Great food and service! We tried 2 Korean drinks bong bong and a peach juice. Both were so good!! I recommend them. Their banchan is really good. Might be my favourite! We ordered the highly recommended beef dumplings which were super hot and very tasty! For our meals we shared the spicy squid bibimbap and the black bean and beef udon. I was very happy with everything. read more

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One of the few places in koreatown that is disappointing. From looking at the menu, this place is exactly what I'm looking for. Combo with korean black bean noodle and sweet & sour pork (16.99). Those two always go hand in hand right? The portion is huge. You get a ton of noodles and a sizeable portion of pork to go with it. The issue I have is that the black bean noodles are not it. When you eat this dish, you kind of expect a certain taste to be there. But here is the first time where the flavour of the beef just took over the entire dish. Not sure if they put too much of it or seasoned it too heavily, but all I could taste was ground beef in the sauce, which was not it. Really did not like that. The sweet and sour pork was ok. Sauce was thick, and enough for each piece. Girlfriend ordered the combo with the beef dumplings and they were the extremely small frozen dumplings. Not very appetizing. What prevented this from a 1 star review was the agadashi tofu, which typically is a japanese dish so it was weird to see it on the menu and I thought this was really good. Large, sweet and well made. I was really shocked at how bad things were here and safe to say there are a ton of better options in Koreatown. read more

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I visited this spot WAYYY back and although I don't remember it all too well. I do remember the peach makgeolli brand they served was extremely tasty and the LA kalbi was also really good value for the amount and quality you received. It's a small korean resto located along bloor street. The service was very pleasant and we were served by a korean auntie who provided recommendations and gave us some freebies (which I forgot to take pics of). Pricing was what drove me to write this review. I remember the prices being SUPER reasonable for a downtown toronto resto. Perhaps post-covid inflation has driven their prices up but in the meantime I'll have to give em a high score because of what I remember my experience being like. Will be back in the future to update this review! Fingers crossed, the food is still bangin! read more

MaMa Chef Korean Restaurant - LA kalbi - Korean Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

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Price was very reasonable!! Tons of food came with the combo and the staff were happy to make accommodations for my vegetarian diet, even added extra veggie protein for me. Restaurant was cozy and comfortable, staff were very attentive from start to finish!! I'm happy to have given my money to this business! read more

Mama chef is a cozy restaurant serving traditional Korean dishes, with lots of booths for larger parties. We ordered Combo C which came with 4 dishes, enough to feed the three of us (with leftovers!). They have many sets that give you the most bang for your buck as the portion sizes are large. We got: - spicy rice cakes which had super soft rice cakes, and also wasn't crazy spicy! (8/10) - pork and soft tofu soup that came out piping hot. The flavour wasn't anything special and we also found the pork to be tough (6/10) - sweet and sour pork. The sauce was served separately which was great because it made sure the pork remained nice and crispy! Love the sweetness of the sauce but the batter on the pork was very thick (7/10) - black bean noodles. Honestly not a fan of black bean noodles in general and I wouldn't say they it was any different this time around. (5/10) We also ordered the seafood pancake on the side and it was thick and crispy. I enjoyed the large chunks of seafood as well! Overall, it's a nice spot to get lunch, especially if you're new to Korean dishes. There are definitely better ones within that area but I'd say Mama Chef is still worth a try! read more

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My boyfriend and I discovered this place totally randomly a couple years ago. He had never had Korean food before and I had only had it one other time. This has easily become one of our favourite restaurants in the city. Our favourite is their BiBimBap of course, personally I LOVE the Kimchi and Tofu BiBimBap The portion sizes are amazing for how reasonable the prices are, and I always leave here with leftovers that I can't wait to heat up the next day. I would probably be here every other night for dinner if I lived closer to downtown. It may look like a bit of a hole in the wall, but in my opinion it is Michelin star quality food!!! read more

MaMa Chef Korean Restaurant - Kimchi & Tofu BiBimBap - Korean Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

