Here is my local Chinese to go place if Panda isn't an option. To me, their selection feels home made - excellent choices for good prices and the process is very straight forward. I would recommend the pepper chicken but not the pork - the pork is fairly underwhelming. The location seems clean and the staff is nice and cordial, if terse and to the point. read more

For their benefit i will give them 5 stars. I really would like to give 4.5 ... but you know that story. Their Hot and Sour soup is bombdiggity and our family loves to get the very unhealthy orange chicken. I really like their spicy tofu! For maybe $25, we can pick up a ton of food for our family of 4 and have leftovers... for dessert. Here's the low-down... You're gonna get big ass portions and they're gonna try and stuff them into the smallest take out boxes possible! If you're look for pretty decent chinese food (and awesome soup) for the littlest money possible, go here, to Orient Express. read more

I love this restaurant! This is my regular Friday tradition. The food is awesome and it's always fresh. And guess what if you want something prepared a little bit different, for example if you would like it meatless all you have to do is ask and they will prepare it fresh! read more

I work right next to Orient Express and eat there almost once a week! Orient Express is a type of fast food chinese food, but nothing compared to Rice Garden and Panda Express. The price for a HUGE meal is super inexpensive. Its rare to find a place like this with both Quantity and Quality. The amount of food they give you is pretty much lunch and dinner for the day. I always recommend to all my friends who try Orient Express to get the SALT & PEPPER CHICKEN. Its not overly spicy unless you eat the green peppers, but its always so crunchy and fresh! Also, the HOT & SOUR SOUP is one of my favorites and always get a small bowl on the side. They always have a line out the door, but they are very fast and quick. Ive been coming to this joint since I was little and its always been a local pick for the BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK! read more

Still the same ol' place I reviewed in 2008. Food prices are the same, and so are the portions! But I don't think they charge you a fee anymore for using a credit card.... read more

Great location, rarely have I felt like the meat or rice was a bit dry. Other than that small complaint I have only positive things to say about Oriental Express after frequenting it for the past 15 years. Tasty food, very generous proportions, great price; you can stuff yourself and still get a soddiepop for less than $10.00. Also the couple who work there are always sweet to me. Definitely recommend. read more

No better Chinese food in San Ramon and the servings are very generous. You are not a true east bay resident if you don't regularly stop by to enjoy their delicious food. I have been going to orient for over 20 years and the food always delivers. The lemon chicken and chow mein combo with potstickers on the side is a must for any new customers. read more

For the price this place is very very good! I had the hot and sour soup and a medium chicken chow mein and it was $5.25 and I had enough for 2 meals! The soup had great flavor and the noodles in the chow main were thick, just like I like them. I can wait to try the lemon chicken next time. read more

This is an updated review from today. Food has not gotten better. I have no idea how this place has more than 300 four-star plus reviews. It should be between two and three at most. You should absolutely not drive out of your way to eat here Original post ~ Food was OK, nothing amazing - it's kind of like a local version of panda express. It is inexpensive and the ingredients are fresh and the servings are large. However, it is nothing special and no reason to go out of the way to eat here. read more

Been going to this take-out place for quite a few years, and it's been consistently fresh, with generous portions, and they supposedly do not use MSG! I tried Panda Express a few months ago for the first time, and no panda-monium for me! Cute commercials, but I'll stick with Orient Express! I call in my order and usually speak with Thomas who is personable, friendly and remembers my name. I do special orders, which they customize to what I like. My typical is white fish or chicken over chow fun (flat noodles), with broccoli and/or bok choy. My wife used to order a black mushroom and veggie combo (broccoli, carrots, bean sprouts, green beans) over Hong Kong style noodles (thin noodles, can be slightly crispy). Special orders are usually around $7-8, depending on what you choose. The place is small,and when it's busy, there's a line out the door. It moves fast, though. Service is good, and my phoned-in order is always ready upon arrival. It's a convenient place that a lot of people seem to know about by word of mouth (I've never seen them advertise). There is the standard food in the bins at the counter. I tried this years ago, and it was good, but a bit saltier than my special orders. The lemon chicken was a stand out. read more

HORRIBLE SERVICE! My family and I got lemon chicken with rice and noodles. The lady serving us had horrible attitude The chicken was raw, so we went and asked for a refund and the lady had even more attitude and would not give us a refund because she said nothing is wrong with it, when you can clearly see the chicken was pink. Would never go here again, horrible customer service read more

