Chin Yen Lounge

Xerox of a xerox of a xerox of xerox of Chinese food. I know they deliver, but come on. Worst ever, right? McDonald’s does an infinitely better job at imitating a hamburger than does Mr. Chinn Chinese food. My boyfriend and I spent a handful of post-​consumption hours gassing on the couch, cursing Mr. C. First and only time I lamented the absence of an MSG shaker in my cupboard. Don’t do it.

First off sorry to hear this joint closed pretty decent grub nice juke. Use to hit this spot a lot was big time booze hound bar. And me being a big time boozehound well its self explanatory. Use to love to log in some midday beverage time on a hot sunny day, I mean this place was like a cave super dark. When u could still smoke indoors this place would just permeate with trails of tabacco road and laughter. Times changed sum people left others took there place, this place was pretty damn good in its hey day. Pce yen

Reviewing a Chinese lounge based on its food quality is just stupid. This was a BAR. And it served the strongest and cheapest drinks on NE 28^th. If you came here for the food and not the swill you were clearly not thinking. It was a fun place that I stopped going to about a year ago because my stomach could no longer handle buckets of McCormick’s vodka with the smallest of splashes of soda and cranberry juice. Tonight is its last night, so I certainly hope I don’t see you jackasses there who are going for dinner.

I totally agree that this bar is Grody. It looks like a strip-​mall bar. The only good thing about this bar is that you can get Chinese food from next door.

Grody like your little brother’s undies. The service was nice enough, egg drop soup was edible… but to be honest, the restaurant itself smelled like pit stains, and my chicken was coated in a substance so glutenous, that it could easily serve to lubricate the inside of an engine, or be used as prop snot in a horror movie, which was especially unappealing, since the woman seated behind me seemed to have some sort of tuburculosis that she was hacking onto me while I tried not to gag.
They do have crab rangoon, and while they’re not the worst I’ve had in town, they are not very high up the list due to very minimal filling and thick greasy wonton skin instead of flaky like it should be.
On the other hand, I got an awesome fortune, and it was all served quickly, so it wasn’t all bad!

If you’re looking for a heavy pour in the lounge maybe go there. If you are looking for food, keep driving. I know it’s very old school american, but sweet and sour sauce on egg fu young? That was wrong. I could go on, but I can’t stress it enough how your money can be spent at better places

The lounge is a dive, but serves the restaurant’s food. It was what I expected.

(This review is about the bar section): Chin Yen… what to say. It’s an eclectic little dive bar where they make one hell of a Tequila Sunrise. If you want to escape from the real world for a little bit, this is the place for you. Friendly bartenders. Make sure to get the $ 5 PBR & a shot combo!

Good old greasy Chinese. Best sesame chicken around.

The lounge area is great, though I have never actually been in the restaurant section nor have I eaten here. However I have consumed large quantities of refreshments in the lounge area. The drinks are cheap and very strong. I’ve always had the same bartender and she’s great. Always plays good music and doesn’t skimp on the liquor. This is solely a place to hang out with friends and get quite inebriated and nothing else. I would probably visit this place once a week if I lived closer.

Slightly charmingly awkward place for lunch. No music. Giant water station in the middle of the dining room. No smiles. Low chatter. On the other hand, if you’re craving classic, greasy, cheap Chinese take-​out in the area, Chin Yen is the place!

Finally, a place in this district determined to offer a Fun atmosphere.
Might others consider competing for that Niche — w/​o Shots & Drugs? Seriously.
The key seems to be:
eat elsewhere, then maybe
think Chinese-​Irish Bar, for an after-​drink — if you have stamina, wit, and do shots. They call it a Pub, but I think not.
In Beervana, that implies something else entirely.
Must see:
Long may they wave,
for those who want it that way.

The Chin Yen Lounge (not the restaurant) is one of those happy places you can go to just watch the stressful, real world pass on by.
It’s an amazing juxtaposition: Connected to a Chinese restaurant, Chinese décor, filled with all manner of degenerates playing Sonic Youth or George Clinton on the jukebox and drinking drinks so strong they’ll make your eyes water. It’s one of those places that you love for some strange reason, you can’t put your finger on it, but it’s just got that special something!
Just to be clear, go here for the drinks and eclectic atmosphere (if your timing is right). The food is terrible and it’s not an exceptionally social place. But the drinks are strong! One of the regulars told me that he goes there to get «Chin Yen’d». After he told us that my friend and I finished our pint sized shots and walked across the street to the Laurelhurst theater. We both passed out during the movie… now I know what «Chin Yen’d» means.