I love Korean food and this place felt like I was back in Seoul. The tteokbokki (simmered rice cake) is a must try! Service was great and prices were reasonable. read more

Their dumplings are really good. If you were to go to this restaurant I would stick to their dumplings and the meat pie. I also ordered their special which is the black bean noodles with a side of sweet and sour pork. I ordered it because their was a sign in their restaurant saying it's their specialty. I was so wrong. The noodles are spaghetti and the black bean sauce was not spicy and did not taste like black bean. I do not know what they used but it was not tasty. The sweet and sour pork looked really good on the wall. I thought it would look and taste very similar to the Chinese version of Sweet and Sour pork but as you can see from my picture it looked very interesting. They served the pork separately and you had to dip it into the Sweet and sour sauce. There was more batter than pork. My husband ordered the tofu soup and wasn't too amazed by it. Therefore, we were a little disappointed in the food. I left without finishing the noodles because it was kind of gross. They have a wide selection in their menu but it was more or a miss than a hit. But like I said ordered their home made dumplings if you are to try this restaurant out. read more

MaMa Chef Korean Restaurant - Korean Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

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One of the best bibimbap that I have had. I was going to go to another restaurant, but it was closed. This one is excellent. I will be back to try some other dishes. read more

Located on the north side of the street between Euclid Avenue & Manning Avenue, the place is a small restaurant. The front window has baskets for collections of takeaway foods with a few booths lining one wall & a collection of tables against the other wall. We opted for one of the Japanese-styled booths along the wall because they were separated from other diners. The kitchen was at the back of the restaurant perched atop a couple of steps, giving the place a small intimate feel. The menu featured a selection of Korean dishes including lots of vegetarian options. I opted for two appetizers, their fried vegetable dumplings & my favourite Korean dish, tteokbokki, while my friend had their beef bibambap. The service was quick & attentive & while the dumplings were deep fried rather than pan-fried, which gave them a really odd texture, the tteobboki was really good. Overall while the food was good, the real winner was the privacy of the booths allowing diners to feel safe while they had their dinner. read more

I ordered from this spot on Uber Eats and the portion size was HUGE! Really good bang for your buck here. The spicy chicken bibimbop came with many little sides, and the bibimbop itself was very flavourful and delicious. The vegetable pancake was fried to perfection. The bibimbop did not come with an egg, which would have been nice, but I fried my own egg from home to add on. Between the two dishes that I ordered, I had more than enough food for two dinners. Yum! read more

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I haven't been here in a couple years, came here recently and wow the quality of the food has deteriorated. I got the soy bean stew. It was oddly sweet, wasn't too flavourful like i remember it to be. The rice was also undercooked. I even had to soak the rice in the stew to soften it up - it was still hard.. My friends dishes were also bland and the rice was hard. The button to call for our sever wasn't working, and they didn't really check up on us.. read more

MaMa Chef Korean Restaurant - soy bean stew - Korean Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

Recently ordered from MaMa Chef for the first time and had a good experience! We got their pork bone soup as well as their noodles with black bean sauce. Everything was packed tightly for delivery and came with a few side dishes. The pork bone soup was flavourful and had a lot more veggies in it than most other places which I appreciated. The noodles were huge - very generous portion size and can definitely feed more than one person! Would definitely place an order with them again. read more

Love this place so much! The service is spectacular, and food is super fresh as well tasty! Recommend the black bean noodle combos for 1. Btw portion are huge! read more

