The Owl of Minerva

This is my second time eating at Owl chain restaurant, the first being the Scarborough location. I had originally wanted to try the tofu house few stores down but they were sold out of rice when we went so we decided to go to Owl because we were really craving Korean. I figured there would be no surprises because it’s the infamous Owl and I was right. Food is on par with the other location I’ve tried. They had customers coming in even at 3pm (way past lunchtime) while the staff were even setting up for their own lunch. Anyhow, there was only one lady serving the crowd at that time. She attended to us when we waved her down (she memorized our order in her head without having to write down anything which was impressive) and our food came promptly. The taste is pretty generic I would say (ordered bimibap, pork bone soup and soon tofu seafood) as expected. However, although the prices are the same at all locations, I felt it was kind of overpriced for what you get. They don’t refill drinks, food is pretty salty (lots of msg), gives banchan only one per person, and the décor was dated, floors felt grimy. I honestly don’t feel the need to come back as there are cheaper options for Korean that taste pretty much the same in the food courts inside FMP.

Stir-​Fried Korean Beef, a traditional dish with onion, green & red pepper, mushroom and sesame. The meat is so flavorful… can’t stop EATING!!!

Came all the way here to get their pork bone soup. 3hours before they close they said they dont have enough to make one order.

I had such high hopes ordering takeout for tonight & for the most they fulfilled my craving for PBS.
I ordered 4 gamjatang and one toppoki and everything was cooked nicely.
There were at least 3 large bones with lots of meat on them for each container and brimming with soup.
The toppoki was chewy and tasty … yummmmmmm.
That is until my sister found a hair elastic in one of gamjatang!!!
Biggest turn-​off of life. I can suffer through small portions, somewhat bland flavours, or even slightly dirty tables from the restaurant. but finding shit in my food that’s not supposed to be there?
0% chance of me being back to this location.
(Picture of elastic will be posted)

was craving for korean food so decided to come on a friday afternoon and it was packed. got seated when we got in. i order pork bone soup and my sister order hers (i forgot what she got). pork bone soup was amazing. definitely would come back again.

Food: 5.5÷10
Atmosphere: ⁵⁄₁₀
Service: ⁷⁄₁₀
Overall experience: 5.5÷10
When I see a 1-​star review, I always assume that person was treated poorly, or something really negative happened on their visit to the restaurant. This is not the case — I just have much higher expectations for Korean food in Markham!
To be fair, I did not order the pork bone soup AKA what they are known for, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
One of the best parts of eating Korean, is all the appetizers at the beginning of the meal. Owl only brought 3 dishes — Nak Won down the street brings 3 or 4 times that, so that was disappointment number 1.
My soontofu was hot, but lacked flavour. There was barely any seafood in it — I may as well have ordered spicy tofu and rice!
And while I don’t expect much from Asian restaurants in terms of décor, and even cleanliness, Owl seemed old, unkept, and a little dirty. That «hole in the wall» atmosphere, but without the great food that makes those types of interiors tolerable.
THE BOTTOM LINE: disappointing Korean food in a dirtier than average spot.

love this place. the owners are very nice as well as the staff.

Going for lunch with my coworkers and very disappointed with their services. Food are average and also lack of side dish options. When we asked for refills the side dishes, they seems to get mad at us.

Not the best Owl of Minerva in the city. Food and services subpar to the one in North York.

Went: Sat May 16, 2015, 7:00 p.m. (⁷⁴⁄₁₀₀)
Ordered: pork bone soup and another dish I can’t recall
Cost: I can’t recall but it was reasonably priced
I’ve been to Owl many times and I think my gf has been too. It is solid, tasty Korean food, not the best, but you know what you will be getting.
What does stick in my mind was one of the people at a nearby table competed at a high level in likely some Olympic sport and was talking about her many travels and competitions. Free accidental interesting entertainment.
Another 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.0.

I would never walk in this restaurant again!!! There was one table left and we had 2 people. The table was for 4 but no one else was waiting. They wanted us to wait lol what a joke!!!

