Sai Woo

The interior was quite fancy and had good atmosphere. Service was above and beyond. Food presentation and taste was really good. We ordered the duck soy noodle, hurricane prawns (with an added on side of rice), and the creme brulee. I enjoyed all the dishes so I'd recommend any of them. Price was on the higher end (approx. $20 per person, $30 if you want dessert), but considering this place was pretty fancy, I'd say it's actually decently priced. I'd definitely come back just for the service alone (and to try more dishes).If you want more food details:The broth and marinated egg for the duck noodles were delicious. I personally prefer regular roasted duck compared to this fancy one but my friend really liked the texture (so I guess it's up to personal preference). The prawns were large and I really enjoyed the sauce on it. And the creme brulee had great milk tea flavour. I liked the cookie bits, which gave it texture, and the biscuit roll on top was good too. The melted sugar crust was abit thick, but I still enjoyed it so much that I would order it again.

Amazing food. Try the Dan Dan Noodles. Not pictured because we devoured them before I could. Dishes are big enough to share.

This was my second time visiting Sai Woo, and first time with a dinner reservation. Once seated, my partner and I waited near 10 minutes for anyone to come by the table. The restaurant was moderately busy at 7:15pm. Nobody came by to greet us or offer us physical menus, and we noticed that there was no QR code on the table to access the online menu either. Sai Woo's website seems to be down and cannot be accessed.The first server who stopped by our table said nothing and only collected the empty water pitcher. We had to wave somebody over to ask for the menu, and again when we wanted to order. We ordered 2 cocktails and 4 dishes, which all took longer than expected. We waited over 20 minutes between finishing our 3rd dish and receiving our last dish. It seemed that we didn't have a waiter or waitress responsible for our table as it was a different staff member each time we ordered, got a water refill, or were presented a dish.The dishes were ok - we enjoyed the duck breast the most. I was the most disappointed in the Dan Dan Noodles. I have tried dandan noodles at other establishments before and understand it to be a spicy, saucy noodle dish usually served with minced pork, scallions, and preserved vegetables. We received a large lukewarm bowl of soup with noodles, pork belly, and an egg. I’m not sure if we just completely received the wrong dish. There were also no serving utensils provided and the soup was hard to portion into our individual bowls. Nobody checked in to see how we were enjoying the food, but one server did thank us for our patience.The restaurant is nicely decorated but the ambience was negatively affected by the audio system crackling and consistently cutting in and out. We were also seated in a high traffic area and each time somebody walked by our table, the floorboards would rock our table and chairs. I understand it’s part of the charm of eating in a heritage building but it was quite distracting. Overall, I’m disappointed in my dining experience here. The food was only slightly better than the service.

The ambience and service is great, but the food is lacking and pricey. I really wanted to like the food, but the taste speaks for itself. Alot of dishes were too salty and had too many different flavors going on in one dish. The fried rice was very expensive and was the saltiest dish of all. They describe it as a sauce on the fried rice, but it looked like the rice was in a soup.

It’s definitely a hip bumping place where people could mingle - the ambiance was my favourite part of this experience. The food for Dineout was okay, but I came in with the expectation that it’d be a bit more Chinese, rather than a mix of different Asians (food wise). When I arrived it was quite clear that the place was catered to western people (which isn’t bad) as I was one of the few Chinese there.Food was decent, nothing to rave about. I will mention that they did have really good pork belly fried rice though. I don’t think the taste matched the price, but you also pay for the aesthetics as well. Wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to check it out, but if you’re in the area looking for an Asian fusion restaurant with a great to meet someone or a first date vibe, this may be it.

Came here for the first time during dine out.I've always heard mixed reviews about this place but have always been intrigued to try it out for myself. The dine out menu consisted of a choice of 3 appetizers, 3 mains, and 2 desserts. I came here with a friend and ordered different things to try more of the menu. 2 out of the 3 mains were rice dishes. The portions were generous to my surprise! The reason why I gave this 4 stars is not that I don't think it is worth coming. I believe that the food was yummy and the atmosphere alone is worth the visit. I feel like I should come back and try out the rest of their menu to give it more of a fair rating. The service was good, and the food came quickly. (Probably because it was the dine out menu) I will definitely come back to try this place again. The parking situation is street parking if you're lucky. We got the chicken salad and beef tartar as starters, duck rice and truffle fried rice.

First time trying out this place, I have to say food are delicious. I missed the dine out, but thankfully Sai Woo extended it for another week, so friends and I had a chance to go and try it.Great asian fusion place with lots of cocktails! I enjoyed everything except the Paella - mussel weren’t very fresh and taste wise - I’ve had better. Fried chicken and fried rice were all very flavorful.The server we had was awesome, she knows the menu, knows what to recommend, service a bit slow though, I think they need more people especially Friday and weekend.The soju was different than the typical korean ones I’ve had, very smooth!I will definitely go back and try other stuff that’s on the menu.

This was my second visit to Sami Woo, and I wasn’t disappointed at all. Sai Woo is a unique and one of the oldest restaurants in Vancouver. I think history and modern touches really work there now. It almost feels like this is my most favourite restaurant in Vancouver. You will agree with me with the photos below.The service is incredible, the food was excellent, great cocktails and wine collection.I would definitely go back, and I will highly recommend this fantastic restaurant for you to try and you won't be disappointed!!

A lovely longstanding restaurant in Chinatown with a rich history in entertainment. I'm not too familiar with the story behind the restaurant. The server had pointed out the two figure paintings on the exposed brick but nothing beyond that.It's easy to get a seat here and the dim lighting is attractive.The food was okay at best. It was much too salty overall, especially the batter on the prawns. The prawns under the batter was hard and probably overcooked. Similar with the chicken wings, not juicy as I thought it would be. The exterior is very saucy with a thick salty batter (fermented shrimp paste). The short ribs were tough, tough. The fries were inconsistent, with some pieces crispy and some soggy. Overall the food really was -- subpar.The drinks on the otherhand were well made and balanced. All the specialty mixed drinks we had were to our liking!3-3.5 stars overall I think they can improve on their food.Street parking in downtown Chinatown.

Came here for Valentine’s special. First of all, the Valentines menu was not really listed on the site so we did not come in expecting a set menu. We expected to have the regular menu. So first negative is inefficient communication and marketing.Service was ok, not super friendly or anything special. Did the job.Food was hit or miss. Enjoyed the pork wrap, hamachi, and sablefish(?) dishes. Pork belly was braised well and very flavourful. Hamachi had a nice citrus twist to it and I found it very interesting. The sablefish flavours were super cool and everything seemed to melt in your mouth, although the bokchoy was just plain burnt.Did not enjoy the tartar, braised pork entree, or the rice pudding dessert. The tartar literally tasted like.. all dressed ruffle chips? It was very odd, and the quality did not seem good. It also came with some bread on the side.. felt like grocery store bread. The pork itself was alright, but the potatoes and beans were bland and lacklustre. The dessert (rice pudding) was a complete flop; presented to look like a round rice crisp. It was bland, only flavour was the cinnamon sprinkled on and the vanilla icecream on top. Very boring, un-romantic, lazy and tasteless dessert.