Comments on: China Village: Reviews

By: Ronnie A.

Ronnie A. — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:41:26 +0000

My family’s first experience at China Village had been quite positive. I ordered the combination fried rice, seafood claypot, spicy fried chicken wings, and a hand made noodle dish. I have to say that it has been quite a long time since we’ve tasted Chinese food this good! In my opinion, China Village stands out from its competitors because they use fresh ingredients and most importantly, the dishes truly has taste. The combination fried rice was quite flavorful that my 7 year old son didn’t ask for soy sauce for the very first time. As for the seafood claypot, the freshly prepared fried tofu they used had soaked up all the sauce, making the fried tofu juicy and moist in the inside. - Yummy! In addition, I thought the calamari used in the seafood claypot was going to be tough and chewy but not at all. In fact, the seafood claypot was so well prepared that my wife and I finished eating all of it. It was that good! I ordered the handmade noodle which was quite unique because I never had fresh noodle served in a Chinese restaurant before. Lastly, the spicy chicken wings were to die for. They weren’t too spicy that my son was still able to eat it and they were definitely full of flavor, different from any other spicy chicken wing I ever tasted. The only draw back to the spicy chicken wing dish was that we didn’t know the dish takes time to prepare and by the time it arrived to our table, we were almost finished eating. My son and I was only able to share a wing and the rest we took home. I wished we had that as our first dish instead of our last. Overall we had a wonderful experience in China Village and we look forward in going back to try their other dishes.

By: robert

robert — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:56:11 +0000

China village is one of my favorite restaurants for brilliant flavors. I have only eaten their lunch menu once and was not impressed. So I have only ordered a la carte from that time on and it has been always fabulous.
Some of my preferred dishes include the pepper covered fish soup, onion pancakes, Village special lamb (with cumin) chicken in a clay pot, the vegetarian calamari and on and on. All the dishes have distinct flavors and one can appreciate the thought and creativity of the chef.
Sorry for those who had a bad experience, we have not had a single bad one.

By: Angela

Angela — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:44:02 +0000

My husband and I had a VERY unpleasant experience at China Village. The ambience was horrible, the staff was rude and the food …ahem….”stayed with us” for far too long.
We went around 2pm on a Sunday, when the lunch/brunch crowd was leaving. They sat us at the worst table next to cooler/bathroom area. When we asked the busboy if we could move to one of the (many) empty tables, he said NO. Figuring that it must have been a language barrier problem, I again asked the maitred/manager person, AND HE SAID NO TOO!!!!! We couldn’t believe it, and sat there looking at each other, stunned. Never had we felt so unwelcome anywhere. We discussed what to do for a couple of minutes and as I gathered my jacket, purse and keys to leave, suddenly the “manager” had a change of heart and told us we could sit ‘over there’.
I should have followed my instincts and gone to another place to eat, but the review on this show was so glowing, we decided to stay. ‘At least the food will be great’, we thought. We thought wrong.
The “manager” turned out to be our waiter and he was surly and rude. He didn’t walk away from our table after he gave us got our menus, he just stood there waiting for us to order. We hurriedly ordered what we recognized on the menu, for fear we might take to long actually reading the menu and trying something new. When he brought the food, he literally threw it on the table.
I swear, I have never had such an experience in a restaurant before. It ruined our whole Big Day Out (and for days after we couldn’t stop thinking about it). We don’t get to go out to eat very often, and when we do, we want to be treated as if our patronage is valued….no wait…we want to be treated like we’re human.
We WILL NOT give this place a second change, sorry.

By: Yvette

Yvette — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 20:51:33 +0000

This restaurant is the best Chinese food I have ever had including in SF. Thanks to CPBA I have discovered this fantastic place. I have eaten at many of the other Chinese restaurants on Solano Ave, but until now I was never moved. These are not the typical Chinese dishes you might find other place, so try something different. It’s not the cheapest, but completely worth every penny.

Go and eat at China village!!!!

Get the fish soup with the 1,000 chilis (I can’t remember the name). The cumin Lamb is very good along with the spicy roast crab. Great place. It’s a 10.

By: Linda A.

Linda A. — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:50:14 +0000

Do NOT go to China Village for lunch, unless you are looking for a lot of food for little money and don’t much care how it tastes.

I went with a friend about three weeks ago. There were only about ten people in the place - it was 1:30, and they seated us in the back, right next to the cold drink refrigerator with a VERY loud compressor. We asked to be moved to a table by the window.

The luch menu has a good number of selections, many of them spicy. My eyes were caught by spicy green beans with either chicken or beef. That’s one of my favorite dishes, ever since I worked in SF and used to go to a little restaurant in the Tenderloin.

Lunch came with soup, salad, main dish, rice, tea, and “seasonal fruit” (an orange slice) - all for $5.99

First came the salad. Two minutes later, came the soup, two minutes later came the main dishes. Soup (hot and sour) was tasty, but not special. Salad was iceberg lettuce leaves with a peanut dressing. My chicken with string beans was ample, but the beans had been boiled AT LEAST early in the day, and had been on a steam table for HOURS before being added to the wok with the chicken.

Disappointing - I had expected better on Solano where there are so many really good Chinese restaurants.

By: Jason M.

Jason M. — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 22:40:14 +0000

My wife and I took my Mom out for her birthday and tried China Village for the first time this past weekend and had very mixed results. The waiters were attentive when we first got there, but after taking our order it went downhill quickly. Our soup came very quickly and was excellent. We were about half way through our first bowl and two entrees came immediately. We were confused by the pacing of the meal and thought our appetizers would/should come next, but by the time we finished the soup, our next entree had arrived. We had Hot Sour Soup, Szechuan Prawns, a fried garlic lamb dish & a chicken dish that were all outstanding. Our appetizer came as we finished the entrees (lamb dumplings) and I asked about our main entree (Crab in a Clay Pot) and the waitress ran off and brought back a pork dish we hadn’t ordered. She turned and dropped it on the table next to us and ran off again, coming back with the clay pot. The crab was outstanding!!! We were stuff, but forced ourselves to enjoy the dish and take home the leftovers.

The bottom line is that the food is absolutely outstanding! We decided that we shouldn’t go on a Friday night and should just aim for mid-week so we don’t get the chaotic hit-and-miss service next time. I’ve already been raving about China Village to our family/friends and will go back for more experimentation and hopefully better service!

By: Susan H. & Roger B.

Susan H. & Roger B. — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 01:43:30 +0000

Thank you, Annabel, China Village is our favorite restaurant too! The first time we walked into China Village we knew we had arrived at a very special Chinese restaurant. Most of the clientele were Asian and eating dishes that did not resemble typical California Szechuan fare. After that first exposure to mouth-watering, spicy dishes like Home Style Pork Shoulder, we have become weekly customers. John (owner), George, Peggy, and Bobby have been encouraging us to try something a little different and little hotter each week for the past two years. We have built up quite an appreciation for the heat and spice. In fact, we are considered by our friends “addicted” to the food at China Village. Their extrordinary dishes are full of the freshest ingredients and created by masterful chefs like John (owner). Contrary to Jeff’s comments during the interview, I would highly recommend some of our favorite plates of simmering, succulent fish, meats, and vegetables such as Hot Pot Fish (with peppers and simmering cabbage), Home Style Pork Shoulder, 1,000 Chili Chicken (chunked chicken wings) or the shrimp (served in the shell and deep-fried like the chicken), special combination homemade noodles, and Pea Sprouts cooked in garlic (or any seasonl vegetable). And just for fun, try the thick or thin style sesame bread instead of rice!