Woo-Hoo for Sam Woo! - CLOSED

Sam Woo BBQ Express

15333 Culver Dr., Suite 722

Irvine, CA 92604

I was a little embarrassed when I looked up the number of Chinese restaurants we reviewed on this blog. Yep, it was eight, not including this recent visit. So that means that out of the 731 restaurants we have visited, just over one percent have served Chinese food. Being in OC, with the amount of great Chinese food available, that's a little unacceptable. Sam Woo might be the restaurant that changes that.

To be honest, I am not very well-versed in Chinese food. Everything I know about Chinese food I learned by eating at Panda Express, Pick Up Stix, and some little hole-in-the-wall places near where I have lived. These places serve their food out of steam trays and package it up for you to enjoy at home. It's not exactly what I imagine they are serving in Downtown Beijing, but I like this Americanized version well enough.

It was early January, so it was time to take my good friend David out for his birthday. In a change of habit, I let him pick the restaurant we would eat at. This year, he wanted to head to Sam Woo BBQ Express in the very active Culver Plaza on the corner of Irvine Center Drive and Culver. Anchoring this busy shopping complex is a 99 Ranch Market, a 24-hour fitness, a good number of banks, and our destination this evening, Sam Woo.

While waiting for David to arrive, I was confused about where to meet him. This Sam Woo is like three restaurants at the same time. There's the Sam Woo Seafood Restaurant, then the Sam Woo Barbecue Express, where people line up and get their food from steam trays, just like what I'm used to at other Chinese restaurants. Then there's where we ended up eating, in the middle of the two, a pleasant dining room with white table-clothed tables, folded scarlet napkins placed on top of plates, and professional-looking servers, which I can imagine each working here for a long time.

We must have hit this place at just the right time because we had our pick of the tables at half past five on a rainy Monday evening. It did fill halfway up during our stay, and the quick service side was busy during our entire visit. I have read stories online about long waits for tables here, but this is not the case this evening. Plenty of signs all over the dining area state that this is a cash-only business, but David told me not to worry about that. Of course, he was wrong, as I was directed to an ATM at the front of the restaurant when it was time to pay. Thanks, David.

The menu here is impressive with its myriad of choices. There are 330 numbered items from soups, noodles, rice dishes, chow mein, hot pots, veggies, meat, fish, poultry, appetizers, and desserts. When I'm in a Chinese restaurant, I usually like to get one beef, pork, chicken, and rice selection, which is a nice variety. That's what we ended up doing for David's birthday bash. Let's see how that worked out for us.

Out first for us was the Assorted Meat on Fried Rice ($8.95). This was one of the lighter-fried rice dishes I have ever had. There was not a lot of grease, and the rice was nice and fluffy. There was not much meat on this, but it did the trick as a good side item to our entrees. 

When I picked this Chicken with Satay Sauce ($12.95), I was expecting something else, but it ended up being fine as it was. I thought it would come out with a thicker satay sauce that resembled the chicken satay appetizer I had for David's birthday a few years ago. This satay sauce was thinner but still provided a nice peanut flavor that went well with the tender chicken, white onions, crushed peanuts, and green onions. I'd get this again, but I am interested in their other chicken dishes now that they do not overcook their chicken.

David selected our pork choice for this evening, which was the only thing I was not too excited about during our stay. This BBQ Pork with Tofu ($11.95) came out with snap peas, carrots, sliced pork, and plenty of tofu. I'm not much of a tofu person. The texture doesn't do it for me, and it doesn't taste like anything. The pork on this was hit-and-miss. A few pieces were dry, but some were nice and tender and tasted great. The jury is still out on whether Sam Woo does pork well, but I would probably not get this entree again.

David redeemed himself big time with his beef pick, the Baked Chunk of Steak in the French Style ($16.95). It is one of the more expensive items on the menu, but it is well worth it. These cubed steak chunks were almost butter tender and came nicely sauced, and they did not detract from the natural flavor of the beef. A delicate balance to achieve. This also came with some giant mushrooms, which were tender and nicely prepared. David said the bowl was edible, but he might have just wanted to see me make a fool out of myself. Real nice David, especially when I took you out to dinner.

Sam Woo has me rethinking Chinese food. This was not the usual greasy food; everything tasted the same stuff that you get at the lesser Chinese restaurants that most of us frequent. The food here is higher quality and is made more thoughtfully than your usual neighborhood Chinese restaurant. I look forward to returning and trying more of the 300-plus items on this gigantic menu. Yes, there are more convenient restaurants than this one. In fact, they don't make it accommodating at all. Not only is there a line for a table on most days, but the fact that they don't take credit cards is a big hassle for people like me who don't like having cash on me, and it tends to make me think that there is something more sinister going on here than not wanting to pay the credit card fees. Service was okay, not overly friendly, and not too attentive to the two of us. Even with all of the negatives, I will still make a return visit. I am glad I could add to our Chinese restaurant, and I look forward to trying more of the Chinese food that OC offers.

Out of five lima beans (because this shopping plaza is named after Fred Culver, one of the earliest residents of what would become Irvine, and he was a lima bean farmer), five being best to zero being worst, Sam Woo BBQ Express gets 3 lima beans.

For more information about Sam Woo BBQ Express, go to their website here: https://www.samwooirvine.com/bbq-express.html