Canton Cook II

I’ve lived in NY my whole life, and I’m Cantonese so I feel I can say this restaurant is comparable to the best Cantonese restaurants in New York. Some of the most memorable dishes we order time and again here are:
Salt and pepper pork chops — they are moist on the inside and crispy on the outside with a hint of spiciness from the peppers. Great with a side of white rice.
Scambled egg with shrimp — it sounds like it would be boring but it isn’t. All my life I couldn’t replicate the flavor or texture of this dish at home so I always order it here. Great comfort food.
Beef ho fun (wet) — we always order this for the kids (ok and me). Wide flat rice noodles with beef and vegetables stir fried and covered with gravy. Cooked with enough ‘wok hay’ to bring the flavors out.
Sautéed snow pea leaves — my favorite vegetable. We sometimes order two of these for the table, they are worth it. Great accompaniment to the main entrees.
I would definitely recommend this restaurant for authentic Cantonese food.

We came here for lunch and I had high expectations as it was recommended by someone in my building (plus this is the second location of this restaurant). Lunch specials were applicable on the weekend too which was great, and came with plenty of food — your selected dish, choice of soup, an eggroll, and a chicken wing — but the main dishes were a bit underwhelming. All of the meat dishes were high on gravy and vegetable content (mostly onions) and low on the actual meat. Maybe it seemed this way because we shared multiple lunch specials amongst a small group, so I’d take that into account.
Service was average, we got a water refill but that was about it. The check was presented when we were obviously only halfway done eating, despite it not being super busy. One thing we noted (as a Chinese family) was that they did not serve tea, nor did they give oranges with the check. Minor, but seems to be the standard at most Chinese restaurants.
They were nice about keepng the cake we brought in their fridge, and providing us with some plates and silverware to serve it with.

This is good Chinese food. We’ve tried several dishes for takeout and it’s been consistently good. Portion size good and so is the quality. I’ve never eaten there but the inside looks fine. If you’re looking for a fix and in the area give this a try.

We were tired and hungover and figured Chinese food would do the trick. The meal, service, and atmosphere was fantastic. I will absolutely be coming back

Ordinary Chinese food. There are much better tasting Chinese restaurants in the area. Definitely not the kind of restaurant I will revisit. Below average taste and ambience.

