Sam Woo Seafood & BBQ

Roasted duck, fish & eggplant hot pot & string bean were delicious. The servers were not attentive.

The food is undeniably fantastic. Our usual orders are salt and pepper pork, clams with black bean sauce, snow peas sauteed with garlic, and beef chow fun. Their clay pots are pretty good too. Never tried their dim sum.
Their special lunch menu items are nice, but the portion sizes are half of the dinner plates.
The BBQ section of the restaurant is good too. The roasted duck, roast pork, and cha siu are all pretty tasty.
The service is your typical asian no-​good customer service. They aren’t going to butter you up for extra tip. So don’t feel shy to flag them down (multiple times) if you need something.

Authentic Chinese Food! Our waiter Chen was great, really helpful. It made up for rude Hostess! Wait was was reasonable for 7pm on Gung Hao Fat Choi night! Gave it a 3 for overall experience because it is loud in there and you feel rushed, otherwise food was good!

This location is far from being as good as the Sam Woo in the Alhambra/​San Gabriel area but it beats the long drive. The bbq pork is a good go-​to dish but we mainly frequent Sam Woo for dim sum. They have a good selection of dim sum dishes but I feel like there is something missing and can’t put my finger on exactly what dish I’m looking for. The have the standard baos, shrimp hagow, turnip pancake, and shumais but I’m in search of a better scallop selection. All and all, I agree with the others that service is not the best but food is good.

This is strictly for the Take Out side of Sam Woo
There are two types of Sam Woo restaurants: Sam Woo BBQ Restaurant, typically small in size, offering popular Cantonese meats such as roast duck, soy sauce chicken, BBQ pork, roast pig, fried rice, and noodles on its menu. Usually, cash is the only accepted payment, and popular for food to go.
The second, Sam Woo Seafood Restaurant is more upscale restaurant that serves dim sum and focus on seafood dishes, such as lobster and fish, and will accept credit cards.
The Sam Woo in Cerritos, Calfornia offers both BBQ and Seafood, and houses both restaurants under one building. The entrance to the dining room faces South Street, while the BBQ is strictly for food to go, and has its own special entrance off Pioneer Blvd.
I came here specifically for one thing. The roast pig. Normally, I get my roast pig from the 99 Ranch Market in Anaheim or at Lien Hoa, a Vietnamese/​Chinese barbecue chain in Little Saigon. I wanted to try Sam Woo and see how it compared to those other stores.
In addition the traditional BBQ items, this location has Cantonese favorites such as sauteed vegetables, stir fried meats, noodles and fried seafood.
Hanging on the deli hooks were roast ducks and a side of crispy roast pig, and I made this special trip for a pound of it. The roast pork at Sam Woo was $ 14.99 a pound, which was a bit more than the competitors, and, of course, cash only.
The roast pork was worth every penny. The meat was tender and moist, and the skin was so light and crispy. Hands down a completely different experience compared to the other places I’ve been to, and definitely worth that special trip to Cerritos.

Used to be our best chinese restaurant here in Cerritos for over 20 years. It was so delicious when Jack was there! Past year or so food is no longer the same!!! Used to have best lobster 3 flavor soup beef house special calamari scallop house special… now we would never go back. Last time we ate everything was horrible. The to go duck noodle is still good.

I tried few Sam woo restaurant
This location is the worst as far as good quality.
Price is reasonable, food came out quick
But food is just like Panda Express maybe worse than Panda Express.

This place is open until 1am on weekends. Great for family style Chinese.
Absolute favorite dish is the braised string beans. Salty, savory and crunchy.
Try the salty fried porkchop here and the mushu pork served in the delicious pancake

My go to spot in the Cerritos area for Chinese roast duck and roast pork. You really only have 3 options in the Cerritos area for roast duck and pork. Sam woo, Ten Ten and 99 Ranch. Of the three, this place tastes the best to me. The entrance to the bbq and take out section of the restaurant is on the side/​back of the restaurant opposite the main entrance. You can order half or full ducks and chickens, roast pork by the pound, bbq pork by the pound. You can even order pork uterus by the pound, but who would want to really do that? Everything comes with its own dipping sauces. Here you can also order your Panda Express style combos and what not to go. This place functions like a real Chinese place so you have to do your best and find what you think resembles a line, get in it, and hope everyone else respects the «line». Some assertiveness may be needed on occasion. If you’re ordering any of the roast or bbq items look for the butcher. He will be the one asking what you want and if you want it «cut». Say yes unless you have some reason to keep it whole and cut it yourself. Heavy Chinese accents all around but they know enough Engrish to get your B-​B-​Q POKE and your fly rye. If you’re getting combo stuff, look out for one of the cashier ladies or whoevers at the counter.

