Really convenient for party platters! Their portions are big and cheap! Every time my family has a party we like to order the small platter of their calamari. Their small platter serves like around 10 people (or at least in my family it does). The calamari is pretty good and crunchy. Best part is, it STAYS crunchy even after a long period of time. It's never soggy! I don't know what their cooking techniques are, but I'm amazed! Not a big fan of the jalapeno they put on top though, but it's easy to pick out. The interior of this place is basically your typical old school Asian restaurant. Which means, they do CASH ONLY. The service is questionable. Not the most friendliest people, but they communicate well enough to get the job done. This is why I always just order to go. On the bright side, yayyy cheap Chinese food :) read more

First timer here, I love the great service here and I love the food I tried their orange chicken with fried rice super bomb compliments to the chef. I live close by this place and I pass by it everyday when I go home 10 years later I finally tried it and I'm am very satisfied with the service and the great tasting plates they serve. read more

Salt and pepper calamari! Crunchy, Salty Goodness... YUM When ever I go here with my family we always get an order of this. They give you a lot too, over filling the plastic to-go box. The calamari is usually a must for any party we throw. 35 bucks for the small party tray, not bad IMO. In the weekends there are usually a bunch of these trays set up waiting to go to their assigned Filipino party. The lady in the front always looks like she has something up her @$$, but just over look that. read more

Delicious! Will come back. Everything was perfectly seasoned. We ordered beef and tofu, house fried rice, fried chicken and lemon chicken. Would recommend them all! read more

This place is a long time favorite of mine, their orange chicken is some of the best I've ever had! I usually order orange chicken and chicken chow mein it's more traditional and you can't beat the price! read more

Good place to get good chinese food but be ready for the wait. This place better for ordering party trays and any take-outs. The other location in Milpitas is better for dining in. Crispy calamari and fried fish fillet are our regular orders for lunch at work. They're really crispy and just the right amount of salt in it. Not too greasy also. The lemon chicken is good too (sauce served on the side) but for this dab it first on a napkin to get rid of the excess oil. read more

Me and my family come here all the time. Like almost places they have food we love ( chow mei, fried rice, pot sticker, orange chicken..) but than some we dont( mostly the Kong pow) but overall this place is awesome! The service is fast and the people who work here are super nice. read more

I live near this restaurant and had never eaten there so I decided to give it a go. The place is roomy and has a nice 70s feel. The ordering was pretty easy and the food didn't take too long to wait for. When it came to the kung pao pork it was okay. Just okay. I had to wait a while to be checked up on. When eating Chinese food I get pretty thirsty so when the water refill finally came I was thankful. The over all service was not very friendly and have had better experiences at smaller hole in the walls. read more

They're okay. A little bit on the oily side but this our go-to Chinese place since it's close to our apartment.

I recently ate here as a new customer and I have to say I enjoyed the food! I originally saw this restaurant many years ago, but I never really had a chance to grab a meal from there. Luckily, I came home from my classes and this was on the way home. My Uncle suggested to try their house friend rice, so that's what I ordered. After bringing the wonderfully warm and delicious smelling fried rice, I prepared my plate and shared it with my family since I got a large tray. Overall, the house fried rice was delicious and had a wonderful combination of chicken, beef, shrimp, bbq pork along with traditional veggies. I can easily recommended them for a quick and delicious meal if you're in a hurry. Thank you for the awesome food Chef P! read more

They changed the lemon chicken sauce. It used to be very good now it tastes a bit like dishwater :( really sad because I would get cravings for it. Definitely not anymore read more

I've been meaning to review this place! I've been here plenty of times but I always forget to review it! My mom comes here for their calamaris. Sometimes she even orders them for family parties and etc. It's always on point and crunchy! And if you're Filipino I'm sure you dip them in spicy vinegar! My last visit I ordered some beef fried rice, eggrolls, fried prawns, and honey walnut shrimp to go! They weren't busy but I guess it was just the owner and one cook doing everything, so the wait was pretty long. I would suggest ordering over the phone and do a pick up if you don't wanna wait!. I usually call them and order over the phone but this time I didn't bother to because I went pretty early. The food was good.. I liked their beef fried rice and egg rolls. Their honey walnut shrimp is OKAY.... but I'm not a fan of their fried prawns! Still a solid four out five!!! read more

I ordered the calamari and sesame chicken to go last week. I called ahead and took me about 15 minutes to get to the place, waited for another 5 or so minutes to get my food. So the wait was pretty long for my standard especially I called around 1PM. The person that answered didn't sounded to friendly either, then again, I don't expect service at hole in the wall place, so it was ok for me. The portion of the food was ALOT..especially the Calamari, as Vitoo mentioned, it's not the onion ring type of Calamari. I thought it is kind dry for my taste, and didn't have enough peppers. But I still think it is pretty good, not a 5 star, but a 3~4 ish for me. The sesame chicken was a 3 at best, too much breading, not enough Chicken. Over all, i would only give this place a 3.5, but since the price per food ratio is pretty good for me, so I round it up to 4. read more

