Fong's Restaurant has the look of a place that has been around since Cole Harbour's early days, with the telltale flair of mid-century Orientalism that pervaded many North American Chinese restaurants. A pagoda-like structure dominates the middle of the symmetrical, brick building, with long eaves that don't quite curl up at the corners, but two, offset rows of yellow dentils do add some ornamentation to the roof. The paint has seen better days, but I suppose Chinese restaurants of that era aren't known for their capital investments. My wife and I stopped in while on our way to one of our nieces' softball games, and I came prepared knowing what I wanted to order. In my digital research, I saw that they have the local style of egg rolls, colloquially known as meat paste egg rolls, so I had to get those; BBQ pork fried rice checked the 'rice' box, ginger beef was our entree protein, Shanghai noodles are always a must for us, and the spicy tofu and veggies kept it from solely being a meat and carbs affair. The interior is showing its age, but has a lot of charming details - a slightly inset ceiling tile, wood paneling, Chinese wall hangings, and what I'm sure they're most well-known for - a massive model of an old time sail boat. And I don't mean a small pleasure craft boat, I mean an old naval frigate or cargo ship. It's hilariously out of place, and I guess that's why it works! It was relatively quiet for dine-in customers, with only a couple other tables occupied while we were briefly there, which wasn't surprising for a Monday evening, but a steady stream of takeout orders kept the lone server on her feet. Nonetheless, it didn't take long for our food to arrive. My egg roll's wrapper was golden brown and crisp, and we definitely benefited from having them fresh out of the kitchen as opposed to as takeout. I'm sure there's many people that don't like the "meat paste" style filling for its texture, and that's fair, but it doesn't bother me, and I enjoy the fact that we have our own style of egg roll (although it's no Ottawa-style burnt end egg roll!). The flavour even had hints of curry flavour to it, whether it was curry powder outright or some of its components. We also got to have the ginger beef in its best possible light, as anything battered, and certainly anything that's both battered and sauced, is best immediately after it's cooked. The batter was light and crisp, and the thinly sliced beef was tender. The sauce was a bit underwhelming in that the spice warning was not necessary at all, as there wasn't even any detectable hit of ginger let alone spiciness, so it mainly came off as a hoisin-like sauce, which is fine. Even at very well-regarded Chinese restaurants, the fried rice can be a bit of aside, so I was impressed by humble Cole Harbour stalwart Fong's as theirs had a very noticeable smokiness to it, known as wok hei. The BBQ pork added its tasty mix of sweet and savoury, but the wok hei was the main story of this rice. The spicy tofu and veg had a little more heat to it than the ginger beef, but only just enough to be detectable, although Fong's older customer base with more delicate palates might disagree with me. The stir fried veg was tender crisp and the thick wedges of tofu had a light crust encasing the fluffy interior. Thick Shanghai noodles are always fun to slurp up, and its rich sauce paired well them, and the noodles had a nice hit of wok hei as well. Fong's has a lot of charm from its classic Chinese-Canadian stylings, and while its menu doesn't venture beyond the typical Canadianized-Chinese fare, its doing well by it with a kitchen that knows how to make what the people want and make it well. read more

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Planned to eat in at this restaurant but when we arrived the stale odor and dingy atmosphere was very off putting. It was late so we placed a to go order of chicken noodle soup which was bland and chicken lo mein which was also sub par. They need to upgrade the restaurant and the food in my opinion read more

We had combination plates and ginger beef for our day early New Years meal. It all was very good, and our confidence in Fong's is renewed! Thank you so much! read more

I'm on the fence about this restaurant. The plum sauce tasted nothing like plum sauce. It was watered down. Everything except the rice( which I forgot to take a pic of) was bland. Very cozy place. Lovely decor, but the food is very bland. Will I go back? Probably. I heard they have a beef macaroni dish that is pretty good read more

Fong's Restaurant - The dumplings were nice and hot, but bland. The dipping sauce was gross - Chinese Near Me - Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

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Delicious food great prices 10000% big portions , friendly staff I've ordered from here since I was younger and can't get enough of it , good family atmosphere and covid precautions are perfect ! read more

I'm a regular Customer and have been for 30 years (originally at their Eastern Passage location that's no longer in business). Much of the menu reflects what a Canadian Chinese restaurant was in the 60's - 80's (with the exception of dry garlic ribs not being available). To me it's great. Some of the reviewers compare Fong's to their experience in major centres like Toronto. Wake-up, this is the Maritimes! I was raised in Toronto and chose to live here. Enough of the crowds, pollution and traffic. Fong's offers me and my family a change of menu. Take-out is placed in sturdy containers that are microwave and low-heat oven friendly out of the bag. Fong's isn't the best Chinese restaurant I've been to, but I can place an order in the afternoon and it's ready to pick-up at the time I want. Thanks! read more

My favourite restaurant in Dartmouth/Cole Harbour. I mean, let's be honest... It's a cosylittle out of the way restaurant, but that's the way I like it. The food is not technically amazing, but it sure is delicious. It's Canadian Chinese Food (Chicken Balls, etc), so if you like that, you'll like Fongs. Fongs is very clean and the food is always hot. The place looks straight out of the 80's, and it seems way bigger than necessary, but I think that adds some personality to it. The service amazing as well. You never have to wait more than 10 minutes for your food and the staff is super friendly. Fongs has become a staple for my girlfriend and I. Also, eat the egg roles and the rice. read more

