Cheng’s Chop Suey House

(Review based solely on the oyster chicken)
Everyday would be a positive day if each day was filled with oyster chicken, wouldn’t you agree?
If I had to make a list consisting of my top 5 foods, oyster chicken would definitely be on there. As a native of Hilo there’s a sense of nostalgia that we associate with this dish. Any true Hiloan Foodie will tell you that oyster chicken is in their blood and that it was probably a part of their upbringing. If you’re from Hilo, you know that there’s only a hand few of places that make oyster chicken and we all have our favorite places to get it. I’ve always gravitated towards Lings and Ocean Front’s variants because to me, they’re the best. Well, today I decided to give another restaurant’s variant of oyster chicken a try and I loved it. It definitely took me back and made me smile. I was passing Cheng’s after running errand in town today and I decided that I’d pull in and try some oyster chicken. I went in with serious doubts because I grew up eating at Ling’s. Well, all I can say is,…I absolutely loved it! The chicken was cleaned and deboned properly, the crunch on the chicken was perfection and the meat itself was super moist and tender. The oyster sauce was ‘ono too. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I liked Cheng’s oyster chicken more than Ling’s! I rate the oyster chicken itself a ⁵⁄₅ dish.
After today’s gutsy leap of taste, my verdict stands. I believe that Cheng’s and Ocean Front are now the only 2 places I’ll be getting oyster chicken from now on. Today’s venture to Cheng’s instilled excitement within me and I’m super stoked to try and eat my way through the entirety of Chengs’ menu.

Update from my last review… the owner is STILL overcharging the customers! Once again I repeat that I like their food but if you’re getting ripped off every time you go there, you’re gonna lose customers! I’ve been warning friends to check their bill when going there! BBB will be notified!

Great place to eat good, descent Chinese food. The service is fast and the employees are friendly. We had pork tofu ham-​ha, crispy oyster chicken, Kau yuk, crispy roast pork, shrimp canton, and pork abalone soup. The portions are generous and we have left overs for days!!! I highly recommend all of the dishes I mentioned.

I rate this place a minus 4 stars My sister and my autistic nephew and myself walked in with my nephews special needs service dog and was immediately told to leave that the service dog even while wearing a service dog vest was not welcomed after we explained that the dog detects my nephews seizures and that they were breaking the ADA law. Which she the worker of said business was very uneducated about. Plus there were no signs posted. Sorry you messed with the wrong one. We will be filing suit against this business.

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. Negative 5 stars actually. I was refused sit down service due to the counter person’s issues with my son’s service dog. My son is a non verbal, diagnosed epileptic. The dog is able to detect a seizure prior to onset, enabling caregivers to position my son to lessen the chance of injury and choking. Although it makes no difference in the eyes of the law, the dog is not Cujo… the dog is a 20 pound Frenchie that sits at our feet when not on the move. I hope the owners are aware that their employee is in direct violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. If not, I’m sure they will be soon as I have placed my call to the US Department of Justice.

Drop by this place during lunch time. I ordered one choice lunch plate at price $ 7.50. The owner only gave a very small scoop of veggie to go with a large amount of rice. I always have one choice lunch plate including Panda Express, the amount this place gave is ridiculous small, really cannot be considered a meal. I ended up to add one more choice to get by this lunch, and costs almost $ 10. The food is tasteless, I really regret I should just stick to Panda Express, at least I know what quality I can expect. Overall, highly not recommend this place.

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. The owner is beyond rude. Stood at the counter waiting to pay for five minutes with the owner standing right there at the register and instead of helping me, she finished up what she was doing. Another time I asked if there was eggplant and her response was, «Do you see it», in a really rude tone.

Worst service EVER! never going back there again! Me and my family (9 of us) went to dine in. After we ordered our food they brought our hot mustard and it was SPOILED. So the waitress took it back to the owner and we heard the owner in a sassy way say «y what they said» so my mom went to go talk to her. She brings out the batch from the icebox and gave us new hot mustard. Then she uncaps the the squeeze bottle that has the spoiled hot mustard inside and dumps the good batch in with the spoiled batch. Then our food starts coming out and they got some of our orders wrong and we find a wire brush in our fried rice, again my mom took the plate to show the lady. She makes another comment «oh you so lucky you should go to Vegas.» After we finished eating we went up to go pay. We noticed that some things she over charged us! So we went through the entire bill and lookes at the prices, she was throwing on extra charges to our sodas, sides and our plates (half our bill had extra charges on it) WE ARE NEVER GOING BACK! if I could give negative stars I would!!!

