Van Phat Chinese Restaurant

Van Phat. Yes! Born and raised in Chicago on Chinese restaurants! This is one of the best in my opinion. Ginger Chicken is insane, and my all time fav go to, Shrimp Kow, is done exactly as i remember it the first time I had the dish when i was two, back in 1910!  I'll keep coming back! As it was in the good ole days for me at Linn's Garden (RIP), the staff is friendly, and always want to give you a free can of pop! Service is fast, and the food is cheap!

The decor is fabulously tacky and the space very clean.  Egg Fooyung and egg rolls were delicious, and the staff was very sweet.  It's a no frills chinese place and it tries to be nothing more, which is fabulous! I'll be back for sure.

I ordered take out from here not too long ago.  It was my first time trying food from Van Phat, and I knew it was more of a Chinese Dive than a nice Chinese restaurant, but I have had decent Chinese foods from slop shops before and expected this place to be about the same. I was very disappointed.

On the upside, the people working there were friendly and my food was ready when they said it would be.

On the downside, the food was terrible!  I have never seen such god awful food in my life.  The meat in all the dishes were barely cooked, colorless, flavorless strips of mystery meat that is likely from the alley rats outside the restaurant.  The fried rice was terrible, the sweet and sour sauce unbearable, and the crab rangoon was a tasteless puff of cream cheese with no trace of crab.  The egg rolls were greasy and totally unappetizing.  We ended up throwing away most of what we ordered because we just couldn't stomach it.

I do not recommend this place. Very surprised it is still in business.