Fast service, good food, very friendly workers. The Shangai noodles always slap, and the baba chicken is goated

This restaurant has fast service since all the food is prepared beforehand. Although small, there is still adequate seating as many people order takeout. There is an $8.99 special where you can get two meats, a veggie and steamed rice. There is a large selection of meats and fish from crispy chicken and honey glazed chicken. It is very savoury and well worth the value. If you're looking for fast food this is a place to check out. read more

BaBa's Chinese Kitchen - a buffet of food - Fast Food Near Me - Waterloo, Ontario

Tldr: Cheap, quick chinese takeout. Inconsistent quality and taste Came here a couple times when i succumbed to my chinese food cravings during school at Waterloo. This place is conveniently located in the University plaza, offering take-out chinese food. They offer combos with choices of fried rice and fried noodles (shanghai and chow mein) as the staples, a choice of vegetables, and a selection of meats. In my opinion, the quality and taste of the food here is just ok. The amount of food that they give is not always consistent (also depends on the person that is serving you), and some days the meats are pretty dry and can get pretty salty and greasy. The fried rice and noodles are also quite bland. However, they are pretty speedy with their service, and the price is pretty competitive relative to the other food joints in the plaza as well. If you want a quick bite (kind of like a grab and go type of meal), then you could try this place. But if you're looking for better tasting chinese food, i would suggest looking elsewhere. read more

BaBa's Chinese Kitchen - Shanghai style fried noodles, mixed vegetables, and bbq pork - Fast Food Near Me - Waterloo, Ontario

Fast food, Chinese BBQ restaurant with a simple menu and decently good food. It's a fair price and there are a variety of combos at different price points. Like 1 meat, rice / noodle combo and 1 vegetable, rice / noodle combo for $6 going up to the 2 meat, 1 vegetable, rice / noodle combo for around $8. They have authentic chinese food which tastes close to the real thing, they even have Shanghai noodles, which not too many fast food chinese restaurants make. I had the combo with Baba chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Mixed vegetables and Shanghai Noodles. The service is pretty good with the staff being very polite and even the cooks are really nice. They can also speak a variety of languages here so you can order in Cantonese, Mandarin or English! I'd gladly go back and I hope they survive at the UW plaza because the turn over rate is pretty high here! read more

BaBa's Chinese Kitchen - Baba chicken, Luciana chicken, shanghai noodles and mixed vegetables - Fast Food Near Me - Waterloo, Ontario

A new steamtable based restaurant that replaced the old Panda King (which did not do well at all). Both being steatable restaurants, Baba chicken definitely has higher food quality and is attracting a lot of people with its 6.99 special which gets you steam rice with 2 meats and 1 vegetable. Their steam table selections are similar to Mikeys, except they also serve chinese bbq meats (bbq pork/duck) which I assume is one of their biggest attractions considering not many other places around has it. Their food is definitely more authentic than others around. Their bbq pork is not the best I've had but i still get it just cause its bbq pork. The bbq pork quality itself is also a hit or miss since they usually give you the skinniest pieces available first. You the tray of bbq pork have only half fat pieces left than definitely go for it! I persoanlly also really enjoy their crispy chicken. It's like sweet and sour but just sweet. They also serve drinks like hk style milk tea (can add tapioca). Personally have yet to try it but I have seen many people get it. read more

BaBa's Chinese Kitchen - Steam rice combo (6.99) - Fast Food Near Me - Waterloo, Ontario

Baba's was okay. The food was just fine, what you would expect from a location like this. None of the food was hot, just moderately warm from being kept in the warming dishes. I asked to get vegetables instead of rice or noodles and they didn't seem like they were willing to do it , so I got the noodles and let my friend have them. This place is just middle of the road, average. read more

This restaurant recently opened up in place of Panda King. Not sure if it's a rebrand, but the core idea seems to be the same: slightly larger quantities of very mediocre food. This is pretty much like any other Chinese fast food place in Waterloo plaza. You pick rice vs. noodles, and your choice of meats and veggies. The prices vary from $7+ as you vary the number of meat and number of veggie choices, and they give you a decent amount of food - BUT THE TASTE. There's absolutely nothing special about the flavour of the food. The mixed veggies were very undercooked and crunchy, the (supposedly spicy but not even close) tofu extremely bland and flavourless, and the udon-like noodles were a giant flour-y mistake. The saving grace was the meat which was decent, but had nothing special about it. I tried both the BABA Chicken (not pictured) and the Luciana Chicken, which in hindsight looked great, but in practice was just A-OK. I'd give this a 2.5 star rating if I could but since I received 50% off due to an opening special, I'd say that's worth an extra half star. They also serve Noodle Soup (with meat) and Bubble Tea if you're into that. TL;DR - If you can cough up an extra $1-2, go to another place in the plaza for a meal that fills you up and tastes half decent. read more