Came in with a group of 8. Initially we were looking at this sketchy looking place across the street with minimal decor (literally, one empty room with a couple tables and chairs set up), but we couldn't find it on yelp so we ended up looking at mama chef. After being greeted at the door, we were brought into a room in the back, which I presume is their storage area since there were bags upon bags of rice, pancake mix, and other ingredients. It was an interesting decision since there were tables of 4 next to each other that they could have sat us at, but they decided to go with the VIP experience. Washrooms are in the basement, and not very accessible. They were pretty standard for a washroom in koreatown. Don't expect much there. We were offered some side dishes, along with two whole pancakes! Which is pretty crazy, cause some other places usually give you a few pieces, and some places don't even provide any. And they were full-sized pancakes, so this is a good start. The pancakes were pretty good too. There weren't many utensils in the box, so we had to ask for more, but it was quickly provided. The menu features a variety of options such as fried cutlets of meat, dumplings, bibimbap, pork bone stew, fried rice in stone bowls, hot plates, and table BBQ. I ordered the fried rice with chicken in a stone bowl. It comes with the sweet/spicy korean sauce, so if you can't handle spice you might want to avoid this one. I enjoyed the flavour, though I would have preferred more spicy and less sweet. Price a bit on the higher end, but I guess that's where the pancakes come in. read more

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I was browsing for some good Korean food in Toronto on Yelp, and I'm glad that I did, because it was such a delicious dinner. I was expecting curt, to-the-point service that I often get at Korean restaurants, but the service at Mama Chef was surprisingly nice as well! Korean Black Bean Noodle (5/5) - So good. My favorite of the night. It was better than most of the ones I've had in Korea. Sweet and Sour Pork (4/5) - Flavors were on point, but the batter was not as crunchy as I would've liked. Cold Wheat Noodles in Soup (5/5) - Really good and authentic-tasting. Perfect for a hot summer day. read more

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The food is terrible its chewed up I rather eat rat poison then this and the workers are rude it took 15 minutes just to seat us and another 15 minutes to take our order we almost left but the waiter come around and took our order and the bathroom is in the basement what and I'm quite tall and I had to bend my neck to fit in and the place seems like it's been in a tornado a wildfire tsunami and a earthquake read more

I only tried their noodles with black bean sauce and beef dumplings, but even that simple dish was very tasty and reasonably priced. Their in-house made dumplings reminded me of Ding Tai Fung in Markham - the best place for dumplings north of Toronto. Mama's dumplings had broth on the inside, albeit dumplings at Ding Tai Fung are chunkier with more broth spilling out at the first bite. The service was good. The girls working there are very friendly and courteous. Would I be back? Yes, but first I've gotta try all the other highly rated Korean restaurants on that stretch of Bloor. :) read more

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This restaurant has really good Unagi Hot Pot Bibimbap! Portion size was pretty big, and they used purple rice instead of regular white rice. There was a good amount of fresh, crunchy vegetables, with delicious sauce and unagi on top. The vegetarian japchae (Korean glass noodles with vegetables) was decent and came on a good-sized plate as well. read more

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Came by after searching for brunch in the Ktown area. I enjoyed the Black Bean Korean noodle, it was decently portioned and one of the best I've had in a while. The vibe here is very homely, which is quite fitting for a Korean restaurant in Korean town. The washroom weirdly structured. The female toilet and sink for the female washroom was to close together, and the ceiling for the male washroom was very low. Just a note that this restaurant doesn't take Credit. Service was slow and the waiter took a while to notice us, even though the restaurant was almost empty. read more

MaMa Chef Korean Restaurant - Beef and Noodle - Korean Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

Solid flavours, attentive staff, good portions, and food served in a timely manner. I got the Spicy Beef Brisket and Veg in Spicy Beef Broth - $10.99. (It certainly wasn't brisket, more like slices, but at least everything was fresh.) I did find it a bit on the salty side, as I usually find Korean stews, but it was fresh. Bf ordered the bibimbap. It was around $13 and portion was quite large. He couldn't find it all! Both dishes were serve with purple rice, which is supposed to be "heathier" than white rice. Bachans were ok. Nothing super special, but still appreciated. All in all, it's a place worth revisiting in Koreatown! read more

