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| - Maybe my experience was colored by the many great Sam Woo restaurants in California, but this location is just average.
My aunt and uncle were in Las Vegas with some guests from Taiwan, and we decided to have dinner in Chinatown. Instead of Yelping, he picked this plaza, and then as a group we picked Sam Woo because of the brand name.
It wasn't until I checked in after sitting down that I noticed the two-star overall rating, which honestly shocked me a bit. In the end, I don't think the food is so bad that the whole restaurant deserves only two stars, but I will agree that it is not quite up to par with most Cantonese restaurants.
The eating bowls, plates, and cups were plastic, not ceramic, and looked a little cheap to be honest (and were this strange light blue color). Even some of our dishes were served on similar plastic plates (at least serve on plates with a little design if you opt for plastic)! I was surprised that the presentation of the dishes was so lackluster, given the pride the people from this region of China usually have about their food.
As for the food itself, it was decent but a bit too salty and oily, even for Chinese food. The menu was extensive but it was lacking some of the more prestigious/premium dishes, and where were all the quality soups? We ordered a vegetable dish, a tofu dish, a beef dish, a BBQ plate, and soup to share (see photos/captions).
The interior of the restaurant is still relatively nice looking, though not as sleek as some other Cantonese places. And while some others have mentioned poor service, I thought that the service during our meal was fairly attentive from both waiters to bussers (maybe it helps if you speak Mandarin or Cantonese).
This Sam Woo is not terrible by any means but I feel like it's not quite up to the well-established Cantonese restaurant standard, and there are a lot of options in Chinatown. Granted, I still have to try more places in Vegas Chinatown to get a baseline impression of food in this region, since my gold standard is still California restaurants and we are spoiled there.
P.S. I've come to the conclusion that pretty much all of my lower-rated reviews have been at places that I didn't Yelp beforehand. Lesson learned: trust Yelp! If a place has more than just a few reviews by regular Yelpers, there is reason to take stock.
P.P.S. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The waiter explained when he brought us our check that gratuity was already included. I thought this was kind of strange since we were only a party of 5. It looks like they do take credit card now (in reference to some older Yelp reviews of this place), but they have pretty high minimums (e.g. $20) and several categories (see the paper taped to the register).
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