Better Chef in Waterloo

Malatang and fried skewers are yummy

I went to eat today and found that the price has become cheaper and they also have spicy food, which tastes good.

None of the dishes you see on this page is there anymore. It WAS very good This restaurant has been rebranded as a Malatang Place, which is sadly not as good as its neighbor. Food

PSA: This is no longer the good old Better Chef for authentic Szechuan Chinese dishes. It inherited the name and turned into some garbage super greasy fried skewers and tasteless malatang bs.

Malatang ingredients seems to have a funny smell, did not really enjoy. Soup flavour also wasn t very strong, felt watered down.

They changed the name and serving spicy hotchpotch. The food, taste, service are all below average. My friend pinched her finger by a broken chair, they don t even check their furniture quality. That is very dangerous. Will never come back again.

Why is my favorite restaurant closed?

It s delicious. I ordered several dishes and they were all delicious.

Enjoyed the foods here and at par with Toronto Chinese restaurant At least they open late as most K-W restaurants close early like 9pm Just across from CMH student resident Food : 4/5

Beautiful interior and large portions great for anyone that isnt vegetarian. Let them know about your spice level (as everything is pretty spicy) Vegetarian options: Very limited vegetarian options, ask the employees what they recommend.

Honestly one of the worst chinese places at loo, go anywhere else lol

Great atmosphere and prices. Service was fast and food was delicious. I d recommend the eggplant.

Good food. One server for all the customers, wait for a while.

Love the steamed chicken from this place! Its one of my favorites in waterloo

Great dishes! Owner is super nice!

The environment is superior to all other restaurants, the food s deliciousness had amalgamated, although you may have wait for a short portion of time. The service is second to none despite the reoccurring fact that there is only one waitress, she handles the pressure and the weight of her work very well. It is a necessity to dine at this place as it may as well be considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

wow spicy

Good was great, service was stellar, space is clean and uncluttered. The tree in the middle is a really nice touch. :) Ill return happily.

The food is very authentic. The pork belly is very good and also the veggie dishes. The service was a bit slow but the food made up for it. In the center of the restaurant is a large cherry blossom tree that is nice and adds to the atmosphere. Would recommend to anyone for good Chinese food!

Lovely venue with an indoor cherry tree. Food was tasty but oily. Had chicken and chili (excellent), eggplant and ground pork (very tasty but swimming in oil), and Jiangxi rice noodles (great wok hay but the noodles were extremely mushy). Large portions and good prices. No printed menus. Order by QR code only. My partner says the ladies room was not up to par.

Good food for a good price! Ordered a noodle dish, braised pork, and eggplant dish - all were very great but my favourite was the noodle dish. You order through a QR code menu and this place is awesome for any introverts as the service is quite hands off.

Yeah it s pretty good I liked the pork belly

Pleasant dining experience Parking: There is a parking space at the front door of the restaurant for convenience Kid-friendliness: The environment is very good, there is a beautiful artificial cherry tree indoors

There were only three orders in total, and the meal took an hour.

The environment is clean, the food is good, the service is enthusiastic, and the price is reasonable. The disadvantage may be that the waiting time is slightly longer because the dishes are freshly prepared.

The store is decorated in a strong Chinese style, and the serving speed is not too slow. Personally, I think the taste is very average. The braised lamb I ordered is far different from the photo (the mutton in the menu picture is large and attractive in color, but it is actually mutton slices). You can check out via WeChat. Parking: There is free parking space

Food is tasty, room is clean. Price is good. They can arrange for a large group. Although SiChuan style, its not very spicy/hot.

Food quality was not as solid as before, hygiene condition can also be improved

Costs way too much for half vegetables, a quarter bones, and doesnt even come with rice.

The food is decent but for the price, the portion is extremely cheap. We ate here for dinner and were shocked to receive our dishes which look like they ve already been eaten from. We got food crumbs. Compared to other reviews, which look like the plates were full of food, our experience was very inconsistent and shows bad practice.

