, BE PREPARED TO BE CHEATED. I am 30yr old, but look early- mid-20s, and like an ABC (perfect English, speak basic Mandarin w a slight foreigner accent).

I went to this location for the first time today to pick up takeout bbq meats to prepare at home. The lady at the takeout counter (clearly the boss) dropped a meaningful piece of my roast pork ($11.95/lb) AFTER weighing it, and instead of immediately apologizing, and reweighing my order/replacing the meat, she stared at the meat on the floor long enough for me to be certain that had I not been standing there, watching, she would have picked the meat off of the FLOOR and slipped it back into my box (who does that?). Finally, I had to politely ask, did a piece fall on the floor? She looked at me and said, I'll replace it-- without any mention of reweighing. I didn't want to make a big deal of a simple mistake, so let it go. She brought the replacement piece to me from the back, and stuck it in my box. After I got home, I was furious to see that the replacement piece was almost PURE FAT, clearly a leftover scrap. After piecing through just the first half of my 1.5lb roast pork order, I have already trimmed out a very hefty handful of fat, including significant lumps.

The bbq pork I ordered was also slathered in sauce, which, in light of my roast pork order, I'm positive was intentional, to tip the scales (at close to $10/lb).

I don't know how they treat their regular customers, but my sense is that unless you're a tough-looking Cantonese local, you won't be treated fairly-- they'll jip who they can. I was too polite to make a fuss, but will never go back to this location. Congrats on losing a good potential customer.

Also, as a more minor point, don't expect to pay the actual cost of your order-- they will round up to the closest figure that's convenient for them. My orders came out to exactly $15 and $10, which I know is not a...