BaBa's Chinese Kitchen - All of this for $5.65 (second meal in the background not included). - Fast Food Near Me - Waterloo, Ontario

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This place is awesome. For the food, it is packed with quality with good quantity. I got the lunch special which is $9 for two meats, mixed veggies, and a choice of rice/noodles. I recommend the chicken fried rice. It's soft in texture and has a good egg overlay in the rice - not too much or too less. To go with it, definitely get their BaBa chicken. It's sweet marinated diced chicken. I haven't tried it yet but my buddy said the BBQ pork is super tender as well. Going to give that a try soon. For the ambience, it's newly renovated and is probably the cleanest restaurant in the plaza. If you're hungry and looking for quality Chinese (not super authentic but still good), then give this place a try and you won't regret it. read more

Baba Grill is a solid restaurant hidden away in the back of UW plaza. It's prices are very reasonable, and is probably it's biggest appeal for university students such as myself. The special combo: steamed rice + 2 meats + 1 vege is the best portion for price available anywhere in the plaza (except burger king). The Baba chicken (it's in the name of the restaurant) is the signature dish, and it's great! Very authentic, and gives me nostalgic memories. The restaurant also offers authentic Chinese BBQ pork, which is rare to find. They should offer larger portions of it though (3-4 pieces usually). To be honest, the food here tastes good, but it's nothing special. The steamed vegetables are bland and forgettable, and the crispy chicken and it's variants (there are like 5 crispy chicken variants holy crap) are all average compared to other locations. The map tofu is pretty bad (I still get it because I like tofu). But it just feels good eating it from here. If I had to describe Baba Grill with one word, it would be authentic. The food here reminds me of home, of the dishes my parents cooked for me, and of the foods I grew up eating in China. The Baba chicken and BBQ duck/pork are difficult to find elsewhere, and tastes just like how I remember it. It feels good to eat here, and I do so regularly. In a place like UW plaza, where decent food is hard to find, the value and taste of Baba Grill is one of the best choices. Service is very friendly. Since it's fast food, there's not too much to say here, it gets presented in 2 minutes. Come here often if you live in the area. Good value for good authentic food. read more

The standard of Waterloo plaza food is so low that this place counts as relatively good. Everything tastes super salty and oily, but that's kind of the standard for fast-food Asian places. The one thing that stands out for them is that they have Shanghai Noodles, which is a nice touch. The staff are pretty nice. Better to get takeout cause the place is so small. They also have 5% off if you have cash. Don't accept credit cards though which is super annoying. read more

Man this place is slowly going down hill. They use to give pretty generous portions but now I would say it's below average. But I would still say in terms of value and speed its a solid place. I think this could be added to the place trio. read more

i think i got trolled by the worker when I ordered cause the portion she gave me looked like half of what i see on the yelp pics. lol @ the two cali or bust guys who posted saying that the food reminds them of home cooking LMFAO ur mum must be god awful at cooking if it tasted like Baba Grill baba chicken - way too sweet and i barely got 3 ounces of chicken egg and tomato - literally tasted like a bad dessert since it was so sweet, inedible-y sweet. like i dont see how its possible to add this much sugar to something? saturation point? crispy chicken - their attempt at chongqing chicken. actually pretty tasty, but poverty portions bbq pork - not as awful as last time mind = blown that people think this shitty mall food court style junk food being served to you in heat trays is worth $8-9+ dollars after taxes. read more

Solid chinese fast food on a budget. The Baba chicken is a staple; recommend pairing it with the chow mein + tomato & egg for a $7.50 trip to valuetown. read more

$8-$10 for crappy Chinese food. I'm pretty sure I got upset stomach from eating here. The baba chicken was dry and tasteless. Even DC chopsticks is better. read more

Now they improved back - huge portions and hot foods! :) No more cash discount though!

$7 special combo, good value Pick Baba's chicken as one of the meats read more

the most solid 3 stars i've given to any restaurant in the plaza 3 stars means A-OK, and this place is for sure A-OK. you don't go to baba for the food itself, you go because it has massive portions for a cheap price. ALWAYS order the takeout, even if you're going to be eating there because they fill that shit UP. i usually go with the combo 2 or the special combo, and never get any non-chicken meat dish since they're significantly worse than the chicken selections. baba grill is a staple for quick, cheap, filling meals at the uw plaza it should be nicknamed "the old reliable" read more

Got their student special which was ~$9 after tax which isn't bad relative to other places in the plaza. I got the BBQ Duck & Pork as my two meats but they only gave me 3 pieces of duck. It's nice that they have BBQ duck as one of the options, but they give you too little for one meat entree. read more

The food is okay but the duck has a lot of bones in them. Also it's not quite balanced - I always feel that I don't get enough vegetables from this place. All the meats are either grilled or fried, it's lacking variety. And there's no dish that has both meat and veggies. read more