Bao

Good ramen and bao place. I loved their Truffle Chashu ramen, but couldn't find it this time. Pork belly ramen was good (Truffle Chashu was amazing), and Tonkatsu bao was amazing! Chinese BBQ and buttermilk chicken were okay.

Bao is literally the best ramen spot in town! Nothing defeats it in my personal opinion.it’s literally a burst of flavours in your mouth. SO DELICIOUS!
Their buttermilk fried chicken bao is to die for, I could literally eat 10 of it in one go.and my favourite ramen is the Tan Tan men ramen!
Highly recommend!

One of the best ramen and Bao places in Victoria, I’ve never tried Ramen before and Bao was the first place I had ramen from and I fell in love. Really cute vibe! Excellent service, great food and affordable! Must try

I can not live without this amazing g Ramen omg! I've been coming here for about 6 months now and I always love love to Ramen I get the tan tan men! The staff are always so happy and kind, I tell everyone about this place because I've traveled from east to west of Canada I was fortunate enough to stumble apon this place! The food is always fresh and so deliciously consistent! I also really like that I see the owner working hard along side of her staff almost every time I come here! Not just that but they also close the business every work day for I think 1 or 2 hrs just for the staff to have a break, like I have never seen that before!
I think more businesses should do the same!
Also there is a small line but please wait it goes by quick, its sooooo worth it I promise you won't regret it!
Also I'm allergic to dairy so I find it hard to get a place that offers excellent choices for my allergy and this place is hands down the best! I never have to worry when I order most Ramen!
Thanks Bao for being awesome!

Ps- I absolutely love that I can watch the chef's preparing my food right in front of me when I sit at their side bar kitchen lookover area! So cool!

Delicious food. Staff were really nice and professional despite the busy-ness. I was impressed that the one girl taking all the orders was so on top of everything despite how tired she must have been (remembering to ask us if we wanted extra plates, managing the line and orders well, etc). There was a line when we got there but it turned around pretty fast. Taiwanese classic Bao was extremely delicious. 10/10

Vegetarians, you will fall in love with their miso tofu mushroom ramen. It was the best ramen I have tried in BC!

The place was very busy at 5: 30pm a good sign since the clientele was in the 25-35 range who typically do not eat so early. The BAOs are amazing as well as the noodle soup (TanTan Men Ramen). A must try in Victoria

We knew we had to try this place when it was almost full at 5: 15! Small place so hard for large groups. So many Baos to try and my favourite were the 2 pork ones. The tan tan noodles also fantastic! Sit at the bar to see how fast the chefs make your food!

Tasty food! Unfortunately the cashier was rude/entitled feeling. We regretted not going to an authentic Asian spot instead because of that. The cashier seemed like she didn’t want us to be there: (Felt like we had to rush to get her undivided attention while she fixed this and that rather than asking us what we’re interested in or to offer suggestions etc. Felt like we weren’t fast enough for her and our questions were trivial.

The Tantan ramen is the best ramen we’ve had in Vic. Bao buns are exceptional as well. Friendly staff & always quick with our order. Highly recommend!

My friend and I left and went elsewhere. We went inside and promptly got shooed outside because of their policy "only one group allowed inside at a time". There were many empty tables, and a group of 4 or 5 standing in front of us, but plenty of room in the waiting area. Regardless we got told to wait outside. We left before getting in or eating here, and definitely will not be back. Good luck Bao with your bad customer service!

This is my defense of Bao from those reviewers who didn't like this place just because "it's not authentic".

This place is superb, both in terms of food and aesthetics. I agree it's not an authentic Asian place. It's an amalgam of many Asian food cultures from different countries which fits together on a very mysterious balance, just like how those small artefacts in the place represents. As someone form an Asian country, I must say I never felt this place is phony. If it's not authentic or phony, then what is it? It's a surreal artwork. Coming into this place always makes me feel like I'm having a surreal dream about a home in an alternate universe. And finding the bits and pieces of culture that I grew up with adds to this "I'm having a strange dream" feel. Combined with their uniquely arranged Asian cuisine, they offer a pleasantly surrealistic dining experience not many fusion restaurants are able to offer in this universe. So forget about the Asia you know for a moment, and immerse yourself in the trip to an alternate universe.