Reasonably priced, large portions, tastes good. They accommodate large families. The egg rolls here are GINORMOUS! Need I say more?

Cheng’s…the home of THE best Oyster Chicken. People on the Big Island more so those in Hilo, know exactly where to get that crispy edible gold from!
Usually during lunch is when we try to hit the spot, especially if we’re in the mood for some oyster chicken. When my family joins us, we do ala carte and we order at least 4 – 5 dishes. If it’s just us two, we either get from the hot line or the menu. We get the Full order of Oyster Chicken with Fried rice. The ala carte dishes we get are:
1. Crispy Chicken with Oyster Sauce & Lemon sauce on side.
2. Dai Chop Wui w/​Cake Noodles
3. Crispy Roast Pork
4. Egg Fu Young
5. Shrimp w/​Vegetables
All that plus steamed rice. The food comes out really fast and piping hot. To sum everything up, 5 stars for the food and service!

Chengs is like broke da mouth! I give them money all week long! Their Oyster Chicken, best in all the land.

For a while I’ve been craving Chinese food, so glad I came here.
Food: We ended up getting Egg fu young, lemon chicken, shrimp canton and fried rice, (family style). It was the BOMB! I loved it and I would definitely come back, the lemon sauce was perfect for the crispy chicken, the shrimp canton was puffy and moist the sauce just adds so much flavor of deliciousness.
Service: Food came out super fast! I’d say less the 10 min and it was out! The chef was on point! The waitress was busy at first but none the less awesome and asked if we needed anything else.
Overall well deserved 5 stars

Swang by here yesterday and my whole experience was rather… meh. We went in ‘ohana style and I chose the $ 4.75 crispy gau gee (10) and cake noodles (12). My family opted for a pork dish, as well as canton shrimp and orange chicken.
The pictures really make the dishes seem better than they actually were. The orange chicken had too much breading, the cake noodles were soggy, and the pork dish was drowing in sauce even though it shouldn’t have. The taste was okay.
My main problem was the gau gee. First off it was folded in little triangles and not the normal rectange style. Secondly, there was hardly any meat in it, literally only a micro-​sized bite.
The restaurant just seemed so dirty. One of the workers was peeling ginger in this big box right in the middle of the restaurant during dinner rush. The glass to showcase the hot food needed a serious spray-​down.
I’d much rather go to Happy Valley, or even Panda’s.

Guess what folks … Here I am several months since my initial review figured I give them another chance … OVERCHARGED me 5.48 $$. The owner lady here is a rip off and I am making a report with the better business.

You’re absolutely right, Danielle. I, too, have been overcharged the last two times I went here. The first time I thought it was just a mere oversight, but the next time I had take-​out and when I added it up, it was over priced. Bad deals. Check your receipts people.
As for the food, it’s ok. I liked them better when they were in the old Kaiko’o mall. For some reason it doesn’t taste the same as I remember. Yeah, I have to agree that Panda’s noodles are better.

Oyster chicken was GREAT, until I finished my plate and found a dead German roach swimming in the oyster sauce at the bottom of the plate. Went back and got a refund. Lady wasn’t even sorry she just said ok and gave my money back.

Went by the previous reviews and I’m here to tell you. Don’t listen to them. Here’s the bottom line. If you have been to the mainland and visited the smallest hole in the wall Chinese place and loved it. This is NOT like that. Yes good size restaraunt, but horrible food. Then when we complained about it. Just got a «oh sorry». If you’ve never had Chinese food. Then yes you may like it. This was absolutely the worst Chinese I’ve ever tasted. I thought the prior reviews saying «best in hilo» would at least be adequate. But this was far from it. I’m sad to say. Panda Express is 10 times better than this place.

Thank you Unilocal for giving people the chance to express their comments. I wasn’t gonna write a review about this place but I thought maybe it would help them, Cheng’s Chop Sue House to improve or correct their mistakes if they want their business to survive. Sorry to say that my family had a terrible experience eating lunch there last month. THAT CHINESE LADY, not sure if she’s the owner or just a worker, SHE WAS RUDE!!! I REPEAT, SHE WAS RUDE!!! I wanted to walk out, but our father (88yrs old) was kind’a hungry already. I don’t want to elaborate the whole incident but, I would warn everyone to avoid that lady, if you want to eat at that restaurant. Thanks goodness there’s another lady (Filipina) who helped us instead, she was nice and polite. The food was… so so. Sad to say we will never go back there, that lady should go back to school and learn some good manners and right conduct. I wish Unilocal has a negative star to rate this Cheng’s Chop Suey House. Aloha!