Rude, unfriendly service - they did not realize that a member of our party spoke Chinese and knew that the servers were essentially cursing us and saying rude things. Will not return or recommend. read more

Food is not fresh. Service is very poor. Expensive for the quality you get. Many dim sum items were not available read more

I was in search for a dim sum place in the kw area that was less pricey than Cameron but maintaining a good taste level. I did a lot of googling and was slightly skeptical of Sam's kitchen because of the reviews however I decided to give it a try and was not disappointed. When you first enter the establishment, it looks quaint and typical for a Chinese restaurant. There were maybe 12 tables and at noon on a Sunday, we did not have to wait. We were promptly seated and asked about what kind of tea we liked. They speak both Cantonese and mandarin - the ladies were the sweetest! Very attentive ( at least one of them was) and we got our food very quickly. Our order: Har gow - the skin was perfectly thin. When you pick it up, make sure you let it cool slightly or else you break the skin before you pick it up. The shrimp were amazing! They were juicy and had a very good bounce to it - a sign that it's perfectly fresh and cooked Siu mai - pork bases finished with fish row on top. Juicy. Soft. Meaty. Absolutely satisfying when you're craving for it. Shrimp spring rolls - it was served with a plum sauce? Didn't taste the sauce, but the shrimp was on point. My only complaint is that the spring roll wrapper was a bit too thick. Fried tentacles - fried, not pan fried like your typical dim sum places in toronto. It was tender and flavorful. Not too greasy. But rather the batter was light and squid was fried to a very nice golden brown. BBQ pork steamed buns - bread bun was sweet, fluffy and perfect. Not a lot of filling but it was good. Sweet bbq pork filling, not a lot of gravy. Slightly different from toronto dimsum places where the ratio of meat and bun is a little over half. But the bun was perfectly steamed. Chiu chow fun go - peanuts and meat wrapped up in a crystal shell. Typically served with chili oil, they gave me chili sauce when I asked for it. The skin was very thick... surprising because their skin on the har gow was perfect. Dough fritter rice roll - ok. I LOVED this. Dough fritters were freshly fried. It had an amazing crunch wrapped with the soft rice roll and covered in the sweet soy. They didn't give us the usual peanut sauce and hoisin, but I don't typically dip it anyway so not something I missed. Eat this when it comes to your table. If you leave it, the dough fritter, like all friend foods covered in sauce, will get soggy. Well done! Fried taro dumpling - I wasn't sure about this one when I ordered it. Everywhere I've gone it's never fresh / fried enough until the center is hot. However they do it pretty good. The center was hot. That's a plus. It was crisp and not greasy... another plus. But a lot more taro than meat filling and gravy inside. It is a little on the heavier side but I love taro. If you don't like taro, this would be like... a slightly more flavorful potato croquette with a pork filling. Lotus wrapped sticky rice * didn't eat.. we were too full Egg tart - umm. When it came, it looked good. The egg mixture was a nice deep yellow glossy color, a little different from regular egg tarts. The pastry is a flake pastry. I wouldn't necessarily order this again. The egg mixture is more gelatinous and deviates from the eggy light goodness that egg tarts are typically. But the pastry was good. We ate almost 10 dishes... had tea... and it came to about $50 with leftovers. Ok, we did order quite a bit but it's really so that we can figure out if we would be coming back or not. They do their shrimp right. Most of the food that came in were good. It's not Markham standards but pretty on par with Cameron's at a fraction of the price. Service was great! I would definitely go again as my go to dim sum place in kw to try everything else. They accept credit and cash - I had assumed it was cash only which is a plus. Parking is slightly limited. read more

Sam's Chinese Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - Kitchener, Ontario

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An update: it has been a year since I have moved to Kitchener and was worried that Sam's had closed down but stopped by Christmas Eve and they were open. They don't answer their phone most of the time so stopping by to order is probably the best idea and I got their shrimp lo mein for a holiday treat and it was excellent. So happy they are still open! read more

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Go to restaurant in the area. Deep fried spicy and salty shrimp and squid is the best.

