Chow n’ Joy

Called for delivery over 1:15 min and still haven’t got the food yet
Very disappointing.

i ordered straight from the restaurant it self and she was so friendly i had to thank her for opening on christmas day food came on time the driver was very friendly big smile i had to tip the guy and you can ask any of my friends i don’t tip lol its not funny but i really don’t tip so i go in and the food was delicious the chicken was cooked perfectly crab ragoon out of this world oh don’t get me started on the boneless ribs so good i will never use a delivery app again just call them up and they will take good care of you why because i said so that’s why 12/​25/​2015 let’s go!!!

Food is fine but the delivery service was terrible. The delivery guy called and just said «Delivery.» and hung up. I went out to check and there was no one at the door. He called back with an attitude «Ummm, delivery! I’m outside right now!» Went to check and still no one at the door! Looked around for a while until I finally saw someone get out of his car. He gave me the food, didn’t say anything, and left. Sorry, didn’t know I had to come out and find you…

They do NYC-​style Chinese take out right. General Tso’s, Sesame Chicken, etc. they got that down. If you’re looking for something fancy, this isn’t the place.

Food is usually adequate, they are one of the better pan-​Asian places open late and offering delivery. Historically delivery has been ridiculously fast– we clocked them at 12 minutes from order to delivery! It seems like there have been some changes recently as a $ 2 delivery charge has been added and delivery can be anywhere from 25 minutes to 1 hour 20. The unpredictability and delivery charge (we live less than a mile from their store front) prompt is to look elsewhere next time.

The delivery took upwards of an hour on a Monday afternoon (after 1pm) and then the food was beyond disappointing. We ordered Chicken Pad Thai, which was drenched in sauce and so unrecognizable that I refused to even eat it. We also ordered spring rolls and Chicken and Broccoli and they were sub par as compared to most establishments and in relation to the price.

Never ordering from here again. Ordered from them and after an hour and a half and the restaurant calling us 3 times they finally decided that they «did not order to our address». They had already charged by my boyfriends card, so they emailed him saying they would refund him waiting for them to actually put the money in his account, but were very respectful and clear when doing so. I cannot speak to the food itself seeing that I never had the chance to receive it.

No idea how the food was, missed the call. Called the store and was told the driver waited for «over 10 minutes» … Yeah according to my phone records it was 4 minutes! Then called back immediately and was given a LOT of attitude and told he waited over 10 minutes and would be another 20 minutes. WORSE delivery I have ever gotten, as well as the worse costumer service ever received! Do not recommend, sorry!
Driver eventually arrived and was lovely, he had knocked on the wrong door (the store had not given him the instructions I had given on the phone), I am happy with the driver but still feel the customer survive was awful.

Worst bubble tea ever. The bubble tea had absolutely no sugar, and was extremely watered down. I felt like i wasted 7 $ (we got 2 drinks). But my friend says their udon is good — hence why i didn’t give 1 star.

Yummy American Chinese food with some Chinese menu extras. I have loooved everything I’ve ordered from here, but my boyfriend wouldn’t say the same. Meh, I’m Chinese. Doesn’t that make me an authority or something?

I ordered a tasty lunch menu with shrimp and vegetables. For the price, you can’t beat it! The food arrived hot and within a good time frame. The hot & sour soup was delicious with a nice kick, but it didn’t overpower you. The egg roll was pretty standard, but I’m not a big fan of them. There were plenty of good-​sized shrimp in the entrée and it came with a generous serving of fried rice. The only disappointment was the bubble tea. The flavor was okay, but it wasn’t very good. I’ll just ask for the bubble tea to be extra cold next time.

It’s not bad, but it’s not good either. The food is so mediocre that I truly hope no one put actual effort into making dishes that were so bland. Other reviews lead me to believe there are two possible explanations for 5-​star ratings:
1. The dishes are hit or miss. Chow n Joy possibly makes some dishes really well and fails at others.
2. The Unilocalers who said the food has a lot of flavor are the type opf people who think black pepper is spicy.
Whatever is happening here, don’t expect too much when you visit. The staff are nice, but the food is lackluster.

WORST CHINESE PLACE IN SOMERVILLE!
Been here twice and each time it has been worse than the last… will never eat here again. Food is so bland and overpriced!
Ordered the Kung Pau chicken (cost $ 10.50)…it was 90% celery and 10% chicken. There was no meat at all. What a ripoff.
The fried rice is also bland and very plain, no peas or green onion. It literally just tastes like stale rice with soysauce.
Don’t walk away from this place… RUN!

It is a hit or miss. Better to eat in than to take out. Chicken sometimes tastes as if they already precooked it. Although the chicken teriyaki sticks are consistently super tasty. Shrimp dishes are a disappointment with tiny, baby shrimp. I would prefer fewer shrimp but larger size.

