Jen Jen’s Chinese Restaurant

Jen jen’s does some things a lot better than ABC Café. I love Jen Jen’s Tofu Seafood Soup, and Spicy Eggplant Hot Pot more than ABC. ABC’s are more bland in taste. I really love the Steamed Wontons w/​sauce at Jen Jens too! The consistency of quality is always perfect. My grandmother-​in-​law loves General Tao’s Chicken. She is 95 years old. She couldn’t stop eating it! lol We always get seated immediately when we arrive. The service is great. The warm tapioca dessert is so delicious; it’s served for free at the end of your meal. I enjoy it every time. If it’s busy, they sometimes run out of it. :(My chinese friend was so surprised that they made this. I could tell she was so happy to experience traditional Chinese that reminded her of her childhood. It’s too bad that there are people eating Americanized Chinese Food at the Panda Express next door, when they could be eating Authentic Chinese Food at Jen Jen’s.

I’ve been here a few times. I always have enjoyed it. It has been a hit and miss at times on when they are open or closed for vacation. Since we live about 30+ mins away, we aren’t able to drive here often but when we do and its closed. Its disappointing. I was here a couple days ago after going to a convention out that way and is open late so it was a great opportunity to stop by. I was a bit disappointed that they were out of their fish dish, so we had to settle for two plates of the mayo shrimp, a plate of oysters, fried squid and some veggies. It was still fulfilling and tasted great, and my children ate everything on their plate. That is why we I gave them 4 stars. But it was just disappointing that there wasn’t anymore fish and the two tables next to us were enjoying the last two they had.

After a Saturday night party, my girlfriend and I got hungry and decided to get a late night meal at midnight. We drove half an hour to this restaurant and when we got there, we were told that «the kitchen was closed.» Why would you post «open until 2 AM» online and then close the kitchen 2 hours beforehand? I’ve eaten here before and the food was decent, but my advice is to call ahead if you eat late because you may just have the door closed in your face when you’re craving for some Chinese food at night.

I thought it was just OK. Certainly not bad but not fantastic. We were one of the few in there that wasn’t speaking Chinese which was cool but other than that — just OK. I got the Shrimp Mayonaise and it was about a 6 out of 10. My son got little ribs that were coated and friend and there was no sauce with them and I tried one and it was just a big bone. 3 out of 10 for that dish. We did get a soup for two that I really liked otherwise I would give it one star.

We came in at 10:15pm. We are not from the area so we were surprised to see them open so late. The sign says they are open until 1am! Awesome. They offer both a traditional and a casual American menu. The crunchy shrimp ball appetizer was awesome; super crunchy on the outside and flakey, soft shrimp on the inside. The beef with sautéed scallions entrée was excellent; tender beef with a nice and thick brown sauce. Pricing is on-​point. Our waitress was from Taiwan and super friendly. We will definitely come back when we are back in the area. Very pleased.

Don’t know why I never write any review for Jen Jen at all after these years?
We live far away from Jen Jen, but we make effort to visit them every other week for years, maybe over 10+ years already? Why we are a fan of Jen Jen? Because they have live crabs, lobsters, and oysters.
If you love big succulent juicy oyster, Jen Jen is the right spot for you. We always order ginger & green onions + soy sauce steamed oyster on the half shell. (蔥薑蒸蠔 1 order has 4 – 5 oysters depends on its size)
They have fresh oyster come in every Thursday weekly, if you come Friday, that’s a guarantee you can have it. If you come Saturday, it will be ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ and wish you good luck!
Staffs, Jimmy & Peggy, they are always very nice, polite, and helpful on explaining menu to customer who has question and don’t know Chinese food well.
If you know how to order the real Chinese cuisines, you don’t need menu. Since we’ve been eating at there so long, Jimmy even knows what we want and place oyster order b4 we walke in (he can see us coming from parking lot, everytime).
Jen Jen is not a fancy/​hip/​cool place for you to go and hangout, Jen Jen is the place for you to go, to EAT, authentic Chinese dish restaurant. They put the deco money back to customer dishes which I appreciate it a lot and after these years, I feel Jen Jen is kind of my private kitchen already.
Highly recommend their food, and hope you enjoy your visiting there too.
PS. you can customize your dish preference, like less salt, no MSG… etc. when placing order.

This is a pretty standard place to get Chinese — as far as take-​out goes. The prices aren’t bad but the serving size is probably the most reasonable portions I’ve ever seen. I got an order for a friend and I. We ended up eating the whole thing without hating out lives. We got an order of the friend rice and some beef lo mien. Neither was greasy but the fried rice was a little dry.
Not my first choice in the area but glad they’ve got a standard, portion controlled pick up order.

Really great restaurant for authentic Chinese food.
The food was not fancy but authentic, also the atmosphere is clean and cozy. The portions were huge while prices were good.
We really enjoyed the combo plates.
Nice people, too!

Really great and genuine service, and authentic Chinese food.
I have been coming here for years, and the food seems to be consistent every time. They’re open until very late into the night, which is so helpful when I get the munchies way past my bedtime. Home style serving also makes it easy to get a taste of everything that the guests order.
Don’t be afraid to try new things, as everything tastes delicious. I have noticed, that in comparison to ABC Café, Jen Jens tastes oily and heavier.

