Chiang’s Gourmet Restaurant

We’ve driven past this place hundreds of times and noticed they are always busy. We finally stopped to eat last night. We were immediately greeted and seated in the last available booth in the corner. We were given a glass of water immediately with the menus. There were two menus so it took some time to decide what to order. And then we waited… and waited for our server. She appeared to only have to service the line of booths (5) so not sure what the delay was. She was really nice when she did come, however. Anyway, we ordered the silky corn soup and the hot and sour. I ordered pan fried thin noodles (which comes with spinach as the only veggie and no options) and my husband ordered the braised spare ribs wu shy style and a cup of rice. It took about five minutes to get our soup and the hot and sour was great; the silky corn wasn’t too flavorful. And then we waited… and waited… and waited. After about 15 minutes she brought my fried noodles and the rice. We had some of the noodles expecting the ribs to follow. The noodles were incredibly oily… they absolutely glistened and so did the platter. We were just getting ready to pay for what we had received so far and leave when she brought the braised spare ribs. By this time the rice was totally cold but we didn’t say anything. The ribs were tender but dry. Dry? Yes. Usually when people dine together they expect to receive their meals at the same time. Didn’t happen — mine had long since turned cold. At this point we asked for our ticket and waited… and waited and then she brought it. We were never asked if we wanted anything other than water to drink even though there was a wine and beer list on the table. All in all we spent an hour and ten minutes there with most of it waiting for our food. I have to say that when we first went in the yummy smell was overwhelming. Unfortunately we didn’t order whatever it was.

The only thing that I didn’t like here was the cod. It was very fishy. Everything else was really tasty, especially the spicy Sichuan style short ribs!

Excellent Chinese food! Very impressive and wonderful servers who were attentive and friendly.
Went off this wonderful review of recommended foods to order:
Great recommendations! Loved the green onion pancake, dumplings, enoki and brown mushroom with bean curd, braised spare ribs wu shyi style, and dry sautéed string beans.
Will be back again to try more!

I love this place. I never order off the American menu. It’s a great place to try all the authentic delicacies. My favorite is the enoki wrapped in bean curd. They also have great spicy dishes. Best Chinese in maple leaf.

I love this place! Their food is flavorful and they are typically not so packed that you can’t get in. I have had great food when we have had the waitress order for us. I love their Mongolian beef and green beans. We have always had decent service but I am not fussy and don’t need to have a server at my side constantly!

Wide variety of menu options. Weekend lunch was acceptable and without culinary flavors and aroma that one would expect. We ordered breakfast and lunch dishes considered to be outstanding. Soy milk with doughnuts, beef noodle soup and potstickers. During a previous visit I had ordered a Hunan dish. The Hunan sauce was not up to my understanding of Hunan food.
It was interesting to observe that the three staff members sat down to eat their meals in our sight and will occasionally get up to serve food to customers. Of course without washing hands or finish chewing.
The dining hall is full of clutter with spare tables, chairs and kid’s seats.
I was successful in making a loud noise when I hit a mosquito with my paper napkin on the glass window, getting a strange look from a staff member. Do I need to say more?!

The range of reviews may be because Chiangs is a little different taste. I can’t judge authentic Chinese, but I can look around and see that on a typical night half the customers are Asian. If P.F. Changes is the height of Chinese food for you then you might not like it. But maybe instead your fortune reads «Try something different and be richly rewarded.»

Their green onion pancakes are stellar, as are their Peking pork boneless ribs. I’d pass on the shredded beef baked cake dish and the shredded radish dish from dim sum — the beef is cold and there’s no sauce to impart flavor, the radish one similarly lacked flavor/​salt. The handmade noodle texture was great, but the dish was heavy on the soy sauce. The string beans were also heavy on the soy sauce and not as «blistered» as they should have been. The dishes were all ok, not good, not bad. Solid. I can’t say I would frequent this place, but it’s a solid choice for Chinese in Seattle.

Good food, quick take out service. Definitely better than most places. Would definitely come here again.

There have been multiple instances where these guys messed up my order when I phoned it in. This time they gave part of my order to the wrong person. They told me I’d have to wait for 20 minutes to have the dish remade and didn’t apologize. When I asked for a discount, they claimed that they didn’t make a mistake. I liked this place decently, but I’m not coming back because the service is horrible.

