Sam Woo Barbeque Shop

It’s still there, just not called Sam Woo anymore for some reason. I love their chow mein xi dau.

If you are craving for some Hong Kong style Chinese BBQ come here. You can order to go crispy duck, chicken, pork skins etc.
They also have a really small seating but food is legit and greasy. Generally you have a wait or you have to sit with other people on the same table.
Variety of vegetable dishes, meaty duck, and crispy pork skin.
Will guarantee you yumminess and zits.
Parking is ample though whenever you go during eating hours.

BBQ DUCK AND BBQ PORK PLEASE!
I love this place for it’s bbq duck and bbq pork. This is the best place for it. It is a whole in the wall place and has been opened for decades, but GUESS WHAT? they just remodeled half of their small restaurant. It looks more like a Chinese café now. and you get the «house-​special» soup in the beginning while you are waiting for your meal.
The waiters are more helpful (even though they do not speak English) and the ambiance got better. So check this place out if you would like some authentic Chinese food.

Looks like Sam Woo is GONE!!! We passed by the other day, and it’s still a BBQ place of some sort, BUT NOT SAM WOO!!!

I always come here for the duck! So so sooo good. And the bbq pork is nice and sweet. Good stuff. Check out my blog post for pictures and my experiences here.
Thanks!

Ah, Sam Woo BBQ! I loved you for many years… but your food today was pretty greasy! Know what? Right when I started talking about it being greasy, I began thinking about that clip on Jackie Chan’s Rush Hour when Chris Tucker argues with the guy at the Chinese fast food stand… sorry, I digress!
Well, I think this Sam Woo has seen better days. It earned a «B» health grade… which to me, is not a good thing! Is it bad that I think a Chinese restaurant tastes the best when it has a «C» grade? I’ve actually had some of the best Chinese food at places below a letter grade… that’s right a percentage grade and the food was off the hook!
Was feeling a little Chinese today and was hoping for some Bitter Melon with Beef but the lady taking orders said they no longer do bitter melon! What? You don’t have Roast Pork either? But it’s only noon!!! Sammy, are you really trying to lose my business? Okay, here’s what we ended up ordering (sorry I didn’t take any photographs. it was take out and I had some hungry peeps waiting for me):
Braised String Beans: ³⁄₅
Some limp, some firm, these string bean were batch cooked and placed under a heat lamp. They seem to be a hodge podge batch of fresh and a few hours old.
Rock Cod with Chinese Broccoli: ³⁄₅
Wow, they are really getting skimpy with their fish in this dish. At one time this dish had huge chunks of rock cod. Well, at least the fish didn’t take old and fishy!
Turnip with Beef Brisket: ⁵⁄₅
Just like I remembered, this dish was awesome! Lots of brisket, nice chunks of tendon! Turnips were stewed perfectly with the brisket and tendons. So flavorful!
Tofu in Brown Sauce: ³⁄₅
This was one of those dishes under the heat lamp.
*Sidebar* Let’s set the record straight: There is nothing wrong with the food under the heat lamp. Sam Woo used to solely have their meats in this section: Whole Salted Chicken; Whole Soy Sauce Chicken; Char Siu. It seems they turned this into half BBQ, half quick popular eats.
*End Sidebar*
Sam Woo used to make this to order, with large 1.5″ cubes of fried bean curd. Kiss those days goodbye! Although each piece of tofu was firm, they looked tired. Somewhat tasty, but super greasy this time!
White rice: ⁵⁄₅
Who can mess up white rice anyway… really? Oh, never mind! I’ve had some bad white rice… strike that! Fluffy, long grain. Yum!
Overall, Sammy’s is A-​OK with me. Boy do I have some stories about this location, but I really don’t want to gross you out about cockroaches! The funny part of it is, I still eat here! lolz!
BTW, like many Chinese restaurants: CASH ONLY!!! Shhhhh, don’t tell the IRS!
;P

Woo-​Hoo for Sam Woo! — I really like this place.
For years I would accompany a friend of mine who came here to pick up BBQ duck for her husband. The ducks hanging in the window were not the most appetizing or appealing site.
One day another friend said, they have great won ton noodle soup with BBQ Pork. I ordered it and now I’m hooked.
The service is quick and no frills. The prices are spot on. Can’t go wrong here, and if you’re really hungry the menu offers tons of options.
Now I’m hungry for egg noodles!

