When we first moved to RP - this spot was Happy Garden - the food was excellent. It seems to be a kind of hit and miss with China Chef. I keep hoping. This time was miss - the hot & sour soup tasted like starchy chicken broth, the kung pao chicken was a lot of chicken and very little veggies and not enough spices, and the chow mein noodles in the shrimp chow mein were dry and not cooked enough. But the rice was good :) Was very disappointing. Everyone is very nice and friendly, I would love to be able to recommend it to people, but as I said - it seems to be a hit and miss. read more

I ordered some takeout for the family from here after seeing all the 4 star review, thought I'd give it a shot. The place looked really clean, the staff was really nice, and the food was ready when they said it would be. All of that gets a shining review, sadly the food was just bland and a bit greasy. I was hoping for something really good, but it was just okay. We got the sesame chicken, peppered salt prawns, bbq pork fried rice and the crab cheese puffs. The sesame chicken was okay, it was kind of plain and maybe a little sweet. Different than what I was expecting but not bad. The prawns were fried well, but for a spicy dish it tasted more like the oil it was fried in than anything else. The fried rice had good flavor, but was a lil greasy and the pork was a little fatty. Still probably the best thing we had ordered though. The crab cheese puffs were actually pretty good, the flavor was good and for taking them home they stayed nice and crunchy. In an order of 4 tho I think 2 got all the crab and 2 got all the cream cheese. Not really a complaint they were still quite tasty, and it was very appreciated they sent a whole to go cup full of mustard to go with them. I really would like to of loved this place, the place is nice and convenient, the prices were reasonable, but the food was just kind of bland. We might give this another try and hope this was just a miss, but I don't know. read more

Under new management. Great variety of vegetarian options now. Organic vegetables too! Food is very fresh and delicious. Light and not greasy, so you can enjoy the nuances in the flavors. We have eaten there twice and liked everything --the rice pancakes with scallions and the potstickers (both the wheat and rice ones) as well as the mixed vegetables (with fresh asparagus!!), chow fun and lo mein noodles. Numerous gluten-free options are available and they have a very big menu. Worth checking out! read more

China Chef - Chinese Near Me - Cotati, California

I was here years ago and vowed never to return as it was just plain lousy. Under new management the place looks spiffy and the food was fresh and tasty, and the service attentive. On a Saturday night this place should be busier than it was. Check it out and support this place" read more

Very quiet and quaint. I enjoyed the silence despite a Half full restaraunt. The plates I had were both excellent as was the soup and tea. I came for lunch and got a large portion for only 7.95$ Great tasting :) read more

Took my best friend to here for her birthday. Service was ok.Kind like disappointed the food .we ordered the orange chicken which is too greasy and lack the flavor. The Szechwan tofu is not spicy?! like I say the server(could be the owner) is nice, may be just her staff accidentally fail today. I will give another try... read more

Always a good value (you've got to be real hungry NOT to have leftovers) and there's always a good number of options for vegetarians. I've never had a favorite salad until this place (the spinach with fried tofu and pecans) and they have great pot stickers. We also like to ask about the specials. Any time Lisa (the owner) makes a suggestion we just say yes (and are happier for it). We're just as likely to dine in as order take-out; there is always a pretty good turn-around time on phone orders, but it's also a nice place to eat in (never to loud, plenty of space between tables, and for us it's always been easy to seat a group, say 4 to 8). It's so good they're on my Contact list. You should try it. read more

Meh. The sweet and sour chicken was okay, decent sauce but the chicken was overcooked. Hubby said the fried rice was okay, but there was too much egg for me. read more

Food was OK, but there was a problem with the bill. We were charged $6 more than it was supposed to be. When we brought this to the attention of the older lady (owner?) we were greeted with bad attitude and rudeness, like the mistake was our fault. She tried to tap dance around the problem, any was very uncooperative in resolving the problem. Not the first time this has happened, I didn't mention it the first time. This should have been handled much better, with a humble apology and an "I'm sorry for the mistake" There are other places to go, and this attitude is just the worst way to handle a problem. Because if this I say buyer beware! This may be a common problem, look at your bill VERY CLOSELY! read more

The WORST restaurant I have ever been to!!! I have never been so disrespected by s waitress, let alone a human being in my life. I ordered a dish where it was not cooked properly and tasted raw, I didn't want to get food poisoning, let alone a disease. I told her about the dish and she became irate and started yelling at me and the company I took to lunch. She proceeded to get a fork and violently cut through my food touching it and yelling, that it was cooked and there must be something wrong with me that I don't know what Chinese food is. Then I asked if I could get another dish, and she yelled and said I probably wouldn't like anything I ordered and paid ever to blame it on me that I must have put some sauce on it that made it taste that way. My guest wanted to leave after that since the waitress took my plate and threw it in the garbage then she brought us the bill and ended up charging us for the plate that she threw away. As she brought the bill she said, "thank you so so much" sarcastically. I can't understand how this restaurant still exists, but I hope whoever reads this never has to go through this kind of experience ever in their life and then have to pay for it in the end. read more