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In korean town in bathurst/bloor. Place is small but was able to accomodate our group of 15. Food is good. I love the beef bibimbap, dumpling no. 2 which is filled with beef and chap chae. The downside, not a lot of appetizer provided. Staff are very nice and service is good read more

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Best Korean food in downtown Toronto so far. Big portions, excellent taste, not too pricey and very good service. read more

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As a die-heart Yelper, my partner and I were initially going to venture to more popular Korean restaurants based on Yelp reviews. However, due to the popularity of those locations, we decide to follow the path of least resistance, and found MaMa Chef Korean Restaurant. Different than the other, slightly more popular Korean restaurants in Korean Town, MaMa Chef Korean Restaurant was filled with Koreans. To me, this is a sign of authenticity! The décor was clean. In the background was a television set with k-pop artists. I felt I was on a set of a stereotypical Korean drama. Our meal was delicious. The Banchan (side dishes) was fresh and vibrant. Our entree was tofu bibimbap and kimchi stew with pork. Both items were served with a healthy dose of purple rice. Our bibimbap was filled with bright vegetables; carrot, zucchini, cabbage, bean sprout to name a few and a perfectly fried egg on top. I adored crispy rice at the bottom of a scorching hot stone bowl. The kimchi stew has a great amount of smokey flavour. It complimented the rice well. There is something magical about Korean food on a cold winter day. MaMa Chef Korean Restaurant is definitely one of the better Korean restaurant in the area! I am glad we stumbled into it. Mama knows best! read more

Disclaimer: I have only ordered delivery from this restaurant so this is strictly about the food. In fact, while I've ordered over 20 times from Mama Chef it's always a soup. I usually get Gamja Tang (pork bone soup) or Yukae Jang (spicy beef brisket). For me, the key to a good Korean soup/stew is the depth of the broth. Mama chef delivers in this regard. The broth is rich and very flavourful with a throaty spiciness rather than just on the lips/tongue. It's real deal. I recommend bringing the soup back up to a boil before eating. Comes with a bit of kimchi and a little of whatever other side dish they have made that day - always fresh and tasty. Comes with a rice. I usually order two to make it more worth my while. read more

We came in a group of 15, reserved in advanced. Pleasantly surprised that they took reservations on a Saturday night. We were seated altogether and the place has privacy dividers. They give you complimentary appetizers like kimchi, tofu and potato pancake. The advantage of being in a group is that you get to taste more food. I ordered Spicy Fried chicken and requested it be mild so that my son could have it. $18 for it seems pricey for me. It's good however it is not something I would order next time I come back. Spicy noodle with fish rice was good. Noodles cooked right and not overbearingly spicy. My husband liked the Mama chef pie. My friends had sweet sour pork, bibimbap and japchae among others. Sweet and sour pork is nothing special. The bibimbap and japchae were tasty. I would probably order these next time I come back. The pork bone soup took unusuallly long to make. Serving size is good to share between 2-3 people. Place looks clean. Prompt and polite service. They accept credit cards. read more

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Great Korean home cooking. Authentic food. Friendly service. Reasonable prices. Delicious. A gem. We ordered seafood soon soo boo Chiharu, jap chae snd potato pancake. read more

Good good, great service!!! The pork bones hot pot was really yummy and the soup was so tasty! I like the jajang noodle here, the sweet and sour pork i didnt like too much. Both of these 2 plates come together and just 14$. This is an order for 1 person. U can order to try more many kind of dishes here. This restaurant is very warm, shine, and they were very friendly with me. Next time i will try the rice cake with cheese here!! read more

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First things first, I am a Korean and this is NOT an authentic Korean interpretation of Jjajaangmyun (black bean noodle). It lacks the scorched black bean paste flavor and scent. Noodles are added into the bowl without being drained of liquid fully, making the sauce diluted. Veggies within the sauce has texture but lacks flavor. I also had Kaanpoonggi (spicy fried chicken/boneless chunks). In Korea there are regulations on meat ratio to batter and very picky/sensitive eaters so the restaurants have to abide by the rules, but this place seemed like it was majority batter and 30-50% meat(still better than Korea House couple blocks down, 0-20% meat). Sauce had too much oil, as if the fried pieces of chicken weren't drained before being satayed in the sauce. Only good thing about the restaurant was the server. Very friendly and honest. read more