Food did not match photo at all lmfao

I asked for no mushroom, but there s still mushrooms

Love the food here, good portions and great atmosphere as well, would recommend

Unexpected amazing Chinese food found in Waterloo! Provided a wide range of choices. Dishes came very quickly and very delicious. Order both spicy and non spicy dishes both are flavorful and satisfying. Ordered Better Chef s braised pork ribs, incredibly tasty and the meats juicy and aromatic tender. Szechuan style water boiled spicy fish, this boiling ibes full of flavor. Pork intestine with hot pepper so tempting, perfect heat perfect spice ! Braised slices white gourd with dried shrimp, an intense dried shrimp flavor that enhances the flavor of sauce and super umami flavor Stir fried Choy sum with dry shrimp : Hot + soften veg Choy sum but not over cooked, dried shrimp added for flavour of the dishes Chinese herbal soup : Chicken with cordyceps flower; Black Chicken soup with Chinese herbs Soup is soul of the whole! For sure back ! Thanks for servicing an amazing family day dinner

There is no Chinese restaurant in Waterloo that will make four people eat rice and wait for 50 minutes for the food when you first come to eat. If you dont have enough time at noon, dont come. It will delay your afternoon class. I won t do it a second time, and I ve already told the department and people around me to avoid the trap. Customer Permanence -4

The hottest chicken restaurant in Waterloo! I said it!

Customer service was good and the ambience was nice too, they had pretty plates. However, the food is absolutely horrendous. Do not get the tomato soup beef noodles if you ever go here. It tasted like they put an entire ketchup bottle in the soup.

Good food and very affordable price considering the portions are quite large.

Are onions free? It is added to every dish, even the most basic Beijing scallion for fried mutton is changed to onion. The fat beef in sour soup was even worse. It was burnt into soup and the thickening level was too low. The special fried rice is egg fried rice with half a chopped sausage. After eating the spicy chicken, I was even more convinced that the oil for the fried chicken had not been changed for at least a few days, and the sizzling smell was particularly strong. Probably the worst Chinese food I ve ever eaten in Waterloo. This is a shop that deceives foreigners. If you don t believe me, just go and eat it and you ll know.

The food was good, but the service was extremely slow and didnt seem to be served in the order in which the customers came.

The food was served like a charm. The order was placed at 12:54, and everyone around us who was seated at the same time started eating. After many reminders, the first dish was served at 1:25. At this time, the people next to us who came with us were already eating and playing. I turned on my phone and the second dish was served at 1:30. The first two dishes were almost finished and the third one was not served yet. The people sitting at the table next to me were already paying the bill and leaving. Forget the last suggestion: don t come if you re hungry, don t come if you don t have much time.

One word to describe this restaurant- legit! If youre in waterloo or a student, this is a must try! I like how I can write a note to notified them that I dont want too much spicy for my food. The dishes are so flavourful and taste so yummy.

4.4/5 I ordered mutton hand rice with soy sauce. The mutton was a bit old and the onions were not fried enough. The advantage is that the price is right. I had tomato beef brisket noodles again last week. It was a bit too sweet for me. If you are not sure whether you like sweet food and only order a bowl of noodles at the same time, it may be a bit risky to order this.

I was really disappointed with this restaurant that I used to come to every day. When I came to eat at 8 oclock, the chef seemed to be in a hurry to get off work, and the cooking was very unpalatable. I ordered two dishes, garlic lettuce and fried beef with hot pepper, and garlic lettuce. There was a lot of soy sauce and it was very salty. It was hard to swallow. The fried beef with spicy peppers was served lukewarm. I seriously suspected that it was heated in a microwave. I was really angry. It was a bad dining experience.

Tabletops were not clean, and food was not very good.

