This is a must for anyone loving fresh, flavorful and delicious Chinese food. Sizzling Rice Soup, Tangerine Beef (order extra spicy) and Walnut Shrimp are my family's favorite dishes. We have been coming here for over 20 years and make special trips down to the restaurant. The owner and her son take personal interest in the guest's satisfaction, quality of the food, and cleanliness of the restaurant. The complimentary hot tea is nice. read more

I am not one to write bad reviews but my roommate and I ordered from here tonight and it was the worst Chinese food I've ever had in my life. Do yourself a favor and pick a different place, literally ANYWHERE else. I would post pictures but it's in the trash where it belongs. read more

Yesterday was my first time in to try Desert Jade, and was really looking forward to some Shrimp with Lobster Sauce. It's probably one of my favorite Chinese dishes. I noticed on their menu they list a version with a black bean sauce that didn't sound like the dish I am accustomed to. I asked Yen who I believe is the owner and she said theirs was a different style. I told her I was accustomed to a lighter sauce with carrots and peas. No problem she said, not only did she have it made exactly the way I stated it was the best I've ever had!! I've found my new go-to for Chinese! read more

Reasonably priced food, ordered take out and 8-10 spicy turned out really good. Mild was right on target. Liked the beef a lot better then the Kung pao chicken. Ribs also turned out great. read more

Restaurant is big and pretty crowded. Also overly air conditioned -don't forget a sweater! Like having a chinese lunch with hot tea. Service was the best part of the meal - so friendly! Food was inexpensive, good options and good portions. Only problem was it was flavorless and salty. I wouldn't eat here again. Tried the tofu with broccoli and mongolian beef read more

Was in the area around dinner time and decided to try Desert Jade. First, I checked Yelp and with an overall 4 star rating we decided to try it. I was very happy that they served us free tea. Yeah, that's right. Free tea. Nice! I thought that was a sign of things to come. We ordered the egg drop soup because it is my husband's favorite. The "small"comes in a bowl which gave us each a cup of soup (the smaller cup they give you to serve yourself) and maybe another 1/2 cup. The problem is that hubby hated it. He said it was the worst he's ever had. I say it was just OK but I wouldn't order it again. BTW, if you want noodles, you have to pay 60 cents for noodles. Their crispy noodles are like sticks not the wide ones usually served. We tried the noodles and they were crispy and not greasy. But why nickel and dime people? Why not add it to the cost of the soup? No other restaurant that I know charges for these. We ordered one egg roll which was crispy and not greasy. It was just veggies. We both liked it. Hubby's meal was the Tangerine Chicken, ordered spicy. This dish came out looking good, but the chicken was over cooked. The flavor on the sauce was orangey and good. I think the reason for the chicken being overcooked is that they use a rotisserie chicken and then added slices of the rotisserie chicken into the sauce. The way the chicken was sliced led me to believe that. Most orange chicken or even General Tso's chicken is in chunks--not slices of chicken that are still linked to one another. Do you get what I am saying? It was like taking the side of a chicken and putting slits in it and then dropping it in an orange sauce. All I heard was complain about this meal all evening. Yap, Yap, Yap.... The chicken is over cooked, the chicken is overcooked... Yap, yap, yap. Will never come here again... Yap, yap, yap. Ladies, you get it, right? My dish was tofu with ground pork. I asked for it spicy and they really, really gave it to me spicy. Well, I asked for it and that's what I deserved. It was a tasty dish and I would have it again but I don't think that's going to happen because hubby was not happy with his dish and we are probably never visiting Desert Jade again. BTW, if you want brown rice you pay 35 cents per person. Again with the nickel and diming. Well, you know how I arrived at the two stars. One for the free tea and one for my dish which was spicy but very acceptable. I have definitely experienced better! read more

Desert Jade - The dining area. - Chinese Near Me - Phoenix, Arizona

I've been going here for more than 10 years and the food is always consistency wonderful. For appetizers I love the egg rolls, the pot stickers and the wontons. And please try the Sizzling Rice soup. All of the entries are great. Just try something different each time. The take out food is as consistent as eating in. FYI - they make the most amazing Mia Tia. They only thing to make them better is if they had some sort of dessert. read more

I understand why this place is called desert jade. Their Cheese wontons were dry as a desert and hard as a rock. Literally just a slice of fried bread with nothing inside. It taste like someone that ate a cream cheese bagel 3 hours ago spit in a piece of bread and deep fried it. read more

Always fresh and delicious. The Desert Jade Chow Mein and Lemon chicken are musts.