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this restaurant!! The food is AWESOME! GREAT FLAVORS! NO MSG! We've become regulars there. Plus the waitor is VERY CUTE! *wink wink* !!! My favorite dishes: Hot garlic chicken (LOVE THE SAUCE), Beef Chow Fun, Hong Kong Chow Mein, WHOLE FISH, Singapore Mei Fun.. and they have LUMPIA! =) they have tapioca pearl drinks! cool! read more

Best place that I have tried , will drive from sr now that I moved , chow main is the best '

Had lemon chicken lunch plate and vegetarian chow mien with in, it also include egg drop soup. A side order of vegetarian dumplings. Lemon chicken was very nice, it said it was fried and I was very happy to not get deep fried chicken, but fried and also not greasy, the sauce was delicious with such fresh lemon flavor. Vegetarian chow mien, this was so amazing, there was bok choy in it, asparagus, carrots, zucchini, onion, mushrooms and other things, very delicious! Now, the above, that is on the one item lunch dish which was only $7.55...and a huge plate of food. With this plate came the egg drop soup, so nicely done, with a lot of egg whisked into it, and fresh parsley chopped and place on top in a done...a very pretty bowl of soup. The vegetarian dumplings, oh they were good, they came in a bamboo steamer on papers, and oh so good. read more

I have had both take out and dine in over the last week. The hot and sour soup is very good. I also had the BBQ Pork chow mein which was very tasty. Fair pricing. Food did come out fast each time. I will be back. read more

Absolutely the WORST I have ever had!! Terrible service and even worse food!! Was also overcharged by more than 30%. Don't bother wasting your time or $!! My star rating would be negative 5, but since I HAVE TO put one in...you get my point! :( read more

Gluten free everything!! How awesome is that?! -it's just so rare to find chinese food that will do that. They also deliver. I find it pricey, but we still go for it just to have gf food delivered. read more

Spend the extra ten minutes and drive up to Gary Chu's in Santa Rosa, where you'll be guaranteed excellent Chinese. Loved this place when it was Happy Garden, however when they sold it and it became China Chef it went seriously downhill. Tried it when they first opened and was disappointed, and gave it another shot a couple months ago and felt the same. For example: what should be sweet glazes on chicken and similar dishes is thick and mayonnaisey. Yuck. After the second try, I promised myself I wouldn't go back. read more

The place is under new management, and now has the best Chinese food north of San Francisco. Amazing vegetarian and organic food! Free range chickens and healthy oils! Delicious. What a treat! The place is not located on Old Redwood Hwy, but on E. Cotati Blvd., so call ahead to get directions. read more

This is a good spot to get a chinese meal that is more focused on cooking with healthy oils and vegetables. As well it is affordable without skimping on portions. read more

6 days and they still haven't reversed the charge on my card for food I didn't receive. Who is running this place?

We have ordered delivery from this restaurant a few times. We have been occasionally pleased in the past, but they seem to lack consistency with their food. One of our previous orders for delivery, we were told that the food would arrive in 30 mins, we only live 5 mins down the road. After and hour and no food arriving, we called to check in on the order and they assured us that the driver is already out with our food and should arrive any minute. We waited, and after another 30 mins we called again and they told us the same thing. After another 10 mins our food finally arrived, and it was still piping hot. How did they keep the food hot when it was in route to us for an hour and 40 mins? They had to have been lying and forgotten our order and sent it out after our second call. We never got an apology for that, but at least he food was good that time. On two other previous orders, we had ordered Mongolian Chicken, which they repeated back to us on the phone. Both times it was Mongolian Beef that arrived. Tonight, we decided to give them another try, and they were only 20 minutes late delivering this time. The food was terrible. The potstickers tasted completely different than every other time we got them (which was every time we ordered) The hot and sour soup consisted of only eggs and tofu in a broth that more closely resembled gelatin. The fried rice was barely mixed with large chunks of still white rice. The garlic chicken was dry and bland. The chow mien tasted fine, but the inside of the lid of the box was smeared with some black substance, probably grease and ash from the bottom of a pan. My husband and I have both worked in the restaurant industry, and we have a lot of understanding and acceptance of certain things a restaurant can mess up on. Consistency in the cooking, consistency in presenting the food in clean packaging, and accountability when mistakes are made like forgetting our order and delivering almost two hours late are things that we expect as a standard of good business. We gave them a number of chances, they have disappointed us enough times that we will never be ordering food from here again. read more