BTW, I'm from Japan and I can confirm that there are sour ramens. Is Bao's version of ramen authentic? No, it's very unique. Is it bad? Certainly no. I see they use the noodle with a very small amount of to no lye water, and it's thin and straight. So it matches with the very light broth. It rather reminded me of udon from my hometown, but with again elements from different Asian culture which I loved. The only improvement, if I dare to point out, would be the presentation. The noodle is every where and toppings were sinking. There's a noodle folding technique that every Japanese ramen place use to make ramen look really nice, allowing you to put toppings on the noodle. If you are interested and DM-me or reply to this review, I can share some how-to videos.

I thought that the food was extremely flavorful and modernized without overdoing it. We particularly enjoyed the Taiwanese bao and truffle ramen.

The stop for Asian fusion food in this city.

All house made food, especially their chili oil

Consistently the best ramen I’ve ever had, and the Bao are absolutely insane! Can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. Every time I go, I’m absolutely blown away by the perfect balance and intensity of all of the unique flavours and textures. Even just the smell in this cute little shop is enough to impress.

Thank you for continuing to deliver such amazing food!

Nothing great, I have been to couple of dozen Bao places. I would rank this at the bottom. I had the Taiwanese classic and a chicken bao. The pork belly and the chicken were just extremely fried and super dry, terrible. Bao buns were not fuly cooked as well and tinier than normal baos. Worst part was the service, the lady at the counter, who was getting highly irritated at everything and everyone. Waste of a lunch, spoilt the taste in my mouth and experience.

We had lunch here on an amazing day in Victoria. We all had ramen, me getting the Tan Tan Men. It was spicy with tons of flavor and color. Never had anything like it.

The bao is good, not too soggy.

The ramen is okay at best - the pork belly is dry and rubbery. The white truffle oil was a little heavy handed (and I like truffle oil!). I’d give it another try but maybe after an extended break.

Bao is an incredible place. Their texture and flavor is so unique, with that amazing soft Bao which pairs perfectly with the fillings options available.

Other food options are great, but you just can't leave there without having at least one Bao, you gonna fall in love with it.

Service is very friendly and cheerful. It is not a large space so prepare for a bit of waiting at certain times as seating is limited.

Beautiful presentation and delicious Nutella desert bao! Unfortunately the rice for my pork and egg bibimbap was hard and the pork on it was over cooked: (

I'd give it more stars if I could. Chicken wings were outstanding, Pork belly Ramen was no joke.
Next level.
EAT HERE NOW!

I have to say, I really don't get the hype! It was a super long wait for two people both days we went, and we ended up going for an early dinner right at 5pm in order to get seated. I got the bibimbap and my husband got the ramen, and together, we sampled the bao.

The food was tasty enough, but: nothing was authentic, the bao was over sauced / overly salty / + soggy, and the bibimbap was not nearly as flavorful as it should be. Service was okay but not great, as it seemed they were understaffed.

Hip atm with young vibe, food was flavourful but not tasty
Pork ramen; broth was too salty, ramen was reg packed noodle but very small, pork needs to be submerged in broth bit more
Egg bibimbob; rice was dry+too much, greens were bitter (doesn’t suit with dish), sauce was close to sriracha, bowl wasn’t ideal for mixing

My sister and niece couldn’t stop raving about this place so when a buddy from out of town asked if I wanted to meet for lunch I suggested we try it out. We were very impressed! Decided to try 4 different Bao and split them, along with an order of Korean Fried Chicken Bibimbap. We also ordered a couple of Vietnamese Iced Coffees. Everything was delicious! The quality of the ingredients is amazingly fresh and the flavor profiles of each of the different Bao were all delicious and different. We had the Taiwanese. Classic, Chinese BBQ, Pork Meatball Bahn Mi, and the Tonkatsu Chicken Bao. Every one of them was incredibly tasty and the Bao buns were soft and fluffy and so fresh. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and would highly recommend trying them out.