Really good Sunday dim sum spot in the KW area. I'd recommend going around 10:30am-11:30am, as service seemed to slow a bit after noon where more people are likely to come. Sam's had a good amount of seating, clean and well maintained - great for large family, friend groups but also a decent amount of 2-4 seater tables as well. Selection of dim sum was just enough, covering the basics from egg tarts, har-gow, shumai, turnip cakes, cheung fun rice rolls, congee and much more. Ordering style wasn't the regular cart format, as the restaurant size runs more on the smaller side. But we were provided a pen and paper with the dim sum selection where we were able to fill out what quantities we wanted. Service was friendly, average wait time for food to arrive and the food overall was delicious. Big fan of the congee and egg tarts were probably the best ones I've ever had! The cheung fun rice roll dishes are usually my favourite, though the shrimp one seemed a bit mediocre than most I've had. +1 for offering a tofu cheung fun dish, as I've never seen that before and honestly liked it a lot more than the shrimp. Overall a great spot to come back to whenever I'm in the area with family, a bit farther from the UW and main student campuses, but worth the drive if you have access to a car :) read more

Sam's Chinese Kitchen - Egg tarts (best I've had and a must-order), congee with preserved egg, hard gow, and turnip cakes. - Chinese Near Me - Kitchener, Ontario

The only thing about this place is too slow. Recommend either pre-order for takeout, or go as early as you can. Otherwise, you will end up waiting for centuries. Do plan well for your time if deciding coming here. read more

This has been the go to when dining with family in the KW region. The dim sum and the regular dinner fare are all very good. The service is very good and your food is served hot and fast. Atmosphere is pretty casual and the place does get busy, not wait outside busy but good enough that you don't feel like you should be eating there. Always steady in terms good taste and reasonable prices. This will remain our go to for the KW area. read more

Sam's Chinese Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - Kitchener, Ontario

Visit Sams Kitchen ONLY IF you want to leave deaf and emotionally abused. ABSOLUTELY WORST RESTAURANT IN KW. AVOID at all costs! Service was unapologetically slow and rude. After putting down the order, we had to wait 40 minutes for the first dish to arrive. While we tried to politely ask the waitress to double check with our order, we only got back rude stares and dismissive responses. We were shocked by how rude they were. All the time they were YELLing at customers. Not just to us, to everyone at the restaurant. They made the place feel like a butchery. Eventually we decided to leave after one hours wait with only two small dishes served. After multiple requests, one waitress finally responded, by THROWING the bill to our table while saying passive aggressively, "dont come back". Right, like we would come back for the torture. read more

We use to love this place but for the last 3 years service declined. Today we went again and waited inside for 20 min NO one came to sit us down or tell us that it be a long time to be seated. All the table was use and dirty like a pig pen. I tried to make eye contact NO one did I understand your under staff but come on a little common courtesy. Your food is good but your price is high that equal out. Your service is just plan S@&% read more

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a big fan of new Dim Sum places in Waterloo Region. That's what got me so excited about Hot Wheels. For the uninitiated: what is Dim Sum? Dim Sum is a traditional Chinese brunch that consists entirely of appetizer-like dishes. Portions tend to be bite-sized and made easy for eating with chopsticks. Yes, it's a strange name, but Hot Wheels is a new Chinese restaurant on Victoria near Lancaster (at the site of the former Cleopatra Bar and Grill). The place just recently opened, but I've got to say I've been impressed with what I have seen so far. I went for lunch today and although the decor isn't much to look at, the food fails to disappoint. A quick perusal of the menu (and even the sign out front of the restaurant) shows a great number of spelling and grammatical errors - and surely English is not the first language of the people who own and run this place, but surely I couldn't fault them for that, I am sure they know more English than I do Chinese! Ordering for Dim Sum is quick and easy, you place your order on the sheet. On to the food, which was a delight... Pot stickers to start were cooked perfectly with just a crispy golden brown on the bottom (hence the name, of course). Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll (Cheung Fun) had great texture and taste, as well as plenty of shrimp. The perennial Dim Sum favourites of Har Gow (Crystal Shrimp Dumpling) and Siu Mai (Pork and Shrimp Dumpling) were well executed in the standard Cantonese style. I also ordered the Spare Ribs with Black Bean sauce, which led to my only complaint on the food: it seems that in their quest to give you more pork meat, the pieces of the spare ribs that had lots of little bones, which made it somewhat difficult to eat. These five dishes with a pot of Chinese tea and taxes came to under $20! For those looking for a more western-style Chinese food experience, there is also the standard dishes combination dishes available and a daily lunch special as well. I look forward to having more meals at Hot Wheels, and will have ot come back for the Dim Sum... read more