The worst Chinese place I’ve ever eaten.
Ordered the spring roll. Wasn’t a spring roll; was an egg roll. Not a good egg roll. Ordered the chicken with fried noodles; some of the noodles were burnt to a crisp and the rest of them were soaked in grease. You’ve never seen so much goddamn grease. Worst Chinese restaurant in MA.

I ordered via GrubHUb and was totally disgusted!
AVOID! By FAR worst Chinese food I’ve ever had. The food was bad, the shrimp were those tiny canned shrimp and everything had an awkward taste.
We ordered:
Spring Roll — Mediocre. Oily super large and flavorless
Crab Rangoon — Not bad.
Shrimp Lo Mein — HORRIBLE.
Scorched veggies.
Very bland Marco Polo Delight — (WTF is this? It’s weird goo gravy with weird bits of meat and a few chunks of chicken/​beef and almost no shrimp)
Side of Boiled White Rice — YAY something they can’t ruin
All in all I wish I could post pics. We threw it in the trash, with the exception of the rice. That’s how disgusting it all was.

I normally don’t really get Chinese takeout, as I’m rather fussy about my Chinese food. However, every once in a while, the craving strikes.
This is one of the better Chinese takeout places I’ve tried in the Somerville area, and it’s actually one of the better ones. I got the beef chow fun, and it was pretty good. Not the best that I’ve ever had, but it was solid. It was flavorful without being overly salty-​a common issue at most Chinese restaurants. For the price, you actually got a lot of food for the price. The beef was a little hard, but it was still edible. It’s probably not the highest quality of meat that they use, but it’s fine. The noodles were a little burnt, but it was fine. Overall, I really can’t complain.
I normally use the beef chow fun as a measuring stick for Chinese restaurants. After this experience, and as the restaurant is next door to my apartment, I’ll probably return from time to time.

Imagine if a non-​Chinese person owned Chow n’ Joy, then made the food for non-​Chinese customers who have never tried Chinese food and you get the idea.
We ordered:
Egg rolls
Wonton soup
Fried vegetable rice
Ma Po Tofu
They were ALL bland. It lacked so much flavor, I kept adding more soy sauce to every dish. I get that they’re trying to be a healthier Chinese restaurant by opting out of MSG and other unhealthy ingredients. Look, if I’m ordering Chinese at mid-​night, the last thing I care about is my health. I just want something delicious as late night snack while I binge watch Netflix. Unfortunately, it’s the only place that’s open on Saturdays past 11pm.
Ma Po Tofu, if they’re done right, should be very spicy and salty. Their Ma Po Tofu was like lightly dipped in soy sauce. No spice. No flavor. Nothing. Just soft slighly salty tofu.
Fried rice didn’t have enough soy sauce.
Wonton soup was the best out of what we ordered.
Egg rolls were crispy but the fillings were mostly steamed cabbage. Without soy sauce, it would be like eating fried dough and steamed cabbage.

Holy cow, I thought I’ve reviewed this place a while ago.
We love Chow n’ Joy when we are craving Chinese. It’s actually HEALTHY! Well, if you get the brown rice with steamed tofu and veggies like I do.
I love it! I put a little duck sauce on it and sit on my couch and drink my wine and watch my bad TV shows.
They delivery super fast and it’s CHEAP!
Finally, a good place for Chinese delivery.
Their rangoons are awesome, beef teriyaki is awesome too. I don’t really like dumplings but my fiancé will get them and then eat them for breakfast. He loves em!
Next time you are craving Chinese, give this place a try!

Double pan fried noodles to your doorstep. It’s touched upon in the rarely-​read 28^th Amendment to the Constitution, paraphrased below:
«No delivery from a pan-​Asian foodery shall be conducted without the inclusion of double pan-​fried noodles. ‘Merika.»
Because of this proliferation of noodles fried not once, but twice, there evolve camps of construction: does the oversized brick of bird’s nest noodles sit above the wokked protein and veggies, which are, mind you, swimming in a stew of brown gravy, thus preserving the integrity of the crisped weave? Or do you favor convenience and slop the wet atop the brick, that the diner may avoid the hassle of reassembling crumbly carbs on their own dish, at the inevitable expense of balanced textures? Or do you pack separately, like Rose’s?
Chow n’ Joy opts for the former, and all hell breaks loose when one attempts to eat the result, let alone portion it (as with most orders here, the quantity is excessive). Consider plating wearing a poncho. In an art studio. Scotchguarded.
The flavor is there, when you can find it. She despised her chicken fingers and crab rangoon, so for a quick Americanized Chinese fix, the options are hit or miss. For me, Chow n’ Joy’s a viable choice — better than nearby China Delight but not nearly as oft craved as, say, Wang’s pork dumplings.