China Chef

There is a shortage of Chinese takeout in the area. That being said, I’m only giving China Chef an «A-​OK» rating because it’s the ONLY Chinese takeout within reasonable distance of the Aurora University area. If anyone knows of any others, let me know!
Otherwise, compared to others, China Chef is really only about 2-​stars, because I’ve definitely had better.
The egg rolls were not good. I did not even finish eating them. A bad eggroll kind of ruins the whole deal for me. The crab rangoon were enormous, and the portion was quite large, but the quality was missing. The fried rice was just OK. If you’re in the mood for greasy Chinese, it does the job, but I’d be more likely to drive to an old favorite in Plainfield if I were that desperate for Chinese food again.
Their takeout menus do have coupons, but you have to spend an absurd amount of money just to get free egg rolls. Might be worthwhile if you’re feeding a family of four.
This is mostly a takeout place, but there are 3 tables inside the ramshackle restaurant. The lady working here is really nice, and my food was still hot when I got home, but that’s not enough to keep me going back.

Wow, what happened?
I used to order from here all the time and it was always a 5-​star experience. But for various reasons, it’s been over a year since the last time I ordered. This time, the order was fast and hot, as it has always been, but the food left a lot to be desired.
We order quite a bit, 2 entrees, 2 kinds of fried rice, egg rolls, and a couple of appetizers. Every single thing was inferior to what it used to be. The egg rolls were bland, noodles over done and pasty, sweet & sour chicken was tiny, over cooked chunks, pot stickers were just, lousy. The fried rice wasn’t awful but it wasn’t nearly as good as it used to be.
This used to be, by far, our favorite Chinese restaurant. Now, I don’t know if I will risk trying it ever again. I am so disappointed.

This food was disgusting! Worst General Tso chicken I’ve ever had! Odered delivery. Chicken was obviously sitting out all afternoon and the sauce was cold and clumped! Absolutely horrible!

So disappointed. My family and I moved here a little over a year ago. The family who owned the house before us RAVED about this place. So, of course, we had to try it out. The first few times we ordered we could not believe a place like this existed. Great food, great service and super fast delivery! However, as time has gone on, it has ALL gotten worse. We ordered this evening and it took 90 minutes to get our order. We called the restaurant after 80 minutes and the lady who answered didn’t speak English so that just made things a little more frustrating. When we got our food, the food was cold! And the soda was warm! (You can tell the soda was cold at one point due to the condensation on the cans). We live less than a mile from this restaurant. When the delivery driver arrived (we’ve seen him a time or two before), he is usually on his phone (on a personal call). I hate to even say it, but it is highly unlikely that we will order from here again. Very disappointing.

To start off the customer service for delivery was amazing. Not only did the woman verify details of my order but she also called me by name, a small but meaningful gesture given that I have NEVER ordered from this establishment before.
I would say that the food is divey and not that delicious, every body knows to go there, long line, kind of divey. It will fill you but you won’t likely be reaching for more.
I bought fried rice (I would not recommend the shrimp as their texture was something like mush) and the pot-​stickers (which were pretty doughy and soggy by the time they arrived).

The last two times we ordered, we couldn’t even eat our food it was so, so very gross. The sesame chicken was potentially not chicken, and it was grisly and hard and awful. the fried rice was gray. GRAY. It was so terrible, we threw out $ 40 of food. Never. Never again. The place is terrible.

Ordered from here several times and the food is really good! The delivery slow but I do live on the other side of town. I’m really surprised they deliver so far.

~~DONT WASTE YOUR TIME~~~horrible our food never showed up after 2 hours calling and complaining the guy helping us had no idea where our food or driver was… the worst place ever!!! dont count on your food showing up!!! ~~DONT WASTE YOUR TIME~~

It was pretty good! A little too heavy on the water chestnuts, though.

This place was by far the worst. My friend and I decided to get Chinese food but we didn’t really know where to get it really good and not too expensive. So we happen to choose China Chef (nearby). We got there thinking that the food would be great. It was an OK deal: we got Kung Pao Chicken (small) which came with white steamed rice and we got veggie Lo mien noodles. The portions were good for the noodles, but the chicken barely had any CHICKEN in it; it was mostly zucchini and celery. As we got home and began eating, we were OK with what we got. We had spent $ 14 on this meal which isn’t TOO bad. We were nearing the end of our meal and all of a sudden, i notice that a chestnut from the Kung Pao Chicken had these odd grayish spots in the middle. I washed it off and it seemed to clearly be some form of mold/​growth.
I recommend you guys NOT go here. Instead, drive a little further into Downtown Aurora and go to New China Chef. This place has officially disgusted me and will never be going there again. I threw away all the leftovers because I do not find it worth it to HARM my health for just a $ 14 meal. I would have called the guy but I did not feel like arguing with pointless stubborn people.
So there you have it. NEVER GO HERE. Save your health!

I’ve had better & I’ve had worse. Found this place on grubhub as the first Chinese food place to pop up on my search list that would deliver to me. I’ve ordered from here twice (different meals) and have been disappointed both times. They forgot my egg rolls once & another time I got beef instead of chicken. One mistake, I totally get. However, now they’ve messed up two times? Eh, that’s pretty annoying.
The crab rangoons are really good but other than that I’m not impressed with the food. The orange chicken tasted (and looked) like sesame chicken with a few orange peels thrown in. Both the chicken & beef I’ve had from here has been dry. Wasn’t a fan of the egg drop soup or wonton soup either. Both were watered down tasting.
All in all, edible but I’ll be ordering elsewhere.