You gotta stop and eat here! The ramen is excellent! Get it with an egg too!
I really like the Bao buns and it has become one of my regular spots to go and get tasty food. The service is also great!
Try the dessert Bao bun - nutella! It is really tasty

The food was amazing, the staff super friendly and helpful. They were able to seat our party of 5 almost immediately through some creative thinking. We had a fantastic time, left super full, can't wait to go back!

Busy place! But deservedly so. Never had Bao before, but really enjoyed. I do wish there had been more veg options

We tried the Ramen at the Bao during our recent visit to Victoria. The food was tasty and definitely worth the try.

The baos were good, but a bit lacking in flavour. Ramen and bibimbab were okay, but nothing more

Noodle is over cooked. Not even close to Ramen. Pork belly tastes like bad Bacon.
1 stars for the beer.

Nice to see some gluten free options. Some of the flavors and presentation were strange though. The bibimbap bowl is too tall to see and mix all the ingredients. The Mei Fun was served with all the proteins and vegetables at the bottom of the noodles.and tasted like Cup Noodles The Bao was tasty and the pork belly on the bibimbap was good and the pressed concept was interesting.

Little quaint place! The food was super good.
Unfortunately not a lot of vegetarian options. But whatever they had was really awesome!

The host was very rude when I asked what the wait time was and insisted we wait outside to look at the menu. It’s ridiculous that they call themselves a restaurant when it feels like awkward takeout. I don’t know why we would wait outside if there is a ton of tables inside and we presented our vaccine cards. Overall, left a sour taste in my mouth

There seems to always be a line up for eat in and take out so we were excited to try it.
Great flavours! The buns are soft and the filling are so complementary. We had the Traditional and the Chinese and we can’t wait to try more.

Me and my boyfriend always order the katsu curry from here and we’re honestly obsessed. We order takeout from here weekly and it’s always so consistently amazing. We’ve tried nearly all the bao buns and every single one has been incredible though we particularly like the tonkatsu and buttermilk fried chicken. The flavours at this place are next level. I can’t say enough good things. We sat in once and the service was great, super friendly, fast and a nice atmosphere. Definitely my favourite place to eat in Victoria by a long shot.

One of the few restaurants open late night on a weekday. Decided to try a couple of their baos during our stay in Victoria. Ordered Buttermilk Fried Chicken, Chinese BBQ, Mala 5 Mushroom, and the Taiwanese Classic (from left to right). It was 4 for $16. They were cute tiny baos, good for an appetizer and the flavors were on point. I wished they were full sized though! The Mala 5 mushroom had a good spicy kick to it.

Eh. And they charged me 50 cents for the paper bag, plus another 50 cents for the spicy oil, neither of which I required or requested for my ONE-ITEM order. LOL I won't be back.

Pork ramen might be the best ramen I've ever had. Grilled pork melts in your mouth and shiitake mushrooms are delicious

Mouth watering noodles and bao, I always recommend this place to those that are visiting. It's a staple for my friends and I, no one else in Victoria does it like them.

So so good! The TAM TAM Mah ramen (I think is what it was called) was garlicky broth deliciousness. And all of the Bao were awesome.

Really enjoyed their Pork Belly Ramen and Tan Tan Men! Excellent flavours and the pork belly had a crispy finish. Taiwanese Bao was also wonderful. Highly recommend for their food and amazing service:)

Absolutely amazing! I’ve travelled all over, trying ramen and, Bao is hands down the best! Very friendly staff and a great menu with all kinds of delicious items to choose from. The Bao buns are to die for. Enjoy!

Came in here for a late lunch. Super friendly staff and was some of the best food we have had in a long time. Amazing job

Delicious food! Gotta have the bao at Bao, they're delectable. Our ramen was top notch as well-tasty, fresh and huge.

One of the hidden gems of Victoria. Best Asian fusion food in the city. Try the Classic and Tonkatsu flavour Bao buns. Also would really suggest the Japanese Chicken Curry!

My absolute favourite restaurant. Wonderful people, incredible food, great service. The pork belly ramen is the best ramen I’ve ever had.

I eat here often and everything on the menu is delicious, but the roasted peanut Ramen is one of the best dishes served in victoria in this category. Thanks for all the hard work your team puts in

ZERO STARS IF I COULD.