If you want to eat home-cooked food, dont go there. I was disappointed twice when I went there. The small pot rice noodles I ordered for the first time can be said to be completely different from the picture. Tomatoes, onions, ginger, garlic were added, and the soup was thickened without being sweet. It was simply a dark dish. I thought I was just unlucky and accidentally ordered something terrible. After all, a certain book had good reviews. As a result, I went with my friends today and ordered six dishes and corn juice. The hot kidney flower is all thickened, and the ground three fresh vegetables are sweetened with garlic. These two are already the most delicious. The corn juice smelled like yogurt even before I drank it, even in all three cups. I contacted the waitress and brought the frozen corn from the kitchen, but the raw material was sour. There are tomatoes and mushrooms in the West Lake beef soup, but there is no beef, and the soup is still clear and not thickened. From the picture, it looks more like tomato and egg drop soup. The first sip gave me a rusty taste and everyone gave up on the dish. Also, the mushrooms on the egg custard had a musty smell. I called the proprietress and asked her to try the soup herself. She repeatedly emphasized to us that the raw materials were delivered today, so there would be no problem, but if any dish was not good, we could get a refund. When we finally checked out, we said we wanted to return the West Lake beef custard and egg custard, and they said they were refunding them all. When we got the bill, we saw that we only refunded the cheap egg custard, which was outrageous. I advise everyone not to eat there even if other restaurants are closed (we went there just because we couldn t eat at Taste of Home today), otherwise you will feel bad about the food and be angry.

I would eat here whenever I missed my parents cooking.

Not sure if the chef here changed but the takeout here taste pretty bad. Everything just looks and tastes like the chef dumped half a bottle of dark soy sauce on. Pork kidney was tough and not much flavour. The takeout quality is nowhere near that of the dine in dishes before the pandemic.

Staff are friendly. Foods are good, very homemade style. Restaurant is clean.

We went at opening so we were the only ones there. Very nice service. The food was delicious.

I discovered PLASTIC in food. Yes food taste quite nice especially when there are not many options in Waterloo, but I did not pay for plastic. :) It s delicious, but I ve eaten plastic:) So I don t want to go there anymore, so I ll give one more star to someone I once loved

Really good fried rice

Went for dinner and had a table reserved. The layout of the restaurant is very nice, and the lights and cherry blossom tree are a nice touch. Had a variety of dishes, different seafood dishes, braised duck, pork with bean curd rolls. All the food was pretty good, but service could be better. Tea came lukewarm, and then when asked for hot water there was no tea actually in the pot. Food portions are a bit small given the prices, could be a bit bigger. Servers do not clear dishes as theyre emptied, so tables get a bit cluttered at times. Also none of the dishes have serving utensils which is really odd. Also note they dont take credit, debit or cash

Quality of their take out is UNACCEPTABLE. The fried chicken popcorn that we ordered consisted of almost entirely bones, specifically broken bones. Any respectable restaurant wouldve thrown this out as trash instead of cheating their customers with $13 worth of food waste. Never ordering here again.

The taste is very good, all kinds of local delicacies are well cooked

Great service, tasty food and excellent atmosphere!

Beautiful decor, mediocre food, bad experience. We waited over an hour for our food, and kept being brought dishes we had already gotten or just completely different from what we ordered. The waiter was really nice and apologetic, but it seems like the rest of the staff was disorganized and inexperienced.

Beautiful Place Dishes were tasty. My suggestion: Avoid normal lunch and dinner time if you want a beatiful and quiet experience.

Fabulous decoration and tasty food.

Traditional and authentic Chinese cuisine with beautiful decor. Best Chinese food in town.

The ambiance is great. The better chef braised pork and Beer braised duck was superb.

Good food and even better decor. Highly recommend for a date spot.

Food and ambience are really wonderful!! It is one of the best and most authentic place I have ever been in Waterloo!

Great food and exceptional service.

What I eat is not rice, but peach blossoms

Fancy decor but average taste.

High quality Chinese spot, good way to splurge on food

The pancake fruit is simply unbearable to look at...