This place owns, if you’re in the area there’s seriously nowhere else you need to bother with to get Chinese. Everything I’ve ever gotten from here has been great, and I love that they do their lunch specials all day (With a $ 2 up charge for dinner, which I believe also results in a larger portion size?). Their egg rolls, potstickers, and wonton soup are probably my favorite things from here, but again, I’ve never ordered anything that wasn’t great.
My only complaint, and this is pretty minor, is that their «special» stuff only comes in one size. The jalapeño chicken they advertise in the window (as their «daily special» which seems to be… every day) is really great, but a large is just too huge. Being a breaded chicken ordeal, it really doesn’t reheat well, and it sucks to throw so much food away.
I can’t really comment on the delivery as this place is ultra close to my house so it doesn’t make sense to not just go pick it up, but every time I go there the people are super nice, very accommodating, and if they mess up your order they never question just putting a note in their computers to fix it next time you come.

I’ve been wanting to try this place for a while. It’s conveniently located close to home. Don’t let the super tiny hole in the wall appearance spook you! The service is great! The food is prepared quickly. I ordered something basic. I got egg rolls, general so’s chicken, & crab rangoon. The portions were large and well worth the money! Everything tasted great. :) I am so happy I tried this place out. My family will certainly be eating here again.

Solid Chinese food. Coworkers often order from East China Inn, which is also good, but I opted in on a China Chef food run recently and wasn’t disappointed. I like that, unlike ECI, CC does lunch specials at dinner time for $ 2 more. Dinner from Chinese places tends to annoy me because unlike lunch, you’re stuck to ordering one big box of one single thing or paying a lot more for items you would get in a lunch special, such as fried rice and an eggroll.
Hunan chicken portion was huge, three meals’ worth! Shrimp fried rice was decent. The chicken though was really good with a nice spicy brown sauce and vegetables cooked just right, i.e. still crunchy a bit.
All this for $ 7 and change.

Sunday night and wife was working so got on the Unilocal horse and although there were only a few reviews for the China Chef, it only took a little work to determine this was the choice, especially with the Grub Hub connection.
Beef Chow Fun and Orange Chicken. While these are actually both entrees, I had a moment of, «can’t pickem itis», so I ordered both and Glad I did. I only needed one as they gave plenty of food for the price, but they were both good!
Orange Chicken was, «Orangey», enough that I actually tasted some of the orange zest from time to time. It had some spice to it and just enough heat to keep it interesting, as it should in my book.
Chow Fun was absolutely Loaded with Beef and of course, a little salty, but hey… it is Chow Fun and so full of flavor there should be a law against it!
Rice was long grain and not sticky.
I ordered on Grub hub and all updates were right on the money and I love being able to Paypal for dinner, now that is cool! Food was here within 20 minutes and still very hot and plenty of delivery stuff like soy etc.
Overall, good experience and I recommend giving them a try. J and K
Updated Spring of 2014 = That is right… I said Spring! Ok… probably wishful thinking but I digress… needed to update this. Ordered delivery twice since original posting…1^st time took 1hour and 45 minutes for food to arrive; 2^nd Time took 2 full hours for food to arrive and not surprisingly, 2^nd time food was cold. Changed to 3 stars because if they want to advertise delivery, then should have a reasonable delivery time.

I was pleasantly surprised by the food here. It was pretty good for fast food Chinese and also a good value for the portion. There are a few tables inside this small restaurant, but I’m sure most people carryout since it severely lacks ambiance. The service was quick.
Chicken Wings (6) $ 3.25 — These were pretty good, plain and nicely salted.
Sweet and Sour Shrimp (L) $ 8.95 — This comes in the XL take out container, nicely breaded (thick) and deep fried. The sauce is on the side, comes with pieces of pineapples and bell peppers. It comes with a side of rice and you can order a smaller size for $ 5.95.
While I was there, this older gentleman came inside and started complaining to the cashier, who was on the phone taking an order from a customer, «I’ve been trying to call you from my car outside but you haven’t picked up because you’re on the phone!»
Why was he even calling if he was sitting right outside?
I had originally tried ordering from Hong Kong restaurant, which is down the street on the East side of the river, but they were mysteriously closed on a Thursday evening. I’m glad it led me to China Chef.
Location: Google Maps is showing the wrong location for this address. It is located West of the river (not East), just past Lincoln Hwy 31 in the Aurora Food Mart strip mall next to All-​Vac.

tonight is the second time we have ordered from this place and we have thoroughly enjoyed it both times. the singapore mai fun, and general tso’s chicken are spectacular. i would highly recommend them. the crab rangoon and hot and sour soup was great. the kung pow shrimp was pretty good. the sauce lacked a little flavor, and was too thin. it has been a long time since i have had fried rice this good as well. the portion to price ratio is good. we were stuffed for our money. aurora has needed a good Chinese place for a long time. i hope they are here to stay.

Great food and Super Fast Delivery! Orange chicken is one of the best! Two thumbs up!

Had several good meals, but also a couple of bad ones where the beef wasn’t fresh. Hit or miss.