Owl of Minerva

1 point for being open ²⁴⁄₇
1 point for having pork bone soup with rice & sides for only $ 8.99!
–1 for THE LOOOONG WAIT
–1 For freezing dining area
–1 for Large Kal Bi (5pcs) which cost $ 21.99 (+tax) It’s craaaazy!
Would I come back? Yes! For late night pork bone soup craving!!!

I must admit: I am not a huge Korean food fan. Aside from the usual Korean instant noodles made by NongShim and perhaps the usual Korean BBQ, I usually do not eat any Korean Food. During a cold, freezing afternoon, after spending minutes deliberating on what to eat for lunch, my friend suggested Owl of Minerva, a authentic Korean restaurant located yonder at a local plaza. My friend insisted that I eat more Korean Food, I haplessly agreed.
Upon our arrival, we were greeted with a long line-​up of folks with the same mutual hunger and thirst for Korean Food. The hostess took our number and assured us the wait will be worth our time. After several minutes of waiting while watching some nice individuals slurping down some nice noodles, a waitress took us to our table. She gave us two menus for a table of four. The tables were a bit crowed for us to move around. After getting settled into our table, I sat and deliberated on what Item I should order. I decided to play my cards safe and eat a Ramen. My friends also decided to order rice cakes as a side dish for everyone to share.
On the side, free of charge, was a traditional Korean tea. I must be honest: the tea was unbearably bitter. I ordered a glass of cold water instead, which proved to be boon since the food was spicy. More on that later.
After several minutes of waiting, our dishes came steaming hot. My mouth salivated at first sight of my amazing dish. My ramen was placed in a metal pot or some kind of contraption. My ramen was made with your typical NongShim noodles filled with a spicy broth mixed with mushrooms, ricecakes, onions, and dumplings, and topped of with an egg. Look at the picture for some visual aid.
I eagerly grabbed my chopsticks and picked up a handful of noodles with some mushrooms and rice cakes. I slurped down everything between my chopsticks and my mouth. The spiciness of the broth hit me instantaneously. My mouth burnt like molten lava burning through a building. I reached for my cup of water and chugged down the entire cup. ⁴⁄₅ stars for the noodles and the mushrooms. Deducted 1 point off for the spiciness, but that’s largely from my inability to handle spicy food. FYI: I finished to ramen, albeit in excruciating pain.
The texture of the rice cakes tasted a bit odd and off-​putting. Not something I would eat again. However the broccoli in the dish tasted amazing. 2.5÷5 stars for the broccoli, but deducted some grades off for the sweetness and rice cake itself.
Owl of Minerva served some delicious food with flavours of spiciness, sweetness and saltiness all in one bite. Although I was not fully satisfied with my meal, my friends, who are Korean Food fanatics enjoyed their lunch. With that being written and signed off, I myself am satisfied and content. ⁴⁄₅ stars, for the reasons that the ramen was delicious, spare the spiciness level and the rice cakes. Full disclosure: many of my opinions of the restaurant are subjective personal tastes. Many of you folks who are Korean food lovers will disagree with me. But I’ll let posterity be the ultimate judge.

If you were hungry in the middle of the night, they will serve you, they open 24 hours. Good Korean food, free side dishes, price is good, service is good. I like spicy pork bone soup, Kam Phung Gi (sweet and spicy chicken) and seafood udon with red sauce.

The food is good for days/​nights when I don’t feel like cooking and/​or when in the area and it’s lunchtime! Service depends upon the wait staff. The English speaking ones are pretty decent and have no issue with fulfilling requests, whereas the two older women who appear to run the establishment get angry when asked for things. One day I did take out and asked specifically for banchan; I was told I’d have to pay extra. If dining in, that would have been served to me regardless but apparently it was a problem for them as I was taking my food to go! Slightly annoyed, I asked what the difference was between dining in and take out. Probably concerned I’d make a stink about it, they packed me some.
Have ordered and eaten the following items at both the Mississauga and Toronto locations:
Bulgogi, JapChae, Dolsot Bibimbap, Ojinguh Bokeum (which is really good!) and their lunch specials.
Meals are tasty, filling and affordable.

Enjoy their food a lot! This is a place we frequent. It’s the easy choice; great food and friendly staff (with a few exceptions here and there). They do tend to get quite busy especially in the evenings. I notice their food changes from time to time but hasn’t been deemed as terrible by any means. One of the better owls in their chain and it’s a plus that it’s opened 24hrs. Recommendations include kamja tang, kampung gi, beef soups, and noodle soup. Comfort food at its best.