First and last time going there. The ramen was not great, and you charged me 50 cents for spicy chili oil WHICH I DID NOT REQUEST, and another 50 cents for a paper bag for takeout. 50 CENTS FOR A PLAIN PAPER BAG. Nickel and dime the customers, that is the way to lose us.

We've been a few times and it's always great. My five year old daughter specifically said today: 'The broth is MAGNIFICENT! '

I had their Truffle Chashu Ramen, followed by their baos: Chinese BBQ, Mala 5 Mushroom, and Shanghai Black Bean. Everything was mediocre. The ramen's broth was nothing special and the chashu was chewy and quite hard. I had higher expectations because of the high reviews and I gotta say I was not impressed with the quality and it is not worth the hype it has.

I've been there only once and I don't think I'll ever come back. The ramen was good, but the Mei Fun tasted nothing like stir fry. The service was very poor and made me wonder why those people even work in the restaurant if they don't care about their guests.

I can close my eyes, point at the menu, and know I'll be closing them again to truly appreciate each flavour work its way through my palette.

The bao here are some of the best I've ever tried! All of the flavors are unique and well thought out. I have heard amazing things about their Ramen so I can't wait to go back and try it! My only complaint is that I live so far away and I can't stop in at least once a week for lunch/dinner

Had the Pork Belly Ramen and a Taiwanese Bao aside. Ramen were good, what stood out were the awesome Bao's - I wish I ordered more.

Man, what a great suprise this place was. Did you guys slow cook that chicken before deep frying it for the Korean chicken dish? My mouth is watering while I type here. Go here.now!

Tan Tan Men: Good
Pork Belly Ramen: Too salty soup! I had to add more water to eat.: -P
Chinese BBQ Bao: Ok

A special part of the restaurant is that they mixed Chinese food, Japanese food and Korean food together in a good way.

The taste of soup of ramen should be better!

This place has really good food. Be warned unless you like spicy food, stay away from the spicy options. Order before you sit down mmmkay. I have had quite a few of their options and I don't have a bad thing to say about any of it. The mushroom bao was my favorite by far. One of the owners gave me a source for one of his ingredients. That in my opinion is customer service at its finest.

I frequently pass this place but I've never visited here until today. A lot of good reviews brought me this restaurant and I ordered 3 baos to go! I cannot say about the service but I think they seem to be friendly and quick. The baos I got today were super delicious and I think they may use good quality ingredients. So yummy! I will definitely come back here

I am vegan and went with a couple meat eaters. Everyone left happy! The vegan options were great, I was actually blown away. Delicious! My meat eater friends were astounded. We have since ordered take out a few times and it was just as great. Highly recommend no mater what your eating preferences are!

Favorite place in town. Great mix of amazing food: ramen, Bao, bibimbao. Everything on the menu is excellent.

I really wanted to try the bi bim bap but due to health reasons I limit my carbs. I asked if I could have no rice or rice on the side and the guy taking my order said it was impossible! I asked if I could get a soup without the noodles and then he just jumped at me and said there were no options for me. I pointed out the chicken wings on the menu and went with that. The chicken wings were good but the guy's attitude towards me was terrible. Also, how hard is it to skip the rice for a customer? If fast food places can accept my bunless burger orders, i think a higher quality restaurant can skip the step of placing rice in a bowl.

Lovely atmosphere and friendly staff, however food was definitely pretty underwhelming. Ordered the pork belly ramen, some of their selection of bao, and wontons. Ramen noodles were very soggy and overcooked, definitely far from the taste and texture of traditional ramen noodles. The broth of the ramen was also underwhelming, it wasn't as rich and flavourful as I would typically expect of a ramen, didn't finish it. The bao were pretty tasty, but not amazing by any means. Wontons were alright. The presentation was nice and the food didn't taste bad, it was just not as good as I was expecting considering the reviews. It was also a bit funny that they serve such a strange array of foods from different countries - bibimbap and ramen at the same restaurant? ! Definitely a neat spot to check out if you're looking to try a more western take on some Asian staples rather than a traditional bowl of ramen etc.