Once upon a time, this was our go to place for Chinese food. There was a very kind and friendly man who appeared to run the place and took your order. Over time he recognized us, remembered our order, etc. it was a pleasure to go here, the atmosphere was good, the food was nice and the prices were good. Things are very different since the new owner/waitress took over. The service now is really bad - aggressive and so unfriendly. I feel bad for the kitchen staff because the menu was otherwise enjoyable at this place. it's a shame that happened but at least there is a new Chinese restaurant opened not far from this one (near the lowes at hwy101)with much friendlier staff and an equally tasty menu ... we're going there now... read more

Incredibly accommodating to special diets: vegetarian, gluten free, vegan, organic, no MSG--you name it. Even understand gluten free tamari...this isn't a priority for me personally, but I really appreciate the thoughtfulness and knowledge that goes into it. No guessing re: vegetarian vs vegan. They get it. We have NEVER had a bad meal here...the portions are generous, the vegetables are cooked to perfection, it isn't too salty and the value is great. The owner is lovely and if service is ever spotty it is because of their brisk take out business.... Nothing ever tastes greasy and there is never the residual greasiness of your typical Chinese food on the table or shared condiments. Clean! Clean! Clean! The ambience is not perfect (it seems to be upgrading a bit every time we go in), but the food and people are wonderful. read more

I just got home and took out my dinner. I had ordered the broccoli chicken which did not come with rice. I tasted it and it was extremely bland and overcooked. The soup was at least passable but not great. Very disappointed that I spent this much money to have food that isn't good. Food is overpriced, and prices online are not accurate. read more

I would rate this place a -5 but that's unfortunately not possible. I never write reviews on places, but this has to be the worst Chinese place I've ever been in. I don't even know where to begin and I was only dining there for about 10 minutes before we walked out. We arrived for lunch around what would normally be the busiest time to eat and there was no one there eating....we should've walked out right then and there. We both ordered the lunch special. I got the garlic prawns and chow mein and the person I was with got sweet and sour prawns and fried rice. We got our first course of the lunch special which was wonton soup...the soup was as clear as water and had grease floating at the top with two tiny wontons. I couldn't believe my eyes I had never seen soup that looked as though it was water mixed with some fatty oils. Then five minutes later our waitress who was wearing sweats by the way and couldn't care less about serving us gave us our meals and couldn't even determine which plates were which. When I received mine... the chow mein was just greasy noodles with not one vegetable and my shrimp looked as if it was just fried dough covered in sauce. And the other dish was no better, it was basically just an egg mixed with rice... which is so bland it's unreal. Both of our prawns looked exactly the same which we came to find out were the exact same dish just disguised differently with one having a few peppers in it and one without. I told the waitress this isn't what I ordered and she said that she would go get what I ordered... we couldn't be there for one more minute and told her we were dissatisfied and wanted to leave and she hounded us into staying saying it's not the food it's us. The food was not only as bland as it could possibly be, but she tried to give us the same prawns in the exact same sauce figuring we wouldn't notice. As we were walking out the door she began to yell in insanity that she didn't charge us for the wonton soup and no other place would do that... no other place would be serving us food where we feel ill just from looking at it. China Chef is the worst place save yourself the time, money and health and go eat anywhere else. read more

One of the best Chinese takeouts ever. We had the lemon chicken, walnut prawns, crab puffs and rice. The prawns were huge and not overcooked, the chicken wasn't over battered and you could tell that it was better chicken (Rocky) than usual, the lemon sauce tasted like it was made with fresh lemons. The crab puffs were also light and crabby and we got two more than was advertised. Definitely ordering from there again! read more

The owners let us order a few minutes after they were closed, gave us a free box of almond cookies for dessert, and were very hospitable!! The food was delicious! Definitely will be back! read more

Hands down one of my favorite Chinese places.. I have been coming here for years. They have the best pot stickers you will ever taste!! Their mandarin prawns are Also amazing. The only reason I give them 4 stars is because of the place, it's a little run down.. Don't let that fool you though, food is amazing! read more

Under new ownership -- this place is much better than it was a few years ago. Good, healthy tasting Chinese food, lots of vegetarian options, free range chicken. I really like the various eggplant dishes and the veggie wonton soup. read more

Good flavor and seasoning. Very impressed to try something new and good. Hot n sour soup was excellent

Best chinese food in the area! Try the shrimp egg foo young. Any shrimp dish has large shrimp, including the sizzling rice. They prepare the food so fast you don't even have to call ahead for take out. Cheaper with a coupon. Service is good at the tables too. read more

I've eaten here twice and both times the food was outstanding. The vegetables were all freshly prepared and the service was excellent. If it was closer to Santa Rosa, I'd eat here all the time. I appreciate the vegan and organic options. read more

