The Owl of Minerva

The portions are generous and taste are good. Servers are attentive. The space and sitting area are a little tight.

TL:DR - jack of all trades place, but you're going to miss out on fun stuff!

The Owl of Minerva isn't going to make the Michelin list, nor is it going to make the top ten places you gotta eat at or on anyone's bucket list. Depending on what you ate, it might make the other list that rhymes with Buck't! For those who need a further clue on this...there is no cure for you! :(

Ever go to a Chinese Mall and there is that one shop with more paper on their food court wall than any other? You know the one. Looks like a crazy lunatic took multicolour Post-It Notes and plastered the whole store and wrote every possible dish in existence on it! The F'd (yes that is the word for rhymes with Buck't - no more clues!!!!) thing is that the one guy, with the one wok can cook every single dish on the wall! Holy crap right?!?

Well...that's the Owl. You can basically go in and get every traditional Korean meal and with cheap beer - for those who need a little more excuse to eat K-Comfort Food.

The main dish that the average customer that goes to this location is...drum roll..badabadabadabada....booom! The Pork Bone Soup! Yeah...this meal continues to set back Korean gastronomic contributions to society. Along with chicken and cheese! Holy crap (and I do mean crap!) we're lactose intolerant!!!

If an Asian walks into the place and don't utter a Korean salutation, the Ajimas (older ladies) are already whipping up a PBS for you. They already know. A guy that sat well after me, got his meal first since they were already cooking it as he walked through the parking lot!!! LOL!

Yes. The PBS is acceptable. As the weather warms up, MurNangMyun becomes a favourite. Cold noodles in a sweet beef broth with all the fat chilled and scooped out. It's quite good and the Owl does a decent job of it.

Other dishes that you might want to try are on the wall! Yes...in pictures and various pieces of paper! Roll your eyes now and chuckle!!!

Cheers!

Wanted to try a Korean restaurant here in Canada. My uncle recommend this place. The restaurant is pretty good. It can fit about 8 tables. The staff is friendly they recommend what is good to eat. We order different type of foods. It came pretty fast and it is very delicous. We will come back here again. Thank you for great services and foods.

I had the pork bone soup (gamjatang) here and can say that it is just as great as the other Owl's! (PS I LOVE gamjatang from Owl, and for a good long while, it was the only thing I'd order at any Korean restaurant.

Contrary to what other reviewers here mentioned, the customer service was very warm and welcoming. Our server was friendly and cared about our stay and enjoyment of their food.

Parking is a bit tough here, as it shares the lot with a Malaysian restaurant and a McDonald's. Especially in the winter when several spaces are taken by mountains of snow and ice.

I love this place. I don't know what else to say. Nothing beats a hot stone bowl full of pork bone soup when it's -10C outside and snowing. Their Bi Bim Bap is also tasty.

I believe Pork Bone Soup is what the Owl of Minerva is famous for. It's a staple that you absolutely have you try if you're going to check out this place. It also happens to be one of the cheapest items on the menu.

As of December 2017, they've updated their menu. Now, every item is accompanied by a picture, making it super easy to point at whatever you want to order.

Personally, The Owl of Minerva, be it the Yonge St location or the Major Mack location, is one of my favourite Korean restaurants. They pay attention to the quality of food they serve.

Probably one of the best places in town for pork bone soup. It's flavorful and they really pile on the meat. Service was pretty good too, food came out fast and the waitress was very nice. She kept telling me and my friend to keep chatting as long as we want and never rushed us to leave. Overall it was good experience.

A typical Korean restaurant, but I find the spicy food more sweet than spicy, especially the stir fried ramen. The tuna kimchi stew only had one small block of tuna (around 3x3 cm). Portions are pretty decent though, more than enough for an average person.

Cold Canadian winter and hot Korean food is a match made in heaven.

It was freezing. We wanted food that made our bodies burn, so we went for hot (temperature) and spicy (taste) Korean food. Mom ordered a stone bowl bibimbap. I ordered a squid with rice, served on cast iron plate. There were 3 choices of spiciness: green chilli (mild), orange chilli (spicy), and red chilli (very spicy). I chose orange chilli. It was VERY spicy to me. Lesson learned: this location of Owl keeps the authentic level of Korean spiciness. There is no wimpy watered down spiciness here.

Now that I have gotten the warning out of the way, I can brag about the food. I love the spicy squid. It tasted devious. The squid was not over cooked. It was still soft. The sauce was rich. I loved mixing the sauce with the rice. My mom loved the bibimbap, though I thought the rice was a bit too soggy. I also wish they used better grain. Both entrées were well portioned.

This is a hole in a wall. Services was customary down to earth yet sufficient. There is no pretentious classiness or ambiance, and I like it just fine.

Good place to grab a quick lunch or dinner if you are craving some Korean dishes. Have been coming to Owl of Minerva for quite a few years and the food has generally been alright.

One of my favourite dishes here is the pork bone soup which will definitely fill you up. The portions are huge and you have unlimited side dishes when you are dining in the restaurant. You tend to get a lot less though if you are doing takeout. The fish cake soup I got this time was a lot less flavourful than some of the other dishes so trying out another item on the menu.

The prices here are fairly reasonable you will likely be paying $10 per person. Parking is fairly difficult to find here during peak time so you may have to spend a bit of time going around the plaza before you find a spot. Overall if you live around the area this is a good option to grab some dinner.

- Located on Bayview Ave (Bayview/Major Mac intersection), across a strip plaza of Shoppers Drug Mart
- Limited parking available within the plaza
- Decor inside is very plain, simple
- Restaurant size can fit around 30-40 people
- Service is good, staff are friendly and nice

- Menu items are the same as their other locations
For 5 people, we ordered 2 shareable pots - Pork Bone Soup and Army Style

Pork Bone Soup
- not spicy at all (even though we didn't request spice adjustment)
- comes with dumpling, rice cake, potatoes and veggies
- meat was tender, boiled to the right level (plenty of quantity as well)
- soup was alright, nothing too particular, but comforting and add a kick for the bowl of rice

Army Style
- not spicy as well (no adjustments)
- comes with spam, sausage, enoki mushroom, instant noodles, veggies
- soup was alright as well
- very comforting feeling, mixed well with all the ingredients together

- All 5 of us were pretty full from the meal
- Banchan (side dishes) were good too, and can be refilled upon request (had kimchi, carrot, cucumber, bean sprouts)

Been coming to Owl for a long time at differ locations as well - this one is consistent with their other locations, so more convenient for others within the neighbourhood.

Tip - they don't usually give you the change when you pay in cash, remember to always ask.