Long River Chinese Restaurant

It seems like its been well-​established that the food here is terrible. Seriously, go to Golden Chopsticks just two blocks down. The food is significantly better and cheaper. I wish it was possible to give this place 0 stars.
I do still order from this place only for their hot & sour soup. It’s virtually next door to where I live so I pick it up when I’m feeling sick (tofu-​based soups are a comfort food for me when I’m feeling under the weather). But after my experience tonight, I probably won’t ever come in again.
I went to pick up my soup order this evening, and after waiting almost 15 minutes in the store just to pick it up, I SAW A MOUSE RUN ACROSS THE FLOOR. Mice don’t bother me, but it does bother me when it is in the restaurant where I pick up my food. As soon as I saw where the mouse scurried to, I informed the lady at the front desk of what I just saw. She got up, looked where I was pointing, and didn’t respond. She just sat back down and continued to watch her television show.
These owners obviously don’t care. Tomorrow, I will put in a call to the Philadelphia food safety department. Avoid this place. There is no excuse for eating sub-​par food at a premium from a dirty restaurant.

Seriously the worst chinese dump I have ever had the misfortune of going into.
First, the entire place is filthy — walls, ceiling, counter, table, everything is broken, covered in dust and caked on oil. If this wasn’t Philly I would wonder why this hole has not been shut down by the health department. I guess they have to give food poisoning to an entire law office to have that happen. I don’t imagine it take «long» with this place!
On top of the dirtiness, the staff truly do take rudeness to another level. The one who took my order literally had her cell phone glued to her ear the entire time I was in the restaurant. On top of all this, it took them nearly 15 minutes to make a lunch special. One dish with three ingredients, and brown rice that the cell phone lady microwaved. Yep, fifteen minutes.
The people who are «surprised» by the bad reviews have probably never stepped inside this disgusting pit. Trust me, if any of you do, you will sing a different tune!

The is ok but the staff and delivery people are rude. They charge for delivery and expect you to come to their car. The staff at the restaurant are beyond rude. I called to ask why they expected me to come to their to get my food and the woman on the phone said «not my problem» and hung up on me. They make it obvious they don’t want my business, so I will oblige.

ONE of The worst place ever to go take food, unrespectful staff and food wasn’t good too

placed a pickup order for lunch today. woman who answered the phone was rude. went to pickup my order and waited for 5 minutes and was never acknowledged by the woman behind the counter as other people ordered and picked up. never got to experience the food but one star based completely on the service experience.

I’m surprised by the bad reviews as well. I really like their fried dumplings and general tso’s chicken (and this is coming from an Asian person who used to work in a Chinese restaurant!). Their portion sizes are pretty hefty but I deducted a couple of stars because the other food is pretty standard and forgetful, delivery can be slow sometimes, and the store could use a face-​lift since it is pretty outdated/​old looking. I’ve tried other Chinese takeouts in the area and this is my go-​to spot.

Worst place ever! Deserves zero rating. Worst chinese takeout iv ever had in my life. Part of my order was wrong and the other part had gelatin clumps in it (took pictures) and they refused a refund. Not to mention their version of vegatables consist of onions and maybe a few sliced carrots! Thats it! Cheap and disgusting/​rude people. The lady was a rude b****. She told me I was wrong and the food didn’t have gelatin. She said no one complains. Honestly the food was nauseating and I couldn’t even stomache it. Disgusting, dirty, rude, and unsanitary restaurant. Don’t order!

We call this place «Wrong River» because the food is just so wrong. I ordered takeout here a few times a few years ago, each time hoping it would get better, but then made the switch to Golden Chopsticks, and then to I Tea when they moved in and haven’t been back since. The dishes consist of a few pieces of whatever meat you ordered (and it isn’t good), two huge pieces of broccoli, and then onions, lots of onions. Could never finish the food (and I LOVE Chinese food so much that I could eat it for every meal every day), and often felt a little sick afterwards. If you must eat here, I suggest getting one of the noodle dishes because they’re pretty standard.

I’m actually surprised at how many bad reviews there are for here. This is my go-​to Chinese food in Fairmount. I always get sesame chicken and lo mein and always enjoy it. The portions are also very generous and at a low price. It’s not the best Chinese food I’ve ever had but I certainly don’t hate it and continue to go back. The delivery man always comes quick on his scooter and they always throw in a drink for free. Only thing I’d recommend is not to see the place in person because it’s pretty dilapidated looking, and I hate knowing I’m eating from there (I always stick with delivery). The lady on the phone isn’t always the friendliest, but I think that is partly due to a language barrier besides, that doesn’t change the taste of the food.

Placed plenty of take out orders here and was a repeat customer until a month before I was about to move out of my apartment at Spring Garden.
Not that any time I ordered from here was ever pleasant but the one time they had messed up my order, I had an argument with the lady upfront. All I stated was that I ordered a beef with broccoli and not chicken with broccoli.
Instead of correcting her mistake she proceeded to try to force me to take my order and leave. I proceeded to calm myself and ask them to remake my order, she then asked me to pay more. I pay the 50 cents more, but this was not without resistance from the lady at the front. I’m also pretty sure she was also talking about me to her coworkers during the entire process in her native tongue and constantly sulking.
Overall if you do go to this place and you live around the area I would try to avoid them go a block and a half down to Golden Chopsticks instead they’re a lot nicer. While Long River’s food is slightly better and cheaper, the customer service (via the lady at the front) overwrites that slight upside.

I’ve never had a worse Chinese food experience.
I placed my order to an extremely rude woman at the counter. 30 minutes later she announces that my simple order of orange chicken, chicken lomain, white rice and hot and sour soup was ready.
I walked back to my nearby apartment only to find that they entirely forgot about the lomain and the chicken was obviously reheated several times to a chewy, crunchy inedible consistency.
For cheap Chinese in the Spring Garden /​Fairmount neighborhood I recommend Golden Chopstick only a few blocks down at 18^th and Spring Garden.
Do not go here.

