Sam Woo BBQ

Always Good! When I want Authentic Chinese Food in The Valley I come Here. Reminds me of my Grand Ma’s cooking!

Living in Sherman Oaks, Sam Woo Barbeque is my convenient go-​to place whenever I’m having a yen for authentic Cantonese Chinese food. Although very busy at times and usually filled with other Chinese people (always very good signs), I have enjoyed every meal here. Even my difficult to please mother, born in Shanghai, liked it.
Cash only business but reasonably priced and have never been disappointed whether it be the braised string beans with minced pork, the beef chow fun or any of their delicious hot pots. Quality has always been consistent and the service has always been efficient and courteous. On very busy nights, take-​out hits the spot.

Their foods are ok, but they are so busy. With next to no competition in the area, they are packed and there is always line.

I was pleasantly surprised by this place. It came from a recommendation from a Chinese friend who is a nostalgic so I figured I’d give it a try.
The fried rice with Chinese sausage was great. Can’t remember what my partner had but it wasn’t my favorite.
Needs a little overhaul but not bad.
Ill may come back.

Ambiance: a convenient restaurant with dine in and to go area, but it’s hard to find parking in the plaza
Service: slow and impatient, had to wait a while to get order
Food: in general it’s ok
Salty chicken — *** chewy meat
BBQ pork — **** crispy and tasty, recommend
Roast Duck — ** so so
Turnip and beef stew hot pot — *** tender beef
Price: reasonably priced, expect $ 15 each person and it’s cash only

This is one of our go-​to places in the Valley. I didn’t appreciate how good their food was until this last November when we went to try out another Chinese restaurant that was closer to home, and it was terrible! on top of that, it was more expensive! WHA???
We have been going to Sam Woo for YEARS! I always feel more comfortable when I walk into an Asian restaurant and you see that 50−80% of the patrons are Asian Something’s got to be good.
I’ve tried many of their dishes and to-​go food – I prefer some over others but none of them have ever been bad. We have our usual. I’m more adventurous but when you done w/​a picky kid and boyfriend, getting them to try to things isn’t always worth the effort, haha!
Our usual dishes include: chow fun w/​gravy, string beans w/​minced pork, spicy salt fish filet, and BBQ pork. We’ve also have ordered sautéed Chinese spinach and snow pea leaves. From their to-​go section, aside from the BBQ pork, we’ve gotten the chicken wings – ohmigoodness (!!), so delish!
Most of the servers know us by now – they’re all nice and friendly (probably because we’re regulars? That’s what I’d like to think). When we use to live closer, I think we were averaging at least one visit a week, sometimes 2. Now, it’s less; but that’s only because we live a bit further.
DEFINITELY a must-​try and it’ll always be on our list for good food and decent service (considering their Asian).

Having Christmas lunch here has become quite the tradition. Kind of reminds me of the movie A Christmas story only without the singing. Chinese restaurants are open on Christmas!
After ordering, the food comes out with lighting speed. Today we dined on–
Dumpling and Noodle soup with Chicken and Bok Choy
BBQ Pork and Soy Sauce Chicken over Rice
Beef and Chinese Broccoli
Green Beans with Minced Pork
Sweet and Pungent Shrimp
Everything was so good! Service fast and efficient. The Queen of Reseda, here son, and myself just about ate everything. Sam Woo, the best Chinese restaurant in the San Fernando Valley!

We were in the area so stopped by for a late dinner. The portions were a little smaller and prices higher than what I remember from a few years ago.
We ordered pan fried noodles, sweet and pungent shrimp, and fried pork chops. All were pretty good. The milk tea boba tasted off tonight.
Took a roast duck home from their take out deli for our dinner tomorrow!
There are a number of Sam Woo restaurants in So Cal, but we like this one better than the one in Anaheim.
Still cash only.

Great food and great prices! Definitely not the place for stellar service or anything because sometimes they’re so busy they just want to get you in and out. I always get the barbecue pork and soy sauce chicken rice plate. It’s so simple but delicious! My parents always get the wonton noodle soup with soy sauce chicken. You can also call ahead and have them put your number down on the waiting list if you’re coming in at a busy time.

