China Chef Express

Have been eating here since I was was a young kid. I'm now in my thirties and this place hasn't changed. Still cash only, and still has the same taste. Only thing is they have become a little stingy with the portions. The service is nothing much of anything. Order your food and get out, no small talk or special acknowledgement type of deal. Ambiance: Fast good, on the go type of meal

China Chef has been mine & my fam's go-to for Chinese food for as long as I can remember. I have plenty of great memories of coming here with my grandparents when I was a little girl. The veggie egg rolls are the best I've had and I'm a sucker for their fried rice and orange chicken. Well, I really hate to say this but there's a reason I haven't been here in a long time. The last time my mom stopped by to get some food she noticed one of the cooks had came back from the restroom while still wearing gloves. A family in front of her called him out on it and ended up walking out of the line. The cook gave a confused look and proceeded to walk back into the kitchen while still wearing the same gloves. This story has since left me conflicted and I haven't had Chinese food in well over a year now since I don't know any other good Chinese take-out spots in LB.The cleanliness of this establishment has scared me straight to the point where I've removed this spot from my usual rotation. This sucks because I truly loved the food from China Chef but I can't eat a combo from here in good conscience while knowing that the food might still be prepared in an unsanitary manner.I dislike leaving negative reviews but I can only be honest, especially when it comes down to the cleanliness of the food that's being served to the public. Overall, the food is and has always been great but restaurant/staff have proven to be unsanitary. Eat at your own discretion. Btw to anyone reading this, please feel free to send me recommendations of other good Chinese take-out spots in LB. SYOY!

Staff was great, but the food is not so satisfying. I'll definitely try it again, but I think there are things to avoid. The orange chicken was super citrusy, but in an artificial way. And the chicken itself wasn't crispy. The house special chicken was better (crispy chicken with jalapeño). Best part was the price and the fact that you get a free soda with your meal. Ambiance is nice, but I'd prefer eating in the car or at home. Seemed like they had restocking out when I was there. Staff was super friendly.

Reasonable prices, but the food didn't quite hit the spot for me. I got orange chicken, mixed vegetables, half-and-half chow mein and rice, plus two egg rolls. Unfortunately, everything was overly greasy and lacked flavor. Maybe I came on an off day, or I just ordered the wrong thing I might try something else on their menu next time.Service was OK. The restaurant was decent. Plenty of space to dine in.

I honestly cannot believe that this spot has as high of a review as it does. I went once and that was one too many times and I will never give this spot another chance. I was craving a mom and pop greasy Panda Express experience and thought by the number of people I saw waiting in line and the "Cash Only" sign, that this spot was going to be epic. Well it definitely wasn't.... at least not epic in a good way. After I ordered my food from the assembly line, I noticed a couple flies enjoying the food while it was being scooped into styrofoam containers and the rest of this eatery didn't seem like the cleanest. I shouldn't have eared the food but I'm broke and hungry and it wasn't even that good. Never again!

First time here: Large amount of food, good taste, a lot of places to sit.We came for lunch on a Friday, after stopping at the close-by Kaiser-Permanente Long Beach office. The menu is clearly shown, and whatever food is available, are the choices you have. They do seem to have a side order section where you can order things like Mongolian beef or shrimp fried rice. All the classics were there: my wife usually share a combo at other places, so did the same thing here: one egg roll, orange chicken, broccoli beef, on top of mix of fried rice and noodles, for $11.50 (free small drink). The nice lady scooped the food into carry-out container, put it into a plastic bag for transport. Then we paid (only cash accepted here), and found a place to sit.They don't ask if dine-in/carry out since everything gets packaged in the carryout plastic containers, and because there is no option for 3 items, no need for a separate container. They will basically fill up the clam shell container with enough food so it shuts, but no air between. We ate inside in one of the booths, and the food was good. Orange chicken sauce had decent white meat chicken with a very tangy, orange sauce...got pretty soggy. The broccoli beef was good too...very fresh broccoli pieces, chopped and cooked well, and the beef wasn't too mushy. The egg roll was crispy, but little flavor. And the small soda was greatly appreciated.

We ordered compound chicken and orange chicken with noodles and fried rice. It was good but you have to add your own salt. I loved that they had a good variety of sodas but the eggroll should have more veggies stuffed in it. Everything was delicious I will go back and probably only get one item compound chicken with rice and noodles and 2 sodas

My girlfriend and I are torn on this place. She loves it most for the egg rolls that come with the food. She got the broccoli beef and house special chicken with jalapeños. Her beef was good. I had the orange chicken and the green bean chicken. The chicken was crispy enough unfortunately but it had a lot of flavor on the orange side. The green beans crunched, not the chicken. The rice and chow mein was fine, but I think next time I'm going to try something else to go with the broccoli beef. I just gotta figure out what that will be.

I used to love coming here a few years back because of their fried chicken. It's very delicious but can get a bit to salty if your mouth is dry. Their choices of food selection are not bad either. Per combo, they give you a piece of egg rolls and a small soda. It's not bad for $10.50 plus tax. I ordered 2 combos, half rice and noodles plus fried chicken with kong pow chicken. Wasn't too bad. There are so many to choose from. They can get pretty busy but not that busy, dont let the line stretch from the outside fool you. Just how they set up their food stations cause people stand outside. Simple tactics to get this place looking busy if you were to drive by and saw a line from the outside. This place needs to be better by using the back space for line formation instead of storage space. Looks so unsanitary for a business that's been operating for a couple of decades now. Dont get me wrong, business doing pretty good, actually. But would be grateful if they invest something into the business to give back to the consumer. Simple upgrades wouldn't hurt.This place is unique in their own way, from design and presentation, it's pretty nice. If you're in the area, stop by and say hi. Enjoy it here or on the go. Share your experience.P.s. Don't forget to smile cause you're beautiful. SYOY!

The food tasted rancid really nasty like days old they probably reheated never coming here again shit was very nasty