Kom Jug Yuen Restaurant

Came here a few weeks ago in search of a new Chinese spot. Got the standard BBQ pork along with chicken wings (not a lot of wing meat) And a noodle dish. Everything was super greasy. Even by Chinatown standards the service was pretty horrendous. There are lots of better options on this strip. Choose wisely!

The new owners really messed this place up. A lot more expensive and the food just doesn’t taste the same.

I grew up around the corner on Huron St — back in the 70’s to the late 90’s, it was our place to go and grab a great bowl of noodle soup with bbq meat (usually under $ 5). A great place for UofT students to grab dinner instead of having to cook for oneself! One of the dirtiest-​looking restaurants in town, but you couldn’t beat their prices and the taste of their dishes. That was then… fast-​forward 30+ years and original owners have retired — even their BBQ has gone downhill. KJY used boast having the best BBQ pork in North America — and I agree! When we used to go, I made sure I never had to use their bathroom — God forbid! you may fall down the very narrow stairs but if you did make it downstairs, you would have to plug your nose in case you pass out from the horrid stench! I never had a bad dish there… now that I’ve moved to Scarborough, there is no need anymore (unfortunately) to return for good BBQ meats.

Continues to get more expensive, dirtier and definitely not the worlds best BBQ pork! At least they take debit now. If u like microwaved food, got for it!

It was probably a bad sign when the guy manning the register (and who is also the cook) fell asleep when I peaked inside the window. Okay, so it was 4:30 p.m. and may be it’s quiet time. The roast pork hanging in front of the window looked pretty good (or my wife and I were just very hungry). We ventured in. I don’t mind the restaurant looks like it’s from the 1970s and having never been redone. But when my roast pork with chicken rice came out, it was horrific. He gave me odds and ends of the roast pork that was sitting there on his cutting board is my guess. The chicken also looked like it was odds and ends. Worse, my wife saw him put it in the microwave to heat up my food. I felt sorry for the two customers that came in after us. Never again.

The sign outside said Specials, walked inside and the place was filthy, the waiter was rude and filthy, table, floors and the kitchen were unbelievably worn out and, you guessed it, filthy. How did this place get a health pass from the city? Should have walked out then, but because of the reviews on here we gave it a chance. Food was over salty and mediocre to say the least. Seriously we just wanted to get out. When the bill came it was triple the advertised price. We said we were here for the special, waiter yells, «No Special». The entire experience was nauseating to say the least. With so many decent restaurants in the area do yourself a favor and go somewhere else. Wish we did.

Small but great little Chinese food place in Chinatown. I’ve only ever been there for take-​out (the restaurant itself doesn’t look like it’s that nice a place to eat in) but I’ve always been really happy with the food. And the prices are quite reasonable especially compared to some of the surrounding restaurants. It’s definitely one of the better deals in Chinatown.
I’d recommend calling in your order ahead of time so it’s ready when you get there to pick it up. The Spicy Squid & Shrimp dish is my favorite, it’s got just the right blend of flavor and texture without being too spicy. The fried rice and noodle dishes are also really good. The only dish I would avoid is the So Gai chicken, as neither I nor any of my friends enjoyed it.
Overall a highly recommended place to get your Chinese food fixin’ from!

I have to put this place down after the way my friend and I have been served here. We’ve been there before a few years ago, it was delicious and juicy, used to love it, but the last time I went in 2015 we ordered BBQ pork on rice as per usual, simple, straightforward order, the most classic basic, usual and casual order you can make in this specific place, right? WRONG! The guy just starts cooking up something for 20 mins, and ends up serving us pork with black bean sauce and mushrooms… WTF?! This is nothing like what we ordered! My friend tells him «no… BBQ pork on rice…» the guy hears him and agrees and goes «Yeah! BBQ pork black bean sauce!» What?! What?! How!!! Why!!! Like, how did you mess that up? And he denies everything, he just tells us that it’s good, we should try it! Dude… that’s not what we want at all… we don’t want stupid veggies drowned in nasty black sauce, we wanted simple juicy BBQ pork on rice, the dish the place is famous for, how in the hell can you mess that up?! That’s like going to McDonald’s to order a burger and they serve you a falafel! Like where did that even come from?! Where would he get such an idea! The guy didn’t get our order at all, and he tells us to just deal with what he gave us, no apology, no effort! Just, WTF! I was so turned off, for shame, this place is dead to me now :(So long Kom Jug Yuen, I hardly knew ye.

