China Chef

This was by far the worst Chinese food that I have ever «attempted» to eat. The fried dumplings are very doughy and soft. The moo shu pork? Where do I begin? The pork slices were thick and tough and the entire mixture was in a word, «slimy». It was disgusting. The pork lo mein noodles were overcooked and there was little to no flavor to the dish. My husband and I ate little of what we purchased, perhaps a third. The remainder is now on the kitchen counter where the garbage disposal awaits. And that is what this food is… garbage!

What a nightmare! They messed up my order and were rude on the phone about it to boot. Will never order from here again.

The food I got on New Year’s Eve wasn’t very good. The rice was cold and the vegetable dumplings were all dough. The lady that works at the registers is not friendly at all. It’s like she wants your money and that’s all. I wouldn’t recommend going here find another local place near by.

The place is consistent in terms of food. I will say that the food is your average Chinese food. Wouldn’t say it’s outstanding but seems decent. That being said, the woman that works the phones/​payment really is anything but pleasant.
I’m ok with being abrupt when it’s busy. I get it. But when there is no one here and you can’t even be pleasant? That goes a long way.
It’s decent food and you’re likely not coming here for «sunshine».

Although the food is cheap, is it really a good deal if most of it is inedible? Scallion pancake had the consistency of fried leaves. I couldn’t attest to the flavor because I could not tear through them to eat. Lo mein was very soggy, mostly because the noodles were extremely over cooked. The only saving grace was the spring roll and the 2 pieces of broccoli in the lo mein. Delivery was 30 minutes late, no biggie there. Do yourself a favor and get take out from dynasty.

I’ve been coming here for Chinese food for a few years and I’m usually always satisfied with my food. The Sweet & Sour Chicken is usually really good and fresh. The price is a little up there but there luch specials are nice when you’re able to catch them. Overall a great experience evertime.

Sauteed mixed vegetables are pretty good. Any kind of chicken or beef I’ve ever tried was not good at all as it is always soggy, mushy, not crispy.
Also expect diarrhea after eating here. Nothing too violent but be prepared.
And yes, to confirm earlier reviews they are most certainly rude.

I work on Whitney ave and there are a few different Chinese places that deliver to the store. This one has awesome and fast delivery. I didn’t have a long wait and the food was delivered HOT… Which is a huge plus since most times I get Chinese delivered cold. Everything I have tried from them I have liked. The egg rolls here are fat and juicy and have lots of flavor. The chicken and broccoli is not drowning in the brown sauce that you can actually taste chicken and broccoli. I will order from there again

Horrible, most terrible place. I have been to many Chinese take out places with variety level of rudeness, but this place easily tops all other rude places. Do NOT ever go here. They just ruined my night and I will never eat from here.

It was 6:30pm yesterday when I realized that I hadn’t eaten all day, save a couple cups of tea. I was in the area and was driving by China Chef, so I stopped for a bite. I found their food to be mediocre, slightly too salty, but very inexpensive. The woman working at the counter wasn’t pleasant. The food took about 20 minutes to prepare, so I would advise calling your order in.
Recommendation:
–Order ahead
–Keep in mind that the cost is low, so your expectations should not be for amazing, well-​prepared food.
Verdict:
While I didn’t have a terrible experience, I don’t plan on coming back. I’m sure I can find better inexpensive food around town.

YUM! I love this place, because the food is tasty. Even though it looks kind of like a hole in the wall, the food is good and veggies are fresh. There is always a good amount of meat in the dishes, and the portions are large for the price.
I haven’t had anything from here that I actively disliked, but my favorite thing is the chicken with string beans in garlic sauce. The string beans are steamed, and still crunchy (rather than overcooked and soft). I also like that with a $ 30 order, you can get free fried rice/​2 liter/​egg roll.
Delivery is hit or miss, and can be really slow. So if you are in a rush I’d recommend picking food up.

China Chef has become my go-​to Chinese takeout place in the area. It’s fast, cheap, and better than most others in this category. I haven’t been disappointed yet by any of the standard Chinese menu items like sesame chicken, hunan beef, chicken and vegetables, or dumplings, and I’ve never had to wait very long after I phone in my orders.

Nice little find while my favorite Chinese restaurant is under renovation. Had the General Tso’s chicken combo. Very tasty. Not too much sauce to overwhelm. Vegetable fried rice with perfectly crunchy veges. I will definitely be back. Food is fast. If I had called first it would’ve definitely been ready when we arrived.