Sorry to give such a poor review of Desert Jade on Indian School in Phoenix... The spare ribs were tough and old. Noodles were floating in oil and the pot stckers (We call them Peking Raviolis) were over cooked. The entire meal seemed as if the food was just old and definitely not fresh. Very disappointed! read more

I was feeling under the weather and wanted soup which was delish .... but the girly tried something new which never happens.... it was awesome... had it the next day and next ... everything is good, 2 egg rolls .... thank you thank you and great prices ya gotta check them out. They are now my fav Chinese restaurant, especially for noodles near me. read more

If I could give a no star I would! Do not go here!! Everything here is soupy! Ordered king Lao chicken and it tasted and looked like the Chinese food that is sold in a can. The water chestnut is soupy and mushy! The beef fried rice was not made with beef!!! The egg rolls taste like curry! They have cinnamon sweet taste!! So nasty!!! Do yourself and NEVER GO HERE!!!!! read more

I'm not sure what happened to Desert Jade, they were always fast and consistent pre-Covid. But it has been awhile since I have gone here and maybe ownership changed? I don't know. We came in on a Monday evening. The main dining room was 2/3s full, but we were seated in non-booth dining room, not an issue. I'm only noting that because the restaurant was not busy. It took maybe 20 mins for them to take our order. But once that was done it took over an HOUR for us to get our food for a table of four. I don't know why. We are patient people, but an hour for Chinese in a not so busy restaurant seemed out of control. Our food came out just when I was about to get up. Food was tasty, albeit portions shrunk compared to what it had been in the past. But two hours for a party of four, I'm not risking that happening again. There are plenty of tasty Chinese restaurants I can safely frequent instead. read more

I just got back from visiting this cute restaurant, the food was amazing and the servers were also amazing, very friendly and very comforting place to go eat! read more

Not happy with the food at all...Dry and tasteless. I used to work in a Chinese Restaurant and I have been to China.

Fried wontons has no flavor and no cream cheese inside. $8.09 for a small box of rice. Panda Express is way better than this. read more

Desert Jade - Fried Wontons -small amount of cream cheese inside - Chinese Near Me - Phoenix, Arizona

I have only ordered the Singapore noodles here, it doesn't have a slight hint of curry in it which it should. The shrimp was broken in pieces, and doesn't taste fresh, the BBQ pork taste decent, slightly dried. Overall it doesn't taste bad, but it's just not Singapore noodles. Maybe I would be a happier customer if the dish wasn't called Singapore noodles, just stir fried rice noodles. read more

Here is the deal, I love Chinese food. I love it so much that I try to check out newer or older places in the hopes that they are the good stuff... the real deal... the place you think of when you crave Chinese even if you aren't close. This is that place for me. Every single thing I have ordered here has been fantastic. I have been here many many times but just getting around to reviewing it. In fact Ive been coming here before I even knew I was coming here. Let me explain: When I was wee tike and living in Michigan I came to visit my grandparents once a year in Scottsdale. My grandfather used to take us to this Chinese restaurant because it was his favorite. For at least two decades after he passed my mother and I scoured the valley because we could not remember the name or area it was in. It wasn't until recently that I raved about this place and took my parents here that my mother gasped, for she remembered every detail about it. Lo and behold it was Desert Jade. Not only my grandfathers favorite Chinese joint in the entire valley but mine as well. Desert Jade is legitimate. They care about their customers and have been around for decades in a small place that is not particularly easy to park in. Yet its always packed and for very good reason. I love you Desert Jade and will continue to eat here every opportunity I can. Thanks for the memories. read more

I've been coming to Desert Jade for decades, I hadn't been back for a few years so my friend and I came back for lunch. We both ordered chicken and vegetables, this time chicken seemed like it was boiled and bland. The service was also slow, it took about 15 minutes to be waited on, the waiter never asked how the food tasted. After a few minutes of picking at my food, I had the busboy take away my food. Something changed, perhaps they sold the restaurant to a new owner. Not coming back. read more