Love to come here when I need Asian food at late night! Food is decent to very good depends on what you order. They offer American-​Chinese to delicacy authentic Chinese. I appreciate that they open later than most Asian restaurants. Service is always a hit and miss, the old lady is rude, and always make me feel unwelcome! The place is old and looks unsanitary.

According to an article I read once, there are more Chinese restaurants in and around Kansas City than there are McDonald’s. However, so many of these Chinese restaurants are «Americanized». Do I mind? No, I occasionally crave your orange chicken or general tso’s. But when my palette is craving something a little more authentic, Jen Jen’s comes to the rescue!
I always start with the seafood tofu soup. Add a little bit of chili paste for an extra kick. Since I’m so crazy about tofu, I usually order their shrimp stuffed tofu as well. They deep fry it for a perfect thin layer of crispiness, but it doesn’t come out greasy. Their tofu is probably the best I’ve had. And of course, you need a veggie dish. Their water spinach sauteed in garlic tastes just as great as how my mom cooks it. Among other dishes I’ve enjoyed are the steamed flounder, thin singapore noodles, and stuffed crispy eggplant. By the way, I add chili paste to just about… everything!
This is a restaurant my family and I have come to love over the years. It’s small, not esthetically pleasing, and perhaps it doesn’t always have the most charming service but they are efficient; anywho the food warms my belly, and that keeps me happy!

Never a disappointment with the food here. Good portion size, authentic flavor, always just right.

Most authentic Chinese food visited in KC so far. My husband tried speaking mandarin to the waitress, apparently she only speaks Cantonese.
I liked the fact that they are open late.
Westlake soup (forgot what the restaurant named it) has ground beef with egg drop and cilantro. Delicious soup but not the best I’ve had. Two people can almost have two small bowls of soup each.
Singapore thick noodles — flat noodles with curry flavor sauteed with meat and veggies. Pretty good but I think I prefer the thin noodles.
Spicy Fried scallop — TINY scallops deep fried and sauteed with jalapeños. Tasted pretty good but small scallop, didn’t think it was worth the price.
Overall pretty good. Probably come back for late night meals.

Good food. Just don’t expect good service here unless you are Chinese. There’s a reason this place is always empty.

Great authentic food. I wish they had dim sum! My friend and I had the shrimp ball appetizer, then the pork ribs and the beef curry hotspot. Everything was very good. Can’t wait to come back!

The deep fried soft-​shell crab is awesome! One of the best Chinese restaurant around this area!

This place is a great late night stop.
Fantastic dumplings.
Nice and quiet hidden treasure in OP.
Authentic and delicious menu.

Jen Jen’s isn’t quite what I’d expected or hoped for. With all the reviews claiming it stacks up favorably against ABC Café, I thought I was in for a real treat. Unfortunately, that was not the case. That’s not to say that Jen Jen’s isn’t good, however. I enjoyed my meal here. It just wasn’t the awe-​inspiring awesomeness I’d anticipated.
Let’s be clear; everything I had here was good. There’s no danger of running into a half-​cooked plate of soggy General Tso’s chicken here, folks. The shrimp balls were tasty, and the dumplings were pretty good. The entrees we had were also done decently but were a bit greasy, surprisingly. I feel like the flavors were pretty standard for what you’d expect from a solid American Chinese restaurant. The peanut soup dessert thing (eloquent, no?) was tasty at first but cloying after 5 – 6 spoonfuls. It also sits in your stomach like a freaking brick. I doubt I could finish the cup of it after downing a full meal.
Basically, Jen Jen’s is in this weird limbo between authentic Cantonese food and Panda Express. The funky menu items — sea cucumber, intestine and mystery meat dishes, etc. — are available, but the rest fails to separate itself enough from the Kin Lins and New Pekings of the world. If I’m heading out of Midtown for Chinese food, I want the real deal at ABC Café (which is not far away from Jen Jen’s at all, remember). There’s nothing wrong with Jen Jen’s, exactly, but ABC is just too good to pass up.

Several times earlier this year, we drove by and either there was a sign saying they were on extended vacation for the Chinese New Year or the windows had plywood covering them and several padlocks were on the door. We were in the area this weekend and we were surprised to find that this place was actually open. Apparently, they had been closed from February to May 2014 due to the owners traveling and also a car crashed into the restaurant while they were away. I had assumed that the restaurant had closed for good but thankfully I was wrong. Because when you talk about authentic chinese food in the KC area, there’s a handful of places in town that do it right and this is definitely one of them. We started with seafood soup with golden mushrooms and ordered pan fried noodles with beef brisket, pork ribs in peking sauce, and bok choy in garlic sauce (got to have some veggies). The wait staff also gave us the peanut tapioca dessert soup to end the meal, only place that still does this. Similar to Lucky Wok on 87^th St, this place isn’t fancy, no 7 flat screen TVs showing chinese subtitled Food Network shows, no modern décor either. Just great chinese food served until 1 AM.

I grew up eating authentic chinese food, and for the midwest, this is the real deal. It’s no wonder there are so many top rated reviews here. Open till 2? CHECK. yummy and quick service? CHECK. Exactly what good chinese food should be, which is sometimes hard to find in the heart of America. nuff said.
Finding it can be a bit of a challenge-​my GPS took me to the wrong shopping center. Its located by the walmart grocery store and panda express in that shopping center off 91^st. The restaurant doesn’t face the street so you wont see the sign until you are inside the center’s parking lot driving around.