j & j wonton noodle house

nice and fresh..goodtasty food, always fresh. their lunch specials are agooddeal, and usually a nice large portion. house tea is excellent. staff are friendly and efficient.

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, andgoodassortment 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 food was exceptional, the service good, and we left 'full & happy', and very pleased we had chosen to dine there for our last dinner in victoria.

amazing food,goodatmosphere and friendly servers. plus if you need it they have a wide selection of gluten free options that are quite good! the only mind downside (isn't a big deal) is some of the servers look/dress very casually and often look like restaurant goers more than they look like restaurant servers.

j&j nothing special wor wonton..... i had a special wor wonton soup the other day and i must say i was disappointed. the broth was very light and had almost no taste. i added soy sauce and siracha at home to make it better.the portion was o.k and the wonton were good.i cant talk about the rest of the menu but for 14.95 i was expecting better from a place call the wonton noodle house.if you are cravinggoodsoup i would recommend pho vy downtown.have agoodday :)

refreshing.... for many a year this was clearly the best chinese food in victoria but i just stopped going altogether due to the less than desirable attitude of the service. this evening we made it in just before closing only to be graciously accepted and further treated to exceptional service and even more exceptional food!! we requested an old favourite of halibut noodle soup (off the lunch menu) and sub'd the bok choy out for gai lan. wow, truly perfect. we also ordered the hot & sour soup which wasgoodtoo, but not the best i've ever had. the other dishes we enjoyed tonight were the ginger & onion chow mein and the spicy ginger chicken which were both outstanding. the dining room appeared to have seen some recent improvements and the staff were cheery and helpful. glad to have my favourite chinese food restaurant back!!

another delicious meal, reaffirming my opinion that this is the best chinese food in town. great way to ring in the new year. the hunan chicken with spicy black bean sauce is a taste bud tour de force. what makes this place sogoodis the use of fresh quality ingredients and recipes that seem more authentic than the standard issue westernized chinese food served in chinatown. jj's dishes are much closer to the food we ate during our travels through hong kong or mainland china.

food was great, very fresh and meat tender. however, they forgot to bring one of the dishes we ordered ( one of only four items so not like it was confusing!) the waitress never once came back to check on us and when we finally got her attention to bring the bill, the missed dish was on the charges! needless to say, tip was very small!goodfood, poor service! 5/10

it has the style of a common chinese food restaurant that we all know and are familiar with. the food quality is above good. i did find that my food taste a little saltier than i would like (then again, it might have beene taste buds that night). i like their selection. the regular menu needs a little sprucing up. it seems to have agoodfollowing but it definitely more pricier than what you would expect. same kind of meal found in richmond or vancouver would be generally half the price. for example, the bbq pork fried rice lshould not cost more than $8 (tops in van or richmond) but $12??! sorry, but the restaurant i found isn't as high end quality as you would get at a fancy vancouver downtown hotel restaurant. it's not made out to be that way therefore i couldn't seem to justify the quantity and quality to be this overpriced. one caveat in their defense though could be the cost of food prices on the island comparative to the mainland. but it shouldn't be that justifiable with respect to price of rice as in my example. they must make a huge profit from the sale of fried rice (rice prices haven't gone that high up). i think they raised the prices across the board on their menu in retrospect because all the prices seem high for the quantity and quality of the food. i know this may be long but i guess i was shocked at my bill. i liked the restaurant's atmosphere as it reminded me of a typical local above average rest from the mainland. and, i'm just trying to find anything to steer me from the disappointment of the higher price and not giving jerky review. rating: 4/6

prettygoodfood, iffy service. went on friday night around 730. food came very quickly. ordered black been beef with noodles. the beef was good, but the noodles weren't much. the service was mechanical, but they don't even qc the food after they serve, or ask you if you would like a beverage, rather, they slam a teapot down and walk away. water? you want a glass of water? that's the reply you get when you ask for a glass of water.