MaMa Chef Korean Restaurant - Korean Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

Had the tabletop cooking. What can I day other then delicious. Wish they didn't charge for extra lettuce. Soon tofu that it comes with was also incredibly amazing! read more

First time here and we ordered Combo C ($39.99). Its recommended for 2-4 people (it was only two of us). Combo C came with the Spicy rice cakes, an option of sweet and sour chicken or spicy chicken, an option for spicy tofu soup, kimchi soup, or tofu soup, and lastly an order of jajangmyun. This is what we got. We also got a side of fried chive dumplings. Everything was great! I though the sweet and sour chicken would come with rice or the soup would come with rice but it didnt... wasnt sure if it was suppose to come and i just never got it. But regardless, this is my new go to spot for good korean food read more

MaMa Chef Korean Restaurant - Korean Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

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Mama must not be in the kitchen today. I`ve eaten at Ktown numerous of times, never had I said I will not return. If you enjoy over seasoned food beyond explainable pallette, this is a place for you. Or if you happen to be sick, and have a dull taste bud. Our table of 4 ordered Combo D which feeds 4 to 6 people. First came the Jap chae. It had greens which I was impressed. All of us took a bit to try, and we all were wah. Super flavour. Not only rich in sesame, but black pepper. Lots and lots and lots of black pepper. Each 4 bites, we had to take a sip of tea. Second came the beef boiled dumplings. Standard flavour, smaller then some I had. It was the best dish for the night. Next came a chicken stir fried rice. They used they purple rice, was a bit wet and soggy. But it was edible. If you ever try stir frying rice out of the cooker with lots of condensation, you will understand the texture. Next came the LA Kalbi. It came sizzling, it came black, it came charcoal. We all wanted to try to meat and took a bit. It was hard! Burnt bits crumbled in our mouth. The meat was tough and over cook it existence. We tried to send it back. The waiter said this is ordinary. The meat was so over seasoned and wet when grilled that the soya sauce just became grits and burnts on meat. I had never seen LA Kalbi disappear so slow on the table.. no one wants it. The cow died in vain. Lastly came a kimchi pork sizzling dish. It sizzle nice, but very sour. It taste extra fermented and full of brine sourness. Imagine drinking a spoonful of pickle brine for fun. That's the flavour of the whole dish. Our table was defeated. We pick out some pork and ate it. We lost our appetite. To top it off, we had leftover refrigerated cold soggy pancake for compliment appetizers. At least the guava candy tasted good. Sorry mama. I will not be back. Even myself, I think my cooking tasted better read more

I'm staying at an airbnb on this trip on Euclid and have eaten a tonne of Korean since I'm so close to Koreatown, and this might be the high point. Service was really friendly and sweet and the server identified each of the banchan he brought out- best was the fresh cabbage "salad" but all were quite tasty. I ordered the spicy pork with kimchi with rice plate and it was fantastic- that purple rice you now see at all Korean places with a big pile of perfectly cooked pork and kimchi. One cool thing- I ate all the banchan and asked for more of that gorgeous cabbage (it wasn't fermented so not sure if it'd count as kimchi; there was also proper fermented kimchi with a lot in the entree of course as well), and he brought me refills of all five, with a smile. I know that this sort of service isn't unheard of, but something about my whole experience here made me feel extra loved. A gem. read more

