Owl of Minerva

This HAS been my go-​to place for korean food. They only take cash which sucks, and they have an atm inside. I’ve been there many times after a good dirty drunken night at the dance cave.
HOWEVER…
Last night I did not have a good experience here. We came in as a group of 4 and were seated immediately, there were about 3 other groups there.
Usually when you have more than 3 people, you get a larger sides of banchan. We were given 3 tiny little dishes with no kimchi or plates. As a Korean, I know how some of our people can be, and it seemed to me that they made this assumption (about not wanting kimchi) because I was the only asian person in the group… I tried several times to get the attention of the waitstaff, and they both (two men) walked by me several times ignoring me. When I finally asked, the waiter said «You’ll get plates when the food comes.» .umm what? I asked him for plates and he basically said no. Then he and the other waiter stood at the back of the room, texting and talking bullshit. If a customer asks for plates, fucking bring plates. It’s not that hard.
The food came shortly after and the waiter brought the kimchi along with it, after we asked for it. We all got very tiny little bowls as dishes, and once again, for the bill and the take away box, we had to try to get their attention multiple times.
This experience left me feeling uneasy and embarrassed that I brought my friends to this restaurant. The waiters were complete dicks, and I got the feeling they didn’t like our group because we were of mixed ethnicity. All of the other seemingly Korean people in there got large dishes of banchan and better service.

This Korean restaurant has best pork bone soup. I have been going here since high school and the taste hasn’t be blemished one bit. Lived in Korea for a year and still the best I have tasted. And the icing to the cake, it is truly ²⁴⁄₇. If you don’t want a big mac and, would like to enjoy a nice meal during your mid night cravings or munchies after long run at a bar/​party. This is definitely the place to be.
Thank you for all the good years!

Good 24 – 7 restaurant

ITS CASH ONLY
But it’s so damn good, you may not care about the service fees for using the in-​restaurant ATM machine (which I’m sure they get paid from)

I used to go to the Yonge and Finch location religiously. This is the first time I’ve gone to the Bloor location. Customer service here is MUCH better — very friendly male workers. However, the pork bone soup wasn’t as good (still enjoyable though) and I was disappointed that they didn’t have the pickled cucumbers like Yonge and Finch location has. They only accept cash here.

No wonder this place has low rating.
We were gonna go to paldo besides owl, but it was fully booked so we went to owl instead. Owl is always good we thought. Wrong! The menu were different from other owls we’ve been to. I thought it is cool to try out some different dishes, so I ordered a mushroom and squid (there’s option with bulgogi) stew. I wasn’t expecting much, but when I got he stew I was pretty disappointed. There were «sprinkles» of squid in it, probably 2 tablespoons of it, and very few thinly sliced mushroom, I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t a full mushroom in it. Then the rest were tofu, bean sprout, lots of onion and some zucchini. Why is it not named bean sprout and onion stew??? Also, it was supposed to be a stew, but tasted very light like vegetable broth. Paid 10 bucks for this, pretty pricey for what I got. I could’ve gone to bukchangdong soon tofu (which was across the street!) for a better tofu stew that actually taste amazing and cheaper with fast service.
The stir fried squid was not bad, it was weird that they don’t have stir fried chicken which is usually a regular dish at owl.
The service of this place was good, but the food took pretty long, around 20mins. Banchan were not served until 5 mins before the dishes came, not a big deal though. The food though… made me double check if this was an owl knock off. Really didn’t like my food, will not come back again.

Service was good and food came out fast but nothing out of the ordinary.

The bibimbap picture was a lot better than what was served, almost zero beef, had better at least 6 other places in Korea town. Would never return, was tough on the stomach, gross. Nice sign though, i like owls.

Had the Kam Ja Tang (pork bone soup), and wouldn’t order it from here again. Meat was pretty good but broth was way too salty. By the end of my meal, all I could taste was salt. Sides were just ok as well (potato, bean sprouts, kimchi, radish, and pork skin).
Besides the food — service and atmosphere was good. Open 24 hrs which is a plus. However, there are so many options in koreatown that are so much better.

Came here for the kamjatang (pork bone soup) which is my personal favorite Korean dish. Although i was starving it still tasted mediocre. The broth was salty with not much other dimension to it. The pork bone was decent, meat was tender. I’ve definitely had a lot better but you can’t beat that cheap price.
Also got JeYukBokeum which is a stone plate with pork and vegetables and spicy sauce. This was decent but again, maybe because of the kamjatang, everything just started tasting salty. Ended up taking the JeYukBokeum home and remaking it for lunch the next day. Probably won’t go back unless I really had no other choice.