Amaaaazing bao. If I didn't have other food destinations on my trip I would have gone back 4 more times

Extremely tasty Tan tan ramen and the Taiwanese Bao was particularly good. The fried chicken and Thai Bao were good but not as at home in the soft dough. Service was solid and am looking forward to trying more.

Just came back from Bao. This was our first time here, and I feel compelled to write a review. The food was fine, we had ramen.

This review is about the service, or lack thereof. Walked in at 7: 50pm, there was one table available that needed to be cleaned. Blonde lady at the front only offered the bar. I asked if we can have a table. She paused, looked at it, said ‘I guess’ and went to clean it. Took a really good long time to clean it, then brought dishes back and took another good 5 minutes to reassemble the dirty dishes in the bin, wiped her counter etc, all while we are just standing there, waiting. She then did some other random stuff before attending to us. It might be just me, but when I work at the restaurant, I attend to people first, before doing any of the other stuff that can be done after you seat your customers. We ordered at the till, she did say it’s self service to take your drinks to the table, and to pour your own water. Then I don’t know why your tip options are 15-18-20% right off the bat? You literally just took my order, I took my own water to the table, and you already want the tip. Ok whatever, we tipped although I now regret it, because after that it was downhill still. She brought our food, put it in front of us and that was it. No one had ever approached us to ask if we wanted anything else. Another beer? Nope. How was our food? Nope. Do we need anything? Nope. I just felt unwelcome the entire time I was there. Like, i was an inconvenience for them. I bring my own water to the table, and if I could just cook my own food, maybe that would make them feel better about my existence. They literally did zero things apart from putting the soup on my table. When we were done, and just sitting and chatting, no one came to get the dishes. They stayed there until we left. When we were leaving, no one said good bye. Very very odd experience. We don’t get our much as we have very small children, and I now wish we didn’t waste a date night to come here.

UPDATE: Contacted the management directly with this issue, and their response was: "we will review with staff" no apologies, nothing, just zero f***s given.:)

I like this place and go often. I stick to the bao or the specials. Its tasty and has a decent atmosphere. I was sad to see a crate of powered chicken stock rolling through the door and it's for that reason I rarely order any soups. A good stock sets a foundation for amazing food. With out a good foundation you will never really blow away someone's taste buds. I'll admit, I know more about food than most but these powdered stock not only taste bad but their no good for you either.

We had the vegetarian ramen and pork belly ramen. I liked the pork belly and the mushrooms that came with it that had a very nice citrus flavour. The vegetarian ramen was not that great, particularly the friend tofu which was hard and greasy. Noodles not authentic. The real issue was the service - which I would classify as truly terrible. In this restaurant you order at the counter and pay in advance - including tip! There is no sign stating this and the staff not only did not greet us, they let us stand around waiting with no acknowledgement not knowing what to do. In addition, when we went up to the counter to ask the lady with the blond hair walked away from us twice to do random things. Came across as rude. I won't be back.

Pretty good place to eat in Victoria's Chinatown. It is a pretty small restaurant- I would not go there with a large group. The chicken is pretty spicy- which I liked!

It was good, but I don't think it lives up to the hype. I had the Korean fried chicken bibimbap, and while it was okay, it wasn't nearly as good as the basic bibimbap I've had in Vancouver.

Had four tasty Bao, all super good. Service was quick, food was amazing. Go to Bao and eat some Bao.

The tan tan men is too salty and doesn’t taste like real tan tan men; their chashu ramen is the western style abomination that’s only slightly better than those of sushi restaurants. Portions are below average. The baos are overrated. Everything is too expensive for what it is.

If you want good ramen, go to menbow or kuma; if you want Chinese pork buns, go to that Tibetan restaurant.

Edit: Turns out the "bao" here are Fujianese/Taiwanese gua bao, and I've never had it anywhere else so I can't say if they're authentic or not. So I apologize for making the claim that nothing here is authentic. But I still think neither the taste nor the bite-size portions justify the hefty price of 3.75 - 4.50 each plus tax and tips. I'll add a star to support the diversity in Victoria's food scene. Cheers to all the homesick Fujianese and Taiwanese, who can perhaps have their gua bao fix here.