Sam Woo Seafood/BBQ Restaurant, Irvine

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Sam Woo Seafood Restaurant

Sam Woo BBQ Restaurant

15333 Culver Drive, Suite 720

Irvine, CA 92604

949-262-0688 (Seafood side)

949-262-0888 (BBQ side)

This is an interesting set up. There are two sides to this Sam Woo restaurant. They operate independently, have separate kitchens, serve similar but different entrees, but share the same set of bathrooms.

The Seafood restaurant is more "upscale". The BBQ restaurant is more down to earth. The price differential is not that big, really.

A shot of the outside.

A shot of the inside and the entrance of the Seafood side.

We went to Sam Woo Seafood Restaurant for a sunday brunch. The Luncheon Special menu offers close to 100 different items. Very comprehensive.

And also a limited variety of different dim sum items. They used to carry only a dozen different varieties. We were delighted to discover that they had extended their offers in the past few years. Dim sums are ordered from the menu, though from time to time some waitstaff will carry out some "specials" not on the menu.

And... some Special of the Month can be ordered.

We started off with some complimentary soup. This was egg-drop soup with tofu and seaweeds added.

Kung Pao San Yan ("San Yan" means three ingredients). Beef, shrimp and chicken. Not the die-hard Sichuan style Kung Pao. More a Cantonese rendition of it. Very tasty however.

Shrimp rolls: ground shrimp wrapped with seaweed, battered and deep-fried. This was excellent.

Har Gow (Shrimp dumplings). Need not much introduction. Very good.

This dumpling is called "Fun Goul". The wrapper and filling are different from the "har gow" shrimp dumplings. The filling is a mixture of ground pork, shredded bamboo-shoots, peanuts and other things. Good.

Cantonese BBQ is Sam Woo's specialty. This day we ordered the BBQ squid. It was cut into thin slices. Condiment: Chinese mustard and hot sauce. Very good.

Brunch for two: slightly over US$20.

[Carlsbad]

I would second Sam Woo. I've been going to the seafood restaurant for almost 10 years, mostly for lunch. The regular lunches are a real bargain, especially the seafood dishes.

Edited January 12, 2007 by Carlsbad (log)