J & J Wonton Noodle House

J&J’s was the venue chosen for our last dinner/​dining experience during a recent stay in Victoria. With the restaurant closed on Sundays and Mondays, this was our first opportunity to get there, and we were looking forward to it.
The restaurant is located in a neighbourhood just outside of the downtown core, in a block (of Fort Street) just beyond what tourist maps indicate as «Antique Row». An easy find, and interesting area. The restaurant opens at 4:30pm — we arrived a touch early, parked, and did a short walkabout before it opened. We were not the only ones arriving early — when it opened, four tables worth of diners, and a couple of people coming for take-​out orders, entered the place! Glad we came early.
It’s a small, and very unassuming-​looking place (especially so from its outside appearance), but offers more seating inside than one might expect from seeing it outside. There is certainly nothing fancy in decorations and the like inside — from what I saw, it’s mostly dark, bare walls, and rather dimly-​lit lighting. The most lighted spot is at back, the kitchen, which is visible through a full-​size, glass window, enabling diners to view the cooks doing their thing. Our first impression — I think we’ve found «our kind of Chinese restaurant»!
What we (threesome) ordered and shared:
… all the servings were large, well-​prepared and presented, and served piping hot to our table. The ginger beef and prawns were prepared Szechuan style, «hot & spicy» — when the server was taking our orders, we agreed on ‘medium’.
– crispy, spicy, ginger fried beef — dark, quite large pieces of beef, with a fairly-​crispy outside, and tender inside, w/​some green onion. It was hot, it was spicy, and it was very tasty! A portion was left to take back to our hotel, and it was enjoyed as a snack the next day on our balcony back home!
– stir-​fried prawn w/​black bean sauce — shelled prawns, tender and juicy, and good assortment of veggies. Everything cooked perfectly. Yum! a very flavourful and tasty dish.
— stir-​fried squid w/​hot, ginger garlic sauce — squid rings, tasty and tender, and nice assortment of veggies (including some good-​size mushrooms). The squid was tender, the veggies cooked perfectly, and the sauce hot & spicy (a touch too!). But guess we enjoyed it, as there was nothing was left on the plate!
— house special chow mein — a nice assortment of meat, chicken, noodles, and veggies. It looked good, and tasted the same. The plate was cleaned!
We enjoyed our total dining experience at J&J’s, the service was good, the food was exceptional, and we left ‘full & happy’, and so pleased that we had chosen to dine there for our last dinner in Victoria.

Best Chinese food in Victoria. Period.
The quality and flavours are unmatched by anything else in the city, and can be compared with the best Cantonese cooking in cities like Vancouver, Seattle, and San Fransisco. If you’re looking for a place to get some quality and authentic Chinese, look no further.

We enjoyed eating here on a recent trip to Victoria. It’s located on Antique Row with many interesting shops and galleries. Parking was a little tight but we found a spot 2 blocks away. No charge on Sundays. The menu and seasoning is geared for Western tastes. My dining companion was the only Asian besides the staff in the restaurant. The food reminded me of what you’d have in the mid — west. We know where to go in the world for authentic Chinese cooking and just wanted a satisfying non fussy dinner. This is a busy place even on a Sunday night at 8 pm.
We shared a wonton soup, stir fry beef plus another order of sautéed tofu and veggies. There was a slight sweet taste to the sauce for the beef but a quick dash of soy sauce balanced that out. Service was pleasant and responsive. Décor plain, and very understated. Good value and decent quality.

We went to J&J Wonton noodle today, I have been here a few times before and always liked it, I love Wor Wonton and J&J was one of my fav spots. Today it was not so good the broth was very bland and all the soy in the place could not give it the chicken flavor it should have, it still has lots of ingredients in it but when you got no broth you got no Won Ton

Quick clean good food priced right. Staff was friendly and helpful in getting us in and out. Highly recommended.

Being Chinese and having been to many wonton restaurants in both Asia and North America. This is one of the WORST Chinese restaurant that I have ever been to. It will certainly be one of the two worst that I will remember Victoria BC for. The wontons are basically dense meatballs wrapped, and swimming in the «sweetest — sugar-​like» soup. The other dishes I ordered were braised tofu with mixed vegetables and beef fried noodles. These two dishes had the same identical sauce with a high sugar taste as well as the same exact mixed vegetables that you get from a can at any Chinese grocery store. The tofu seemed to have been fried multiple times as well. The fact that the cost was rather «normal’ for good food it was VERY high for this very BAD tasting food. I was visiting Victoria for 1 week and fell in love with the city, it is unfortunate that this will be one of only two TERRIBLE experiences I had there. Avoid this place for food. Go to the Fairway at 2635 Quadra and order ANY of their hot plates instead you will enjoy it better and it would be cheaper as well!