This was my favorite barbeque shop in Monterey Park. I always came here for roasted duck, roasted pork, or chicken. The food was always good and the prices were reasonable. However, I never knew they weren’t clean. Maybe now there is an explanation for my stomach aches and diarrheas. However, I would still come if its open haha.

They make some of the best wonton noodle soup (their egg noodles have that ‘bounce’ to them. I wonder if they get their noodles from the guys in el monte that stock all the Chinese markets) and have decent Chinese BBQ. Their red chili oil is also very good with an authentic aged flavor to it. I went here a lot with my dad for the noodles when I was back in LA on my school vacations.
Is it dirty? Yes. Does it hover around a C rating? Yes. Have I seen this place closed down due to health inspection failure? Twice, and we went the day after it reopened. What matters it that I haven’t ever gotten sick from eating here and the food is good.

I saw one of the workers walk in the rest room took a dump! and walked straight out! WTF??? He should have at least washed his hands in the wash basin wheter he washes hands in the kitchen.
Yikes.
Get my roast duck somewhere else!

Ok so, the last time i ate dinner here, of course a huge roach was scurrying across the floor, (as we were walking out, no less). we reacted quite visibly, other diners observed the roach, and we told the waiter” there’s a huge roach there” and he responded by stepping on it. that’s it. According to the LA county public health website, it was closed twice in 1 weeks.
Read below and PLEASE THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU EAT HERE! Last time i had some take out from here, i had the worst tummy ache ever!
It was closed on 04÷07÷10 reopened 04÷09÷10 then reclosed on 04÷14÷10. I’m not sure if it has reopened yet or not… the la county website is malfunctioning, but keep trying
SAM WOO CHINESE BBQ, 634 W GARVEY AVE, MONTEREY PARK, CA, 91 754
Date Closed: April 14, 2010
Reason for Closure:
Vermin Harborage
Vermin infestation
Date Closed: April 07, 2010
Date Reopened: April 09, 2010
Reason for Closure:
Vermin Harborage
Vermin infestation
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — –
SAM WOO CHINESE BBQ, 634 W GARVEY AVE, MONTEREY PARK, CA, 91 754
Date Closed: April 14, 2010
Reason for Closure:
Vermin Harborage
Vermin infestation
Date Closed: April 07, 2010
Date Reopened: April 09, 2010
Reason for Closure:
Vermin Harborage
Vermin infestation

SAM WOO CHINESE BBQ, 634 W GARVEY AVE, MONTEREY PARK, CA, 91 754
* Date Closed: April 14, 2010
* Reason for Closure:
Vermin Harborage
Vermin infestation
* Date Closed: April 07, 2010
* Date Reopened: April 09, 2010
* Reason for Closure:
Vermin Harborage
Vermin infestation
I’ll leave the rest to your imagination

The SGV has a gazillion Chinese places and this is one of the original ones! I think that’s one of the reason I keep going here. That and the food is still great! And they’re open late on the weekends! Sam Woo has tons of locations now, and I think this might be the very first one.
And who the hell cares about the rating, and the cleanines, and the MSG, etc.!! As someone else said, I’ll STILL go here! Parking can be a pain though.

This review is only based on the take out food.
I would say their best dishes are the char siu and roast duck. Everything else, like the chicken wings (fried and soy sauce), green beans, fried rice, is just mediocre.
This place has a B restaurant rating, so eat at your own risk if you’re very into sanitation.