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This place is along the lines of crystal palace before new owners too over. The dim sum is mediocre at best. It's far behind Cameron in terms of taste. Everything was ok. Couldn't find actual problems with the food (like undercooking or wrong spices ). I don't see a reason to come here from Waterloo when Cameron is the same distance. read more

Sam's Chinese Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - Kitchener, Ontario

Yummy dim sums. since we had an appointment we couldn't stay longer this time. We really enjoyed the foods we ordered. Already looking forward to next visit. read more

Went for some Dim Sum on a weekend morning. Felt sorry that I did not know about this place before. The dishes are amazing. Better than Cameron's and many other dim sum places in the GTA, in my opinion. Special mentions go to the crystal shrimp dumplings and curry cuttlefish because they are the best I've had. Everything else was also made above-standard. One last thing -- save some space for the dessert rice puddings. read more

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Delicious and authentic dimsum place in the KW Region. Food was served pretty quickly and tastes delicious as well! The space is pretty small so go early for a spot, or they may put you in one of their larger tables with another group, which was in our case but we didn't mind it! There's no prices on the menu sheet that they give you, but it is pretty pricy : it could be around ~$5 for one dish. We got around 10 dishes and the bill came out to $55. Good place for dimsum but a little pricier than average. read more

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This Chinese restaurant will be my most favourite for Chinese food in KW and something new for me Dim Sum great . The waitress Sarah was a very helpful and knew what I was look for advice was great everything out of the five items I had ordered where superb. I have never tasted dim sum and I must say it was delightful I would not hesitate in going back to this restaurant in the futureI would highly recommend it to first goers since this is a good place to start read more

Great Dim Sum & REAL Chinese Food in KW! Traditional Cantonese - Hong Kong Style dim sum, reminiscences famous Dim Sum Restaurant group MAXIM in Hong Kong. Dim Sum is cooked to order unlike most restaurants, so it's a little wait, but well worth the extra few minutes for freshly steamed/cooked dim sum. Dishes to try are: - Pork Siu Mai (Steamed Pork in Thin Dumpling Skin) - Beef Ball w/ Bean Curd Sheet - Spare Ribs - Curry Baby Squid - Steamed Custard Bun (fluffy, flavorful and soft bun!) - Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf - Fried Tofu (Bean Curd) w/ Minced Shrimp - & my favorite: Deep Fried Crab Claw! Try it out if you're in the area. Haven't tried many a la carte dinner items, but the few I tried are good. Service is friendly and attentive. read more

I've tried a bunch of different dim sum places in KW, and this is by far the best. When it was open for in-person dining the service was amazing, and while there's Covid restrictions my roommates and I get take out whenever we get the chance. Anything off of the dim sum menu that has shrimp (shrimp rolls, dumplings, etc) is better than any other place I've been (and I've been to a lot) and the stir-fried sticky rice is incredible. As long as I live in the KW area this will be my go-to place!! read more

Probably one of the best in KW. For sure, if you want really good dim sum, go to Toronto. For this city, it's a reliable and solid choice.

Terrible seating customer service, lacklustre food. You can buy all of these choices in oceans at a much cheaper price

In terms of value and quality the food is very good. Not the best dimsum but very acceptable. The majority of customers there were Chinese. I am also Chinese and I know the older generation only frequent places with authentic food at good prices. read more

I agree with shane k. This place is nothing special. And their dim sum is alright. My boyfriend ordered the lemon chicken lunch special and I ordered some dim sum. His order came out pretty quick, however, I had to wait about 15 minutes for some of my dim sum to arrive. He was practically done eating by that point. read more

I think it is the best dim sum place in KW region, better than cameron house in terms of the price. Definitely go for the deep fried flour, it is sooooo good! read more