The wonton noodle soup has the wrong kind of noodles, and that’s tough to get past. But, one does get past it. The dan dan mein is vegetarian, and they seem blissfully-​unaware of the fact that many places will refuse to make it without pork. The noodles they do use are nice enough, though too soft, but it’s hard to complain about the prices. And you can watch the kitchen, and prep work being done at nearby tables, and other things that contribute nicely to the sense of being immersed in this place which is making its food well, and is happy to share that with you.

Won Ton Soup, Chow Mein, and Black Bean Prawns were ordered. Only the Won Tons really met the mark. Soup served with pork and shrimp Won Tons I read once that Won Ton means «Swallowing Clouds” – they should melt in your mouth. These did with wonderfully light flavor. The rest was, as another reviewer put it, generic and Westernized. Polite and cheerful servers. We were there on a Monday evening.

This place is a perfect example why business should manage their own Unilocal Account. This place doesn’t have a website and their hours are not listed here. We showed up Sunday only to find they were closed. In addition there was a note in the window apologizing for Monday reservation as they are closed Monday as well. So with my trip being Sunday and Monday, I had to pass on this place and it end up being a major fail.
In all my years, I have never seen a Chinese restaurant that was closed two days in a row. WELCOME TO VICTORIA!

Came in for lunch based on the reviews for their wonton noodle soups. While this offering is their strongpoint, unfortunately everything else is just mediocre. I would not say this is the best Chinese restaurant in Victoria.
The other dishes here cater to more Westernized tastes, which works as comfort food for me having grown up in the States. However, even here I was disappointed. When a place is known for it’s noodles, how come the stir fried noodles are a mess of flavorless goop?
For lunch, this is a decent quality place to pick up a bowl of their noodle soup. But if you wanted anything else, which I suspect you might, you could do a lot better at places in and around Chinatown like I-​Kyu Noodles (personal favorite!) and Wah Lai Yuen for BBQ rice plates.

We sought this place out after a fabulous day at the Butchart Gardens, drove our scooter back for some noodle-​happiness. Granted, we did come in at near-​closing, but the service was so-​so, and I’ve definitely had better.
Hubby got some sort of beef sate– this city likes to put curry in everything! I guess we’re more used to a peanut-​flavor, but this was gritty and very chewy.
I got the honey chicken– tasty, but also a little chewy. The better dish by far. I guess we missed the boat on getting the noodles (heard those were good). I’d be willing to go back to try to find the noodles, but overall we had better experiences in this city.

My favourite place to get veggie fried rice. in fact, of all the chinese restaurants I have eaten at in Victoria, this is the BEST place.

I don’t know how many times I have been craving the delicious WOR WON TON soup on a Monday and end up driving by only to hit my head against the steering wheel to remember that they are closed on Mondays (oh and they also close at 8ish so come early).
So if it’s not a Monday GO HERE! it’s the best chinese food in the city — and I would almost say it beats places in Vancouver.
wor won ton: super-​fricken-​amazing. two types of hand made dumplings in a light broth with fresh veggies and meats included. Ask for the chilis to add into it to kick it up a notch.
I think I dreamt about the soup the other day…
YOU MUST GO!

This IS THE PLACE for chinese food in Victoria. Where you can get anything, you see it cooked in front of you, and it doesn’t cost the world! We go here nearly everytime I’m home on the Island, and it’s never a disappointment.
My mom loves this place so much she took a photo of the chefs (with their permission) and did a painting of the flames that emit from the woks when those guys really get going.
I’ve yet to have a bad dish here — don’t bother being normal though — the chow mein is decent, but there are much better things (beef & broccoli, a dish I practically grew up on). Also, if you like something they no longer offer (spicy eggplant for example), you can often request it.

Finally dined in here, stopped by for lunch. Food was very flavourful, the service while not especially warm (to be fair, they were busy), was amazingly fast and they were on top of everything at all times. The shrimp rolls were cheap, tasty and not lacking in shrimp. The soup and the house special chow mein were great. I really liked being able to see into the kitchen as well. J & J Wonton Noodle House is still in the top few Chinese restaurants in Victoria.