Really good, fast and cheap Chinese food. No matter what you get, you can't go wrong. I've been getting food from there since I was a kid an the quality of food has never changed. The menu can change but know that whatever you get will be good. The many mentioned Salt an Pepper Chicken is so good. I get that and egg rolls every time I go there. read more

What a great little take-out place. It is also known (around my office) as Cheapy Chinese because their prices are really low. I really like the beef and zucchini lunch special. The portions are large and I always find myself bringing half of it home for my evening snack. Did I mention I love left over Chinese? It's so good! Anyway, this place rocks. Since this is a take out establishment, there is only one small little table inside which I would personally never eat at -BUT- there is a little area out front where some tables and chairs are set up for all the surrounding businesses (Quiznos, TCBY, etc)...but just beware of the birds in the trees lurking above. I've seen some food get ruined, and it isn't pretty! read more

I was skeptical at first, but I was pleased with the gamble. Though this was a stone cold lock lunch pick of the day, I should have been more open minded. This is a smart man's Panda Express. The lunch meals are large. There are two small tables inside, but you don't have to eat there. You can eat outside. So the food tastes fresh and the meals are pretty reasonable. After you're finished eating, you can get some ice cream or play some video games at Game Stop. Excellent value. Definitely going back to this place. read more

They are flat out rude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Was going to be a first time customer so I phoned them to ask about an appetizer dish and she answered me so quickly so I asked again my Question and she had total attitude and then hung up. I will never go to this place. I guess they do not need new customers. read more

For my fast Chinese take food, I go to the restaurant that has the Bear as the Mascot but if I am in San Ramon, the only place I will go is Orient Express!!! Great proportions and great customer service. I have been going here for 15 years. read more

Their food are flavorless, pretty good portion and sizes, they can definitely do better on their sweet sour pork. The main reason why gave them a 2 stars because of how disappointing the swt sour pork were it reminds me of bbq pork. Swt sour pork are dipped in battered flour deep fried crispy and crunchy. read more

Generous and I mean generous portion size for cheap! However; I've had better tasting chinese food that had better flavor. You definitely get a great portion size but the quality of taste isnt the greatest. read more

One word: Overrated. One of the worst Chinese food I have tasted. Chicken was so hard and chewy... me and my wife just dumped this and thought maybe Mc Donald's opposite it was a better choice in comparison for a moment read more

This is a very small hole in the wall restaurant. i have ordered off their steam table and off their menu. Steam Table- Food only looks good to me when it's fresh and just brought out... I normally get the chicken chow mein and the lemon chicken. Sometimes, I just order a medium size box of their noodles. Depending on who's serving you, portions can be average to humongous. Take Out Menu- I like their West Lake Soup and their Chicken Drummetes. Over the years, prices have gone up, but it's still very reasonable. Lines are usually out the door... so that must mean they are doing something right. I normally do not like steam tables, but if you're craving something quick, give this place a try. I think the best time to come is when they first open for lunch and around 5 pm for dinner... this is when they usually cook fresh batches of food. read more

Best Chinese take-out in San Ramon. They have the best Salt & Pepper Chicken, ever. And their Chow Mein is very solid, too. If you stick to those staples it's really, really hard to go wrong with Orient Express. If you branch out from there it starts to delve a bit more into the 'average', but those two particular dishes are excellent and are reason enough to keep coming back. They also can be generous with the portions, and for the price this place is all stars. Five of them. read more

This is Chinese fast food...you don't expect gourmet and you don't get it but it is tasty, not too greasy and has never disappointed. The highlight for me is their veggie fried rice. For $5 you get a ton of fried rice packed with all different kinds of vegetables. High quality & high quantity. I haven't had many of their meat dishes but they do all smell good, they're always really nice and I enjoy going there. read more

The prepared food is okay. The chow mein and barbecue pork fried rice are very greasy and they don't really have any flavor. Ask for soy sauce, if you have to order the prepared items. If I am up for trying orient express in the future, I will try to order from the menu by calling ahead of time to see if those items taste better. read more

Love this place!! Food is always fresh and delicious! My favorite quick service Chinese food!! Love the Pot Stickers, the Salt& Pepper Chicken and Chow Mein with the fat noodles. :) read more