As Al Capones second would advise .. never underestimate the other guy's greed. This tiny shop can supply a living for it owner; dispute its size limits in part cuz those who can without feeling pain afford to pay the asking. As not all ingredients be costly the somewhat labour intensive fare increases the plate value. Value is in flavour. read more

DO NOT EAT HERE! If you want to sit down and have 4 tables served before you then you should. They cater to the Asian crowd much more than any other. I sat at a table today and waited for 15 minutes without getting a menu, drink, or any attention whatsoever. There are so many places out there better than this. Go to Cameron Seafood instead. They have attentive servers and the food is amazing. read more

No longer managed by Cantonese people, a bit disappointed with the Dim Sum quality; limited sauce availability; slow service; Cameron is much better for dim sum in K-W read more

I literally just came back from eating at this place... The Dim Sum is sooo good here, my goodness!! Me and my friend ordered Almost everything on the menu and there wasnt One thing we did not like. I have lots of left overs but im stuffed! The spare ribs and Everything else stood out to us. You need to try this place, I highly recommend it. The customer service was good as well, we did have to wait awhile for our food but it was Hot and Fresh and Well Worth The Wait. I'm coming back for more. read more

My friend suggested me to meet here for lunch ( convenient location for us ) I was surprised to observe all Chinese people sitting in & eating happily ! Their food was good but u can get more authentic Chinese food ( generous portions ! ready to pack your food home ) I guess that's why they are still in business ! read more

Sam's Chinese Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - Kitchener, Ontario

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Go on a Sunday before noon and you'll get a window into what dim sum is all about - bustling staff with teapots and bamboo steamers, large multi-generational tables/brunchy friend groups, and a family atmosphere. We were a table of two; six dishes which included favourite staple like siu mai, har gow, chicken feet and rice noodles with shrimp was about thirty bucks. Nice servers, quick service, steaming baskets. read more

I went there a few times. The quality of foods was quite volatile. Sometime is was okay, sometime very poor. The foods there tend to be overly salty. Service was poor. There are definitely better dim sum restaurants in town. read more

They have renamed themselves "Sam's Chinese Kitchen". So we went there today and had the Dim Sum. The regular menu items are pricey - more expensive than we are used to paying for the identical dishes at the Kingtin... which is why we settled for Dim Sum. Ditto on the Dim sum. They are all more expensive. $26.75 for 2 people including a single serving hot and sour soup and I left still hungry. We waited a very long time for the food to arrive, even though there were only two other tables while we were there. We waited so long that when one of the dishes was not available (which we waited 20 minutes to find out) I was unwilling to order a replacement and wait another 20 minutes. Quality of food - pretty good. Tasty, freshly steamed, the Har Gow are plump and nice, the sticky rice with sausage was tasty, the chicken (and yam) spring rolls were quite good, and not greasy, the service was friendly. The restaurant is fresh and clean and looks like it has been recently redecorated. Because the same dishes are available elsewhere for a lesser cost, we will not be returning. I would almost suspect they copied the Kingtin menu dish for dish. The hot and sour soup is identical. The Dim Sum is now available all day, and of course all the restaurants buy their dim sum items, so these too are pretty much the same as everywhere else with a few exceptions. There is much less variety than you find served at the Kingtin on the weekends. Example - 6 shrimp rolls at the Kingtin, from the menu $5.00. Three shrimp rolls at Sam's $4.50 and pan fried dumplings are 8 for $10.50. Ouch. We buy these dumplings frozen, 24 for about 3.49 at the supermarket. read more

well I went there... I have to say their food is fine. In comparison, the quality is over average but it is really pricey! I ordered just as many dishes in another chinese restaurant in London and it costed me half of what I paid at Sam's. If you have money to spend then go to Sam's. Otherwise, I dont think it is a casual dim sum place. Decor is very traditional chinese restaurant. Service is alright, as many said, not very fast but tolerable. read more

Best dim sum I have in the KW area !!!! Service was OK but the food made up for it ... It's small family run business with one cook and he is a great cook.. You must try the portion is big and the taste is authentic. Will definitely recommend it to everyone. I finally found my dim sum place. read more

Moving from Markham, ON where there is an abundant of good quality Chinese Cantonese food, we finally found a this place that serves food at the same calibre. Definitely going to be a regular! read more