I always fiend for Korean food and thought I would switch it up a bit. We usually go to Nakwon a few stores down for my Korean fix.
Food is a bit on the pricey side in terms of typical Korean food pricing. We got the japchai, rice cakes, and chicken bulgogi. I always judge Korean restaurants based on their banchans and Owl drops the ball on this one. There’s only 3 types of banchan. The standard kimchi, pickled radish, and seaweed salad. None are particularly good.
The chicken bulgogi is delicious with the perfect amount of spice. It comes with a side of rice. For the price, I felt that there wasn’t a lot of chicken. The japchai is good, but there isn’t a lot of meat (beef) in it. Japchai is usually a banchan at Jordan restaurant and this dish wasn’t exactly cheap. I didn’t really like the rice cakes. I’ve had much better at other places. A little cheap on the seafood cakes and vegetables and it wasn’t saucy enough. There wasn’t enough sauce to coat the rice cakes and they were a little plain for my taste.
Service was quick and very friendly.

Came here for dinner on a thursday night around 8.30pm, there was no wait. The restaurant wasn’t full and there were a few tables left opened. The décor was minimal, CP24 plays on the tv screens and it was a bit hot inside. We put our orders in quickly and the staff was quick.
There were side dishes of kimchi, pickled radish and a seaweed salad (which I was personally not a fan of)
I got the seafood tofu soup for ($ 8.99) it came in the black pots boiling hot, it had a shrimp, a mussel and a few de-​shelled clams and a good amount of soft tofu inside. I asked for spicy but it wasn’t that spicy, however it was quite salty and tasted ridden with msg. It was also missing the raw egg to be cracked and dropped inside. My friend got the stir fried spicy chicken on sizzling plate, it came with a good amount of chicken and veggies, again it wasn’t very spicy. Both dishes came with a bowl of white rice.
For the price it felt ok but their yonge and finch location is definitely much better!

Your typical trustworthy affordable Owl!!!
Authentic Koren food, served by Koreans, run by Koreans.
Dishes running for around $ 10 along with rice for the most part and at least three side dishes (refillable; usually Kim chi, seaweed and Kim chi radish). Cold water or tea is free of charge.
They serve $ 5 Hite, Canadian, Bud and Coors. They also have overpriced Makgoli, soju and the ginseng one for $ 18. yep. but people still order it! And of course the asian aloe drinks and pop.
The food will never go wrong when it comes from Owl. Always good, fast and hot. The service is good, Koreans are well mannered and always carry a smile on their faces.
If you don’t like rice much (like me) you can swap it for rice cake or dumplings!!! Amazing I know :)
Clean place, affordable good food and good service. why not! Oh but it gets hard to find a parking during lunch and dinner hours here at First Markham Place Plaza. Good luck snd enjoy!

Definitely one of my go-​to Korean restaurants in my area. Great service with good food makes this a nice choice when you want Korean food, but aren’t sure where to go.
They have one if the better pork bone soups, and good spicy bulgogi. If you ever get the chance, would definitely order something with the rice cakes, as they are well made, and always taste great.
Side dishes come with each meal, and are usually bean sprouts, kimchi, and kimchi radish (which are my fav), and you can get more upon request.
Overall a nice, small place with nice service to get some decent Korean food.

I love that they let you order rice cakes in their pork bone soup. :) it’s simple and delicious and you can modify the spicy levels which is great! They are fast, and always smiling, making for a great atmosphere to sit and enjoy a meal with friends and family.
The food is hardy and great, especially for winter! Parking is horrible but that’s normal for this plaza.
The rest of the menu is good too, but nothing special. So when I go, I’m really just craving the same order every time. I like the jap chae noodles with a lot of the chili sauce too!

Haven’t been here in awhile, the service really improved. Normally, we don’t get much service…
The food came really fast. Korean is famous for their side dishes! Make sure you don’t get full from just eating the side dishes! I know how tempting they can get.
This time, I got the bibimbap and it was filled with flavours. I pretty much devoured my plate of meat and my bowl of rice. This is often my go to place for Korean!

This review is for the cold noodle only. In short, it failed because the flavour was not bold. The meat was dry and flavourless. Maybe it is my preference, but Korean potato noodle in a cold garlicky and sour broth is a beautiful lunch with a punch in summer. And this was not it. And did I just pay $ 11 for that?
The environment was nice. The waiter was fast and friendly.

The food was really good here, nice and spicy and freshly prepared. The food came out quickly and was very hot. I would definitely go back.

Atmosphere: small, good location, usually pretty decently cleaned, today I found a bug inside my tea though…
Food:
1. spicy udon seafood noodles: perfectly spicy, seafood came from one of those groceries mixed seafood bags at the supermarket, a bit disappointed in that. Overall though, the sauce was delicious, which made up for everything else
Price: 11.00
Overall: owls is known for being a bit pricer, but it’s a staple place. So I’ll definitely be back