If I could give zero stars, I would.
First off, service at this restaurant is beyond unacceptable. The woman who is always at the front desk never smiles, and whenever we call ahead to ask any questions, she hangs up on you. The waiters are even worse; either rushing you through your order or nowhere to be found for you to even give it. Their manner of speaking is very rude. They create an atmosphere that is very tense. It seems like none of them even want to be working there.
Came in with a large group, and halfway through our meal we noticed a white powdery substance at the bottom of all our water glasses. Salt, sugar, or even any leftover dishwashing detergent would have mixed with the water and made it a milky consistency, but this powdery substance was heavy, and sank straight to the bottom of the glass. It is virtually invisible unless you are already finished drinking, or if you agitate the bottom of the glass.
I immediately asked to speak to the manager. All he did was stare at the glass a couple times, and offered to cancel our check with no explanation as to what the powdery substance might have been. When I told him the check he was cancelling would be the two large tables in the back, I was met with obnoxious laughs and Chinese speech with a mocking tone from one of the waiters.
Upon my group’s exit, almost all the waiters disappeared into the back, and the ones who were still around, including the girl who is always working the front desk, could not look us in the eyes.
This isn’t even really a food matter. It’s something so BASIC as drinking water! And that same water is most likely also being used to cook and prepare the food with. I don’t feel safe bringing anyone into this restaurant!

Pros: foods up to par (but not impressive); prices very reasonable.
Cons: super slow service; located in a strip mall; no decors whatsoever.
$ 16.95 for lobster with noodles was bang for the buck; everything else was just standard.

The food was good, however the way I was treated was absolutely unacceptable. We had to ask for everything, even items we had already ordered. They never once came to our table unless we flagged them down, despite then going to every other table except ours. The 3 waiters that served us never looked us in the eye while interacting with us.
My girlfriend who has been a customer for 4 years noted this odd service. I don’t want to come out with it, but I actually felt that they were being racist towards me, as we are an interracial couple. I wouldn’t have otherwise thought of this if they didn’t treat all the other customers a lot better than they treated us. And for this, we are never going back here.

I have been here more than a few times and I can truthfully say I am a big fan. Not a fan of the service but a fan of the good.
The turn-​around time for their customers is fairly quick and I am always seated at a pretty reasonable amount of time.
The waiters are always there when you place your order but when you need an additional this or a refill of that. It can be quite difficult to reach them. Again, I am not rating them based on their customer service as much as I am on the food flavor.
Everything I have ordered here is well prepared and if I have any specific requests, I just need to clearly instruct the waiters and it always comes out as discussed. The portion sizes are great and reasonably priced.
At the end of your meal, they always include a small dessert soup (which you do not see much of these days).
I will continue to frequent this place for my Cantonese style cuisine needs :)

I had high expectations for this place since we love going to the San Gabriel location most of the time. I echo the sentiments of number of folks here, NOT all Sam woos are created equal. We are a huge fan of the bbq in San Gabriel and it was pretty sad here. However the dishes were great especially their whole fried fish, much better variety than some other locations. I appreciate that they actually take CC including Amex but otherwise I much prefer the other locations. Be aware of the pre charge tip though on the total tab …

Sam Woo is famous for it’s Hong Kong styled Chinese dishes. There are several Sam Woo restaurants in California and this one happens closest to me and the one my family frequents the most. It’s a great place for dinner for larger parties. This place is always busy, but I barely ever have to wait for a table for 4. My main dishes are the seafood and bean curd, sauteed spinach with garlic sauce, sweet and sour pork and clam with black bean sauce. The seafood and bean curd is a succulent seafood hot pot mixed with bean curd, seafood, and napa cabbage. It comes out sizzling hot and the bean curd melts in your mouth as you bite into it. Being cooked in the hotpot makes it juicier! The sauteed spinach with garlic is everything you would expect, well seasoned spinach mixed with small chunks of fresh garlic. The sweet and sour pork is tart from vinegar and sweet, but comes in a medium size portion. The clams with black bean sauce is one my most favorites. It’s a standard Chinese dish with stir fried clams, bell peppers, onions and black bean sauce. Everything goes perfectly with a side of rice and freshly slice peppers in soy sauce. I gave this place a ³⁄₅ because the customer service is only OK. It’s always difficult to wave down the waiters for more tea, food or the bill. There is limited space in their parking lot. It is so difficult to find parking during dinner time and we usually have to park at the next lot next door. The portions are just enough. There are plenty of other new Chinese food places opening up in Cerritos and Artesia that give you a bigger bang for your buck!

