Golden Chef

Great food great service my go to spot for Chinese. Value is amazing and quality is great as well:)

Good food and good service and good price too. Walnut prawn the best.

Wow, I like this gem in the ruff. I like this hole in the wall, not fancy restaurant with good service and great food. Like I said, not fancy, but good food. If I lived closer, I would order to go often.

Charting unknown territory is either a hit or miss. Unfortunately, this place is a big miss. One would think to have better chances through Unilocal.Think otherwise. The positive reviews here must be from those with low expectations. Quantity over quality highlights this place.
For example, the war won soup was actually not a soup at all but a stew of inedible meats that would normally be thrown away as kitchen scraps. The vegetables in a kung pao dish consisted of frozen peas and carrots. Oh, and we saw roach skirmish across the ceiling.
To sum it up: Ghetto chinese food in a ghetto neighborhood. Stay away.

Ah many memories come up when I envision picking up the phone to call for that emergency «A plate» to pick up in 15 minutes… Memories of devouring well seasoned and tasty morsels of noodle and fried rice (aren’t things fried so much better, I mean they allegedly take years off your life but shouldn’t we gamble just a little with the odds in our lives). The extra chili oil for topping my Mongolian beef and a side bowl of hot and sour soup just the way Linda and her husband have been preparing for me since I was a wee lad.
My family and I made the transition to Golden Chef in the late 90’s when the two sisters who owned and operated Pagoda House on Alma split. The key to the spilt was Linda’s husband was the flavor in the kitchen, he knew how to cook better than any back there and he took his flavor secrets with him, thus success for Golden Chef.
So the food is always super plentiful considering the price ($ 8.25) for one of their 4 select individual dinners (A-​D). They always have so much rice, noodle and protein on the plate I almost always have leftovers to munch on late night or even for a quick breakfast if I’m in a rush or not feeling eggs or something like that.
There are tons of options to choose from on the protein side (chicken, pork, beef and fish dishes), noodle and rice dishes to infinity and soups too… my parents when they come always order a chicken salad to accompany there dishes. The chicken salad is again flavorful despite being served on head lettuce devoid of any nutritional value but hey it’s tasty.
Don’t overlook the specials on the left wall, the salt and pepper spare ribs aren’t half bad so give them a whirl.
Mostly as I come here I stick to the basics ordering the «A or B plate» and as of recent I have been doing the beef chow fun and so far I’m 3 for 4 on a good meal, one time the noodles were too mushy but the other times they were awesome.
Now is this the best representation of the best Chinese food on the market, probably not I’m mean it’s not gourmet five star ritzy dining … is the dining room straight out of the 1980’s, yeah maybe but that’s what I love about this place. When you think Chinese you sometimes default to take-​out and that lovely smell that comes home in a plastic bag inside of paper folder containers that you better not stick in the microwave because of the metal handle (as a kid I thought it was funny to put the container in there and let it rip!). The food always fills you up and it is flavorful and that’s what is so nostalgic about this type of Chinese food and why my family and I will keep coming back for years to come. Thanks Golden Chef for satisfying my cravings!

Came here for lunch last week. The kung pao chicken lunch special was great, and the service was super friendly. My only concern was that the chilli sauce container at my table was sticky and gross and badly needed a good scrubbing. Maybe I’ll only get takeout from now on.

I come here for one thing — the friendly service. Over the 10+ years I been a customer, I’ve always been treated well by staff. Never been disappointed. I always enjoy talking to the nice lady who runs the restaurant.
The prices and food quality are very good. I often leave with a doggie bag as the portions are large and I can’t eat it all.
They have a variety of $ 7 lunch specials. Even better yet are the dinner specials for two and three people. When I come with my sister and nephew, we always get this and walk out satisfied and full.

This review is for lunch only. Their lunch specials are a fabulous price! For $ 7 you get your choice of meat /​veggie, side (rice), egg roll or wonton and soup. That is a TON of food! Very nice lady working at the front desk. I would def recommend take out as the interior could use a remodel. Will be back for quick, cheap Chinese food!

Greasy Chinese Food! With all the rainfall in the bay area I had a sudden craving for Chinese food. Found the place on Unilocal and the boyfriend and I headed out here. The food was okay, the servings plentiful. We couldn’t finish all the food. I am not sure we’ll be back or not.

Their BBQ Pork Fried Rice is wonderful, I also love their BBQ Pork Wonton. But really, you cant miss here. All food is great!

My first time here and it was the best Chinese food I ever had! I had pork fried rice, string beans and chicken, and sweet and sour chicken. The portions are very generous. This will defiantly be the only place I get Chinese food from!