Good food after a night out drinking. The pork bone soup is hearty and delicious. Really great on a cold night as well.
Ambiance is definitely not 5 star but it’s do-​able.

I’ve always wanted to try Owl because of the many good things I hear about it. I came here for dinner with one of my friends today. My friend ordered the pork bone soup and I ordered the ox tail soup. Both soups came with white rice and a few side dishes.
I did not expect the ox tail soup to be BLAND. The first sip of the soup tasted like water with a hint of ox tail flavour. Just a tad hint! I had to spoon in some salt and some spices they had. After flavouring the soup, it just tasted like water mixed with salt and a bit of spice. I was not impressed. I tried by friend’s pork bone soup and it was delicious, however I’ve had better. (My friend said the same as well). The side dishes were not that great either…
Another obeservation I’ve noticed is that the soup was not that hot even though it was served in a stone bowl. Usually, when soup is served in a stone bowl it’s super hot to the point that it burns your tongue. The stone bowls help conserve the heat while you’re munching away however, in my case… it didn’t own up to its responsibility.): Perhaps, the soup was not served hot to begin with so I shouldn’t be blaming the stone bowl haha.
Nevertheless, it was an inexpensive meal. The pork bone soup was about $ 8 and the ox tail soup was about $ 9. I might visit Owl again, but for now… it’s a low 3 stars for me.

Came here with my family for dinner. It has a cozy feel to it, although a pretty good size restaurant for ktown.
I ordered the beef bugolgi. It was strips of sirloin with mixed vegetables and rice cake pieces. Mostly all dishes come with a side of rice. The meal was good! Very hearty and filling. It’s tasty, but not mindblowingly delicious, although I have absolutely no regrets.
I got to try my mom’s pork bone soup and my sister’s soft tofu soup with seafood. I didn’t really like the pork bone soup. It was overly salty and had a bitter taste to it, I’ve had better. The soft tofu soup was yummy! Has a homemade authentic taste.
Service was alright, they were pretty friendly. Cash only, they have an atm in the restaurant. Would come again.

Awesome late night korean food as they’re open ²⁴⁄₇.
My favourites are the pork bone soup, sweet and spicy deep fried chicken. sweet and spicy squid and the kalbi ribs. They also give a variety of banchan, but of those the potatoes are the best.

The pork bone soup broth was a bit bland… The meat was impeccably soft though
Dumplings were great, short ribs were full and flavourful… I was pleasantly surprised
With so many bars around I’m glad this place is 24hrs

There is no better place for late night Korean food after a club. The food here is authentic Korean and everything from the side dishes are delicious! My favourite and the most famous meal on the menu here is their pork bone soup. It comes with a select amount of side dishes such as kimchi, potatoes, bean sprouts, etc. and they refill them as you eat. The pork bone meat is fall off the bone goodness and I often pick every last bit as it tastes so good!
All in all they are a great place to eat and very inexpensive for a Korean restaurant in Toronto. Probably my favourite Korean place to eat and the fact they are open late night all week is a bonus.
Can’t wait for my next trip back here!

Have come here quite a few times– it used to be after clubbing in my ‘younger’ days, and now I’ve been coming here in a more sober state. Maybe it’s because I’m more sober during my visits now, but I’ve noticed their quality in their food has started to decline. Most recently the khanpung-​gi (spicy sweet and sour chicken) came with hardly any chicken, too much batter and way too deep fried. I still enjoy their Budae jigae (Korean stew with kimchi, sausage, spam, ramen noodles, mandu) — salty but that’s the way it’s supposed to be! Cheap beer, and they give you lots of panchan dishes to start. They don’t hesitate to refill them when you ask.

Very tasty! Had the pork and kimchi soup. It came with rice and some other small side dishes. Very reasonable prices. Will definitely return to try some other dishes.

Loved this place! great authentic Korean food, fresh, open late, great k-​pop ;)
Would definitely come back!

Minerva only has three stars on Unilocal?The nerva!
This brightly lit, slightly dirrrrty dame is my friend. She’s always there for me, no matter the hour, and she always feeds me quickly. Her deep fried dumplings, her hot pots, her shockingly good pork fried rice. It’s all good.
Do I order her more authentic dishes? No. I’m very confused when it comes to ordering Korean eats, and I’ve accidentally ended up with some pretty questionable (for my taste buds) pickled squid soups before, so I stick to the Canadian-​ized faves. But boy are they faves!
Their dumps are cash only.