Sam Woo Village BBQ — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Obviously for the best Chinese food in the san fernando valley is sam woo. Most restaurants I have been to and visited as a child, have made deep friendships with. Most restaurants I take my friends, they always ask.. "how do u know them?" I have been privileged to know restaurant owners and staff. They are like family. So Sam Woo is like family too. We have been dining here since they opened in the 90's. They remember when my brother was in a stroller coming here for dinner with the grandparents, mom and dad. Until now, it's still the restaurant to-go for chinese food. Not only do they serve the chinese food that you will most definitely find at Panda express or some chinese fast food restaurant is their BBQ. They have Roast Duck, BBQ Pork, Soy Sauce Chicken, Salty Chicken all made fresh. Unlike the restaurants here in the valley, these are all made, roasted, cooked fresh. Roast pig is a huge one that sells fast!!! My favorite dishes to order are as follows: Spicy and Salty Shelled Shrimp, Beef Chow Fun (dry), BBQ Pork over rice, Soy Sauce chicken/salty chicken over rice, Singapore Noodle (curry), any bbq over rice dish is top-notch. The dessert is even better, I order the almond jello (cold). That dessert brings so many memories as a kid eating that in chinatown. They now serve it and I love ordering it. The restaurant sure has gone with many renovations over time, but any business that has been here that long will do that sort of remodel. The food has not changed which makes this food reviewer pleased because the flavor is consistent. If you get to-go from the BBQ area.. like roast duck, pig, bbq pork.. ask for (Wah-goh) really hard to pronounce it unless ur chinese.. or if u ever meet me and we eat here.. i can definitely help u with the pronunciation. OK to not lose track here, drink tea. It's the best way to go. I am a loyal customer and will eat here unless I move elsewhere. Great for parties and even a date. Solo.. well come here by yourself to eat maybe around 2,3pm.. it gets slow and it's good to avoid the crowds. This is one of the older and still great places to eat...

So happy I don't have to drive to the SGV to eat authentic and delicious Chinese food now! Sam Woo has a giant menu with all of the classic Chinese dishes. The 4 of us came on a Sunday night and were seated immediately.

We got French style tenderloin beef, mapo tofu, shrimp with scrambled eggs, seafood hot pot, and eggplant in garlic sauce with minced pork. Food came out SOO fast. Also got rice for 4, $6, a reasonable charge for a large pot of rice. Tea was complimentary which was awesome, since so many SGV restaurants charge (per person!) for tea now. Everything was delicious, could not recommend more highly!! Definitely get the beef if you're a red meat fan. All portions were enormous except for the beef, which was just regular-sized, but most beef entrees aren't large so we didn't mind.

We got this great old guy as our waiter who gave us the BEST service. We were SHOCKED b/c obviously Chinese restaurant service gets a bad rap and sometimes for good reason (I'm Chinese so I can say that lol). But he checked in with us right away. He took our order for a couple of dishes so we could get started while we decided the rest of our order. He brought us water quickly. He gave us a detailed recommendation on what the seafood hot pot entailed (shrimp, tofu, fish filet, squid, scallops on a bed of lettuce in white sauce). He was very attentive and easy to wave down. And he boxed up our leftovers tableside instead of leaving us to do ourselves. Anyway, we wanted to leave him a 30% tip but I asked him whether they pooled tips and he said yes. So we tipped 15% (didn't want to screw over the dishwashers and other servers) and then gave him an extra $10 in cash for his kindness. Which reminds me, they now take credit cards which is awesome! (they didn't in the past).

Can't wait to come back here and check out the rest of the extensive menu. The parking lot can get really crowded during peak hours b/c Sam Woo is next door to 99 Ranch, but no parking problems on...

Sam Woo

This is my first time to try this one because I usually choose Pho on the other side of Ranch 99 Market.

It has been cold and raining for days. When we arrived, it had a long line all the way to the side walk around 3pm. We were trying to get something to eat before our grocery shopping and it ended up impossible since the line was so long.

After Ranch 99, we put our shopping in the trunk and returned to Sam Woo. We got a table and also got informed the long line might have been the line for to go or pick up. Well, we were hungry and cold, just bring me my food.

The waiter’s English is ok, but may not be too well, barely enough to understand the order. And he actually got me the wrong noodle soup in the end while I point at the menu for what I wanted. 2 types of meat and I ended up with seafood with BBQ pork. I don’t think it is the right order, but what the heck, I am hungry, everything is good.

The soup is kind of plain that is probably Hong Kong or Cantonese’s flavor. But what I cannot duplicate at home is the egg noodles that is unique and mostly likely only available with Cantonese restaurants. I did not file complaint or exchange since it was egg noodles by default.

And of course, a waitress also delivered someone else’s order to our table before ours arrived. I think the manual order and hand writing system needs to be updated or improved, however, a lot of Asians still think as long it makes money, there is no need to improve. That is the most complaint I have.

To save money, we also don’t have fortune cookies. Well, whatever minimizes the cost works, I guess.

To be honest, I don’t think it is a bad restaurant nor is it an excellent one. It is average and enough to stop your hunger after you shop. They are nice just like everyone else. We buy food and the provide, whether you like it or not, you just have to try it yourself because we all have...