Extremely cheap. Extremely big portions. For 4.60 + tax you can get a one item special. The tray is FILLED to the very top. When you open it you will literally see the shape of the tray in your rice. Enough to feed two average eaters, or one very big eater. The lemon chicken always seems to be the most popular. Definitely not an ideal location to meet and eat (unless you don't mind sitting outside) Definitely a TAKE OUT place. Great place for single guys to get a huge meal for 5 bucks. If you're ok with panda express quality food, then you'll definitely like this place. read more

First time I was in and out of this place in 2 minutes. Average wait is 5-7 but trust me it's worth it. Food is always good here. I recommend the salt & pepper chicken read more

Orient Express - Buffet style food - Chinese Near Me - San Ramon, California

See all

Been patronizing the good people at Orient Express takeout for maybe 20 years. Ridiculously generous portions with reasonable prices. I'm stuck on the hot tofu chicken, love that red chili flavor - but don't eat any of those peppers, they will burn you out. In the estimated 100 times that I have ordered from there, there was just one time a couple of years ago that I think the tofu was bad and I suffered for it. That's the only reason that I'm not giving them five stars. read more

I was very excited to try this Chinese fast food restaurant today as I have been meaning to go for weeks and they are closed on Sundays. I dropped in and I explained it was my first time there and I asked to try the lemon chicken (most popular) and the sweet and sour pork. The lemon chicken was tasty but I wasn't a fan of the sweet and sour sauce so I asked to taste the spicy kung pao before I committed to my 2 item combo. (There are not that many options on the steam table.) The lady got upset, pointed to a sign and told me it's one sample per person and she would have to charge me to taste. I was pretty turned off by the customer service especially since I was looking forward to trying it this place with such good reviews. After I paid, I said thank you and she did return a thank you. I looked in the bag, there was no fork, napkin or soy sauce but I found them and another sign, limit 2 per customer. Once I left, I kept replaying the scenario in my mind and wished that I walking out without buying because of the bad experience but of course I was really hungry for lunch and was hoping at least the food would be good. I am now trying the lemon chicken, steamed rice, chow mien and kung pao. It doesn't wow me, for the same price I think Panda Express has better ingredients and sauces. Strangely there is no peanuts in the kung pao and it just tastes like chicken cooked in soy sauce with dried chili peppers. The rice was like short grain minute rice, too soft like it had been over cooked with too much water. The chow mien noodles were pretty good, thick and chewy but I added soy sauce for flavor. Lemon chicken is battered fried and in a sweet sauce so not much can go wrong there. Overall, you do get a lot of food for the price especially in San Ramon but I think I rather find a good local Chinese restaurant with lunch specials that include egg roll and soup for $8-9. Unfortunately, I won't be back again and I do not recommend it. read more

Don't get me wrong, I love this place. Working within walking distance makes this an easy choice for value/quantity lunch budgets. We commonly refer to this place as "Five-dollar chicken", with the almost-guaranteed leftovers referred to as "Two-fifty chicken". (Before recent price increases and the sales tax up/down thing, a single-choice meal would run $5.06. Now it's ~ $5.60.) With that in mind, I can't give it higher than three stars. As other reviewers have pointed out, this isn't high-quality Chinese. It's fast, salty, and high in quantity. My wife and I have easily gotten by on a single choice item with 2 egg rolls for a little over $8 and leftovers for another meal. If I want "good" Chinese there's other options in the area. As long as I'm drinking 2 quarts of water a day to offset the enormous salt intake, I'm not givin' up my "Single-choice, Fried Rice, Salt and Pepper Chicken". May my future high-blood pressure conditions forgive me now. I love it too much to stop... read more

