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.
Review Source:This review is strictly on the take out food... I rarely eat at restuarants, but love take out. Â My husband and I saw this on yelp and we were excited that they delivered as our favorite take out Chinese place does not. Â Of course we were sober so we picked up on this particular night. Â
The food was okay, not great, not terrible, just okay. Â We had orange chicken and mongolian beef. Â The beef was tender, could have used more seasoning and the chicken was all dark meat. Â That is not a terrible thing and some people like that, but we tend to like the white meat chicken. Â The quality just didn't seem to be as high as our favorite place. Â SO; would we try it again? Â Sure, after a few cocktails when we wouldn't drive, we may try the delivery. Â I think we would stay with the beef dishes though, we always have a salt shaker (or soy sauce) at home.
Chan's has been our default for Chinese since moving to the area. We weren't looking for much -- just a decent place for those lazy evening when Chinese is the only thing that sounds good.
It's family owned and operated. Service is consistently good and attentive. It never seems busy when we're there, but we see a lot of take out traffic at the front counter.
We regularly upgrade to a full dinner for a couple of extra bucks. It includes two crab rangoon, an egg roll, and soup. The crab rangoon are great -- crispy and not greasy. Their eggroll is easily one of my favorites. And I prefer the wonton soup to anything else -- huge, well-stuffed wontons in a flavorful broth.
After all of that, I generally just bring home my entree and rice. My go-to orders are the sesame chicken or the orange chicken. Their fried rice is nothing spectacular. I must have been spoiled by fried rice in my youth because lately it all just seems to be white rice with soy sauce in it.
Entrees are a generous portion -- plenty for leftovers even if you choose to eat there, which I recommend. If you're going to drive all the way there to pick it up anyway, you may as well make yourself cozy in a red pleather booth.
This place is actually a really solid choice if you're in Gurnee.
My husband and I went for lunch one super random day, and this place really hit the spot when we were craving a little Americanized-Chinese food.
It's super clean, and the waitress/owner was incredibly nice. The prices are reasonable-if not a tad high for lunch, and the food was good. What more can you really ask for?
THIS PLACE HAS DUAL LISTINGS IN YELP! - which is annoying as it is tougher to ascertain the true average of this restaurant. Â So, I am listing the same review in both places. Â The other place is listed as Chan's Restaurant Cantonese & Mandarin with the same address.
This place is pretty close to my house, and I must admit that it is pretty GROSS! Â I saw the reviews and was hoping this neighborhood place was good, but just not up to snuff. Â My wife had her bell weather sweet and sour Chicken, and it was poor quality Chicken. Â I had the General Tso and it was a little tough to eat.
Now, it seems that our experience is significantly different than some other extremely awesome reviews here, of which I do not like the inconsistency being a stats guy and all. Â So, I will continue to monitor the reviews for this place to see if I continue to be an outlier and just a bad night of takeout, or if there is truly a bad trend going on here, and may re-review it at some point in the future. Â At this point, my two area favorites are either that Panda place half mile up the street at Milwaukee and Grand (SW corner), or Tang's on Rt 45 just North of 120. Â Neither of these two are fantastic, but are passable 4 star restaurants, which is tops here in Northern Lake County
First, this place is family owned. I will always spend $ at a family owned place, versus a chain.
I got the Mongolian Beef. The beef was extremely tender, and very well spiced. It was empty, because it was a Sunday night (I think right before closing). But they still checked on me often, and filled up my soda when I needed it.
I brought my mom some Egg Foo Young home. She said that it was very good. Moist, and REALLY well flavored!
Dependable great Chinese food. Owned by a family- they actually work the restaurant themselves- for I'm guessing 20+ years. I've been eating their food for about 15 years or more, since I was a little kid. Its competitively priced and very prompt service. Their egg rolls and crab rangoon are my favorite, I hold most places to this standard when it comes to these items. A quart of their wonton soup (only $3 something) is pretty much the best ever when you have a cold! While I usually order take out, they have a great lunch buffet/specials, and a nice small dining room.
Review Source:This place is a pretty good option up here in Lake County. I've never dined at the restaurant; only delivery. They are always at my house pretty fast. The food is good and hot. It is the only place I've found in Lake County with good moo shu that uses the right type of pancakes. All of the other places try to substitute flour tortillas (which are horrible with mu shu). I've also had the beef-green bean, a few of the noodle dishes, fried rice, and the chicken egg rolls. Everything was pretty good (for Lake County). If this place were in Chicago, I would probably only give it 3 stars, since there are way better options in the city. But to find something this good in Gurnee was a welcomed find. Make sure to ask for sweet and sour sauce if you want it with your delivery order because it's never in my bag.
Review Source:I cant write a novel over basic Chinese food, but i can say that this place is worthy of much more than one person giving them a review.
The food is basic and offers your taste buds nothing new you haven't experience before while eating Chinese food.Please take this as me complimenting them in a different kind of way.
I mean no harm in that last statement. What i mean is that Chan's offers you a wonderful take out experience without a lot of hassle ,and the food is decent enough for what your paying for.
This being a restaurant in Gurnee i give it 4 stars because the food is fresh, fast and worthy of getting.Ive had it a few other times in the past and haven't had any horror stories ..That's all i can give you since it's not like you couldn't find the same food elsewhere up the street around the corner from you somewhere.. just telling the truth.
Chan's is located in the Saratoga plaza with over a dozen different stores..Ill just name them because I'm sure nobody in Lake County has wrote a review for them.
An animal clinic,Well's Fargo,Med Spa,a barber shop,Northside Community bank,ChurchHill Photography,Sun palace tanning,and American Family Insurance..
Lots of places to go and things to do on your way out to get some Chinese food... and one more i forgot(just looked at my list again). They have a Jenny Craig if you ever decide to get your weight in order after eating all of that high carb Chinese food!
Have been looking for a good chinese place in Gurnee ever since Yao Yao closed, and this unfortunately was not the replacement we've been looking for. Â The pot stickers were okay but were lacking in a lot of ways, the pot sticker sauce was weird, a more goopy gel like sauce than the normal thin liquid I'd been used too. Â The sesame chicken seemed very subpar, like McDonalds chicken nuggets dipped in sesame sauce. Â The Chicken Lo Mein wasn't terrible, but was using the more white noodles which I didn't like compared to the golden brown noodles and look I'm used too.
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