New owners here as many have already mentioned. This place was one of two restaurants that opened here on Spadina in the mid 70s. At that time, Chinatown was on Dundas congregated around Elizabeth. I went often back in the day. I returned a few times over the last 3 years. I won’t be going again after I finish this review.
The cooked food — the quality is VERY uneven.
The BBQ food — the stuff hanging in the front windows — BEWARE — if it didn’t sell today, it’ll be hanging back up there tomorrow. I’m surprised no one has died from this yet. They are not the only ones that do this. New Hong Fatt also does it. Other BBQ restaurants such as Kings Noodles and House of Gourmet do not.
The unventilated basement bathroom has headroom of about 5 feet.
The place is dirtier than any place I’ve seen and that includes the worst sidewalk eateries in Kowloon.

This is a Chinese BBQ icon. No frills with great food, makes for good value.
While many items are very oily and saucy, this is the standard presentation for many open-​late Spadina eateries, so the comparisons must be made in the neighbourhood to be fair.
Anything hanging in the window is great to eat, and often I go with any combination (or all) of BBQ duck, BBQ pork, BBQ chicken or roast pork over rice. A hearty and reasonably priced meal that’s very filling, served with a soup.
For large groups they offer the usual Szechuan and Hunan fare, black bean beef, spicy chicken dishes, etc.
Though I no longer live in the area I make a point to come back and visit, whenever I’m craving the BBQ duck.

Going to Chinatown is sometimes an adventure, but there’s the appeal of great food for cheap because it’s a no-​frills atmosphere. The tacky menus, the vinyl seating, the paper napkins and plastic tablecloths. Sometimes, the dingier the place is, the better the food is. This is not the case at Kom Jug Yuen.
I am cool with dodgy, but this place takes it to a whole new level. It’s filthy, like, inexcusably filthy. This place is known for their BBQ pork, and I get that it’s normal to have it sit in the front window as its been cured, but I don’t think it would kill them to at least LOOK like they’re cleaning the place where the pork sits. The plates were sitting on a shelf at the unholy mess that is the front counter and were old beaten up plastic plates that had water all over them (hopefully because they just got cleaned?). I found myself praying that the ground would swell up and the fires of hell would mercifully burn this building to the ground so something new and much cleaner could take its place. Ok, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much. Just a filthy dive of a ‘restaurant’.
Pork was not bad. Food here (on previous visits) is not bad. I just can’t sit here thinking of how freaking filthy this place is. Pass.

The décor is a bit «saw» like with cardboard from the dollar store with menu items and specials taped to the wall (all in Chinese!). I think the old lady that sits at the front yelling at the workers is really funny!
Table of 6; we ordered fried rice, fried noodles, their famous bbq pork, egg rolls, chicken balls, veggie stir-​fry and everything was better than many places! Great tasting and they make the food very quickly! Comes out piping hot from the kitchen! The quality of the food does not match the atmosphere.
If you want a great place to stop after the bars this is a perfect place. However, don’t take a first date lol Good portion sizes for groups and even had lots left over to take away — to boot, all for $ 60! Bargain!
Tips:
Make sure you try the bbq pork!
Don’t go to the bathroom!

A truly unfortunate name for a restaurant. I still can’t order the egg white soup here.
You get what you pay for… but still not the worse in Chinatown.
Very reasonable compared to the rest of the over inflated prices of other restaurants.
A great place for sad, lonely people who don’t want to be seen eating by themselves.

As others have stated, used to be MUCH better.
Only 1 guy working in the whole place! So, it took quite some time for meals to get cooked and served, but hats off to the poor guy who was working his tail off.
As a newcomer, you’d probably find nothing «wrong» with the food, but if you are an old regular like I was then the food is not good in comparison to what it used to be. The BBQ pork is nowhere as good. I was also disappointed with a noodle dish and a cooked vegetables fish that I ordered. Again, nothing terribly «wrong» with the food, but a pale shadow of what it used to be.
The menu looks unchanged despite the new ownership, so, who knows, maybe they might make some dishes just as good or better than the previous owners.

While they never had the best BBQ pork in the city, it used to be decent but not any more.
Like almost every other authentic Chinese dish — it’s better to drive to Markham, Richmond Hill or even Scarborough. Downtown Chinatown is too hit and miss.

UPDATE: Went back for the dumplings. Now you only get 5 and it comes up to $ 6.50. I’m disappointing and after two days of consuming them, i still feel ill and so does my boyfriend. I am NEVER coming back.