Duck Duck Goose Egg?
No way. No goose egg here. This place is OK. Plenty of ducks for take out and cheap. My first visit to Sam Woo in maybe 5 years.
~Ambiance/​Service
Yup, this place needs a remodel. Older and kinda basic. Not a fancy place to take a date. But, the restaurant has an open feel to it. Very well lit and bright with large glass windows. Service? Typical of the area.
~Food
I did not do take out but sat down for a combo pork and duck plate. Both were dry. Good ol’ waitress saved the day by bringing out extra gravy. The gravy was delicious. Added life to the meal and actually complimented the rice quite well. I have to say that the duck, not the best, was A OK.
~Price
Amazing! 13 bucks for two people. Wow. Never had duck that cheap. I could care less where it came from. It was good and a deal at the price. I am so a fan of the price and the price does not get better than this! 5 Stars.
Overall, I would come here again if craving duck and short on cash. Not a bad place but for sure don’t take a first date here. CASH ONLY.

This place is Sh**ty.
Service sucks. Even an notch below of your average chinese restaurant. Plenty of the other sam woo’s in the vicinity are better than this one.
The food is LOADED with MSG. You know this from how many glasses of water you end up drinking over dinner. Plus the lethargy that comes after. The place has a very unclean feel to it. Tables are greasy, everything needs a good wipe down.
I used to come here out of convenience since its close to home, no more. I’ll opt and drive over to any other place than eat here.

I’m mixed about this one. Yes, it’s the better of the sam woo’s. it’s the O. G one. And hey, if I want to see BBQ ducks hanging from a rack, I’ll come here. I’m not going to come here for some clean place to eat, because really, the place is a mess when it comes to looks.
I also can’t say I’m a huge fan. It’s good. in some areas they are really good. But in other areas, some of which you would have figured they would be good at as it’s standard Chinese food, they really suck.
Their beef and broc. was pretty boring. Uninspired, bland, pretty much subpar to even panda express. Which is really odd to think about. But yeah, it wasn’t very good.
the house special fried rice wasn’t anything to brag about either. I would put it a bit above panda, it was at least made fresher. But it wasn’t really all that great and I had to really think about if I wanted to eat that as left overs.
Then you have the BBQ Ribs. they had no. It was early in the evening and they were all out. I suppose this is what happens when you sell by the pound. I ended up going with the BBQ pork, which was pretty decent. Though having a good pound of it seemed a little like over kill.
The best thing about this place is the duck. And really, you should be getting the duck if you come to this spot. It’s what they do great. Get a half duck and you’re good to go. even the duck plate is pretty great. especially at the price it comes at you.
That’s the best reason why I could recommend this place to anyone. The duck. it’s really damn tasty and that should count for a lot of things. But you should be warned that if you don’t look asian, you’re not going to get the same attention at the counter. I was over looked twice to those who can speak the language. Which was pretty odd but it is one of those places where English is a second language. So be warned that you may feel out of your element by coming here.
So I would give this a 3.5 since a 3 seems pretty middle of the road.

In need for greasy, authentic Chinese food, you can’t go wrong with Sam Woo! It’s like the BJ’s/Denny’s/TGIFridays/Chili’s of Chinese food. Chain restaurants, that’s authentic cuisine. I came to fulfill my craving «slippery egg beef rice» (direct translation). I’ve been here before with family. You get what you expect. Good food, cheap prices… it’s not great, but I didn’t get sick! It has a «B» grade (no longer a «C» as picture in Crystal C.‘s picture. But «C» stands for Chinese right???) I love it!!!

Talk about cheap eats! $ 37 for five adults! Good thing, since it’s a cash only restaurant, and I’ve gotten out of the habit of carrying cash around.
And, man, this is the cheap Chinese food that I crave now and again (all right ALL the time) — roast duck, Singapore style rice noodles, beef chow fun, slippery egg over rice, won ton w/​egg noodles. I just couldn’t decide, and even as we were eating, I kept hearing other tables’ orders and lusting after their food.
I’m such a glutton.

Whenever my family and I are on the way to Disneyland, we ALWAYS stop here for their won ton noodle soup!
My favorite is their beef stew won ton noodle soup, but my sisters love their roast duck! The portions are huge and the broth is very tasty! Its not too greasy, but its greasy enough to have that flavorful goodness!
Restaurant is a hole in the wall, chairs are sticky, cups/​utensils/​plates look about 20 years old, but who cares! The food is cheap and its DELICIOUS!
Service can be a little slow when its busy, but its not a huge problem. ;)