The portions are gigantic! If you're looking to convert that money of yours into as much food as possible, this is definitely the place to head to. Their fried foods are very good (especially the calamari), but I usually go for the more traditional Chinese foods - Chow Fun or the Fried Rice (beef). They're very good, with a level of flavor, but a bit too oily sometimes. A word of advice - do order over the phone and come over to pick up - the wait is horrendous, as there's not much staff, and the orders are always made-to-order. read more

Love this place, best fried rice I've had !! Salt & Peppered Fish is amazing !! Also combo #1

Tasty Chinese Food. We normally order to go, since we just have new baby. My wife love their Salt-Pepper Calamari, she said it remind her of the way they make it in Thailand. You get the whole calamari split on the side and deep fried if you expecting calamari ring that look like onion ring you be in for a surprise. She also likes their fried rice. We usually get house fried rice since have mix of everything. We normally would order 3 to 4 dish and since their to-go order portion size is huge we usually have enough for the next couple days. read more

Chef P's - Menu Page 1, Dec 2008 - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

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When there is a party I always buy their crispy calamari but they are very very expensive now.

Me and my family have been coming here for years. I love their chow fun and salt and pepper fish.It was a nice surprise that they accept cards now. I feel like the food has downgraded through the years. 1. Last year me and my family stayed in to eat. They were not attentive. They even brought the wrong soup I ordered.. 2. I gave them a call and ordered. A young girl answered and I asked how the crab meat soup was prepared. She replied, " I don't know. I never tried it." I'll just get wonton noodle soup then. With it I picked up house special chow mein, string beans chicken, and salt and pepper fish. I even asked her if she could give me a call when the food is ready. The wonton soup I ordered had no flavor. It made me feel really sad since I was hungover.. My mom didn't like it her chow mein. She felt like they were withholding the condiments. read more

The fried calamari party platter is always a hit when i bring them it to family parties! Order ahead of time and make sure to bring cash, they only take cash. Next time you're unsure of what to bring to a potluck, give Chef P.'s a call and order the fried calamari. I rated them a 4 Star because they never have parking available. P.S. The calamari is great even days after ordering it! read more

Worst service ever. Called and placed an order Togo for a single order of wonton soup. I was told it's gonna take 10 min. Got there in 10 minutes and ended up waiting 30 min!! Poor customer service. read more

its the best calamari fried i ever tried..i bought 6 trays but iam still craving for it.

I've been going to the same spot since I was a kid, when it was by King/Alum Rock.. The food is delicious, specially their BIG shrimp Chow Mein and their orange chicken.. The lady/ owner is not that bad, she can be loud but I got used to it. She's not rude, not to me at least.. Price is low and servings are large.. read more

Calamari they're braggin about??? Not good!!! Too crunchy. Place was a mess.. Poor customer service from the woman on the front. Not coming back here! read more

This Chinese food restaurant is my favorite on the East Side... they also have a location in Milpitas!

I have picked up food here a number of times -- called in orders. The food is always hot and delicious. The service is great! I especially like the chow fun with veggies, and the shrimp meal is especially good. Very convenient. Always pleasant and helpful servers. read more

Food are OVERPRICED! Especially the OILY Calamari, old Lady in the cashier is very RUDE seems like you owe her to buy their food, total RIP OFF should be FLAGGED by the city. read more

We always do takeout from this restaurant, and we haven't sampled everything on their menu - it's pretty extensive - but I want to give a rave to one menu item that few enough restaurants do well: their Wor Wonton Soup. A lot of restaurants just throw together something but Chef P's has a great broth that makes all the difference. All the essentials are there, wontons, shrimp, chicken, barbecued pork, and chinese cabbage, and they are really tied together by the broth. Personally, I think a good Wor Wonton Soup can nearly heal a broken heart, and certainly clear up a bad day, and this one is prescription strength. Linda G. read more

My family and I have been coming here for about 16 years! The food has never changed. The only reason why I won't give this a full five stars because there's one particular employee who is so rude ! She rolls her eyes when you ask for extra sauce. But other than that this place is BOMB. read more

If I could give this place negative stars, I would. We came here at the recommendations of people my wife knows. Note to self - don't ever heed the recommendations of these people ever again. Anyways, this place was unclean. The tables were sticky, when we received our utensils, it looked like wasn't even washed with water, wiped down maybe, but not washed. The food was horribly cooked - I know there are shortcuts that restaurants tend to take, but the meat and ingredients tasted like they were frozen, reheat, frozen, reheat, served. Most of it tasted like it was cooked in oil that had been unchanged since the last ice age. I don't really understand why people rave about the salt and pepper calamari here, it truly represents what deep fried cardboard would be people ever did that. It was tough, and flavored mostly with MSG. Ravers, you really need to get out more. Oh yeah, the lady, seems to have permanent PMS. read more

Chef Ps is the best chinese I've had so far,except homemade of course.I love thier house chow mein and their sesame beef is the BOMB! Yes,thats right,I said beef,now you know a little secret of mine :o) I've come to this spot since I was little and ya,the owner is tough as nails,but if you've been coming as long as I have,she's really cool."hey,why you no call?Why you not come by?"She's a trip,but I love her food.Never a disapointment when it comes to the party trays,fair priced and never a complaint at my house. read more