The fact that Chiang’s averages 3.5 stars is ridiculous. This place is amazing. 5 all the way.
I’ve been here 5 times now. Five times of awesomeness. I’m not gonna go through the well-​trodden flavor/​texture recap that’s been done to death. Make sure to get all of the menus, esp the vegetarian.
These prima donnas are why Chiangs is at 3.5:
If you order «3 white rice to go» and that’s your entire take-​out order — you do not get to do a review.
If you say «It’s the best asian/​Szechuan/​chinese I’ve ever had» and give it 1 star cuz you think the waitress looked at you funny — go buy a box of tissues, shut up, and go to Panda Express.
Do you only go out to eat so people can wait on you? Do you care less about how it tastes? You, too do not get to do a review. Are we not here to find good food?!? You want that kind of treatment, go review your local manicurist/​waxer/​etc
You already know its not much to look at (its totally acceptable), service can be unpredictable, and the food is terrific. It is kind of a shot in the dark the first few times.
Recommended: Veggie spare ribs (so cool!), Salt n pepper chicken, anything made with their homemade noodles, Noodle In Szechuan Hot Sesame Sauce ($ 5!), Enoki & Black Mushroom Wrapped w/​Bean Curdsheet In Brown Sauce, Fried Tofu appetizer (perfect balance of salt/​oil) mix that with the ‘Home Made Pan Fried Noodle w/​Vegetable’ for a winning combo
Skip: Tofu of strong odor (unless you’re into that — its really stinky), Twice Cooked Bell Pepper, Dry Bean Curd & Gluten (too much cabbage/​other stuff ratio), Vegetarian Deluxe on Crispy Rice (unless you like sweet)
Just go there already.

My girlfriend lived close to Chiang’s during her time in Seattle, so we picked up food from there a few times. They are fast, convenient and have large portion sizes.
Our favorite dish to order was the Hot and Sour Soup. It is consistently good and very satisfying. I would definitely recommend ordering it.
The other dishes that we have tried have been less impressive. The beef and broccoli is bland and the beef is overly chewy. We also tried the pan-​fried noodles in a spicy hot sauce with chicken. Although the homemade noodles were excellent, the sauce was certainly not spicy and was very one-​dimensional. Every single bite of the noodles tasted exactly the same. They need to add some different elements to the noodles to provide some contrast in the flavors and definitely need to work on kicking up their spice game. I do wonder if they toned down the spices because we are not Chinese. If so, they really should ask the customers what level of spice they want instead of making assumptions about them.
While it definitely served its purpose as a quick, cheap takeout place, we won’t miss it.

I live fairly close to Chiang’s and was in the mood for some Chinese food. There were a lot of mixed reviews about the restaurant, so I decided to check it out for myself. Unfortunately I wasn’t very impressed.
When I walked in, the host that greeted me wasn’t very friendly or personable, nor did he seem happy to be there. I asked him if it is possible to order to-​go. He responded «yeah, sure», handed me the menu, then walked off back to where he was sitting when I first came in. I contemplated going elsewhere for food because I was already getting such an uneasy feeling, but I ended up staying.
The restaurant looks a little worn on the outside, but it looks decent on the inside. It was clean, there were no funny orders, had plenty of natural lighting, and the tables looked orderly.
I ended up choosing the homemade pan fried noodles Shanghai style with pork. It was made very promptly (about 5 minutes), although there were only two groups including myself there to begin with. I was excited to go home and eat it up — it was hot and fresh, and I was getting hungry. Once I got home to eat it, it looked pleasant and freshly made, but I was disappointed with how it tasted and my experience eating the meal. I found the noodles to be more oily than necessary for a fried noodle dish. I also thought the pork didn’t exactly taste like real pork meat (the muscle/​flesh of the animal instead of random parts or scraps) and it had this odd, chewy taste to it. However, I did appreciate the serving size for what I paid, and it came with a fortune cookie.
All in all, I probably won’t return to Chiang’s Gourmet. I just wish the host was kinder and my food was more appetizing. It might be good, though, if you’re not too picky and are just looking for a place with some quick comfort food.

Don’t be fooled by its unassuming appearance, the food here was great! Came here with a large group and we sat at a table with the lazy susan in the middle. We ordered a ton of dishes to share. The service was prompt and the food came out pretty quick! We had more than enough food and a ton of variety and it came to about $ 20 a person. The food was super delicious and was the best Chinese food I have had in a while.
Winners: Crispy Orange Beef, Sweet and Sour Pork Chops and Pan Fried Noodles
Loser: Sweet and Sour Chicken