This is another spot that I really enjoy going whenever I crave for those sinful midnight food… I know it should be just a snack because it’s after midnight already. but. I know that I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway if I’m not going to give my tummy of what it’s craving for so. diet can wait when I’m ready… yeah right…:)
My favorite dish to order here is bulgogi. It never let me down. Ive tried other dishes as well. only a few might make me want to order them again… bibimbap, hmm I’m not that impressed. pork bones soup is ok. Kalbi on the other hand is good. i love love love the smell of it especially when they serve it on a hot plate with all those smoke coming out, that i know is not from the meat but from the sauce that they put as a final touch before it goes out of the kitchen… jeezz… it makes me smile all t time… it makes me so happy. you know how some scents affects your emotions. like. it can make you smile when something smells good or you’ll automatically frown when you smell something awful… anyway,.Food here is good. price is good. they’re open 24 hours. plus you can have some soju if you’re lucky :) they are fast and friendly. so… those of you who have not tried it yet. what are you waiting for??? Oh.BTW.. The place is a little bit rundown. nothing special. but they try to maintain the cleanliness. and they are always nice. and for that 2 thumbs up!

The first time I came here I ate with my friend and I remember getting bibimbap with some side dishes. The food is really good and comforting and the staff is really nice as well. I had good experiences with all of their branches I visited and I recommend coming here if you want a good korean food fix way late at night or whenever you want if your in Mississauga.

Got some amazing late night food from here, would try it again as their menu offers a wide selection of different Korean and Japanese food. Friend, fast and since this location is open ²⁴⁄₇ it’s definitely a gem.

This is the best late night Asian food in Mississauga. Everything is tasty, prices are great and everyone is friendly. Place is a little tight and I feel like it could be a little cleaner though.
The pork bone soup and the Kalbi beef is the best.

Food is good but not excellent. Often very busy at lunch times and especially on the weekends.
Please carpool if you plan on showing up with a crowd, seating is limited and so is parking.
Bring a jacket if you are here during the winter, there is almost no insulation at this establishment.
I’ve always liked Owl’s service, they’re fast enough to keep up with the pace as it always does fluctuate uncontrollably at peeks.

Okay so I confess, I am an Anglo background white guy who was brought up on boring old meat and potatoes, but as you can see from my other reviews, I far prefer ethnic cuisine. However some parts of the critter (not sure exactly which parts these were or which critter they were from) just don’t seem to belong on my plate!
it started out well as I was delighted to find 24 hr Korean at 1 AM-​ish! Started with #2 Bulgogi which was excellent and I would highly recommend. Then moved on to #20 Soondaekuk which is allegedly «Korean style sausage soup, rice». Either they gave me the wrong item and just didn’t want to own up to it, or it is the strangest sausage ever that looks like innards and soup that smells rather unappetizing.
When I questioned whether I received 20 they insisted I had, even though sausage/​miscellaneous critter tidbit, looked nothing like the item pictured on the menu. Although I do enjoy spice, it was actually quite spicy, which seemed odd as the spicy menu items said spicy. When I pointed this out and they said that it was supposed to be spicy and if the menu says spicy then it means really spicy?!
I eat at A LOT of restaurants and can count on one hand the number of times I’ve sent back food. I said I wasn’t happy with the item, but not wanting to be a dick, I offered to pay for it anyway, but said I would be much happier if they let me order something else instead. After a few iterations of them insisting it was 20 and me explaining that I was willing to pay for it but not eat it, they offered to let me choose a substitute. I said I’d take my replacement dish to go as the soup debate allowed my brain time to realize my belly was full. I waited another 10 minutes and then received the bill for the one item I had eaten and neither received, nor was charged, for the replacement item I ordered?
Would I go back? Hell yes, #2 was delicious and even more delicious for a random 1 AM find on Unilocal!I would just be much more careful what I ordered and absolutely avoid anything which didn’t specify which variety of critter constituted the carnage!

I come here at least once a week to get my Korean fix. I love that the dishes are always fresh, and that the service is quick (most of the time).
Beyond the ever-​faithful KamJaTang (Pork Bone Soup), my favourite dishes include the JeYukBokeum (Stir fried marinated pork with spicy sauce on sizzling plate) and KhamPungGi (Deep fried chicken with hot sweet & sour sauce).
My only reservation about this restaurant is that they do not serve a lot of banchan, i.e. korean side dishes. They typicaliy serve bean sprouts, kimchi, pickled cucumber, and picked radish. Otherwise, I highly recommend this place if you’re looking for some Korean goodness at any time of the day (literally — they’re open 24hrs).