Recommended Dish: Would not recommend any dish…
Reviewed during: Mon — Fri Lunch time
Service Speed: ⁰⁄₅
Cooking speed: ⁰⁄₅
Food Quality: ¹⁄₅
Food Quantity: ⁰⁄₅
Price: ⁰⁄₅
Cleanness: ¹⁄₅
Repeat: NO
The place had been in business since mid 90s, I thought it cannot be that bad… could it?
I took a seat and there’s only 1 cook for the whole restaurant. He also take orders, cut up the BBQ and cook other dishes in the back?
I waited for over 15 min (without service) until the waitress walked in and start taking orders, so I picked a easy dish that can be served quickly (BBQ pork and Chicken on rice), all he have to do is cut up the meat and scoop up the rice. Fast forward another 20 minutes, the waitress checked on my order, but the cook refuses to prepare this simple dish until he finished with another table of 6 (with much more complicated orders).
Fast forward another 15 minutes, the dish finally arrived. It was a bitter disappointment… the BBQ pork is cold, the chicken is wet and warm (as if it was pulled from a bucket of hot water). Normally you would expect the meat is neatly cut, but every piece of meat on this dish is a different size and thickness! And both meat are bland and tasteless. The worst part is it’s more expensive (for the same dish) than restaurants near Dundas and Spadina.
Avoid the sweat and sour pork here, I saw the cook walk to the back with a covered dish. Then come out 1 minute later with a ready to eat sweat and sour pork with sauce on top. I think he just microwaved the meat and pour on the sauce, it would be impossible to fry the meat in less than 1 minute.
Strongly recommend to walk south to Dundas and Spadina and there are much better choices there!

Too bad. This place used to be a great place for a quick and cheap meal of BBQ pork on rice. The old owners really knew their BBQ. I’ve eaten a lot of BBQ pork in my time and their «half fat, half lean» pork was some of the best I’ve had anywhere. Now, it’s too lean, unevenly chopped, portion size is down, price is up and no more free house soup. I just finished my plate and I am still hungry. Sadly, it’ll be my last visit here.

What a travesty! After decades of being a reliable source for massive portions of cheap, tasty Chinese food and an amazing, hole-​in-​the-​wall atmosphere, the reign of this Chinatown institution is over. About a year ago Ping sold Kom Jug Yuen. Apparently he was looking to slow down a bit as he gets older and rest a shoulder injury resulting from decades of chopping BBQ meat.
Since the sale, I’ve visited twice and both times were a disaster. The quality of the food has drastically decreased, the prices have been jacked up, and portions have become significantly smaller. Even worse, the atmosphere has been ruined. The new owners have none of Ping’s friendliness or passion. Discounts and freebies for regulars are gone. The whole place seems soulless now. It’s just another crappy Chinese restaurant.
If you loved Kom Jug Yuen in its heyday, please do yourself a favour and never return here. It will only cause heartbreak. If you’ve never been before, steer clear, there’s plenty of better options in the area.
Fortunately, I happen to know that Ping is still out there serving up noodles and BBQ meat. If you happen to be at St. Lawrence Market, take a wander downstairs and you just might run into him. I’m pretty sure he’d love to see some of the old regulars from the Kom Jug days…

Either I have unique taste buds or I walked into another restaurant that was NOT Kom Jug Yuen.
I came here after my disappointment in finding that Anh Dao, the Vietnamese restaurant was closed.
It is a hole-​in-​the-​wall restaurant for dining on the cheap. It was mostly non-​Chinese dining here and students.
Various combos of their barbecued items came with rice for a cost of $ 4. Great place for the budget-​conscious eater.
Upon ordering we were brought a bowl of Tofu and Wintermelon Soup. It was quite a savory broth-​based soup. Light and refreshing. Winter melons are supposedly good for staving off acne.
We ordered a small Mixed BBQ Platter which consisted of their «famous» BBQ pork, soy sauce chicken and roast duck. The BBQ pork was flavourful but nothing about it stood out. In fact I found the marinade was a bit on the light side and therefore didn’t have any depth in flavor. With that said it was tasty. The roast duck was the most disappointing — a crispy skin was absent. Chicken was ok.
The Pineapple and Beef Fried Rice was an epic fail. This is probably THE worst fried rice I’ve ever tasted. The moment the rice arrived I already noticed its soggy texture. Clearly it was not made from day-​old rice. Think making French toast without day-​old bread. There was something about the pineapple that was off… Canned pineapple perhaps? I can’t quite put my finger on it. The entire dish was bland. As we looked around no table in sight ordered fried rice — mostly noodles and plain rice. Moral of the story — scope out what other people are eating first to get a consensus on what the popular dishes are.
Since they had sold out of Pea Shoot and Shiitake Mushroom Stir-​Fry we opted for Baby Bok Choy. Again, nothing to Unilocal about. I found their mushrooms tasted a bit weird.
Verdict:
Total after tax and tip was $ 35. A fortune cookie is presented with your bill — can this restaurant be any less authentic? The service was less than stellar and after the Mixed BBQ Platter (which requires only chopping), the dishes came out at a snail’s pace.
The food here is definitely disappointing and with all the other amazing restaurants to choose from in Chinatown I will definitely not be returing to Kom Jug Yuen again.