3 stars for food
1 star for delivery/​service
I am writing this as I annoyingly wait for a replacement delivery order…
I have picked up take out here a few times because the food is consistently OK. It’s probably the best Chinese food in Hamden, but that is not a compliment when you consider how horrid the rest of the Chinese restaurants in Hamden are. What’s lead to this 2 star review is their horrible service. This is now the 2^nd time they’ve screwed up my delivery order (2 out of 3) — and I order ONLINE so there is no excuse other than misreading the order (which is clearly printed on the ticket stapled to the bag they deliver the food in!). I only live 1.5 miles away and usually pick up my order, but I am busy working on a project and decided what the heck. After waiting an hour (I ordered at 5 PM on a Thursday), the order arrived wrong which I didn’t realize until after unpacking the bag. The last time I just dealt with the mistake, but this time and $ 30 later, we were short two dishes and I was annoyed, The rude man on the other end of the phone acted as if he didn’t believe the order was wrong. Do you really think I want to wait another hour for a container of chicken fried rice while the rest of our food gets cold? Or my date, who is allergic to shrimp, wants to go to the hospital because he ate a shrimp dish we didn’t order? Then he asked if I wanted the dishes or just a credit for next time. Well, we have a partial dinner and hungry people so we want food … and how are you going to credit me when I paid cash? Of course we want food and make it snappy, pappy (I didn’t say that, I am not an a-​hole). I was told to repackage the food and give it back to the driver. if we ate any of it we’d have to pay for it (Uh, I am pretty sure I already did? And I tipped your driver 20%). Now this conversation took 20 minutes because the man didn’t understand or speak English well at all. And it has now been almost 2 hours since I placed the original order and I have no idea if I am supposed to pack up just what was wrong or the entire order. Am I waiting for just a container of fried rice or a whole new order (we ordered a few apps as well which are now ice cold)? Plus I have seen movies and worked in restaurants, I am now scared to eat what may come to my door. UGH This is why I HATE delivery and will only pick up take out orders from now on!!!

Ordered take out and was please fly surprised at the quality. Being from NJ am very familiar with Chinese food. The vegetables were crisp and fresh as was the chicken and shrimp. The egg told were tasty and crisp.

We ordered take-​out, the delivery beat expectations and quote, the price was very fair, lots of food, tastefully done, not greasy, veggies fresh, good eggplant with garlic.

Solid vegetarian options — I love the Gen Tsao bean curd & their scallion pancakes. My go to chinese food in the area!

I have to say, I love this place! It’s close to home, and the food is always very fresh and delicious!
I order my food steamed with the sauce on the side, and they never give me a problem. They aren’t stingy with the sauses at all, and are always friendly. I will admit that it is not the cleanest place that I have ever been to, but it’s not bad. I feel a little bad for the staff because they don’t put the heat on in the winter, and everyone has their coats on, but it is all worth it!
I recommend the chicken and broccoli, sesame chicken and steamed dumplings for sure, but I haven’t had anything there that I didn’t like. It’s great.

This is my favorite Chinese food place in Hamden, if not all of Connecticut. Fresh, fast, delicious, cheap, giant portions, accommodating and friendly staff… I recently moved to New Haven, and though I’ve been shopping around, I have yet to find a place nearby even a fraction as good as China Chef. I could compose poems.
As a vegetarian, I can’t speak for any of the meat dishes — other people I’ve ordered with haven’t complained, for what that’s worth — but let me tell you about the vegetable dishes. THE VEGETABLE DISHES. The sheer variety, to start with. Some restaurants, you know your order within 30 seconds because there’s only 3 meat-​free dishes on the menu and only one of those that actually appeals to you… not China Chef. And if you don’t see what you want on the menu, chances are you can just ask for «_​_​_​_​_​tofu» and they’ll make it for you. (One time the person who took my call refused to let me order off the menu, but this is against tens of other orders where they took the substitution requests without blinking an eye.) Try asking for tofu lo mein — I don’t know the words to describe how much better than plain veggie lo mein it is; it just IS.
Second, the vegetables themselves… in my most recent order of tofu with garlic sauce I counted broccoli, onions, carrots, bell peppers (both red and green), mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and baby corn. Everything was in generous bite-​sized pieces and stir-​fried to a perfect al dente consistency, neither mushy nor raw.
It’s possible that I’ve eaten at a Chinese restaurant that puts this many different vegetables into their food, but not within recent memory.
And this is just the generic mixed vegetables — they also offer Asian eggplant (not my favorite — big pieces, often mushy and/​or undercooked) and mu shu vegetables (which I was nervous to try at first, but the cabbage was finely shredded and well seasoned, and didn’t overpower the egg or the other veggies at all).
The tofu varies day to day, but as far as I can tell, they never have bad days. Whether crisp-​cornered triangles or generous silky uneven pieces, the tofu is always fried to perfection — chewy on the outside, smooth on the inside, indulgently crispy without being so greasy that it weighs down the whole meal. The general tso’s tofu comes with a battered coating for extra crispiness, just like the chicken version does. So so good.
On top of all that, China Chef always has brown rice available, which is HUGE plus for me, and it’s always freshly cooked. They’ve got this short grain variety that’s fragrant and just slightly chewy. Blissful. I’ve tried to get similar results at home, to no avail. Their white rice is probably fine, but as soon as I realized they offered brown rice I never looked back, so I couldn’t say.
The lunch specials are available until 3 pm and are big enough that I always have leftovers for supper or tomorrow’s lunch, they come in handily microwaveable plastic containers to boot. The dinner size is easily enough food for two big meals, or three if you have something on the side. And CHEAP. And GOOD. I could go on, but it would degrade entirely into capslock at some point…
Bottom line, I feel lucky to have found this place. I only wish it was closer to my house, but then I would probably never cook.

I really enjoy the chinese food at China Chef in Hamden. The food is always fresh, fast, and really tasty. I have never had a long wait at all, and like the fact they deliver. The place is relatively clean, and the staff very nice.