Chinois City Cafe

Cons:
I got the Zhejaun Chicken (something like that) and my mushrooms were cold! They must have been frozen Mushrooms to stay cold on a hot place of food.
The rice is pasty.
Wait time to get food is super long. From a business standpoint, they could use an operations manager to find efficiencies in their downstream.
Their pepper shaker was sticky. Same with the Sriracha sauce.
I asked for a sake bomb and they said they don’t have any, but didn’t bother to probe or ask if I wanted any alternatives.
Pros:
I also got the chicken wanton soup and it was delicious. It was warm, cooked well, and flavorful.
Pricing is about $ 10/​dish
Has a nice location, nice atmosphere.
White chocolate fortune cookies at the end, that was a pleasant surprise.

nope! no thank you. I was told by someone this was their favorite chinese food in Sacramento. I was severely disappointed. I ordered kung pao beef and I got a vegetable stew/​soup with a tiny bit of meat and no flavor. I had to throw it away. My wife ordered broccoli beef but got beef soup that had no broccoli. I won’t be back.

Bland. Seasonal Veg Stirfry, Szech Prawns, and Kung Pao Chicken all tasted the same. How is that even possible? I cannot understand why this place is still in business.

I was invited to this restaurant by some caucasian friends. Having looked at the menu, I really did not want to go. But I went out of politeness. The impression I got before I went was that this is one of those phony pretentious joints that cater to people who don’t know what Chinese food is. Well… it turned out to be worse than I expected. The food really gagged me! Everything was sweet sweet sweet! UGH! Even a spicy egg plant dish was sweet! Prices here are about twice as much as a typical Chinese restaurant. The portions are decent, but you would not care if you want real Chinese. To my taste, the food was nasty. I seriously think Panda Express taste better.

Favorite things here: mushi pork crepes, house wonton soup, Szechuan chicken and house chow fun! We get take out from here all the time and occasionally sit in the bar. Their white chocolate dipped fortune cookies are so yummy! I just wish they would give you those when you order take out too!!!

Not good. Just moved to the area and was looking for a good local Chinese spot. I ordered the lo mein and it had very little flavor, so bland. The only decent part was the chicken, which was good quality white meat, but still pretty flavorless. Also ordered the crispy chicken potstickers, which were not crispy at all and were also very bland. Avoid!

The food was delicious and the bar was nice but need to keep up with the times in the TV department…

Nice location. Good service. Food is mediocre. MOO shu pork was ok. Broccoli neef was tasteless. Chow Mien too bland.

I’ve been going to Chinois for years and have never been disappointed. The food and service is excellent!!! I highly recommend Chinois for dine-​in, take-​out or a drink at the bar.

We’ve been going to Chinois since before it was Chinois! Many years ago, it was called the Ming Tree and was in the center that’s now Loehmann’s Plaza. Terry Soohoo and his brother, Alvin, moved The restaurant to University Village and then to its present location at Watt & Fair Oaks. The food is incredible here and the service is just as outstanding. It’s a fusion of Chinese and Western cuisine and is made from very fresh ingredients and spices. They are great at customizing your order, so if there’s a particular ingredient that you like or one that you dislike, just let them know. You can typically steam, deep fry, or stirfry most of the entrées. All of the dinners are capped off with fortune cookies dipped in white chocolate! We love this place!

Very awesome place to come have happy hour with your co-​workers after a long day. Great discount on appetizers & drinks. Customer service is great too they always remember my drink. The food is awesome if you want to dine in or take to go. Favorites are cream cheese wontons and the ribs.

I might be biased because I grew up eating at Chinois, but I really do think it’s the very best for Chinese. Their ingredients are much higher quality than anywhere else around. The staff are super friendly and, as many others have mentioned, I dream of those white chocolate-​dipped fortune cookies!

Let me start by saying I’m very picky about Chinese food! This place was ahhmazzing! Every dish ordered was outstandingly delicious !! My favorite was the Honey Walnut Prawns. The service was attentive and quick. I have a feeling this is going to become one of my go to spots!

