Sam Woo Barbecue

Reviews

• Jessica C.

  star star star star star_border 4 June 2026

  Solid Cantonese food with lots of lunch specials to choose from.
  
  We usually get the bbq pork, roast pork, walnut shrimp, and soy sauce chicken. During lunch, there's free rice and soup. They have the actual Cantonese soup where it cooks for hours so all the flavors come out.
  
  This time we decided to try something new and ordered the fatty beef in satay hot pot. It was a great choice. The meat quality was good and the satay hot pot was super flavorful. The vermicelli and enoki mushrooms just soaked up all the flavor and wow was it good! Just remember to take all the vermicelli out before it gets super soggy like it did for us since we just sort of forgot about it.
  
  Overall, It's a place for very solid Cantonese comfort food.

• Christina S.

  star star star star_border star_border 2 June 2026

  Pros:
  Cheap
  Big portions
  Bbq
  
  Cons:
  Language barrier
  
  There's so many places in the San Gabriel valley where you can get Chinese bbq food but Sam woo will always take the cake for being one of the bests. Portion size is generous and perfect for family style for the price that you're paying for. Food comes out pretty fast even when it's busy. Cons is the language barrier when ordering.

• Diana L.

  star star star star_border star_border 30 May 2026

  Service 1/5: Ok, I get that they were busy and understaff, but man do these men have sass to them. I work in the restaurant industry so I get it when you're slammed and it's only 2 of you serving, bussing, taking orders, and seating customers and that's why I was super patient with waiting on them when it was convenient to take our order and I made sure to not ask for anything extra. We waited quite a bit for our orders to be taken and then waited about another 30-45 mins for our first plate of food to come out. It's all good, I waited no complaints or anything, then waited another 20 mins for our second order to come out. Cool! We got what we ordered. Now time for the check and some togo boxes...we asked the servers and they straight up rolled their eyes and walked away. First off, you don't need to be so damn rude and second of all we didn't bother any of them even though we waited for a super long time. So your sass was not appreciated.
  
  Food 3/5: We ordered the salted fish fried rice and that was a 5/5! We also ordered the crispy chow mein house special and it was good until I bit into the shrimp and it was just horrible! It tasted like how a wet towel smells...yea super disgusting! (Mind you, I didn't complain about it either cause like I said they were super busy and I just don't like returning food). Yea, this place gives me mixed feelings, maybe I should give them another chance but this was what I experienced as a first timer here.

• Chow Y.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 28 May 2026

  Notice this place is not too clean right? Well, there is a price to pay for that. I'm one of two people with horrible food poisoning from eating here today. Both of us had the same thing and both of us are sick. Not fun. And done eating here--permanently.

• Carol N.

  star star star star star_border 22 May 2026

  I think this Sam woo is better than any other Sam woo out there..for those that doesn't know about authentic Cantonese food. It's kinda hidden because it's pretty deep inside in the plaza.. and there's a lot different little shops around it. Also their sign is not fancy or anything, so it could easily blend in with the other signs. Yes the place doesn't look that appealing but best believe it servers some of the tastiest Chinese food. They also have take-out section when you walk in where you have a view of some the meats and food selections you can choose from, might not be your typical Chinese fast food place where they have different type of dishes. This is mainly with protein like steamed chicken, sausages, and basted duck or chicken wings..
  
  The only downside to this is that they're "cash only" so make sure to bring some cash with you. Another reason why I only gave it 4 stars is the plaza parking lot.. it sucksssss it will take you longer to find parking than eating at the restaurant I swear! It will take you at least 30mins.. don't say I didn't warn ya!
  
  Come here if you are craving delicious Cantonese style cuisine and other Chinese comfort food!