I can’t believe I didn’t have a review for Canton Cook II. Best Cantonese I’ve had.
I’d like to say up front that, in contrast to other reviews, I’ve gotten takeout from here many times and it has been excellent every time. In fact, it can take 20 minutes or more to get from Canton Cook II to my home with traffic. Even so it is well packaged enough to still be hot. (I do prefer to dine-​in however.) I hesitated to get takeout at first because of the poor reviews. That has not my experience at all.
Canton Cook II is (no surprise) a Cantonese restaurant. Due to a variety of historical and demographic factors, the majority of Chinese immigrants before the 1970’s originated in Guangdong Provnice, the home of the Cantonese people (and dialect and food). So, most of the «Americanized» Chinese dishes familiar to all of us who grew up eating strip mall takeout are adapted from Cantonese cuisine. Later waves of immigrants from Hunan and Schezuan arrived after Americans had begun to develop more of an interest in authentic cuisine. The point of all of that is that a good Cantonese restaurant is an excellent step up in authenticity for people wanting to explore Chinese cuisine a little deeper. It’s familiar enough to not be intimidating, but much more interesting than Panda Express’ sesame chicken.
Canton Cook does have all of the familiar Americanized dishes, and they are very good versions. However, the expansive menu goes much deeper. A good example is the soup, while they have the typical (but VERY good) Egg Drop and Hot and Sour, which are Americanized, but adapted from authentic soups. They also have West Lake soup which you do not see very often in restaurants around Atlanta. West Lake is a thick soup, like egg drop, it has ground beef and egg whites, it’s usually garnished with white pepper, coriander and green onion. It’s definitely worth a try if you’re an egg drop fan. It’s similar, but different. More authentic, maybe better. They have literally dozens of soup options beyond that as well, thin soups, thick soups, noodle soups. Like I said «expansive».
Per usual for Chinese Restaurants, the menu is divided by the main ingredient of the dishes, e.g. chicken, beef, shrimp. However, the variety available is far more than usual, especially seafood. Choices include scallop, oysters, lobster, crab, duck, among others.
I don’t think there are any bad options, but some recommendations:
Anything «Spicy Salted». This is very similar to the Americanized «Salt and Pepper» you often see in calamari and shrimp versions. The Spicy Salted Pork Chops are outrageously good, but very rich. It’s also a huge portion. I’d only order them if you had lots of friends to help you out. The Spicy Salted Shrimp are the best fried shrimp I have ever eaten. They are plump, juicy, crisp, salty, spicy, all at once with just a hint of sweetness. If you like spicy, don’t miss the fried jalapeño slices hiding on the plate. The Spicy Salted Squid is also good, but I prefer the shrimp. FYI, none of these are actually «spicy hot» unless you eat the jalapenos.
Beef Chow Fun (Dry). This was actually the reason I first tried Canton Cook. I’d read about Chow Fun, but had never had an opportunity to try it. Not many restaurants in Atlanta serve it. If you like Lo Mein, Chow Fun is your new best friend. They offer it in sauced or dry versions. The sauced version comes in a brown gravy with bok chow, it’s good. The Dry version is stir fried with just a little sweet and tangy sauce, it’s garnished with bean sprouts and onions.
Hot Pot. My wife does not like eggplant. However, the eggplant hot pot (with pork) is her favorite dish here. That tells you what you need to know. The chicken hot pot is also very good.
Kung Pao Chicken and Chicken with Mixed Vegetables. More authentic, excellent versions of takeout standards.
Wor Sue Duck. I can best describe this as crispy duck nuggets with mixed vegetables. It’s a platter of vegetables in a sweet and sour brown gravy topped with crispy fried bits of roast duck. If you like chicken nuggets dunked in sweet and sour sauce, these are the droids you’re looking for.
The Snow Pea Tips are like really good sauteed spinach.
Service is what you find at many authentic Chinese restaurants. It’s a cultural difference. In America we expect Chet at Chili’s to greet us with a big smile and flair. In Chinese culture, overt familiarity would be rude and presumptuous. So, the service can seem brusque and rude to Americans, but it’s just a difference of expectations. They are attentive and responsive, just not friendly or solicitous.
Prices are very fair for what you’re getting.

I had the Deep fried salt and pepper pork and sauteed snow peas. This was among best Chinese food I have ever eaten. I grew up in San Francisco which has a wealth of good Chinese restaurants. The flavor and texture of the pork was really good. It was not greasy, and the pork was not fatty where only the bones were not edible. It was very tasty and a little bit spicy but not too much. Complex flavors made it an interesting dish. The vegetables tasted very fresh and looked well picked. Very tasty. Better than I expected.

I love, love, love Canton Cook II. Fantastic, delicious, Chinese food! I have probably gotten take out from here 20+ times already — with no plans on stopping, as I find Canton Cook II to be far superior to other Chinese restaurants in the area. Better than Chin Chin on Johnson Ferry Rd in East Cobb, which used to be my go to place before I discovered all the wonderfulness of Canton Cook II.
If you like egg rolls at all, or even if you don’t, you owe it to yourself to try their egg rolls. I know, such a simple item, but so many places can’t do it right. Well, Canton Cook II can! Huge and delicious and very fresh tasting. Also, I HIGHLY recommend the Salt and Pepper Squid. Some other reviewers have compared it to Bo Bo Garden on Buford Hwy., even saying Bo Bo’s dish was better. However, in my opinion, Canton Cook II’s squid beats Bo Bo Garden by a long shot. I didn’t even like squid before I tried this dish here, that’s how good it is.
Really, the food is great, the staff is friendly, and the portions are quite large, so you do get what you pay for here. (A tad pricey, but not too bad).
Bottom line, for Cantonese cuisine, it can’t be beat.

So friggin good. Take your family or a big group of friends and get a bunch of stuff to share. Portions are huge… my friend and I usually share one entrée.

Was here for dinner on a Tue.
1. General Tso chicken – thick coating, over sweeten.
2. Pepper salted squids – loaded w msg
3. Black pepper steak – don’t know why they added sugar there. Steak should not have coating unless someone try to make it look thicker.
Probably won’t go back.