Holy general Tso's ghost. How did I not discover this place before? So I was in my office and had a wicked craving for Chinese food. But the only place I knew of was Panda Express on 40th and Thomas... I'd rather eat my shoe with siracha than that panda. So I turned to the break room to see what fliers or menus were posted on the cork board... And Lo an behold ... Desert Jade. It was not far at all doe my office and said what the hell I'll try it out. Drove over and liked that it was quiet and quaint. Not to over the top with typical Chinese restaurant decor... I couldn't find any Buddha statues or that annoying waving cat that you can't help but poke it's paw. It was very relaxed and cozy. Immediately they brought out water and hot tea... The hot tea by itself with no sugar is awsome. Not sure what kind of tea it is, green maybe or ginger, don't know don't care, it was good. The lunch menu is very inexpensive and very plentiful portions. I ordered the sweet and sour pork with fried rice. It was very rich in flavor for a classic lunch time go to. The fried rice was simple and didn't have crazy extras like bamboo shoots or bean sprouts. Two hearty scoops of fried rice and an egg roll plus my swee and sowa pohkk ... Great food and very hearty portions and left with a bill less than $10 with tip. Can't get that at panda, and unlike Panda, it didn't do the express blowout 30 minutes later in the office bathroom. Great little place hidden off indian school. Will definitely be going back. read more

Desert Jade - Nice little cozy Chinese restaurant... No beads hanging from the door frames - Chinese Near Me - Phoenix, Arizona

See all

I'm kind of in awe of reviewers that think they know what authentic Chinese-American food is. I'm no expert, don't claim to be; I'm just a 3rd generation Asian-American; whose family mostly are chefs/owners of Asian-American restaurants. Taste is a subjective thing; so, even I don't agree with the negative reviewers of Desert Jade here are my picks. * Lemon Shrimp or Chicken - my favorite!!! * Egg Foo Yung - just like my mother's & grandmother's. (only place in town I will order on a consistant basis) * Ginger Beef * Beef with Tomatoes * Pot Stickers * Hot & Sour Soup Will go back as often as I can; for the good food, service and great people. read more

Drove almost 30 miles because of the Check Please AZ spot. Burn! When we arrived the owner, we recognized her from the show, was sitting at the hostess stand reading something and never looked up to acknowledge us standing there in front of her waiting for the hostess to seat us. On the Check Please episode she carried on about how much she loves people and her customers. When my family dines at Flo's, even when they are hoping busy, the owner, Flo makes a point of making some contact with every customer every time. By the way when we left the owner, still sitting at the hostess stand reading her phone or whatever, never said goodbye or thank you as we left. We started with the Hot and Sour soup (and the Egg Drop soup) and pot stickers. The Hot and Sour soup had nice shrimp and pork in it although it was more Sweet and Sour. My son said his Egg Drop soup was o.k. The pot stickers looked home made, but not a lot of flavor..just meh. For our entrees we ordered: Sauteed Shrimp (Highly Recommended), $13.25 Shrimp w/ a light egg batter, deep fried & sauteed w/ green onions *The batter on the shrimp was not crisp and was not sauced or seasoned. I WOULD NOT recommend this dish to anyone. Mongolian Beef, $9.25 Sliced beef marinated in a brown sauce, sauteed w/ green onions *The meat was tender although the sauce was very thin/soupy and not much flavor. Spicy Eggplant w/ Garlic Sauce, $7.95 *Although the portion was generous, this dish was neither spicy or garlicky. BBQ Pork Fried Rice, $6.95 *This was adequate. So disappointed because of the great reviews given on Check Please AZ. We ordered some of the same dishes featured on the show too. Guess it was all for the show....burn! read more