The bbq pork and peking duck are really really good, but the service sucks, not friendly at all. Oh and it’s cash only

Sam Woo is such a great place when you are in the mood for fast, greasy, cheap Chinese food. which let’s be honest, when am I not in the mood for that?
They have such an extensive menu. I’m talking pages on pages. Their menu is like a book. There’s something for everyone from rice to noodles to veggies to bbq to soup to seafood.
Their lunch specials are cheap but is still a lot of food. Or you can order bigger dishes and share it family style.
My favorite dish to get is the 3 bbq choices over rice — duck, roast pork and bbq pork.
It’s cash only!

Anytime I am in the area, I cannot resist the call of the Duck or Oink-​Oink! When I lived in OC, there was a Sam-​Woo near my place. I miss the convenience of grabbing a take out but maybe it’s better for my «health» that I live 10+ miles away, haha!
Cannot go wrong any of the meats. Love the Duck for sure. Not too fatty, like some other places. The crispy roast pork is really good. As well as the BBQ pork. Other dishes are also pretty easy to grab and go.
A big plus is the service. Oh my, flash back to a few weeks ago when I made the mistake of stopping into a place to stay unnamed ‘coz I saw the duck hanging in the display window and Duck cravings hit me. I waited 15mins to have someone help me and then the guy behind the counter totally mishandled my box and presented a messy blob of cut up Duck pieces, with not a single word of apology. When I refused to take it nor pay for it, he cursed at me. Still trying to salvage the situation and work with such rudeness, I asked nicely if they could get another duck ready for me. More swearing. I had enough and simply walked out. Never did that. Did not want to walk out on a business. But I was literally forced to…
Whew. That rude treatment downtown Chinatown, I can live without when picking up my duck. And I’ll keep coming to Sam-​Woo. The guy behind the counter may not speak much English but he smiled — that alone is worth 5 stars, especially after my last traumatizing experience in Chinatown.
The prices have gone up quite a bit. Parking is tricky even if there’s a good size parking lot. Would not stop me from coming back for my Duck and Oink Oink ^_^

No need to go to Chinatown.
Great authentic Chinese bbq.
Duck, and chicken and red pork is great.
Piggy ears, YUM. Layers and layers of YUM.

I’ve been going to Sam Woo since I was a little kid, from Chinatown to Monterey Park and now Van Nuys. I used to go with my parents and we would each order the wonton noodle soup. Whenever I eat it, it would bring back fond memories. Last weekend my family and I went and we ordered the following:
Wonton Noodle Soup: My favorite, so filling and it makes me so happy to eat it.
BBQ Pork with Pan Fried Flat Rice Noodle: So good, I loved it.
BBQ Pork Chow Mein: Loved it!!!
French Style Beef: cubed beef with black pepper sauce, great over rice.
Orange Chicken: had a really good kick.
All in all, I love Sam Woo. This food is from my roots.

I’ve been to this place several times in the past 5 years and have never written a review. I honestly have never been disappointed. The portions are huge for what they charge. I usually don’t have to wait long, unless it’s a busy night and there Is a little wait for a table.
My fiancé ordered the king pao shrimp. Very delicious and just enough spice. I definitely will order again. Their orange chicken is fresh and delicious. The waiters I think are friendly and made us feel comfortable.
One minus if you’re into this is the décor is not fancy. I don’t think it’s this is a minus.

Not much to really say it’s a standard Sam Woo restaurant. Great hot deli selection from their duck to the chicken to the pig intestine.
I mostly order these to go but the rare instances that I do dine in and order off the menu I tend to stick to the basics.
Their wonton soup with egg noodles and duck is great but it does have quite a bit of msg. You can tell by that dry throat feeling about 10 minutes after your meal. But hey msg tastes good, that’s why people put it in.
I was a bit disappointed with the salted egg and duck fried rice though. I received chicken instead of rice and we did not realize the mistake until we already spooned out a good ¼ of the plate, which is pretty massive. It can probably serve two people no problem. Now since we hate wasting food we did tell them and just make sure that they charge us for chicken instead of duck since it’s usually cheaper by a dollar or two.
Now what was so wrong with having chicken instead of duck is that duck is much more fatty and oily which would’ve complemented the salted egg better.
Service was just a-​okay.

I can’t believe I have not written a review for Sam Woo yet! The best Chinese restaurant in San Fernando valley! When you see a lot of Chinese and other Asians going to a Chinese restaurant and willing to wait in line to be seated, then you know it is a very good Chinese restaurant.
We liked almost (99%) of everything we have ordered whether dine-​in or to-​go. I can’t write enough … just go there and experience for yourself.