Went here last night. Fantastic food, some of the best Chinese I've ever had. All made in house, the egg rolls were superb. A great variety of combination plates and you can substitute the chow mein for other items for $1. The service was excellent and the food hot. I would highly reccomend this place if your craving great Chinese food. read more

Just 'ok' Chinese food in my mind. The sunday buffet definitely draws a crowd! Very thrifty! I think i'm coming to the realization that Chinese food is sort of unique from restaurant to restaurant. If you've got a favorite spot somewhere, then you're unlikely to find anything that compares. Fong's does have quite a following of dedicated Sunday brunch goers so give it a try for yourself. read more

I've been to Fong's twice, once for the Sunday buffet and once to eat in. First of all, I don't really recommend the buffet. If you need your unlimited Chinese food fix, you're best going somewhere else, as I agree with other reviewers in saying the selection here is poor. But I have to give Fong's four stars because of the great sit-down experience I had here with friends. Let me start by saying, yeah, we were a group of 7 teens and I'm objective enough to know that a lot of businesses would probably read this as trouble. Not so here - we were quickly given a huge table in a practically separate room, and the waitress who took care of us (I unfortunately don't remember her name) was lovely. Friendly and answered any and all questions we had about the menu. We ordered six or seven dishes from across the menu as well as spring rolls and it all arrived at our table in record time, so hot and fresh there was steam rising from the bowls. Our choices were pretty standard: the house chow mein, beef with broccoli, sweet and sour chicken, mixed Chinese veggies (we like our vegetables, okay!), fried rice, BBQ short ribs for the one die-hard carnivore in the group, and the Vegetable Almond Ding. That last one was probably the best, but everything was tasty, if not spectacular. The vegetarian and quasi-vegetarian in the group were both very satisfied as well. Finally, let me say something about the value here. Our total came to 81$ for SEVEN, including tax and tip! There were seven dishes on the table as well as spring rolls. And we all had water, except for two who had Cokes. For that price we got an incredible amount of food: it was too much, even for seven teenagers with, well, infamously huge appetites. Our waitress helpfully offered to bring boxes for the leftovers - nice. All in all, we were very happy with our experience here. Though you might not want to come to Fong's for the buffet, or even for à la carte with a group of two or three, it's excellent with a larger group. To get the real experience here, bring your friends, bring your appetites, and sample everything - and be ready to be eating leftover Chinese for lunch the next day! read more

Being new to the HRM area we are compelled to try places based upon the outside signage or looks! Fong's advertised brunch, and we rolled in dreaming about places like The Great Wall or that Ontario institution, The Mandarin. Oh dear. There were three small tables with three stainless serving dishes on them. The food reminded me of when my parents used to order, in the 60s: red sauce chicken balls, chop suey boiled down to soup consistency, and for dessert the remains of some McCains frozen cream pies (last time I checked you can buy them for 3 bucks) all this for 14.95 each. Cleanliness was not their forte either. But, if you like Chinese Food a la 1965, then this is the place for you! No fancy black bean or Szechuan nonsense to confuse you. Just old style egg rolls, everything battered and fried, and lots of grease. read more

I've had chinese food from all over the city and between taste and texture Fongs gets it so right with the majority of their menu. The decor is dated but I only care about what I'm eating. I have yet to find a better egg roll in Nova Scotia. read more

Horrible, horrible, horrible. 1) chicken fried rice tasted burnt and I think it was turkey not chicken. 2) almond chicken looked like it has been cooked, over and over again. Breading did ro stick to chicken breast. It was dry and tough. 3) chicken chow mein, again think it was turkey. 4) sweet and sour sauce was really runny as was the gravy. 5) no sauce for the over cooked egg rolls. My only explanation for this disaster is the restauranr does not care about the take-out customers. I cannof believe this would have been served at a table. read more

Terrible! The waitress was salty when asked about the dishes ingredients and the dishes were dirty, the salt rack was so rusty we couldnt get the soy sauce out of It and the soy sauce is not topping quality its meant for cooking with, its so strong its not even edible. Plus the food was so greasy I could have rung it out , tbh I would have been better off buying the chinese in the frozen section at superstore at least I would have saved 80 bux not to mention the portion sizes are rediculously small. I personally will never go back, Its completely disappointing to go to a restaurant expecting it to be good and wasting hard earned money on food that is so bad! If I could have rated this with a minus I would have. read more

Terrible. The sweet and sour soup tastes like it was made with bottled sweet and sour sauce, and their "house special" Cantonese chow mein seemed made with stale meats tossed in a thickened chicken soup ramen pack. I do not even know how they stay in business. read more

First let me say, this was the only Chinese restaurant that would deliver to our neighbourhood. The delivered food was plenty. Taste = ok. Not great, not even good. but ok. The price was ok. 5 items for $70. We were thankful they would deliver, but I think we will be making the trek to Halifax, back to Jean's next time we want Chinese. read more

Everyone should check their take out orders before you leave site. Chicken fried rice smelled burnt and tasted even worse, it should not have even left the kitchen. Have been eating there for over 30 years...no more. read more

Absolutely horrible. So much msg in the food it was borderline inedible... I wish I could give a negitive star rating read more

It's been many years since we've had Fong's Chinese Food. The quality has gone down dramatically, over cooked egg rolls to the point they were pretty much burnt. The chow main was tasteless. Extremely disappointing. read more

If we purchase Chinese food its here. Hands down the best yet Ka mien soup in the world if you like noodles it is without competition. We have eaten just about all of the menu over the years and have never been disappointed. Have been going here over 25 years. Also the best spring rolls ever. The staff and owners are always helpful and accommodating. read more