They're back! I have been a few times in the last few months and must say that Desert Jade is back to 5 stars in terms of food quality. The pan fried noodles are perfectly crispy and delicious. The sizzling rice soup (my new fave item) is flavorful and the veggies in it taste fresh. They still have the husband's favorite sweet and sour chicken (made with chicken that is fried and then sliced... that makes all the difference). The service is still great, in fact, we have been coming to Desert Jade for almost 10 years now and many of the staff members are the same, which is very cool. On top of that, they remember you, have personal conversations with you, and remember your order. You really can't beat the service. Additionally, the food never takes more than 15 minutes to come out. Other notable dishes are the pot stickers (made in house, not my fave in town, but a good solid effort), the spicy red sauce (yummm), and the lettuce wraps. Definitely check them out! PS They still provide hot tea to the table, a nice touch, but they stopped the almond cookies.... this is sort of heartbreaking... bring back the almond cookies pleeease!!! read more

My first thought: This is expensive for American - Chinese food. My second thought: Who cares? Like many of the people on Yelp I am picky about pricing. This place, as noted, is a two dollar sign, but it is exactly that distinction that sets it apart from other restaurants like this. Like Mexican restaurants in the area, there are roughly four thousand places you could get American Chinese cuisine. They range in price and this is probably the high end as far as this type of cuisine goes, but the tangerine chicken will make you forget about the eleven bucks that it costs. This place was a nice reminder that spending an extra four bucks for your meal is usually worth it, especially when you are going to take to the Internet to tell others about it. Also the egg rolls was mad crispy. read more

Desert Jade is great. The decor is a bit funky -- reminds me of something Scottish, but the food is some of the best I've had in Phoenix, as far as Chinese goes. I've never had a bad meal here and take friends here. I think it's great. I wish it were open on Sundays. That's a bit of a bummer. They have great almond cookies. We usually get moo Shu chicken, which is very flavorful. I have also had them be very accommodating and make me steamed foods with brown rice. I just love this place! read more

We got sesame chicken which was decent, chicken fried rice which had like no egg or veggies and I needed to add a lot of chili garlic paste for some flavor, egg rolls that had really delicious filling but were really more like spring rolls, and the fried wontons which were cold and CHEWY!!!!!!!! They were literally hard to eat. And they had the tiniest dab of cream cheese inside which probably wouldn't have been so noticeable if they had been hot. Pretty sure we got an order of them no one picked up that was sitting out for a few hours. read more

I had high hopes for this place but no go. I got my order to go and got the lemon chicken and crab puffs. There was maybe a half of teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture and a wrapper about an inch and a half. Way too much wrapper with absolutely no filling. The sauce with it was great, added with hot mustard was awesome. The lemon chicken barely had sauce on it. With it being to go, sauce should be on the side because the breading on the chicken became soggy. Not even good for leftovers because the breading just fell off due to sitting in sauce for 2 days. Lady at the desk was nice and they didnt forget anything (hot mustard, soy sauce and fortune cookies) read more

Desert Jade is not your ordinary Chinese Restaurant with stark mirrored walls, paper lanterns and place mat menus... on the other hand, Desert Jade is like a rich country club, comfortable leather booths, fire place, dark colors, a very nice ambiance. We have reserved private areas for groups and enjoyed an intimate dinner in the main dining room. We have always found the service friendly, wether eating in or getting carry-out, and they have never refused to do a special order for us. (I don't like mushrooms- what?) We have been coming here for more than 10 years now and the food is still great. Try the pan fried tofu with vegetables... the ginger chicken... the shrimp with lobster sauce... to name a few. read more

I ordered the Ginger Chicken and was very disappointed. It was the soupest Chinese food dish I have ever had. The chicken tasted horrible and the canned mushrooms used in the dish were disgusting. The brown rice I ordered with the dish was undercooked. I'm never going back here again. read more

Desert Jade - Chinese Near Me - Phoenix, Arizona

Hooray! I may have found my dish here! I came back on a Friday night at dinnertime. The weird, empty atmosphere was replaced with the chatter of other tables and several bustling waitstaff. For appetizers we ordered egg rolls and fried wontons. Not the highlight of the meal, but they were pretty cheap, so whatever. For my meal I ordered a spicy chicken dish and added vegetables because I can't just eat a plate of saucy fried food without something healthy. This meant my dish was pretty expensive, but it was 2 meals worth, so worth it. The chicken was perfectly crunchy on the outside, tender inside, and the vegetables were still a little crunchy and a good mix. Ordering it at heat level 6 was perfect for me, though I ate around a few jalapeños because it would have kicked it up to an 8. The servers were very attentive, and my water glass was always full. The lady who sat us and brought the food was like a fussy mother, in a good way, as she rearranged the plates and glasses to make more food fit on the table. It was so good, I boxed half of it up so I wouldn't look like a pig, then I finished it as soon as I got home. read more