It’s pretty sad to see all these negative reviews about long river. In my opinion, I really like their food. Fast service, large portion, fresh and delicious food. What else can you ask for? Their general Taos chicken is a top notch, highly recommended:)

If you want a lot of good food for a small price, come here.
Not the most amazing choices ever and not a very good menu selection but you definitely get a bang for your buck, size wise at least. Great for a big group when you want leftovers too.
Didn’t take long to deliver as well.
People in person are nice sometimes too but usually prefer delivery man because he’s extra friendly and usually nicest at the door.
Decent food for very decent price btw.
Quantity is the key here though.

Why does a place like this even exist? Who actually wants this prime location across from CCP to be occupied by this restaurant? What population does this place serve aside from people who have no taste and love to get diarrhea?
I am eating the shrimp fried rice as we speak. The shrimp basically crumbled in my mouth as if they were reconstituted with water from powder. The rice is gummy and an uncomfy shade of brown (no, it’s not brown rice). The only nod to the meager, predicatible, but lovable vegetable family which usually populates fried rice is some diced onion. That’s it: 5 shitty shrimp, a glop of gloppy tinted rice, and some onion.
To whomever it was in these reviews who said they could «vouch for the fried rice», I suggest you reevaluate what it means to attest to the relative goodness of something before you post here. Otherwise why bother? And who cares that this place is the closest to your house, guy-who-just-comes-here-cuz-it’s-close? Go somewhere else, somewhere you can stand behind! Somewhere you enjoy! Let’s get rid of these filthy places by choosing to walk an extra three blocks to a place that actually gives a damn.
Screw off, Long River, and take your ilk with you. You’re a plague, and you deserve no patronage.

One of the worst! Place looked unclean. Ordered shrimp with bok Choi and it was so plain, had no seasonings! ! it was a waste of time n money. NEVER AGAIN!

Long River Chinese offers pretty serviceable Chinese takeout. The food I’ve ordered (Beef and Broccoli, Wonton soup, and some other standards) has been good, but not outstanding. It’s fairly average for Philly’s standard takeout places.
The first thing you will notice when you walk in the door is the smell. It’s not pleasant, some kind of mixture of ammonia, egg rolls, and maybe cleaning supplies. Not a great smell, and it’s ultimately the smell that caused me to stop ordering from Long River.

I was feeling under the weather this past weekend so thought Chinese food would be the perfect comfort food. My husband and I decided to order from Long River since we’ve ordered it in the past. The problem is that there are so many Chinese restaurants in the area, we can’t keep them straight. Unfortunately, we didn’t remember the sub par food here and didn’t check Unilocal before ordering.
We started with two quarts of Wonton Soup. I judge a Chinese restaurant by its Chinese soup and this was not a good sign. The brooth was bland and flavorless. Aside from the wonton’s, there weren’t any other veggies or pieces of pork in the soup.
We split the Chicken Chow Ho Fun which was actually decent. It was a little greasy overall but we both enjoyed the large pieces of chicken accompanied by snow peas and onion.
I had a side of brown rice and my husband had a side of white rice. His came in a traditional Chinese food carton and my came in a small soup dish. My rice was cold and tasted dry. It quite possibly could have been sitting around for a while before it made its way over to me.
My fortune cookie was stale but my fortune was good. That counts for something right?
On the plus side, we had prompt delivery. We ordered from GrubHub and they estimated a delivery time of 6:15 — 6:30. It was a pleasant surprise when the food showed up an hour early. That could have been a mess though if we weren’t home and purposely ordered our food for 6:15.
I need to cross check this review next time I start considering Long River.

Where do I begin… If I could rate this place below a zero… I would! The service was horrible. I’m pretty sure she disrespected me in her native tongue because I asked for a to go container, which she charged me an extra dollar for!
We stood in their cramped dining area which was littered with open packages of fried noodles and looked like something out of a Saw film. We waited for at least half an hour for our food. And when we got it, it became obvious that the lady at the counter didn’t even take my friend’s full order and proceeded to argue with her about it as if it was her fault that the lady was too busy talking to her buddies, which I might add just stood there like they had no idea they were suppose to be working.
We’re college students and were studying, looking for dinner close to campus. The 40mins it took to walk over there, wait for our food and walk back, was a complete waste of time as the food was utterly disgusting, and we could not force ourselves to finish.
In conclusion, I have half a mind to report them to the Health department for the state of their restaurant. The only upside to this experience is that I now have a plastic to go container to use for future lunches. This was absolutely the worst dining experience I have ever had in my entire life. If there is someone that I hate so much that would wish food poisoning on, this would the restaurant that I would send them to. NEVER EAT HERE.

This Chinese restaurant is around the corner from my house. I have been there a total of four times. One time they over charged my debit card and would not have informed until I checked my account online while in the restaurant. My total was 14.99 and they charged my card for 149.99. I had to get them to correct that. NOTE TO EVERYONE: BRING CASH. On several occasions I have asked them not to put nuts in a meal and they STILL left the nuts in. Once I have asked them to make the dish spicy and it was no where near a hint of spicy. Their food to me is nothing amazing nor does it make my taste buds dance. Long story short go to any other Chinese Restaurant on Spring Garden than this one

Shrimp lo mein: lacked a little seasoning but really good. Small was good for 2 people.
Pork moo shu: really good. Good flavor. Rice patty was hard due to the delivery but still good.
Crab Rangoon: average. A bit too much cream cheese.
Shrimp dumplings: average. Lacked flavor.