Once in while we have to get a meal in the provinces. This would be Uncle Chen's. It looks quite upscale on the outside but it just your local Chinese dig. I had the buffet for $10.50 which was not bad for the price. It was palatable but can't say it was joyous. The fried vegetables were better but the meats were, hmmm, less than desirable. The fried chicken wings turned out to be quite tasty. The locals like this place. read more

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Best Chinese restaurant here. So good great people and good service. Food is always good too

I can't believe my family has never eaten here in all the times we have visited Carpinteria! We really enjoyed the ribs, chow mien, and Terryaki chicken. My daughters even enjoyed the garlic edamame. Service was great too...our waiter was very attentive and filled our drinks constantly. (love their ice tea!) We will definitely eat here again! read more

My husband and I like to stop here when we're in Carpenteria. The staff is very friendly and polite and we like the food. It's the typical Americanized Chinese menu and what my husband likes most (aside from the good flavor) is that the fried chicken is only very thinly breaded. I like the noodles and the rice dishes, or the shrimp and vegetables. The soup here is also good. Comfortable/casual atmosphere, clean restaurant and easy to get to from the 101. read more

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I'll start off by saying I have eaten at Uncle Chen many times. Service is good and food has always been very good. Got take out this time. I hate to report but the food this time was just beyond horrible! Nasty! It was a Sunday evening...maybe the regular cook was off? Ended up throwing it all out. $62 down the drain and ended having to find something else to eat. Ordered Sweet and Sour Shrimp. Usually the shrimp are excellent and have a nice crispy deep fry coating on them. These had a really slimy rubbery coating. Took one bite and spit it out. Unfortunately, tasted just awful too. The shrimp wasn't fresh. Check out the photo I posted of what the Sweet and Sour Shrimp usually looks like next to what I received and tell me this isn't gross. The sauce on the Kung Pao chicken was so thick and syrupy that it coagulated into a gluey gel consistency. The Moo Goo Gai Pan was all Chicken and very little vegetables as well and was bland. Rice was dried out too. I'm so upset over spending so much and having to throw it all out that I won't return. How could they go from having really good food to the most vile Chinese food I have ever had? read more

Uncle Chen Restaurant - Kung Pao Chicken with the sauce so thick and gluey it solidified into a gel. - Chinese Near Me - Carpinteria, California

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Great food and service Good menu selections Convenient on/off 101 location ............,.,..........

Alway Wonderful!!!! Staff, Food & Ambiance is relaxing!!!! Feel like Family here!!!!1,000 Stars!!!! Thank You to Owners and Staff for Always making me & my Loved One's feel Special, You are All Special to us!!!! read more

The service really stands out here as particularly friendly and genuine. My party of 3 enjoyed having family style dinner tonight. We opted to get the dinner specials which allow you to choose an entree which also comes with a choice of soup and deep fried appetizers and side of fried or steamed rice. This was a LOT of food and we took two bags of leftovers home. I really enjoyed the hot and sour soup. The appetizer that came with the dinner specials also included a crispy battered prawn, veggie spring roll, and triangle wontons. By the time we got our entrees, we were already starting to feel full! All the entrees we tried were tasty. My favorite of the ones we tried was the Mongolian beef-gender and flavorful. Next time you're craving Chinese food, stop in here for a quality meal with terrific service! read more

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I've not been downtown Santa Barbara for Chinese food for a long time, so I can easily say from downtown to Ventura it's the best Chinese restaurant. Period. It's my go-to Chinese restaurant. Run by good, caring people. read more

Probably some of the best Chinese food we have had!! We eat a lot of Chinese food in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hawaii, Vancouver and Las Vegas and this little spot in a strip mall we took a chance eating at blew us away with the food! Nothing fancy inside and our server was Hispanic. We will definitely stop here when ever back in Carpinteria!! read more

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Awesome place. I've been eating there for 20 plus years best Chinese food. I definitely recommend this place. You need to add this place to the top 5 places to eat in Carpinteria, California. read more

