So Good Restaurant Inc - Ottawa

I knew I'd like this place, in the heart of Ottawa's Chinatown, as soon as we walked in......looked like one of those old 'hole in the wall' Chinese Restaurants I used to go to in Vancouver's China Town when Vancouver's Chinatown restaurants were still good. I was also impressed with the attentiveness of the wait staff, particularly our server. Very sharp, always aware of what we might need.....including the water glass. Nice cold water on a hot day. We shared five dishes among our party of four. First: the hot and sour soup. It was actually called "chicken hot and sour"....and I must admit I missed the nice barbeque pork chunks that you get in other hot 'n sour soups......but what a lovely broth! Just the right about of cornstarch...so it wasn't starchy at all. NIce sesame flavour. Pretty mild but tasty. The shrimp and cashew w. veggies dish was very nice.....very fresh tasting vegetables and shrimp cooked just right. The Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli) was crisp and had a nice garlic sauce. My partner was hoping for an oyster sauce...but they don't use that as they want it as part of the vegetarian menu.Exquisite were the Pea Pods with Chinese Mushrooms and one of the tastiest garlic sauces I've ever had. My personal favourite was the Chicken with flat noodles and "So Good" sauce. Sauce was wonderfully spicy with a sweet and smokiy flavour, and those thick rice noodles absorbed it perfectly. With a 20% tip, the total cost for our party of 4 was under $100....and well worth it. When I come back to Ottawa I definitely want to visit this restaurant again.

Looks like a typical Chinese dive, both inside and outside. Very nice service - friendly, kind and efficient. After sing an hour long line up at Mandarin Ogilvie, simply called to see if there was a wait. A man answered that we could get table for 3 right away. I didn't ask to hold. Upon arrival, however, saw a table reserved. And a good thing it was because would have had to wait for a while to sit 3 people. Food order: pho, crispy beef and malaysian fried rice. General quality wad very good. Beef in pho was a little thick. Everything was not over-salty (a usual downside of many Chinese restaurant). The fried rice had many shrimp and very tender beef pieces.Wanted to try a couple of vegetable dishes but we were too full. Would like to return again to try other menu items.

My family and I have been going to So Good for over 10 years. There are many reasons for this.One of the big reasons is that Peter (the owner), goes out of the way to make food that my brother can eat even when he has allergies to many ingredients including nuts, sesame seeds, and shrimp.We tell Peter what we want, and he makes it without the allergens, or recommends something similar that my brother can eat.The food is always great, another obvious reason why we return.Thirdly, it's a very small restaurant, which makes it feel like someone's house rather than a restaurant.

Phoned in our order for pick up. After a 20 minute drive, we were pleased that the order was already ready during a busy time (Saturday at 6:30pm). Ordered vegetarian fried rice, cream corn soup w/chicken, broccoli w/lemon grass and garlic sauce, kung po tofu and fried tofu w/pepper salt. All dishes were in generous proportions, so we have leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. The only disappointment was the 'fried' rice, which had no evidence of frying at all. It was just plain steamed rice mixed with vegetables.Ottawa has a long way to go to match the Chinese cuisine of Vancouver, but I am good with So Good.

I was first introduced to this restaurant after I moved to the Ottawa area when I asked a colleague stationed in the Far East, where is the best Chinese food? He took me here and I haven't looked back and that was 1996.It is now my son's favourite as well. Peter So is a character.The room is small - reservations are almost a necessity as it is very popular.One time I went with my son and just said, bring us your choice. We were not disappointed. Another time I asked if they had any mussels and he said what I don't have I go next door to the Chinese grocery and get.