Chen’s

Closed for good as of a month ago.

No longer in business, hurricane sandy killed this place. To bad, it was my Friday night love boat sushi dinner joint.

This is literally the worst Chinese food on the East Coast.

Chen’s fills a much-​needed niche, that of the neighborhood sit-​down Chinese restaurant. It doesn’t do it particularly well, but for locals (like my family), it does it well enough that we convince ourselves to return every couple of months when we dine out with local, non-​culinarily-​adventurous non-​Chinese friends. So Chen’s, thanks for being there when we need you.
Why this place gets at least 2 stars:
–Yes, the décor and furniture is showing its age, but for the area, Chen’s is still one of the better places for a larger group gathering.
–If you’re craving Americanized-​Chinese, not-​too-​greasy favorites like chicken and broccoli or shrimp with lobster sauce, this place will hit the spot. And portions are the bigger side, so you do feel like you get your money’s worth.
Why this place gets no more than 2 stars:
–Maybe I just have a weak palate, but I’ve always found their fish specials to be too salty and over-​sauced/​seasoned (that also goes for the qingzheng, or freshly steamed, kind). Friends half-​joke that that’s because the restaurant is trying to hide the bad underlying quality of the fish. The way I look at it, I want to taste the flavor of the fish, not be overwhelmed by ginger and thirst.
–Really, stick to the Americanized-​Chinese food. We tried ordering more traditional dishes a couple of times, and either: a) they didn’t have the ingredients in stock, b) if they did, the portions are so much smaller than the Americanized dishes, and/​or c) the seasoning/​spice ratio was just off.

Nice dinning not too fancy food is good, service is good. They remember us since we r ordering the same thing every time therefore, we do not need menu jst simply say we would hve the same.

You’re run of the mill Chinese sit down place: Gaudy, fish tank in the front, musk of old carpet… yet the food here is rather decent. I don’t expect good service, in fact I expect to be rushed which unfortunately was the case here. I don’t penalize for service at a Chinese restaurant because it’s always near or below average.
Anyway on to the food. Their lunch prices are really good. Under $ 6 for most popular dishes. Where they get you is the drink so if you are looking to save, just stick with the water. Lunch comes with your choice of soup and a meal. I went with the wonton and it was good. For a meal I go with my go to dish of General Tso’s. The breading wasn’t too crunchy and the chicken tasted fresh. Also the sauce wasn’t spicy at all which was surprising. One of the better GT’s but no comparison to East down the road. For the price, it was worth it.
During lunch expect: to be asked «are you ready» once you are literally seated, a lot of elderly people, soup comes out in 30 seconds after ordering but the meal takes a good amount of time (which is a good sign I guess that it’s being made to order) and your meal to be about $ 9 with drink and tip… not too shabby.
They also have a sushi area (sit down) which isn’t that big but you can order it with your meal as well.
Enjoy.

Have had great takeout here in the past, and went for a sit-​down meal last night. We were a party of 4 and ordered family style. The Szechuan Style Chicken was awesome! Curry Chicken was pretty good, Prawns and Asparagus (Special) was decent (not a fan of prawns) and the Vegetable Mei Fun was good but not very flavorful. All and all, it was a nice experience at a cute sit-​down Chinese place. The service was good too. Will come again.

I might sound like a used car salesman, but the main appeal of Chen’s is it’s low low prices. By that I mean you get a TON of food for a below-​standard price. Three of us — heavy eaters, mind you — sat down and ordered the Peking Duck, the Sesame Chicken, and fried rice to share, and we couldn’t even finish it.
Our bill came out to be a little over $ 40 and we were thrilled about that. Service is slow, we waited a long time for our food. The sesame chicken was sickeningly sweet, the fried rice bland, but the duck was tasty.
The restaurant is not very aesthetically pleasing and the bathrooms are disgusting.
They do takeout and delivery as well. $ 15 plastic minimum.
Good if you’re on a budget I suppose, but if you have more financial liberty, go elsewhere.

Bland lo mien with minimal vegetables. Good service. A bit pricey.

I used to go to Chen’s all the time. My family would host all of our birthday dinners there. Then something happened — the sons took over the business. Since then, it just hasn’t been as good. The restaurant used to serve more authentic Asian dishes but seems now to cater more towards Americanized dishes. They’re not bad, per se, but it’s not what everyone wants. That, and I get charged a different price for the same order every time I go in (and it never matches what the menu says).

The food here is decent, the sushi is pretty good for a chinese place. Large portions, which is expected at a chinese place, worth the three stars but not any more really.

This is good for a quick lunch when you are craving Chinese take out, but want to sit down (if that makes any sense at all). They have all the typical lunch specials on their chinese and japanese menus. They do give you alot in the lunch special. The service is really fast. And the prices are very affordable.
If it’s the first time you’ve been to a Chinese restaurant and want to play it safe, order either the General Gau’s Chicken or Sweet & Sour Chicken. It’s kind of hard to ever mess those up. I ordered General Gaus here and got what my taste buds had expected for this dish. For $ 6, you can’t complain!

Stopped here with the Mrs for some dinner on Friday. The food was good the service was excellent and its a tribute back to a good sit-​down Chinese restaurant. There is something about sitting down eating crunchy noodles and Chinese mustard. We split a poo poo platter which was a great app to share. We also ate house special lomein and white meat general tso. Excellent decent food and a cool place to just watch people walking by.