Sam Woo Restaurant & BBQ Express

Reviews

• Amanda S.

  star star star star star_border 29 June 2026

  This place is delicious, I understand why some people don't like eating here but it's amazing food. The price is a little questionable now, but you get what you pay for. I'm older but maybe a little wiser, parking is still crap but you can get a 2 or 3 item combo without any problems here.
  
  Part of me misses the older design, which you can still order in the little boxes but it's much cheaper just to get it all crammed in a foam container that will fill you up. Originally they had this standard where it was $3.50 (about $3.33) for 2 items, then sometime after 16 years it doubled in price, but this food is amazing. The only thing that sucks is you have to get the BBQ portions separately, which is understandable.
  
  We have some really isolated areas in Irvine, being here and The Arbor area (and basically the UCI campus) where Asians are. I understand why some people don't like this place, but it's got great food. I'll joke about parking at the Chase bank but the food is totally worth it.
  
  I don't even notice the attitude anymore, most of the workers I know by their name and order without any trouble. I think it's a nice place to eat and aside from the few customers who are assholes and stand in stupid areas to try banging into me being rude, they don't bug me. I think this place is great and recommend it to others.

• Patrick B.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 28 June 2026

  very bad roast pork
  other food still not good
  I buy $49.00 total???

• Andy L.

  star star star star star 28 June 2026

  This is our go to spot for Chinese Food in Orange County and surrounding areas.
  
  Food Quality and Authenticity: 5/5
  Service Quality: 3-5 depending on the day and time
  Parking: 1/5 Not the best or easiest place to find parking because the restaurant is located right next to a Supermarket and also in a very busy plaza.
  Wait time: could be long during weekends. The waiting line could get chaotic because there is no good wait list system. Just a badly torn piece of paper with a number written on it. Also depends on party size because the place is rather small.
  
  Overall a good restaurant for chinese food or quick take out.

• Karen C.

  star star star star_border star_border 27 June 2026

  I think the last time that I was at this particular Sam Woo, my impression of the restaurant was that if you didn't speak Cantonese, you were basically in a tough spot.  If you could speak Mandarin, you could maybe get the server's attention.   Coming back here after several years, and reading through numerous reviews on how their service improved, I was pretty shocked that it was true.  We were immediately handed menus and waters, and for once it did not take us a million years to get our order down.   The restaurant was quite busy on a Sunday evening, but we received our food within 15-20 minutes after ordering.  
  
  || L O C A T I O N / P A R K I N G ||
  -Located in Culver Plaza, next to 99 RANCH Market
  -Can be difficult to get a close spot as the plaza is shared with many other popular hot spots.
  -Beware of the grocery shoppers when navigating in the plaza, they really don't give a crap if they're walking in the middle of the road.  Proceed with caution.
  
  || F O O D ||
  Food was decent, but not the best, but here are some honorable mentions:
  
  Peking Duck - Sorry no pictures here as my family and I devoured that plate of deliciousness.  They prepare the dish by slicing the duck and tucking them into the buns.  You're given hoisin sauce if you would like to add it to your bun.
  
  Honey Walnut Shrimp - Most places ruin the dish by either putting too little mayo or too much mayo or their shrimps simply do not taste fresh, but Sam Woo's shrimps are fresh  and the amount mayo sauce is just right.  The shrimp still has its slightly crunchy texture even though it is covered in the mayo sauce.  Paired with the caramelized walnuts, it is heaven!
  
  Clams with Basil - Clams were huge, fresh and tasty.  Never thought that the basil would bring out the sweetness of the clams.
  
  Honorable Mentions would be the Seafood Lettuce wrap and the Black Pepper beef.  The seafood lettuce wraps were better than I expected, but I thought the serving size would be able to serve a whole lot more since they considered it an entree.  The Black Pepper beef was flavorful, but the beef was not as tender and juicy as I expected it would be.  The mushrooms weren't fully cooked either.
  
  Sad mentions would be the lobster and the beef brisket and turnip dish.  Lobster was decent, but it felt like it didn't have a lot of meat.  I've ordered around 3-4 pound lobster at other restaurants and felt like there was more meat compared to the one at Sam Woo.  The clay pot was just so sad b/c there were way too many radishes and too little meat.  Taste was there, but the ratio of the meat and turnip was way off.

• Audrey F.

  star star star star_border star_border 15 June 2026

  Sam Woo was one of the original Chinese restaurants in Irvine and I came here all the time, when I was little. Eventually, I told my parents I couldn't come here anymore because it bothered me how often my plates/utensils were dirty (lip stick stains, brown smudges, pieces of food, etc). Additionally, whenever my parents sent me here to pick up a duck as they grocery shopped, the workers always give me less duck than say an adult.
  
  I recently gave the place another shot, given that it's remained popular all these years. First thing I saw were small brown crusty bits on my spoon. Nothing has changed. I ordered the seafood curry knife cut noodles and Peking duck. Noodles were soggy and tasted like something I could buy. The Peking duck was still good though, which is the main reason why I'm giving them 3 stars instead of 2. Sam Woo remains the only one place to get good Peking duck at a fair price! (No way am I paying the price Meizhou Dongpo demands for a duck.)