No matter what time or day it is, it's always a full house! However, don't be disappointed since the turnover is speedy and the food is definitely worth the bang for your buck! What I usually order: - [No. 20] Spicy Rice Cakes with Noodles: Mildly spicy with tender rice cakes and noodles. Quite heavy to have it all in one go due to the thick rice cakes and noodles, so it's probably a good idea to share. - [No.6] Noodles with Blackbean sauce & beef dumplings: Small bowl of noodles for 1 person and 6 beef dumplings (if I remember correctly). I'm not a fan of the beef dumplings as I find the stuffing a bit tough for my liking. - [No.56] Fried Rice with Beef & Kimchi: Served in a hot stone pot perfect for chilly weather. I'm not sure if others have had the same experience, but when I had it the rice was overdone - a couple of burnt pieces making it real crunchy (I mean, if you like some texture in your rice, I suppose this does it...). I believe this was supposed to be spicy as well, but I didn't find it spicy at all especially when I'm sensitive to spices. So, if you want this spicy ask them to spice it up! - Side Dishes: They have 4 side dishes usually pickled cucumbers, kimchi, caramelized potatoes, spicy radish/pickled radish or fish cakes. Service: Very pleasant and usually speedy with orders. Sometimes I'd only see 1 person working the floor and that 1 person tries their best to accommodate a full house. Overall, love this cozy Korean restaurant. My favourite place for Korean food when I'm in the area. Will be back! read more

Our favorite Korean restaurant. They have simple dishes such as beef and rice (bulgogi style) and udong noodle in the stone pot! Always a good meal and they're green chive pancakes are delicious. read more

MaMa Chef Korean Restaurant - Bibimbap in stone pot! - Korean Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

Excellent service and great food, must try in Toronto. Medium spicy squid bibimbap was cooked very well and seasoned just right! read more

MaMa Chef Korean Restaurant - Medium spicy Squid bibimbap. Very tasty, great location and EXCELLENT service! Visit and try out their menu :) - Korean Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

As a Korean person who has tried Korean food all over the world, this restaurant is definitely at the bottom of my list. We ordered 5 different menu items, 4 of them being popular Korean dishes, and none of them were made properly. The jjangmyeon and kampoongee flavors were off. The jjangjangmyeon tasted like it was made from the instant packages, and the kampoongee tasted heavily like fish. In addition, the jampong had an excessive amount of red pepper flakes. Although this dish may not be Korean, the agedashi had TOO much batter. There was more batter than actual tofu. That's my mistake for getting that at a Korean restaurant. I'm shocked that this place had 4 stars. Sometimes I shouldn't trust Yelp. Never coming back here. Ever. Not worth the $90 we paid. I wouldn't even eat here if someone offered to treat me. Moreover, the waiter did not know what he was doing. He had us use the credit card machine, which he's supposed to do. Maybe the cook was having an off day. Who knows. Try at your own risk. This is just the experience I had. read more

SO DISAPPOINTED - I just walked out of here a few minutes ago with a take out order of steamed shrimp and chive dumplings ($11.29) and it was so terrible I just threw the whole thing out. Good luck finding any shrimp in the dumplings. There was maybe 1/2 of a tiny canned shrimp in each dumpling, lots of chives and eggs (which I'm allergic to and have never seen eggs in shrimp dumplings) my guess is it may have been used as filler. I'm so disappointed, I was so looking forward to having dumplings. I found it overpriced and misleading for what I ordered. Again, a smidge of a tiny, canned cocktail shrimp. Terrible. read more

You people don't have a palate. Regardless you are Korean or not, this cannot be one of those restaurants that you want to go for a decent food. If nice servers made you feel like you are eating a good food, You should go see a doctor. From perspective of Korean, I should say something more harsh about the quality of food. However, I will try not to do so because it's ALREADY so bad. It simply reminds of my first cook which I made when I was 13!!!!!!!! It's that bad. read more

One of the best Korean restaurant, few minutes away from bathurst station and the food is superb with a very reasonable price. We ordered the combo C and we're amaze with the serving :) I highly recommend this place. read more

MaMa Chef Korean Restaurant - Korean Near Me - Toronto, Ontario