Chen’s Bistro

Went back to Chen’s for the first time in a long time. The food on the bar hasn’t changed much — and that may be able to be taken literally. It actually looks as if it hasn’t changed.
Since they charge so much — something like $ 15 for lunch these days — you would think they could do better. Their soft-​serve ice cream machine is broken. When you ask if items will be replaced, you get a blank stare.
The good news is that the hibachi is generally good. They also have a noodle (not sure if this is correctly called phở) station. But you really have to ask for it, as it’s not advertised. It’s right next to the hibachi.

Customer service needs to be worked on at Chen’s Bistro. After a long day around the corner at the DMV, my husband and I were starving. We walked to Chen’s and thought it would be good to try.
The hours posted on the outside were not the most recent and a bit confusing (e.g., lunch stops at 3:30 and dinner starts at 4:30…what happens between 3:30 and 4:30?). Because we saw people eating and it was 3:50, we went in to see if they were serving. As we walked in, one hostess greeted us with a friendly smile. When we asked if they were serving, she looked at another employee and they weren’t sure how to respond. She said, «Well, we stop serving lunch in 10 minutes and then the dinner starts.» So, does that mean we can eat? Both employees looked confused and didn’t offer us the lunch that was currently being served or the dinner that was to follow. My husband and I looked at one another and just left… confused.
I don’t think I’ll return. However, I cannot speak to the food quality. From the door, it looked like they served a lot. If you choose to go, just make sure it is during a peak time… the off-​peak times is when it gets fuzzy.

This is an awesome Chinese buffet. I’d say it’s second only to Tin Tin in the area for Chinese buffet awesomeness. They’ve got everything you could imagine. I especially like the vegetarian dumplings, but really, it’s all good.
There are three or four buffet bars, so anything you might want is going to be there. There are kind of boring options for the kids and grannies among your party, but there are also fun, weird things on the special bar. Not as many weird things as you’d find at Tin Tin, but enough to make it worth a trip in to check them out.

I’ve been to Chen’s Bistro both for lunch and dinner, so I’ll start with my many lunch experiences. We normally go to Chen’s on our lunch break from work if we’re very, very hungry. Why? We eat like pigs and then regret that stuffed feeling the rest of the afternoon.
Chen’s has three rows of food options on their buffet, as well as a small sushi buffet. For a Chinese buffet, it’s quite good, and there is a large variety of hot entrees to sample. Of course, they have your typical General Tso’s chicken, beef with broccoli, sesame chicken, etc., and all are as they should be. For those less daring, there are chicken nuggets, french fries, etc. And for those really daring, try the «specialty» bar where you’ll find chicken feet among the choices. Um… none for me, thanks, I’m full. But at least you know that it’s probably «authentic.» I usually pass on their sushi bar. The items I’ve tried don’t measure up to any good sushi I’ve ever eaten so I stick to the hot stuff.
They have an a la carte lunch menu as well, but for an extra buck, you may as well spring for the buffet to sample a variety of items… as much as you want.
We went there once for dinner. Big mistake. It was on a weekend when they raise their dinner buffet price from $ 11.95 to $ 18.95. Ouch. Why the big jump? They add crab legs to the buffet. Crab legs that I don’t even eat because it’s too much work for what you get. So we ended up paying almost 3x as much for dinner as we normally pay for lunch… for the exact same items. Next time we’ll stick to the big buffet lunch and a light, sensible (and cheap!) dinner.