We are visiting Atlanta this weekend from NYC and decided to have a lazy Friday inside with the kiddos and all I wanted was greasy bad for you Chinese food…:-P I did not get the greasy fun that I wanted but instead surprisingly really great quality Chinese food! I ate and ate and ate and never had to unbutton my jeans! Everything tasted fresh and perfect. My husband who hates Chinese food and gets depressed when I order it was doing some serious praising and chowing down. This place was amaze balls!!!
We got the pepper steak, veggie Ramen, and sweet n sour chicken… Oh so good! Did I mention the egg rolls are huge and to die for??? I love getting surprised by really yummy food on a lazy night. Thank you!!!

A couple foodie friends had a visitor from New York and wanted to take him to a good Chinese restaurant. I’m glad that they chose Canton Cooks 2 because it is seriously one of my favorites. I can’t believe I haven’t written a review on them yet! a dinner with foodie friends is not to be missed! Things we ordered that night include:
–pan-​fried sea bass
–green beans with minced meat and preserved vegetables
–seafood pan fried noodles
–chicken wings
–salt & pepper squid
— — –
Pan-​Fried Sea Bass: I normally don’t order sea bass in a fried version since the meat is so tender, I prefer it steamed. However, the way that this was prepared was damn phenomenal.
PROS
–great portion, definitely a share-​dish for family style
–not burnt: outside was nice and crispy all around and the inside of the fish was still soft and full of that nice fish-​fat flavor
–accompanying sauce suited the fish well
CONS
–sauce was fairly salty: if you got a section of fish that had been sitting in the sauce for awhile, it can end up being a fairly salty bite or two.
— — –
Stir-​fried green beans with minced meat and preserved vegetables: great dish, it’s usually a staple when it comes to one of my foodie friends. This meal had quite a number of vegetables since she had eaten quite a large amount of meat throughout the weekend.
PROS
–awesome flavors: the meat went well with the preserved vegetables
–good quantity of beans: definitely great to share as well
CONS
–not healthy if you’re thinking that vegetables are healthy. This is pretty much cooked almost deep-​fried in oil.
— — -
Seafood Pan-​fried Noodles: this dish was mostly for me as I hadn’t had it since December. I like to get it at Man Chun Hong but they stopped doing it special order so I have to get it at real Cantonese restaurants now.
PROS
–good to share, very large quantity
–good amount of seafood to noodle ratio
CONS
–none except for me not getting a picture.
— — –
Chicken Wings: I’d never had their chicken wings before but my two foodie friends swear that it is pretty tasty.
PROS
–great flavor, definitely not bland in any way
–crispy yet not dry, but not exactly crunchy like bonchon chicken
–dry wings (for those who dislike saucy wings)
CONS
–I honestly prefer the crunch of bonchon style wings. But honestly you can’t really go wrong with this. It’s a good solid wing plate.
— — –
Salt & Pepper Squid: After having this dish here, I will claim that this is the best salt & pepper squid in Atlanta. There is something about the batter that is unique to this place. Similarly, I have tasted a batter in a fried chicken joint up in Baltimore called «Hip Hop Chicken». Supposedly they use sugar as well as salt which gives it a totally different balance of flavors.
PROS
–awesome amount
–great flavors, can’t find it elsewhere in Atlanta. I still swear by the secret ingredient that is similar to Hip Hop Chicken
–not too crispy but good amount of breading to squid ratio
CONS
–none.
I can’t wait to eat here again, the food is that good. I rarely say that about Chinese restaurants but this one is seriously good! Maybe they do put some sort of crack umami in that salt & pepper squid breading!

Its my first time to this particular location. I usually go to the first Canton Cooks that is down the road. My friends and I decided to come to this location to see how it is. The decoration inside is pretty standard for a Chinese restaurant. The service there was on point though. I really like how attentive the waiters and waitress with our orders and refilling our waters. We ordered five dishes and they were all pretty good. The only thing I had problem with was the description of some menu items. Some of it was just vague in a way. For example, I ordered braised duck with assorted meat. There were probably five pieces of duck meat and had more assorted meat in the dish. Everything else was good though, I like the bok choy, fish, chicken, and beef dish that we also ordered. If you enjoy some homemade Chinese food, you should stop by here.