Surprisingly, this place beats up a lot of Chinese restaurants in the same area. The price is good, the portion is huge, the flavor is not too bad.
I ordered black bean sauce spareribs over steam rice, deep fried prawns and fried chicken wings. I didnt know I would end up with lots of food. i recently moved to California, I notice the portion in CA is usually small. Ordering 1 dish is usually not enough for me. So I ended up ordering 3 dishes.
I wouldnt say they are the best Chinese food I ever had, but I will definitely go back

Don’t judge this place by its looks. It’s pretty decent and very cheap. The lunch especial was better than most places. Service is not too bad either. I’ll be definitely be coming back.

Best chinese food in the world… try their golden walnut prawns. .omg…the best… all food is wonderg ul… I would give them 10 stars if I could…;)

1 Star — Service Great
1 Star — Didn’t die from the food
Oh dear LORD, Tea was luke warm egg rolls dried out. Rice and sweet and sour tasted like they had been re-​warmed like from a microwave.
BATHROOM WARNING — Hallway to go to bathroom (which passes the kitchen as well) not clean and stinks of cockroach poop, I am not kidding.

My husband and I picked up take out from here over this weekend. We were actually pleasantly surprised! There was quite a wait for the order, about 10 minutes longer than their estimate on the phone, but the woman allowed us to have a seat at a table while we waited. It seemed like a really cute, local place and a couple of the tables were taken by guests eating in. When our food was ready she brought it out in a convenient little box and wished us a good night.
My lo mein and fried rice were very good. The vegetable fried rice might be my current favorites of all the Chinese takeouts here. The lo mein was a little different, not much sauce and the noodles were a bit thick and chewy. They actually tasted like fresh pasta? I can get behind that. My husband’s General’s chicken was not at all what he was expecting, a very different style than what he thought he was ordering, but he said it was okay. I think he wants to try something else. He also had an order of wonton soup which he said was good, and we shared some vegetarian egg rolls. The egg rolls are also my current favorites. They were big and flavorful and so much better than the skinny overly gingered spring rolls I find at most places. Oh, and the food lasted us 3 meals worth!
To sum up, we were quite happy with all of our food and the service. We will definitely be giving them another go.

I really wanted to like this place. F and I are always looking for new Chinese places to try so that we can have a go-​to spot. The menu is extensive and the prices are crazy cheap! ($ 8.00 or so for most dishes.) Sadly, the food missed the mark.
We ordered take-​out and the restaurant was totally empty when we picked up our food — not the best start to my impression of the place, but the lady working was friendly. We paid for our food without issue and left.
We got the BBQ Pork Noodle Soup, Bok Choy Beef, Hong Kong Style Chow Mein with Combination and a small white rice. The food looked good and we definitely got a lot for our money. The BBQ Pork Noodle Soup was pretty good overall, but the noodles were the thick kind and I had expected the thinner type. Also, the bbq pork was lacking a bit of flavor. The Bok Choy Beef was pretty good but nothing special. It was very saucy and included onions, carrot and big chunks of ginger. The Hong Kong Style Chow Mein was a big disappointment for F. He said the noodles were «burnt» and although that might not be entirely accurate, they were definitely overdone. A bit too crispy and brown. Again, nothing special.
To be fair, we placed our order close to 8:00pm, so maybe the off-​peak dinner hour order is the explanation for the disappointment but I maintain that an establishment should strive to serve quality food during their business hours. I’d be willing to try this place again just to give them a second shot, but I don’t know if F will let me. (He takes his Chinese food very seriously.)

My favorite dishes are the Hong Kong style noodles with BBQ pork, fried rice with BBQ pork, and Westlake beef soup. There are ample veggies in the noodle dish so these three items are a complete meal!
I usually request for no MSG. Tastes great even without it.
Nice owners, good portions, and reasonable prices. When you are hungry for that neighborhood mom & pop’s Chinese food, Golden Chef is the place!

I have been eating at this restaurant for years now! Its a nice little family owned place. Its prices are really great considering the portions they serve you. The lady who will take your order is so welcoming and friendly also.
Favorite dish is the Sesame Chicken, Walnut Prawns, and Pork Wanton Soup.
Simply put, this place is a place I will always be coming back too.

My dad is a regular here, but we never knew why. Today he finally convinced the rest of his family to dine here and give this shanty little Chinese restaurant a chance.
The décor is quite sketch; it gives the impression that the joint is actually run by triad gang members and the «restaurant» is just a façade. You can at least play some music!
However, as i dont judge a person by their looks, I dont judge a restaurant by its decorations– what matters is the FOOD
Here at Golden Chef, I feel you get a great convergence of price vs. quality.
–They dont skimp out on the meat; each plate comes with a great helping of meat and filler.
–The tea is free! alot of restaurants now adays dont do this
– CHEAP– we fed a family of 4 big eaters to the brim from $ 35
*Walnut Prawns were ok. A tad bit too Mayonnaisy for me, but still very enjoyable
* Kung Pao Squid over rice was good, Squid wasn’t fresh, but still tasty
*Almond Chicken came with alot of chicken and was really good
* Salt and Pepper Beef had some great flavor and they used decent non-​fatty cuts
All in all, a solid restaurant for the price