Good Chinese food spot in Cerritos.
This place has a corner lot, with a decent sized parking lot. Been here several times, and fortunately this hasn’t been an issue yet.
The interior is open with plenty of seating. Good for groups. Always seems to be crowded/​busy in here, and so the noise level is a little bit louder as you might expect.
The service is fine, no major complaints there.
The food is really good. Every dish I have tried thus far has been solid. With over 200 items on the menu, you’re sure to find something you like.
Overall, good Chinese food. Worth checking out if you’re in the area.

This is one of my family go to restaurants, when we’re in the mood for family style Chinese food, and don’t want to drive far. We also like that this place is open late, and have been here for some late night wonton noodle soup. We’ve been coming here for years! I even remember coming here with friends before a high school dance lol. The food is always good, and this place is always packed. On busy nights, we may have to wait around 30 – 45 minutes. It can get pretty loud in here with the big groups have a grand old time shouting across the tables, which is a bit annoying if you were hoping to have a quiet dinner.
Our faves are the french beef, house special lobster, spicy salted squid, house special chow mein, yang chow fried rice.
Service is hit or miss, and maybe a bit more on the miss side, but the food is delicious, and I never really expect much service wise when I go to Chinese restaurants.

Dear Sam (for the purposes of this review, everyone working at this restaurant will be known as Sam),
A few comments about my most recent visit this past weekend when I drove down to take my grandma out to lunch:
You tried hard to understand my grandma’s [admittedly] strangely accented Chinese.
You tried hard to understand MY [admittedly] strangely accented Chinese.
You tried hard to fit all our food — tilapia with cilantro and preserved egg soup, chao mifen, a small order of roast duck, oyster omelette Cantonese style and some siu mai — onto our tiny table… and then into half a dozen boxes and containers when we shockingly had leftovers.
That’s a lot of trying. 多謝晒

Sam Woo is the standard Chinese restaurant in the area. It’s been around for as long as I can remember.
The food is decent Chinese food. Sam Woo is a step above Panda Express. It’s authentic and priced just as any Chinese white tablecloth restaurant would be.
Every meal comes with free hot tea (I think it might be oolong) after you place your order and a warm tapioca soupy thing for dessert when they bring your check. I have not come across any dish that I didn’t like (but then again I’m not picky). My aunts love the fried fish. My dad loves the house special beef. I like the honey glazed shrimp, though there is a lot of sauce on it and people who hate mayonnaise may think this dish has too much. Portions are just right for the price.
Their service is off. When it’s not busy they’re attentive. When they’re busy, service is either mediocre or bad. My mom asked for hot sauce and they altogether forgot to bring it. I had finished my glass of water and requested more and they forgot about that too so we had to ask again.

I’ve been coming to Sam Woo for years now. I’ve probably been to this location at least 20 times before. I feel like the food and service varies depending on the day. Sometimes everything is perfect and other times the food can be a little on the bland side.
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Fried flounder: The fried flounder here is always pretty good. It’s a pretty decent sized fish for the price. I love how it’s always crispy and you can even eat some of the smaller bones. The fish doesn’t have too much meat on it, but basically you just use a spoon and dig until you hit the bones and then slide the spoon along the bones in order to get a portion of the meat. The sauce is also perfect with this fish and a little squeeze of lemon makes it taste even better.
Crab with black bean sauce: This is always a great dish at any Chinese restaurant. On my most recent visit the flavor was little on the light side. I feel like they didn’t add enough of the black bean sauce and other spices to make it a really tasty dish. The crab wasn’t too meaty, but it satisfied my craving. The crab is tossed in pieces of bell pepper, onions and chili peppers.
Chicken, beef and shrimp chow mein (Hong Kong style): This is always a great dish to share. The flavor can be a little light, but I always like to add a little soy sauce and chili paste or hot mustard to kick it up a notch.
Chinese broccoli: This is probably one of my most favorite vegetables. The leafy green reminds of cooked spinach and the stem is like a crunchy broccoli or asparagus. Great textures and flavors.
Fish filet in black bean sauce: You can honestly never go wrong with nice pieces of fish in a black bean sauce with bell peppers, onions and chili peppers.
Walnut shrimp: Nice pieces of fried shrimp tossed in a sweet mayo sauce and topped with candied walnuts. A great dish to order and share.
Black pepper beef or house special beef: I personally like both of these. Both have great flavor and are cooked perfectly.
Overall, Sam Woo will always be a great spot to eat Chinese food even though it can be a hit or miss at times.