OK, I am shocked. Shocked! We have been living in SS for the last two or so years, Canton Cook II is RIGHT next to our gym, I have always smelled delicious scents wafting from its doors, yet I had never set foot in there until last night. And man, have I been missing out.
I have my absolute favorite Chinese place in Atlanta, and it’s Bobo Garden. However, it is not perfect. Canton Cook II comes close… possibly even surpasses Bobo with some of their dishes.
We ordered:
— Salt and Pepper Squid
— Beef with Mixed Vegetables (snow peas, mushrooms, baby corn, carrots, water chestnuts)
— Seafood Hotpot
— Eggplant with Minced Pork
— Snow Pea Tips with Garlic
They kept us filled up on ice water and hot tea, which I really appreciated. Food came out in good time, too. I think the best dish was hands-​down the squid. It was so tender, not overcooked at all, and the coating was light and crispy, and not too greasy. SO GOOD! I really enjoyed it with the snow pea tips. The eggplant tasted wonderful, though I typically like my eggplant a little firmer and not as mushy. The seafood hotpot was chock-​full of giant shrimp, scallops and squid, with veggies. The beef was my least favorite… I think I might have gotten a chewy piece, but everyone else seemed to love it.
I felt the portions were quite large and a good value for the money… having said that, I think the only edge Bobo has is that it is slightly cheaper than Canton Cook II, but you really cannot beat the short drive to CCII as it is less than two miles away!

Ok, so this is exactly the same as Canton Cooks. No wonder it’s «Canton Cook II.» Don’t even know why I had any doubt in my mind that it was otherwise. The menus were almost identical, if they weren’t actually identical. I’m pretty sure they were.
We had a group of around 10 so we were seated in the back at one of the large tables in the back. They let us wait until our entire party was here before we flagged a server down to order. We ended up with:
2 orders of fried chicken wings
2 orders of the salt and pepper squid
Garlic sautéed snow pea tips
Eggplant and minced pork
Sweet and sour pork
Lettuce wraps
Chow Mein
Overall, a solid meal. The salt and pepper squid was a little disappointing, compared to other locations (such as Bobo Garden) with well cooked lightly breaded, flash fried Asian calamari. The snow pea tips seemed undercooked, slightly too light on the amount of oil. There was a undercooked crispness that you don’t want in cooked snow pea tips.
While Canton Cook II is very similar to Canton Cooks in menu, the quality did not seem up to the Canton Cooks standard. I was a little disappointed. However, it is definitely conveniently located, and if in the area, I may give them another try.

I am kinda sad to leave this review. I have been here about four times.
So lets talk the good. Two of the times I went I got the salt and pepper squid and it was really good. As well as the shrimp toast. I should have just stuck to that.
Today i figured that since the squid was so good I would try to squid with spicy sauce. I think it is probably the worse dish I have ever tasted before. First when it comes out it is this odd pink color and has a think mucasy textured sauce that is not spicy at all just sweet and tastes like bad fish. The squid itself is so overcooked they are like rubber bands in my mount. I am pretty sure that they were overcooked and past their due date. Although I liked the other stuff I had there this was so bad I don’t think I could ever stand to go back in there.
I warn anyone that does decide to go there to stick to what you know is good. Because holy cow this is making me nauseated just recalling it.

Ordinary food served with a scowl.
My view:
1. Chinese food is the most boring of Asian cuisines.
2. Cantonese is the most boring Chinese regional cuisine.
3. When Cantonese chefs adapt their food for non-​Chinese, they carefully squeeze out whatever heart and soul may be left in it.
In addition I made a major mistake by ordering off the super cheap lunch menu rather than a la carte. As a result I got the most gringo version of Cantonese. Huge portions, but boring. The Chinese families at other tables all had more interesting looking food than than the lunch menu offered.
But here’s my real gripe. This was the unfriendliest restaurant I may have ever eaten at. Not one smile or eye contact from any of the staff — the hostess, the three waitresses/​servers who passed by the table, even from a guy who looked like he was in charge. They did laugh and smile when they were talking among themselves or talking to Chinese speaking customers.
I have eaten in Beijing in Shanghai at restaurants where no one spoke a single word of English and my Chinese is limited to ‘shi-​shi.” But everyone smiled and made some effort to appear pleased that I was eating at their restaurant.
That said, Nonna liked the sweet and sour soup and took home half of her food to eat another day.