This is definitely top 5 favorite restaurants in Sacramento. The staff is so friendly. I always get Phoenix and Dragon. I always ask for top ramen noodles, put the Phoenix and Dragon over the noodles, squeeze some lemon on it, and eat it that way. I always get the prawn potstickers also. Omg just thinking about this makes my mouth water. The last time I was there, I also got foil wrapped chicken. It was so good. I’m going today after work after all this lol

Amazing Mushu Pork appetizer and a super flavorful Tilapia vegetable dish! Firecracker Beef will knock your socks off!!! The only problem is the BEER IS SO WARM — they need to turn the kegs up because it was horrible to drink warm beer.
Butt Highly recommend!!!

Last time we got takeout I thought maybe something was off as it wasn’t what we usually get. This order confirmed the food is terrible! Brown lettuce, not even remotely spicy Kung pow and over done rice. Nothing was fresh or good. Never again!

What I really like about this restaurant is the plethora of fresh veggies they put in their food and the quality of the chicken they use. I have pretty much stopped eating Chinese food and switched over to Thai or Vietnamese because of the standard one meat and two greasy sides of chow mein and fried rice that most serve.
Chinois however uses fresh ingredients and their house fried rice is awesome with bbq pork, chicken, beef, and shrimp. Cutting back on massive amounts of carbs these days, so I enjoy the dishes with lots of veggies and delicious sauces.
I do not like sweets and do not find most of their food very sweet, except the Honey Walnut Prawns which I do make an exception for. The broccoli beef is delish as is the Kung Pao chicken. I have had some of the East West fusion dishes and they are good, but I like kind of the basics here. Spicy if you please.
I do have a tendency to rate restaurants by how many really obese people are there (not judging, just don’t want to eat like that) and I can say that it is rare to see that at Chinois. Which to me speaks to a population of diners who like fresh health food. and I like that Chinois serves it up right!

I went with a few ladies for lunch. The prices were low and we got plenty of food. I felt that everything that I ate was bland. I had to dip my lemon chicken in sweet and sour sauce in order to taste flavors.
My friend got the fire chicken (or whatever it was called), but it did not reflect the name. The dish was labeled as a very spicy dish, but it wasn’t that spicy.
The crispy potstickers were good, but the sauce tasted funky. No one else at the table liked the sauce.
My steamed rice was overdone and mushy.
The service was great and the white chocolate dipped fortune cookies were good.
Two of the girls loved the food, so I suppose you need to try it for yourself.

A friend of mine recommend this restaurant so I went in with high expectations and found mediocrity at at best! We ordered an appetizer that came stuffed with chicken. The presentation was nice however the taste was bland and the fried outer shell was soft and mushy. But worse than that the entire meal was bland. The fried rice had no flavor and was just horrible. We didn’t even finish our meal. We will not be returning to this establishment because not only did we not like the food, we didn’t care for the feel of the atmosphere. Not sure how they get so many good reviews, maybe it was just an off day.

Good convenient Chinese food for the area, but not in my top list of favorite Chinese food places. There just isn’t too many options in Arden-​Arcade for Chinese food.
Food– ³⁄₅. We come here semi regularly for work, I have had the Sweet and Sour Tofu, Honey Walnut Tofu and the Orange Tofu and they are all good, but wayyy too sweet! Especially the Orange Tofu which is supposed to be spicy but it is super sweet… all their sauces are sugary sweet that you can only eat a few bites before you’ve had enough. My boss likes the Vegetable Lo Mein which has a good black bean sauce and tasty noodles. Good to balance out the sauce from the tofu! My coworker likes the Orange Chicken and the Lemon Chicken so maybe those aren’t as sweet because she doesn’t like sugar. I think my favorite part of the meal is definitely their White Chocolate Covered Fortune Cookies! Soo good!
Atmosphere– 3.5÷5. It’s a cool space with funky colored walls and a nice bar area. Nothing fancy, pretty basic but still modern and comfortable. Bathrooms are super clean and nice.
Service– 3.5÷5. The one waiter is always super friendly and helpful, and he tries really hard, but the service always takes awhile even when they aren’t crowded which try almost always are. Lunch usually takes between an hour to an hour and a half, so don’t come here for a quick bite.
Vegetarian Friendliness– ⁴⁄₅. They have a nice Vegetarian section of the menu which has your usual vegi options but also different tofu options which I love because then I don’t have to ask for them off the menu! Yay! Very thoughtful and different from almost every other Chinese food place I’ve been to.
Overall– ³⁄₅. If there was any other Chinese Food place in the area other than Panda Express, I would go there. But this is it so we have to make the best of it! I hate saying bad things about this place, because there is nothing horrible about it, it’s just not particularly great.