Had an impromptu lunch here with the family. I made the mistake of ordering from the lunch menu (about 10 dishes ranging from $ 6.50-$ 9).
We ordered the Beef and Broccoli, the Home Made Pan Fried noodles, and the Soup Noodles with Shredded Pork and Pickled Vegetables (first two lunch specials, the last off the regular menu).
Let me say that taste is big to me. I didn’t feel like I got it here to the extent I was expecting. I mostly tasted salt and soy sauce. Give me a little oil and garlic taste! Then again, I should have gone with the regular menu or ordered a different meat (sweet and sour pork? Mongolian beef?).
You get a choice of three soups with the lunch special (egg drop, wonton, hot and sour) and either fried or white rice. The fried rice tasted a little old and again, not much of a taste beyond salty soy sauce.
The service was a little slow with three tables occupied at a time. There is plenty of parking though it’s difficult to access going east on Lake City Way.
I want to come back and try Taiwanese breakfast on Saturday/​Sunday morning (10:30−3:30). The fortune cookies were good. It told me to be patient, so I’ll be patient with this restaurant and give it another try.

Amazing food! I read if you want authentic, real chinese food this is the place to go. I tried it and it was true. They have an americanized chinese menu and then actual chinese menu. Amazing food! Spice and flavor was perfect ! Good portions and good food. Must try if you want real chinese food.

I came here for a family dinner; decent place. It’s more like your average Chinese restaurant, the kind you go to only because everybody else is going. The food didn’t wow me but it’s not bad! Some of the dishes were pretty good, like the eggplant (highly recommend if you ever come by here) and parking was HORRID but only because the private lot is so small! (It looked kinda shady too)
Regardless, it was good family bonding time!:)

Please please please check your food price and total when you dine here!
If I could give 0 or minus star I definitely would! The food here is good don’t get me wrong, but the owner is unethical! We have been here more than 10x and she kept trying to charge us more than we ordered. For the first few times, she tried to give us just a small piece of paper with just the total number, and when we asked she said «oh I calculated it already and already included tips in this». So we thought ok, she was just being nice and did all the work for us. We saw the total being more than we thought but we assumed it was tax and tips, which isn’t apparently…
So then a few times more we came and the total was always more than what we thought we ordered and we became suspicious that she’s doing it on purpose. So this last time, we calculated ourselves what we ordered with the prices on the menu and surely enough she charged us 10 $ more! And when we mentioned it to her she was like, «oh I am just so confused too many people here». Then she proceeded to take our credit card and then she charged us 15 $ more again! Her excuse this time is, «your fault cause you wanted to split to so many cards» (???) So we told her this is not the first time you did this and then she became so defensive and started yelling and calling us rude! Oh my! Apparently also our friends have been charged more several times, so definitely not an honest business here! Do enjoy the food but PLEASE don’t let her charge you more!

We’ve been here probably 20 or so times in the last 3 years, but the last two times have been terrible. This last time is the last straw; we will not be returning.
First of all, the service is probably the worst of any restaurant I’ve ever been to, and unfortunately I’m not exaggerating. Since the very first time we went till this last time, the service was bad, but we tolerated it because the food was good. The waiters seat you right away, but they never come back right away to take your order. The wait staff almost never comes over to refill your drinks until you wave them over, and they never ever come by to check on how your food is.
Then there was this last experience that’s finally the last straw. We came on a Sunday for the Chinese breakfast; we ordered Yotiao, soybean milk, saobing, saobing with cold beef, and 2 pan fried pork buns.
The saobing was barely cooked, and the pork buns looked like they had been placed on the pan for a half a second and the meat was raw in the middle. I unfortunately didn’t find this out before taking a bite.
The waiter came over to give us the bill (yes, it was only the second time he ever came over to our table after delivering the food), and we told them about the raw pork buns, and there were no apologies or anything. He actually even asked if we wanted him to take it back to cook longer. We said we’d like it taken off the bill, and he reluctantly agreed (no offer of a discount, no apology, just rude).
He then went to show the owner, and showed her the food and his explanation to her was that we didn’t want the food (not that it was raw and inedible). She just took it off the bill without a word to him. He then brought us the modified bill, then proceeded to go on lunch break (will the rest of the wait staff), so needless to say, we finally had to go pay upfront.
Like I said before, Chiang’s Gourmet have some of the most piss-​poor service, but we tolerated it before because the food was good; well with this last example, we’re done with this place and will not be returning.

This is my third time here. The food here is so good but the service is unacceptable.
We ordered fried chicken with red peppers, fried stinky tofu, spicy fish on lettuce, fish with prickle vegetables, pancake with green onion and fried string bean. The food was so good.
However, the waitress with long pony tail was so rude. I asked for more plate and she pointed her finger to the plate. She also had an unhappy face all the time. I was super mad about this. The worst part is that 18% tips were already included because we have a party of 6. Seriously? Even though I like the food, I won’t come back here because of the service. :(