We’ve given this restaurant so many chances but no more.
We so wanted to support our neighborhood chinese spot but are giving up. The food is just horrible. The service is terrible. And they are unnecessarily skimpy on the take-​out to boot. This place seems to survive on their bar section and first-​time patrons. I would rather eat Chinese at a Panda Express… yikes.

Sometimes, a certain kind of scuzzy can give me warm fuzzies. That’s what the Chin Yen does for me. A dive bar of exceptional sleaziness and a unisex bathroom to match. This place is not cool, so therefore it is cool. The only identifiable character type I find here on a regular basis are those from the tribe of black clothes, black emo glasses, small black hat wearing boys, who sometimes bring a book to read. You can sit on the barstool and watch normal life pass by on 28^th. Good jukebox. If you get hungry you can order in some greezy spoon Chinese. No problemo seems to be Chen Yen’s unspoken motto.

Do you like hanging with underage kids while the bartender does gigantic shots with said kids? If so, you should really check out Chin Yen.
This bar is absolutely depraved of the soul that a dive bar requires. Young ‘uns and drug addled middle agers. A little slice of Gresham in the heart of NE 28^th.
Pot brownies are also available from one of the patrons, at least on the night I was there.

The smoking ban has had a phantom limb effect on all the bars. Patrons who’ve probably sat on the stools for years blissfully lighting up one cigarette after another keep their packs out in plain sight, almost like memorials. You can smell without compromise, so the aroma of not-​too-​distant bathroom lingers everywhere no matter where you sit. And you can’t taste your whiskey and coke at the Chin Yen Lounge without wondering if the combo tasted better when your favorite animal was a Camel Light. That’s not to say the W/​C tastes bad. It’s a little sweeter. Maybe they, just like nearly every alcohol peddler in the Portland Metro area, use RC instead of Coke and you’re just now regenerating the tastebuds to tell the difference.
It doesn’t matter, because happy hour prices at the Chin Yen mean $ 3.25 well drinks and you can’t shake a cancer stick at that. Of course, now that people are hunching over in packs outside, you can’t escape the notion that you’re drinking in an airport hangar. Still, if you’ve ordered some General Tsao and fried rice to bring home and eat during Top Chef, you’d be hard-​pressed to find better ways to use the wait-​time. Hey, at least these days all your extra disposable income is going to booze and take-​out.
I’m giving an extra star because one patron said to the bartender, regarding some talk about some relationship, «He should just marry the bitch already.» Then the bartender grabbed a bottle full of oil and sprayed it onto the patron’s cleavage. I missed the reason, but I’m totally proposing to a lucky paramour that way over Chinese food.

This is for the restaurant, not the lounge. The lounge is yer basic dive bar.
The restaurant has the best eggplant in tangy sauce ever; I do believe it comes with crack as an ingredient because we’ve been coming back for it for a good 15 years. The service is quick and friendly enough, and we’ve not had a bad experience yet. The scallops — any scallop dish — and the hot and sour soup are excellent too.
The pupu platter appetizer comes with a flaming freakin’ can of sterno. How can you not love this?

Chin Yen. Oh, Chin Yen.
If you come here and order a PBR, you will be happy.
If you come here and are starving and ask for vegetarian recommendations from the bartender and follow said recommendations, you may not be so happy.
I got a pile of shiny greasy noodles with slivers of carrots and maybe a pea pod or two, mixed with what I think was tofu, but it’s too shiny and salty to tell anymore.
I spent $ 8.50 for this.
Lesson learned. Next time, drink here, eat anywhere else.

An uncrowded minimum fuss Chinese meal option for a weekend evening in a good location.
Service is quick and the restaurant is clean.
The Mongolian Beef should really be called the Mongolian Green Onion. Very little beef. Lots and lots and LOTS of big fat stalks of green onion. Mildly seasoned. The mushu park is cooked with the same philosophy: minimal meat and maximum cabbage. OK tasting. I think Chin Yen is needlessly chintzy with the meat.
The crab puff appetizer is good though probably not made on the premises.