Very great Chinese food to go to. I have been going here since was a kid and they still remember me. The place is very well decorated and has very reasonable prices for their food. I love the tea they offer and how peaceful the environment is. The food is made with love and care which makes it taste so much better. read more

See all

Consistently tasty, fresh, good quality food with fast friendly service. It is the best non-dim sum Chinese food in central Phoenix, since the now long departed Silver Dragon (I think, off of Northern) closed. Pan-fried noodles are excellent, so are mixed Chinese vegetables. This is the really nice feature for me: Desert Jade is incredibly accommodating about substitutions. I get shrimp,chicken,pork, beef combo with broccoli, but without the pork and beef, and substituting string beans for broccoli. This (and similar requests) never cause any sort of problem at Desert Jade. Hot tea is loose leaf, no tea bags, which is another positive for me. My companion Mr. Super Spicy gets his usual gin-and-tonic and says it is adequate. He assures me that dishes marked for spiciness are indeed up to his standards, and that beef with broccoli is decent, with lean but tender meat. He likes the pork fried rice (LOTS of pork) and says egg foo yung is good too. Wor Wan Ton soup is full of tasty morsels, not merely thin broth and droopy noodles. The ambiance at Desert Jade is a bit odd, it's very comfortable, mind you, but more like a hunting lodge than any Chinese restaurant I've ever seen. Clean forest green velvet upholstered booths, diamond shaped mullioned windows, scenes of pheasants and grouse, etc. The bar near the front entrance is charming, and more traditional. Also, this restaurant is open until 9:30pm, quite unusual for Phoenix dining! read more

I've been searching for a decent take out Chinese place for awhile, and there are a few in this area. This hap pend to be the first one I tried, and maybe ordering the traditional take out dishes was the downfall, but I was disappointed. My girlfriend and I ordered beef with snow peas and water chestnuts, and a spicy vegetable kung pao type thing with fried rice. The flavor, quality, and freshness of the ingredients was very bland and seemed to be more of a public cafeteria type quality. The menu had a number of specialty dishes, so maybe we ordered the wrong items, but I don't think I'll be going back to find out. read more

I read the awesome reviews on this site, therefore my expectations were high. After all, Phoenix is plagued with AWFUL Chinese restaurants. Our entire dinner was bland. The sauce that accompanied the Fried Wontons was insipid and flavorless. Red, thick sauce should be sweet. This was not. Unimpressed. The pot stickers were ok, but nothing special enough to write home about. I was leery about ordering the Tangerine Beef, because I had a rancid dish of the same name from a different Chinese restaurant a couple years ago. Thought I'd give it a go. Bland. Beef pounded into oblivion smothered with a sauce so faint that it cried for flavor. The Sesame Chicken, bland as well, was overcooked and nowhere near as sweet as one should like. The Kung Pao Chicken was the least amusing dish of all. No flavor, no heat, and no veggies. The Mu Shu Pork was ok, but the plum sauce was, again, bland! Now, the cleanliness and presentation of the restaurant was in face phenomenal. Very clean and the lit candles on the tables were a very nice touch. The service was legendary. Very chipper, friendly, and at times amusing. There was an older lady whose job apparently was to take dirty dishes from the tables and only says "thank you!" when she does anything near you. I noticed that a great many of the diners were very elderly. Is there a retirement village nearby? Do you not realize that the elderly LOVE buffets and bland food? This restaurant was full of both, and I think it was the army of elderly people with diminishing taste buds who wrote all those glowing reviews. I understand that people have varying opinions and tastes, but come on! Raise your standards and start asking yourself if the food you are tasting really deserves FOUR or FIVE stars? Fail. read more