I was so absorbed with the delicious, Tofu with Green Beans that I forgot to take a picture. Oh well, next time I will. uncle Chen's is good old fashion Chinese food. If that's what you are craving look no further. However, the tofu with green beans was outstanding. The tofu was so flavorful and with just the right crisp on the outside. They are currently remodeling but have plenty of outdoor seating. read more

So, so good! The price may seem a little high, but serving size is generous. The best thing though is the flavor. So much better than a Panda or other fast Chinese food. You can definitely taste the quality. read more

Uncle Chen Restaurant - Served myself a little, they gave us plates. Super nice & delicious. Gonna get 2nds. - Chinese Near Me - Carpinteria, California

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I love this place. I have been coming for years, and I have never had an issue with this place. Everyone is so friendly Tsai-Wang and Yu-Mei Lee are the sweetest and its always so nice going to pick up food and see their friendly smiling faces. Now the food....best chinese food in town. If you haven't tried it, do yourselves a favor and go try it!! Don't eat meat!?!?! I'm with you on that and guess what so is Uncle Chen's. They have a whole section of soy chicken!! They are super flexible as well. They didn't offer my favorite item in soy chicken and I asked if they could make it and I was met with, "sure, no problem" Love this place I can't say enough how great they are!!! read more

Chow mein was good but the ribs and egg foo young were terrible.. I would not recommend this place

Uncle Chen's restaurant is a wonderful place to eat. The staff are so friendly and food is great. It is one of our favorite restaurants.

We ordered enough food for 4 people and when we received it it was SO small. Not at all enough for all of us. And on top of that they gave us TWO soy sauce packets for FOUR people. We had to go back to get more soy sauce and more food. Our experience was terrible. read more

had dinner there today. amazing food. we ordered chicken wings, orange chicken, string beans, hazelnut shrimp...i'd say all of them are 5/5. the mongolian beef i'd say is a 3.5 , yangzhou rice is good but very small portion. There were only 2 waiters serving ao they were very busy bit man they're like machines...especially my amigo. he was really a hard worker and very nice guy too. read more

Hard pass. Flavorless, greasy, low quality ingredients, mediocre service, etc. etc. You can find better Chinese food literally anywhere.

I have been coming here since I was 7, I used to eat meat so I would get the beef and broccoli super good, now I am vegetarian and get the tofu chicken sweet and sour style you can hardly tell that it's not actually chicken! Love the food and great friendly staff read more

Delicious food and good service! We really enjoyed our dinner! Vegetarian dishes are good, shrimp was tender and flavorful.

I asked for steamed broccoli and beef and it was no problem for them. The service was great! read more

Walnut shrimp the best - fat juicy fresh shrimp - walnut sauce perfect. A dish that will haunt you to keep coming back for more. I am stuck, I now will never know what else is good on the menu read more

We have been coming to Carpenteria for the last three years and each time we come and eat at Uncle Chen's. The food is fantastic, fresh, and flavorful. The staff is always pleasant and helpful. I highly recommend trying them out. read more

I can't believe I've been coming here for years and have not written a post yet. Everytime you go in, you're met with a smile and just super light and bright positive energy. This place has been a beacon of light and hope during the most recent tragedies. She stayed open during the fires and flood to give people a sense of normalcy (and ability to eat if they didn't have power at their place). And she is open now during this COVID19 ordeal. Their lunch buffet is a great experience. I leave with a tummy full of healthy yummies (string beans and tofu is probably my favorite). She has an array of veggie dishes, meat and veggies, seafood, appetizers and soup, and salad. Their chicken wings are to die for. Literally worth the drive from upper SB to Carp just for that. I'm also obsessed with the string beans and tofu and hot and sour soup. Their chicken wontons are also great. My family owned Chinese restaurants while I was growing up. And this food brings back a lot of nostalgia and comfort. read more

Had dinner, I ordered sizzling rice soup, orange chicken, beef w/broccoli and crispy noodle w/shrimp. All the entree are delicious, Food is so tasty. My birthday is coming up and I want to have dinner there. Next am taking pictures read more