Sometimes I work in the area and usually visit after the lunchtime rush, but before the dinner rush. Usually no lineup and the food tastes good.
Yesterday was a little bit different. Went with my brother and two kids. The food wasn’t as impressive. My order of the pork bone soup was fantastic, but my brother’s tofu soup wasn’t as good. There was a thick layer of spicy oil right on top, and the tofu didn’t taste fresh. Also tasted like there was sand in the soup. We assume that the oyster/​mussel wasn’t cleaned enough, but that is a guess. I will still go back, but my brother not so much.
Pro
Tofu soup was bubbling hot
Pork bone soup was up to par
Con
Tofu wasn’t too fresh
Seafood in the tofu had some sand in it. We assume it was from the oyster as it may not have been cleaned properly

The odd time I crave Korean and pork bone soup. I use to live at Yonge and Finch where my friends and family would frequent the Yonge location.
My family decided we wanted a good pork bone soup. We arrived to the restaurant and the restaurant was about 70% full. We were quickly seated and served a cup of tea to start. We looked at the menu where there was plenty to chose from. My sister wanted to get the pork bone soup for my mom where she thought my mom would enjoy pork bone itself.
The prices were a bit high compared to other Asian cuisines.
We order a variety of dishes from pork bone soup, rice cake, sesame noodles, and Korean rice dish.
When the food arrived we were pleased with most of the dishes but we found the pork bone soup was a bit salty. My mom preferred the soup base to be less infused with spices and salt.
Overall, if you are looking for a hearty meal of spice and flavour — owl serves that purpose

One of my favorite 24h places in mississauga. A welcome alternative to fast good on late evenings. This is a typical Korean place (actual Korean, not Chinese pretending to be Korean) with many traditional dishes. The prices are reasonable and the food is good. When I am not too hungry, I get the dumplings. When I feel like eating more, one of the various «boqoki» (or however it is spelt) dishes are my typical pick. I enjoy the spices dishes, but my stomach does not agree, so I usually get the less than spicey variants. This decore needs work, but for the price, it is sufficient. Overall ⁴⁄₅.

I’ve been to this place more times than any other restaurant and I absolutely love how convenient, affordable, and accessible it is.
I’ve tried almost everything on the menu and my favorite dishes are bulgogi and kam ja tang. Both are very filling, with the kam ja tang being a little spicy. Definitely try these two!
Of course, the service isn’t amazing. They serve you some side dishes after you’re seated but after that, you’re pretty much left on your own and it’s hard to get their attention.
Nevertheless, I love this spot. It’s one of the few places open 24/​7, which makes it perfect for late night meals.

Food is soooo good!
Grabbed takeout, got spicy bulgogi… a bit oily which is why I had to give it 4 stars but still always good!
Can’t go wrong with 24 hour Korean food restaurant.

Now this is a cute little gem I’ve been meaning to try. Korean food is awesome! So when I walked in to this little place tucked away in an obscure plaza, to find a huge line up, I was pleasantly surprised. How have I missed this quaint little restaurant.
My friend had the bimbim bap (hope I spelled that right lol) and I had in house made noodle soup which was delicious. The staff was attentive and friendly and the food was great! Complimentary and unlimited corn tea, kimchi as well as spicy pickled cucumbers, bean sprouts and radishes were awesome! The best part? The prices! Super cheap and fairly decent portions.
I highly recommend you give this place a try if you’re in the area.
The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is I found it very cramped and there was no place to wait for your table, everyone is kind of just jammed in the doorway with only 2 chairs for waiting. So in winter I’d imagine that would be a deciding factor for me, if I would go there. No one wants to wait pushed up against someone else or worse outside in the cold. Overall! Don’t miss this place, if you can get a table fairly quickly, give it a try!

Not the best Korean food out there in my opinion and I was pretty disappointed since I read so many good reviews.
3 out of 4 pan chan were kimchi flavour based and then there were the bean sprouts which were ok.
We ordered the deep fried dumplings which were amazing with the Korean hot sauce.
My friend got the spicy bulgogi which he enjoyed that had glass noodles tossed inside.
I got the gomtang which was clear beef soup with slices of beef and glass noodles. It was served with salt. In the realm of poorly flavored soups — this won the medal. Even with the additional salt — it just lacked the beef flavour that I expected to get. I ended up pouring kimchi and Korean hot sauce into the soup just so it would be palatable.
The service was pretty slow but it was to be expected since it was ridiculously busy at 10pm on a Saturday night.
Overall — I would come back but will stick to something I know should taste great and order another deep fried dumpling a which are heaven.

2.5 star
2 star + 0.5 star for opening ²⁴⁄₇
Owl of Minerva was the only restaurants that was still open for business when we dropped by around 10:30 pm looking for food. And being opening 24 hours, it was packed even on a Thursday night!
Service was a little disoriented and staff looked a little tired. We ordered:
Gom Tang (Beef Bone Soup) — My friend ate the order without much complaints but I guess he was hungry? All he said it tasted really beefy.
Chicken Kalguksu (handmade, knife-​cut wheat flour noodles) — I love noodles but this bowl of noodles might be one of the worse one I had. The broth and the chicken was good but the noodle has this gluey texture and nasty after taste.
$ 20 or more total bill for Credit/​Debit card use.