I haven't eaten Chinese food in years. (Other than Pei Wei... and I don't really consider that Chinese food... More like Asian fast food or something)... I've lived in this same neighborhood for about 8 years now and driven by Desert Jade a thousand times and never really noticed it. (Kind of like ALL of those places on Indian School!) But, we decided to get adventurous and try it. And it was really pretty good! As you walk in, it looks like your typical Chinese restaurant. Red pleather booths, paper lanterns kinda thing. We were lead to a booth by the window which had some kind of tableau in it featuring big fake turkeys (not the cooked kind... the real kind)... So, don't know what that was all about. One problem I noticed first... No Asian people eating in the restaurant. A clue to me when eating any kind of ethnic food. If you see people native to the type of food you're about to eat, it's a GOOD sign! I ordered the Sizzling Rice Soup first. As the waitress was putting the Sizzling Rice into my soup at the table, she dropped one of the big clumps into my water. No matter. She was sweet and we all laughed. The soup was really quite good. As was the Moo Shu Pork (that they made at the table. I'm used to assembling the crepes myself) and also the Kung Pao. I'll definitely be back, Desert Jade! Thanks for a great Chinese meal! read more

I've been coming to Desert Jade for 12+ years now and have had great experiences each time. The decor hasn't changed in all those years, looking more like a Scottish hunting lodge than a Chinese restaurant, which is always amusing. The restaurant is family owned and has been for 20+ years, with friendly waiters and some of the speediest service I have ever experienced. If you're hungry, this is the place to go to get your meal quickly. They have a huge variety of items on the menu, but my favorites include the sizzling rice soup (the owner has told me the rice is fried daily and is always delicious!), and the chicken fruit salad to start off as appetizers. People always seem a little put off by the combo of chicken and fruit, but I promise it is one of the best things you'll try in the restaurant. The chicken lettuce wraps are refreshing, very tasty yet light. The lemon chicken is zesty, though a little heavy on the sauce, so make sure to mix it with your rice. I really love supporting smaller, family owned places around the valley and Desert Jade has always been a gem. read more

I am always up to try new Chinese places but most of times I have been disappointed. My friend invited me to lunch and said this place was one of the best and despite the 118 Degree weather outside, this place was great. We ordered fried wontons which were cooked to perfection, the crispiness of the chips was like nothing I had before. The sauces and ingredients were above par too. I ordered my usual sesame chicken and was blown away by such a great dish. The fried rice was not as impressive and might have just kept the visit from being perfect. Definitely looking forward to their takeout soon! read more

I have not been here in awhile, so I thought since I am in the area I will pick up a lunch togo. I ordered the sesame chicken lunch special (chicken, rice, and an egg roll). I bought it back to the office, it smelled good and the togo box was stuff with food. I wished it tasted as good as it smelled. The sauce was kind of bland. I was so bummed. I guess I need to find another chinese take out place. read more

I'm on the constant hunt for good Chinese food in Phoenix. After many disappointing meals, I found Desert Jade and haven't looked back. The restaurant is super clean and quaint inside (even a big fireplace) and the service is great. Each of our servers have been super friendly and attentive. The food is really good. It's not going to blow you away, but it's fresh, portions are just right and I've never left unsatisfied. I really like the Kung Pao Chicken, the Mu Shu Pork, Spicy Chicken with Vegetables (lots of them), and my husband loooves the glazed walnut shrimp. If you're looking for an easy, casual Chinese meal in Phoenix - I promise you this is one of your best bets. read more

I know this place is a Phoenix institution. And it is quite nice inside compared to many Chinese restaurants. I was invited to lunch here by a colleague who had dined here many times in the past. I felt the lunch menu was perhaps a bit overpriced, given the quantity and quality of food. i ordered the kung pao shrimp ($8.25), which was a spicy dish, but ordered it HOT. It came so mild I might as well have ordered shrimp in lobster sauce, with some peanuts thrown in. There were about 10 peanuts, a 1/2 cup of sauteed green onions, and about 4 medium sized shrimp, to go with fried rice that had nothing in it and an egg roll the size of my thumb. It WAS nice it came with hot tea. Was it outrageously priced? Absolutely not. Would I eat here again if someone invited me? Of course. But if it's my choice, there are much better Chinese restaurants to be found. read more