After seeing that this place received a 25 food rating in the Zagat guide, I made sure to check it out. And while I don’t think it’s quite deserving of that accolade, J&J still serves the best Chinese food in Victoria I’ve had. And they have a sizeable vegetarian menu to boot. I have only tried a few dishes. One was absolutely life changing (and I don’t know specifically what it was, sadly), the others were plainly delicious.
I’m especially fond of their mango spring rolls, the likes of which I’ve never eaten anywhere else.

I’m really regretting having to give this place only two stars — if I lived in Victoria, it is the type of place I would happily return to, to give it a second chance. The positive review here and some other mentions of J&J online convinced us to give it a try during our trip this last week. We are not fancy diners and appreciate a good, casual place where we can make ourselves comfortable and eat well inexpensively. This place is not housed in the nicest building on the street, but for the reasons listed above, this is not the type of thing that would deter us.
Walking in gave us confidence we had made the right decision. The smell within the restaurant was wonderful — like all of the best Chinese food smells my nose has ever had the chance to bear witness to all decided to host a convention in this space. We were immediately served tea (service was good throughout, with the exception of a delay on a water request). Unfortunately, these first moments were the highlight of the meal.
I partially blame ourselves for not being more adventurous. We only wanted to split one dish and settled on the House Special Chow Mein. In retrospect, this is just one of those standard dishes almost any Chinese restaurant will have. Some may do it exceptionally, but as a menu fixture, it may not be the best showcase of a kitchen’s talent. It arrived quickly, but was a sad sight from the get go. Whatever leafy greens they used had become slimy in the sauce, which made it hard to find the rest very appetizing. The sauce itself was garlic based and understated. Meat quality varied. Shrimp and beef were flavorful, chicken average and the BBQ pork was dry and nearly tasteless. The noodles themselves were fine.
We also each had a Shrimp egg roll. I was nonplussed, but my boyfriend really enjoyed the subtle sweetness of the sauce. I would have just like them to be a little meatier.
Given the other things I’ve read about this place, I’d like to recommend that Victorians give this a try, but please be more adventurous than we were — I’m hoping that will yield better results!

A delightful surprise. Lack of a Unilocal presence made us all a bit nervous, but have no fear! Nothing over the top, but all-​around first-​class Chinese. I had the basil beef — yum. Good veggie spring rolls, good Szechuan noodles. Dumplings didn’t blow me away. Nice service staff — helpful and friendly. Simple ambience, inexpensive.

J & J is short on ambiance but long on tasty, filling dishes. I’m vegetarian and my partner is no huge carnivore, so we delved right into the extensive vegetarian menu. I particularly appreciated that they printed this menu separately from the main menu, including appetizers, sides, desserts, etc, because often it’s not clear whether dishes are completely meat-​free or not.
We started with the vegetarian hot and sour soup. My partner was worried that it’d be too syrupy, but it turned out to be a good balance between tart and spicy (I wouldn’t have complained, though, if they had turned up the heat just a touch). They also didn’t skimp on veggies — plenty of mushrooms, tofu, and carrots to make for a hearty starter.
Our main dishes were the Gai-​lan (Chinese broccoli) in garlic sauce and the Singapore-​style vermicelli with stir-​fried vegetables. Apparently Singapore-​style means curry, because that’s how the noodles were seasoned in the latter dish. The Gai-​lan was, quite simply, fantastic. The broccoli was a beautiful bright green and the garlic sauce light and flavorful. After we had gobbled up all veggies I even plunked some rice down in the leftover broth to savor it to the very last bite.
We also enjoyed the curry-​style noodles and vegetables (fairly standard combo of bell pepper, onion, bok choy stalks, water chestnuts, and snap peas), but both of us were a tad disappointed that the dish didn’t have more of a kick to it. When we see a chili pepper next to a dish, we want SPICY! In any case, we cleaned our plates, which is always a good sign.
The service wasn’t exceptional here, but it was certainly adequate. The wait staff were prompt and good about answering our questions (my partner has a severe peanut allergy and we were slightly worried when we saw «satay sauce» on some of the menu items). The only thing I found a little odd was that we had to order rice separately if we wanted it, yet it wasn’t listed separately on the menu nor did our waiter suggest it to us. It was only when we happened to ask that learned that rice cost extra.
In sum: Great food, reasonable prices, decent service. If you want a truly spicy dish, be sure to ask for it. Oh, and don’t forget the rice!

We were visiting from out of town and visited based on review in Frommer’s guide book. Yummy! Great selection of typical noodle dishes.
They make their own noodles and you can tell. Few blocks away from usual tourist haunts and appeared mostly locales where eating there. House special Chow Mien was a treat.