Totally worth my four star rating. This restuarant is set up quite similar to a "panda express", BUT sooooo much better!! Witnessed Grandma cooking in the back today and proved that this is definitely a mom and pop location that loves to serve their customers. Everytime that my boyfriend and I have gone to get some grub from this location there has always been some sort of line, but the owner and family working are always accomodating to their customes ensuring that they will get to us in a timely manner and serve us all as quickly as they can. All of the portions are huge!! And the price is totally resonable! For three people we paid only $14 (huge save/stea; for how much food we got!) Next time my boyfriend and I agreed we will try one of the specialty items on the board - so we took a business card to call them to order before we go in. Lastly!! I MUST RAVE ABOUT THE AWESOME SALT AND PEPPER CHICKEN!! I am not sure why some people didn't enjoy it, I wonder if they were at the same location as me, but I haven't tasted anything close to that at any Panda Express or Uncle Yu's (bleh! they are barely comparable to Orient Express.) I will totally be recommending this location to people. I believe this will be one of the local restaurants that my boyfriend and I will be visiting weekly or biweekly. we love that this location is family owned and runned. read more

Nice cheap place to get a quick bite. Food is as expected from this type of establishment and hits the spot. There are long lines though which tend to move quick. Winners are the salt and pepper chicken and the hot and sour soup. I get a kick out of going there and listening to the family behind the counter talk and argue about the funniest things in loud chinese. The other day they were jibbering about having alot of phone in orders and some lady wanted to wait for sweet and sour pork - but they said it'll probably be an hour because of the line up. Gotta love that honesty! read more

Terrible Chinese food. Sweet and sour chicken didn't have any veggies (onion, green pepper) and the chicken was poor quality. Mongolian Beef was tough. Sauce was weird tasting. I would never eat here again read more

Oh how I miss Orient Express. I just never get the chance to eat here anymore! When I did, I would indulge in their spicy tofu chicken and chicken w/green beans or asparagus! I do recall that their hot and sour soup was quite tangy and tasty. The husband always ordered the beef and broccoli and the BBQ pork. Not the cleanest take-out establishment I've seen BUT I have never been ill from it either. read more

When I am in my bulking phase (pretty much all the time), I like to head to Orient Express! You might say another steam table joint? I'll reply with "Nahhhhhh this one is legit" Originally introduced to me by a college buddy back in 2005, I rekindled my relationship with this place when I started working out in the East Bay in 2011. Do you ever remember that feeling when you catch eyes with a cute someone across the room? That is the same feeling I get with this place. Where else can you get a two item combo, 2 potstickers, and a can of soda for $8.30?!? My favorite items are the salt and pepper chicken, potstickers, and hot and sour soup. Before I started hitting the nearby 24 hour, this place easily got me overweight within 3 months. I have since limited my visits to this place but gurrrrrrrrrrl you never forget your first love! read more

Great portion sizes. Awesome egg rolls. Have been coming here for years and no complaints yet! read more

I recently relocated to San Ramon and was looking for a good chinese restaurant. I couldn't find it using my navigation even though I was in the parking lot. It was dark I wear glasses. So i called and the gentleman told me it was between Safeway and CVS next to the ice cream shop. I walked in and the gentleman behind the counter said "Awe you found it", with a warm smile. I told him I was new to the area. He immediately suggested their most popular items and then proceeded to give me a sample of his salt and pepper chicken. It was delicious and yes i ordered it along with Kung Pao Chicken, fried rice, and chow mein. Huge portion enough for my pooch and I for 2 days. All of the customers said it was the best food and I'd be back before I sampled anything. Guess what they were right! Not only is the food delicious an affordable, the gentleman behind the counter gave me a warm welcome to his restaurant and San Ramon. I will be back and will alos bring my daughter when she's home from college. Thanks so much!! read more

Quick. Cheap. Easy. Great option for a short lunch. Basically no seating inside. Don't mind the server. The food is worth it. read more

Orient Express - Slappin - Chinese Near Me - San Ramon, California

the reviews were right! came here for the first time and got the egg rolls & chow mein. super fresh-- the egg rolls were perfectly crisp. good portions & amazing customer services as well, the lady was so nice! read more

Best Chinese food in San Ramon, now and forever. I've been coming here for years and it is the most consistently great Chinese food I have ever had. You cannot beat the amount of food you get for the price. However, this does not effect the quality. I've not once been disappointed with the food I received. It's always on point and delicious. The owners are also always very nice and accommodating as well. Overall a fantastic restaurant that I hope continues to stay in business for years to come. read more

We were out of dinner ideas and started driving around aimlessly until I yelped for Chinese food and found this hole-in-the-wall place. What a pleasant surprise! The pot stickers were good. The boss recommended Singapore Fried Rice Noodles and it was good! The salt and pepper chicken was good!! We will definitely be back. read more