I know I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed a restaurant we frequent more than most.
This is a chain and not all Sam Woo BBQs are equal (by the way Sam Woo is not a person).
This one in Van Nuys is the best one I’ve been to and the perfect comfort Chinese food. Some people say it’s not authentic but I disagree and surely all the many Chinese people who cook, eat, and work their would like to know why.
This place gets 4 stars and not 5 because:
1) cash only
2) ambience is total strip mall even though they remodeled a while back
3) food keeps going up in price
BUT if I were just rating it on the food alone as far as satisfaction it’s only failed once or twice in the last 16+ years.
1) Peking Duck — now $ 29.99. Other restaurants order the duck from here and do a better presentation (but charge you $ 50) with it but this one is the best because they have the best sweet buns to go with it. They put it on a huge bed of shrimp chips. Some slices of skin have a chunk of duck meat on it. They give you all the left over duck meat to eat there or take home OR you can ask them for an extra charge to make you duck fried rice with it.
2) Chicken Fried Rice — the best. The rice and chicken are always the right texture and it is always excellent.
3) zuk or conji or rice porridge — you can order it with different meats cooked in but I always order it white/​plain and they put the right amount of tofu skins and it is pure comfort. I order an extra to go always for breakfast etc. I go next door to Ranch 99 and get the Chinese donuts (they are salty long strips of dough in the front of the store) to heat up and dip in.
4)The string beans with ground pork — the beans are the right amount of crisp and it is a dish that is usually spicy because they put white pepper in it but I order it without,
5) pea pod tips with garlic when in season is the perfect no fail veggie dish.
6) house chow mein — I love the crunchy noodles so we order it light on the sauce. It comes with calamari, bok Choy, shrimp, Cha Su pork, and chicken.
The food always taste better eating in but we do order it to go at times.
There is a BBQ deli side which serves up very tender salted chicken, soy sauce chicken, roasted pork etc…

Sam Woo’s owner is a restaurateur whom I presume is either business partners with the Tawa Supermarket Inc., because their locations in Southern California is always accompanied by a 99 Ranch market right next to it.
I had been coming to this restaurant since I was a child and the only thing my parents always orders from here is mainly the hot deli items. We normally order the roasted duck that is on display right when you walk into the restaurant.
I will rate this place according to environment, quality of the food, and service.
So as I mention I grew up eating Chinese food from places like this and other iconic Chinatown restaurants. This place fares pretty well when it comes to delivering satisfaction to my Chinese food cravings. The duck never disappoints but it can get a pretty pricey, then again, I use to remember my parents buying Duck for 8 dollars for a whole one.
It has been only recent that my mother has wanted to eat inside the restaurant because she likes their dumpling egg noodles with roasted duck in it. So we were seated. We were seated on the corner of the restaurant because it was pretty packed, in a small two person table. I did not mind this as much, but it was located right next to the entrance of the kitchen/​restroom. The restaurant could use a little renovation and a touch up, because it has been here for a long time and the wear and tare of the restaurant is self-​evident.
The food quality was pretty good, if I was rating on that alone it would have been 4 stars. The restaurant itself though base on environment, décor, and how appealing it was for me was a 2.5. The service was mediocre, nothing special. It was alright.

Woohoo for Sam Woo.
Comfort Chinese food is what you’ll find at any of the Sam Woo Bar B Que locations … and it was just what I needed as my wife and I drove north from Los Angeles towards a land of Milk and Honey … but not much Chinese food.
Olivia Z. and me both got the same dish … BBQ Pork (Char Siu) and Roast Duck Noodle Soup for ($ 9.50 each). This is the perfect bowl when you can’t decide between 2 favorites and don’t mind a $ 1 upgrade for the duck. It’s simple. It’s Chinese. It’s comfort.
We did get one side dish to share that may not be comfortable for some, but was for us … Chicken Feet. The large braised chicken claws were from the pre-​made selection at the cafeteria counter near the entrance and one last chance for some classic Chinese cuisine.
In Van Nuys, Sam Woo Bar B Que Restaurant may be as good as it gets for authentic … and comfort … Chinese food. If you live there, don’t overlook or ignore this local gem. If you’re driving by on the 405 on your way out of town, don’t ignore this last chance for some warm and tasty comfort.