Went there today for Dim Sum, they have about 18 dishes. We ordered Shiu Mai (good), Shrimp dumplings (good), steamed short ribs (not very good), pan-fried turnip cake (interesting, but not that exciting) BBQ pork rice noodle rolls (overcooked). Unfortunately, for the restaurant, we measure Dim Sum by what we eat in San Francisco, and this didn't measure up. Maybe the menu food is better, haven't tried as yet. read more

Really like this place. They use white meat of high quality, with no mystery fats like you find at other places. They have great Dim Sum (love the sesame buns). Eating in is fun. Good service, a big fish tank, kid friendly. Take out is very fast too. read more

We have been going here for over 10 years--used to be called Happy Garden. THE FRESHEST FOOD, THE BEST SERVICE. I have tried probably everything on the menu--loved it all. None of that icky taste that comes from not changing out the oil often enough. FRESH, FRESH,FRESH!! The prices are completely affordable. Great for lunch, dinner, take out--you name it. We dont go anywhere else for Chinese. the best!! read more

New owner in this location but not new owner in the business. Menu sounded great with no MSG, fresh, etc. Not going there again. Wanted a slow relaxed meal with a family member and they constantly came to the table and asked us to order. We got our appetizer at the end of our meal and the items we ordered were all brought at once so we had our main entree cold. Tea was warm, not hot. Owner got an attitude when we asked for our dish to be heated again and to bring out some hot tea. Food was bland, and tofu was rubbery. We ordered lettuce wraps and they had zero flavor and the house wine tasted like it came from a box. Too bad, nice looking restaurant but food not so much!!! read more

Decided to come here on Christmas since they had a large sign out on Redwood Highway saying that they were open. My wife and I have taken to going out on the holiday to avoid cooking. Maybe we should've done a little more research. We started with the Hot & Sour Soup, a fairly common denominator across most chinese restaurants. Theirs was pretty much par for the course. Not bad but not served extremely hot. Just ok. The waiter, who was courteous enough, then brought out plates for our crab cheese wantons. At this point I noticed that the plates he was bringing out were still wet from being washed. Don't know why this bothered me but I thought it was just a little strange that they didn't have some kind of dish dryer. The wantons were fairly greasy and the flavor was just ok. The duck sauce and mustard served with them were muted in flavor - especially the mustard. It left me questioning whether or not it was really mustard. Even the color of it was a pale yellow so hmmmnnnnn.... The main course we chose was the crispy garlic chicken. It was rated as hot(spicy) on the menu so I assumed that this would have a kick. Here's where the meal went very south. Honestly, this was way too much like eating chicken McNuggets in a sweet and sour sauce. There was really nothing spicy about it. They were crunchy, I'll give them that, but this just wasn't anything I'd ever consider ordering, anywhere. Glad that we decided to split an entree rather than each ordering one each because, at this point, we just wanted to get out of there. The check came and nothing was itemized so there was just a total on the bill. Seemed a little higher than their prices on the menu. Not sure if we were charged for tea & rice but just wanted to leave so we paid it. Chef China would really need to step it up for us to give it a second chance. read more

Used grubhub to order for delivery. It's an hour after the estimated Delivery time, and it finally arrived right as I was about to order pizza instead. The guy was very apologetic and took ten bucks off my total. I think next time I'll just go pick it up. But the food looks good and I saved ten bucks read more

horrible!!!! owner is rude! i ordered food for my kids and got a different order. was too late to call back cuz it was closed. telling me to talk to the driver as if he can do anything, but yet she is the owner and can't fix her own problems. your food is meant for dogs!!! crappy!!! she says she doesn't cook wrong, but yet my order was messed up. trying to insinuate that i am lying. some nerve. why would i lie about your trashy food? offers 2 free side dishes and i said i wanted a partial refund instead. she refused. i said that's ok, i'll leave bad feedback and says she doesn't care what i do. so unprofessional. do not eat here. these chinese people do not know how to cook real chinese food. read more

Horrible service and food! I ordered take out here and it was the worst experience! I got there and the owner came out and she had the meanest look on her face. She slammed a bag with my food on the counter and really loudly shouted "I GAVE YOU FREE RICE IN HERE!!! IM GIVING THIS TO YOU FOR FREE OKAY? THERES RICE!!!" I was so shocked and scared. Why was she yelling at me and then acting like she did me such a great favor for giving me fucking rice? She screamed so loudly that everyone in the restaurant turned around and stared. There was only two families in there but they were staring over at me and I hate attention on me. Then I said "okay so you have chow mein, kung pow chicken, and rice?" And oh my god I set this insane woman off! She was like "YOU ORDERED ORANGE CHICKEN!!!!" After that everything went downhill! She yelled at me so much and gave me the biggest lecture about how I wasted her time. I felt so embarrassed because everyone was staring at me and I felt like I was going to cry. She's so rude and mean! Don't go here because the owner is very hurtful. I couldn't even eat my food after that........ read more