I love uncle Chen's. I love the staff. For the authentic Chinese food order off the red menu, that's kinda the secret. The food on the regular is good but probably not the most authentic Chinese food in the area but it's pretty darn good. I like the ambiance and attentive staff. They're very accommodating. My favorite is the kung pao chicken. I love it all tho. Sometimes I just wanna sit and drink tea here for long hours.... read more

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I came in at 2:30pm on a Thursday by myself. Lunch was over but the very kind and attentive waiter asked if I would like a lunch special despite it being over. Food arrived quickly and in great quantities! Everything was fresh and excellent flavor. I got the sesame chicken with steamed rich, wonton, egg roll, sweet and sour soup and a huge basket of yummy fried wontons. All of the fried items were golden and I could tell fresh oil was used. Sesame chicken was flavorful and just the right crunch- not soggy or overbreaded. Yummy! I will be back due to the quality of food and excellent service. read more

Uncle Chen Restaurant - Chinese Near Me - Carpinteria, California

Food is pretty greasy and kind of taste like Panda Express. If you're not used to authentic Chinese Food then maybe this place will pass for others. I ordered the zucchini chicken, which was the healthiest thing I could find on the menu. It was slimy, just like most things I saw on the restaurant. I usually like egg drop soup, but this tasted processed or something. It was too salty! Price point is pretty solid, and there's also a buffet if you're looking to eat quite a bit. I would not recommend this place. I might actually like Panda Express more. read more

Uncle Chen Restaurant - Zucchini Chicken - Chinese Near Me - Carpinteria, California

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Delicious food. NO MSG!! We got both chicken and shrimp chow mein, hot and sour soup, wonton soup, veggie tofu soup, war wonton soup, and egg rolls. Everything was flavorful and amazing. The fried wonton was addicting. read more

Great meal!!!! We had salt and pepper chicken wings, war wonton soup and mapo tofu! All delicious! Soup hit the spot on a cold day! Chicken was hot and crispy, yummm And the mapo tofu with pork just spicy enough Service was great, super nice people I highly recommend this restaurant! read more

Everything was super delicious. Portions are big enough to share and take leftovers home. The seats were nice and the music playing was enjoyable. Our host/waitress was very nice and helpful. Love it here can't wait to come back :) read more

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This place never disappoints no matter what I order. I have eaten here at least once a week for the last almost 2 months. Chow Mein Egg Rolls Orange Chicken Sesame Chicken Steamed Rice read more

Uncle Chen Restaurant - Walnut shrimp and steamed rice - Chinese Near Me - Carpinteria, California

We went on a road trip, came across Uncle Chen Restaurant in Carpenteria. The food was outstanding, so fresh. And the service was fantastic. read more

Terrible Chinese food. Mediocre, at best. Was met by a rude person when placing an order. I'll take my business elsewhere.

We come here every time we come to town and it's always so good and so fresh! The staff is super friendly too, we love this place! We got the orange chicken, cashew chicken, chow mein and fried rice and it was oh so good! read more

Great food and service on 3 separate visits. Extensive menu selection plus they have several lunch plate specials too.

The Rincon fried rice is the reason to come here and the friendly staff is the next reason. We had just missed the dine in hours cut off but as I knew what we wanted, the waitress let us take a seat. Now that's customer service. Order the dry string beans and you will have a simple meal that is flooded with delicious flavors. No do not this family run favorite in Carpenteria! read more

Excellent food, excellent prices, and the best customer service. Five stars is what I rate them, I would highly recommend this restaurant to everyone... and not only that but the location is perfect and they have a few patio seats outside too which is pretty convenient and fresh:) read more

All the dishes we ordered here were terrible. The wontons skins were sticky and gloppy, the chicken only tasted like hoison sauce and was way too salty and spicy, the orange chicken was mainly fried dough - I don't even know if there was any real chicken in there.... I could go on and on read more