This is the best Chinese food I've ever had, bar none. I've lived on the west coast of California and eaten in many SF China Town places, but this is better. I'm confused about the bad reviews, but maybe something has changed in 2017. I haven't tried any of the other places in Victoria for Chinese, but at this point I don't think they could measure up.
Everytime I've been here for like the past 10 years it's been good. It has changed owners but the food has always been consistent. the waitresses are so kind and the chicken chow mien and the ginger beef are amazing!!! Deeeeeelisious nomnomnom
Great food and great service. This new restaurant should be full of happy customers so I hope this review encourages more people to try it. Very friendly owners. The four dishes we ordered were all excellent. I recommend the Ginger fried beef, the green beans and the delicious prawns with black bean sauce dish. We will return often, many more dishes to try.
How is this place not busier?! I've been here for a quick lunch or dinner while working and the food is always fantastic! The service and ambience are also great as well. I just don't understand how this place is so quiet and other places in the heart of Chinatown are busier but have subpar food and service.
If you've never been to Forum but enjoy good food do not pass this place by. Phenomenal.
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Solid Chinese/Szechaun. Our intended destination, the Japanese noodle shop on the next block, had closed, so we ended up at Forum as our back-up, based on the reviews. We were the only customers when we walked in at 8:15 on a Friday evening, so I was a bit nervous, then the 1960's era standard menu (egg fu young and chow mein) made me even more nervous, though there was a list of specials. We decided to hang in there, and I'm glad we did. Several more tables filled up after our arrival, including two large tables of Chinese men. Always makes me feel more comfortable, I figure they know the local restaurants and what they're doing.
We had 1/2 a barbequed duck which was excellent-bronzed crunchy skin not to be missed: chow fun with beef and vegetable-very good; shredded pork with Szechuan pickle-very good; Szechaun eggplant, tangy and not too sweet; and spicy prawns with shell, fire peppers but perfectly fried and wonderfully crunchy with spice.
What seemed to be a very plain restaurant turned out some consistently good Chinese food-don't be fooled by first appearances, but do care in what you order.
Great food!!!. Best Chinese in vic . So full of flavour and great price ! If in china town it's number #1 every where else is gross and uses MSG. Forum simply deliciousness!!!!!!!!!
Fantastic. Far and away the best and most authentic Chinese place in Victoria. The food is phenomenal especially their szechuan specialties I honestly havn't had a bad thing yet. To top it all of the staff and service are great and the price is reasonable, Try the special Szechuan green beans you will not regret it!
Took a while for our take out order to be ready but once we got it home it was up there with the best Chinese food we've ever had, service with a smile to boot. They forgot the fortune cookies though, so I'm feeling a little anxious not knowing what's in store for tomorrow.
Pleasant Surprise. Wow! I had dinner here for the first time in a couple of years.It has had a bad reputation in the past. WOW What a pleasant surprise, dinner was amazing. Most Szechuan places are just HOT but here were flavours upon flavours. It was that good that I mentioned to the waitress, just how pleasantly surprised I was and how wonderful my meal was. The chef came out to thank me! And gave me a sample of other dishes on his menu. He is the new owner and wanted to thank me for coming in trying his new menu,when does that ever happen in Chinatown! I AM truely impressed Not only with how clean the place is, including the bathrooms but with this chef and how tasty his food is and how generous the portions were. I'm definitely going back to this place and can't recommend it enough!!
Best in town. You got to try their Hot and Sour soup and salt and pepper squids! They are simply the best in town!!!!!
Just been told that they started to offer a couple of Burmese noodle soups at lunch time. A friend told me that they are to die for. Will try it next time when I go in for lunch.
Nice place for authentic Chinese food. We ordered the beef with green onion, recommended fish of the day, and braised tofu with bok choy.
Super friendly manager, awesome food, reasonably priced too! Their sizzling Mongolian beef is off the hook!
Wow! One of the few places in Victoria that is authentic and very savory!
We order dinner a Saturday night. The place is not nice at all, so we got it to go. They were fast preparing our order. I got spring rolls, fried rice and sweet and sour pork, and I really enjoyed them. My wife ordered chow mein and fried calamari and she was not that happy. I will come back here!
Humble appearance but Very tasty food!
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Great food, decent portions, okay atmosphere.
Went here with my parents for dinner, and we were happy by the high quality of the food and fair pricing. The food was fresh and hot, and came as it was ready, and while perhaps not in line with typical North American restaurant culture, it is good when sharing dishes as we did.
The Wor Wonton Soup was good value (and delicious), as you get enough for four and then some. Our BBQ Pork Chow Mein was also a huge portion, with a decent amount of BBQ pork, and well flavoured. If you enjoy trying something more typical of American Chinese restaurants, the General Tso's Chicken was excellent, and a nice alternative to Sweet and Sour Pork. We also had a delicious dish of Eggplant in Chili sauce, which is perhaps something less popular for those who don't realize how tasty eggplant can be (most people), but I would highly recommend it! One thing I would probably pass on was the spring rolls. While pretty large for the price, I found them to be a bit over-fried, oily, and lacking much in vegetables, instead relying on a lot of breading to give them substance.
A nice touch to finish off dinner was the complimentary warm sweet pudding they served us. It was around Chinese New Year, though, so this may just be a temporary thing. Not sure.
Now I say only okay atmosphere (and largely the reason for 4 stars) because the restaurant was very cold. This being said, it's the coldest time of the year and it was probably the coldest day of the year when we went, but it really puts a dent in your ability to enjoy your meal. It is, however, in an old building with the door opening/closing frequently, so I partially understand it, although when we inevitably moved further into the restaurant it was still pretty chilly. Thankfully on the whole, besides forgetting our menus for a while, the servers were friendly and attentive enough.
Overall definitely highly recommend Forum, and there's plenty of delicious food we saw coming from the kitchen that we would love to try on our next visit (when the weather is a bit better). ;)
Grew up in Richmond and just moved to Victoria, I didn’t think I would be able to find good Szechuan food. But this place is spot on.
It is authentic, meaning the food comes when it’s ready, not all at once. If you like sweet and sour pork and your typical pick and choose Chinese restaurants, you probably won’t enjoy it here. however if you are looking for good authentic Szechuan you have found your place.
Good value--
We had lunch here, got a combo and shared.
Perhaps ordering off the regular menu provides a different experience (based on the reviews which are excited about the authentic food)--the food we had for lunch was fairly "normal."
very good service. food was fine, of course tourist oriented. we are in victoria´s tourist chinatown after all. i was the only non asian (always a good sign to me) , and didn´t pay attention to what the rest of the clientele had on their plates. neither did I look at the complete menu display in the window, but will next time. lone female server very efficient with the dozen or so customers, serving and bussing.
It was a very good meal. People were friendly.
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