A friend and I drove to the original Canton Cooks location on a Wednesday and were sad that they were closed for the day. But then I had a light bulb moment: there’s Canton Cooks II down the road. Quick Unilocal-​check, and YES! They’re open. We went there right away.
The menu’s the same and I like the location so much more because of ample parking and because this space is newer.
My go-​to favorite is the fried noodles with BBQ pork. I love the crispy texture of the noodles (which is more Cantonese style). It’s still the same, but the sauce was a little saltier this time. I dont’ even know if it’s possible to ask for sauce on the side, but it’s best to dig in as soon as possible before the sauce makes the noodles soggy.
Close second favorite is the salt and pepper squid. I didn’t order it this time and here’s where I think it’s better to go to Canton Cooks with a big group: so you can get more food instead of being stuck with just 2 – 3 dishes when it’s two people.
I would definitely come back to this one versus the original just because the space seems cleaner.

The food & service are great but when this place gets crowded it gets really noisy with a giant families and alot of children. I would suggest picking up food rather than dining in
I found the Kung Pao to be my favorite and the perfect amount of spiciness. the service was great and they don’t even hesitate to bring you more hot sauce if you think your dishes in already spicy enough!
Their fried pan noodles were surprisingly good authentically made. My husband is obsessed with how good their fried rice is but that’s also why it’s $ 1 to $ 3 extra I can’t remember.

I’m quite appalled at myself since I never thought I would have to put my fork down to type a review right away. scratch that, put my fork down and HAVE TO wash my hands before writing.
there was nothing open other than american places, it was late, and we were hungry. we’ve eaten at their first location before, but that was about 2 years ago. anyways, canton was an unfortunate stop. please be reminded that this review applies to my carryout/​to-​go experience.
with 2 locations, you would think they’d have a website with an online menu available. but they don’t. therefore, the bf had to read the menu over the phone to me. of course, another thing about chinese restaurants is the lack of descriptions. they list of bunch of names on their menus with some prices. and expect you to know exactly what that dish is. so basically my bf had to be the middle man messenger. I’d tell him what meat I want, then he’d read the choices to me. then I would inquire about it, then he would ask the front cashier lady, then he would repeat it back to me. the whole process wouldn’t haven’t been so infuriating if the lady had not been so uncooperative and playing «21 questions» with us.
US: what kind of sauce comes with that?
HER: brown sauce
(no sh! t sherlock. like that tells me what flavor that is. brown sauce could be ANYTHING!)
US: is it watery or thick?
HER: thick
(wow, can you be any less descriptive?)
after however many questions were asked, we just picked whatever. I wanted 2 dishes: any stir fry with spare ribs and an all veggie stir fry. so, in the end we got «spareribs with black bean sauce and bitter melon» and «mixed vegetables».
when the bf brought it home, he commented on how crappy of a job the food packer was. I examined the bag and saw it for myself. it’s like the person just threw everything in there and hoped that the containers will take the shape of the bag. the spareribs dish was packed in a cheap, thin styrofoam container AND worst of all, it was cracked! as for the other dish, it was stuffed into a chinese take out box with sauce filled to the rim. obviously, they’re being way too cheap with the packaging because these were all the wrong containers for saucy dishes! therefore, all the sauce was leaking out into the bag and all over the plastic wear and sauces. I mean, it was so messy removing everything out. what a nightmare. [ see pictures ]
both dishes ended up tasting below decent. the bitter melon (spare ribs dish) wasn’t steeped long enough, so the bitterness was too overpowering. the sauce was supposed to be black bean, but it was mostly oil. you could see the fat separating in the dish and all the oily air bubbles. blech. sauce was bland. had to revise it with things I already had at home to make it edible.
the mixed vegetables was a little worse than the spare ribs w/​bitter melon. the sauce was supposed to be thick but the vegetables ending up watering down the sauce. also, sauce here was bland as well. water chestnuts were random. if there were descriptions in the menu, this could have been avoided (hate water chestnuts). the bamboo shoots and water chestnuts were easily identified as canned food. oh and rice was a bit overcooked and dry.
moral of the story, don’t be lazy to go to buford highway for better and authentic (and less expensive) chinese food. this place is far from authentic. sure the people are chinese, but the food isn’t true chinese food. dishes are more americanized than anything. also, please don’t order carryout from here unless you want to be eating straight from the bag.