Chan's Restaurant Cantonese & Mandarin

I don't know who Chan is, but if I met him, I'd tell him he shouldn't be a restaurant owner. Visit Chan's for cheap but mediocre food, a non-attentive staff, and an eerie dining experience.

I thought I had gone to the wrong place based on the decent reviews, but alas, I had not. Being the only diner in the joint at noon on a weekday was eerie, and immediately I wondered if it was a fluke. Everything happens for a reason, and I quicky discovered why. Not a fluke. The food was sub-par, the selection was limited, and the waitstaff was pre-occupied.

Where do I start? I don't expect much ambiance and award-winning design from a strip mall restaurant, but the broken door handle on the outside door should have tipped me off to what was to come. Amid tired decor, I sat down at a sticky table with sticky sweet and sour/hot mustard sauce containers and food splashes on the wall, wondering "Where is the cleanliness the other reviewers promised?" And it was quiet. No music in the dining room - just the whirr of a fountain drink machine, and a strange beeping sound coming from the kitchen area. It was so quiet, I could hear the waitress talking in the kitchen, which stopped when the cheesy doorbell prompted her to come into the dining room when the other two patrons arrived.

Food was disappointing. I sampled the buffet: bland fried rice, a potsticker that was so bad I considered spitting it out, and some other non-memorable items like crab rangoon, egg roll, spicy beef and chicken, green beans, and noodles. All were either bland or greasy. I was surprised that the green peppers in the spicy beef and chicken were actually crunchy and not overcooked. I heard the other patrons rave about the egg rolls being so good. Let's just say I suspect they aren't made on site.

I forgave the wait staff for not offering me a menu since I thought I knew I was there for the buffet. She was preoccupied, and obviously helping in the kitchen since she was there most of the time. The entire transaction was this: "Buffet? You want a drink?". I ate, and then she silently brought me the check.

The only plus is that I paid less than $10 for the buffet with tip included. But if your bill is less than $10, you must pay cash.

Do yourself a favor: skip Chan's and go to Tina's Bakery or Aha Sushi at the other end of the strip mall. It'll be a whole different experience.

1 star
Visited 5/14/13

Chan's is a typical, clean Chinese restaurant with a full menu. They have a decent hot & sour soup and a couple of other good options. We generally get the Sichuan Green Beans which are awesome and not so common for Chinese restaurants around here. Otherwise, service is friendly and prompt, the atmosphere is quiet and I've not really been disappointed, just never wowed, either.

This review is strictly on the take out food... I rarely eat at restuarants, but love take out.  My husband and I saw this on yelp and we were excited that they delivered as our favorite take out Chinese place does not.  Of course we were sober so we picked up on this particular night.  

The food was okay, not great, not terrible, just okay.  We had orange chicken and mongolian beef.  The beef was tender, could have used more seasoning and the chicken was all dark meat.  That is not a terrible thing and some people like that, but we tend to like the white meat chicken.  The quality just didn't seem to be as high as our favorite place.  SO; would we try it again?  Sure, after a few cocktails when we wouldn't drive, we may try the delivery.  I think we would stay with the beef dishes though, we always have a salt shaker (or soy sauce) at home.