Really slow service and fried rice is pretty bad

The decoration is beautiful, the taste is pretty good, and there are many specialties. I will come back to try others

Delicious and authentic food, excellent service.

Love the atmosphere in this restaurant. Service was nice and fast. The food is the best in town. The braised pork, beer brewed duck and the seafood platter were very good. The dishes are very unique and super delicious. Special praise for the braised pork. Desserts are also very suitable for Chinese tastes. I think it is the best Chinese restaurant in the small town. The white rabbit toffee after the meal makes people feel at home, very warm.

Probably the best Chinese food Ive had in Waterloo. The saucy dishes are very greasy, but taste pretty good. Food came out pretty quickly, but we ordered some of the more popular dishes. Its best to go with a group and order some different items to share all together. Place looks pretty nice too. Id recommend the eggplant, braised pork, cabbage and fried rice.

Very good experience in palaza. The taste is a little bit salty, but very good, exactly the same as in China. The quantity is also large enough.I like waiter and waitress smile. Definitely I will be there again.

The dishes are okay, but the others are just bloody.

Fantastic spot with authentic delicacies and very friendly and accommodating service. The pork ribs were out of this world and I have a new found love for oyster sauce! Will certainly be back!

The service and environment are very comfortable, and the food is delicious. It is a good dining place in UW.

Best authentic Chinese food in town at the moment with good service and atmosphere. There are some other Chinese restaurants with good food or pleasant venues, but few with both. A welcomed addition to the university area. Food is more suitable for sharing (i.e. the common Chinese dinner setup), probably best for small groups.

The environment is very nice, chrysanthemum tea is provided for free, in the style of a Jiangnan stir-fry shop. The portion of the dish is slightly less

Great chinese food relative to the other places around the plaza. Customer service was good and food came quickly.

Great food, good reward system

A nice culinary experience right next to the university. Good value, fine food, good service, a very clean and quite nice environment. I wouldnt hesitate to go again. Note: They only take debit or cash. We were here as a group of 3 and ordered a large variety of dishes, all of them tasted great and 80 dollars was more than adequate for food for all three (there was a good amount left over). Their dishes are fairly on point, and on the light side (in terms of spice and oil) which means they might be more suitable to those new to authentic Chinese food. Conversely, if youre a Chinese person, perhaps you could ask them to up the spicing for some of the dishes. The dishes came fast and service was friendly. Some recommendations: The Jingjiang Rousi, Tomato and egg noodles. Both very good dishes.

Lovely atmosphere, great staff, very fast service, and great food. And the coolest SAKURA TREE in the middle of the restaurant.

Unique and authentic Chinese dishes!

I ordered a cold konjac knot for takeout and it was all soft and pulpy. How long has it been there? ? ?

Great food, great service, great ambiance, would definitely come again.

Great food and great presentation. Interesting decor. Better washrooms and it would be a true 5-star.

Food sucks here WORST food ever in the town

amazing

The take-outs are not as good as dine-in. Not sure why.

Just had a wonderfully tasty meal today. The service was excellent as well. Great traditional Chinese food.

You can taste that the ingredients are relatively fresh, it would be better if the taste was stronger. Great service attitude!

All food too salty!! The seafood pot has very little seafood.. chicken does not taste fresh. Won t ever come back sorry..

This place was a 10/10! It was so magical with their warm wood interior and gorgeous blossomed cherry tree. For someone that s cooked and tried so many dishes from so many countries and kitchens, the three we ordered had new exquisite flavour twists. We couldn t even pick a favourite they were all so delish. The staff was excellent, the service was timely and all in comfy chairs. Plus.. free wifi! It s definitely a place to bring a someone you appreciate.

Great atmosphere and service. The food was good and filling!

Today I ordered the so-called mutton hand rice. What is this? Soy sauce bibimbap, right? The rice sticks to pieces and is still cold.