Chef P's? No....Chef MSG's! \Wow, i was excited to check this place out because of the good ratings, but wasn't very pleased and i love chinese food so i'm not hard to please. -Service is rediculously bad. The lady is extremely rude. -ive never had chinese food with this much MSG. (everyone raves about the calamari. Yes the first bite was good but 30 minutes later and all that MSG catches up to you) The only good thing about this place is, it's reasonable priced and the serving size is big. Other than that i don't see any reason to come back. read more

The food here is good, but boy are they are jerks. A little good service can go a long way. I've never even heard thank you or welcome or anything nice. they just give you your food and turn away. I think i'm not gonna go here anymore. read more

Easily the best Chinese food in San Jose. Both locations. The staff is friendly and inviting,with a peaceful atmosphere. Shout out to Lloyd and Dennis! read more

Now, we have been enjoying this restaurant since it was on Alum Rock at King. We were devistated when we went one day and it was closed, but relieved to see that it was just moving a couple of miles away. Originally, we stumbled upon this place driving round with my husband and my 2 young children. I wanted to find a new place for us to try and this was just a couple of blocks away. When we went inside, we were less than enthused about the dining area, but I have found enough great "hole in the wall" restaurants to know better than to judge by the tables, floor, and chairs. And I found it informative that most of the people eating at tables looked to be locals who knew a good thing when they tasted one! Always trust where locals eat... My husband and I always order the Hot and Sour Soup whenever we try out a new chinese restaurant. On the first bite we were hooked! Not too thin, spicy enough to make my nose run but not make my eyes water, chock full of the strange and wonderful things that make up H&S Soup. : ) We also tried the Mongolian Beef (one of my faves with tender beef and lots of green onions and the peppers large enough to avoid!), Sweet & Sour Pork (My husband raves about this one), Orange Chicken (the kids can't get enough of that - perfectly breaded and with an amazing sauce), and House Chow Mein (good sized shrimp and perfectly cooked noodles). The serving sizes left enough for my husband's midnight refrigerator raid and another dinner the next night. We have never had any trouble with the service we have received. If you go at dinner time, it can be a little slow to get your order taken because they are very busy getting orders ready, but I don't mind waiting a few extra minutes so other people can get their food, too. I can say that I have never seen the place dirty, just not stylish. Again, I would rather have un-pretty dining room and low-cost, amazing tasting food any day! read more

I just ordered from Chef P's for the first time. I read that they are open til 9:30 but when I called, "Jenny" as I see others have referred to her as, said they were closed but she'd take my order. Very thick accent but she was very patient with me and got my order correct. She told me I could come and pick it up. I got there, and much like many other small business owners, she was stern and tired and still working to close after she'd been on her feet working since 9AM! I really don't pay her to smile, or the prices would be outrageous and we'd be naggin about the high prices. Jenny was concerned for her customers that hadn't shown up yet. Her heart was apparent. The Chinese chicken salad was fresh and tasty, and the green beans and chicken was something we will look forward to ordering again. Late night dinner, so we ate light. Thank you Jenny, for your 31 years of serving this community and I pray you have many more years. We'll be trying out the Milpitas restaurant soon. read more

Every time i visit relatives in the San Jose or Milpitas area, I have to buy the Salt and Pepper Calamari. It's crispy and has a long shelf life. Last May, I brought some to Canada for my siblings to taste. They loved it! This time, they bought 6 of the $17.99 container to bring home to Canada. read more

I just found this place last week, but this is a very good chinese restaurant...not an upscale place by far, but an excellent "hole in the wall" kind of place. I basically just stumbled on to this place because I was just in the area and was looking for chinese food. I ordered my usual when I go to a place the first time (walnut shrimps, house fried rice, etc) and sat down to wait for my take out. I noticed alot of people coming in ordering the same thing "Salt and Pepper Calamari" That's when I decided to check on the place on "Yelp", I used my phone to read the reviews and noticed that everyone raved about the calamari...so I decided to ask the waiter if I could add that to my order. He even told me that the calamari was their most popular dish. Once I got home and actually tasted it, it was over, first things out of my mouth were "oh shit, this is fuckin' good!" So I agree with other reviewers that the dish really is delicious, I've been there already 5 times in the past week and a half...and I'll order the calamari party tray for my daughter's b-day party later this month. If you're in the area, it's located in East San Jose on the intersection of Alum Rock and Jackson Ave, right next to the Carl's Jr & across the street from the PW supermarket. read more

I love this place. I've been coming here since I was a little girl. The owner is always happy to see my husband and I. This place holds a lot of history for us. We used to come here when we were first dating back in 1989. That's when it was over on Santa Clara. And now we take our 16 year old daughter with us whenever we eat here. The food is really good and always satifies me when i'm craving chinese food. I hope this place never closes. read more

Okay what the??? Are these reviews on the salt and pepper calamari real? Well lucky that it was my sister who paid almost 10 bucks for the rock hard calamari with no flavor and not me. It tasted absolutely terrible! I rather pay one dollar for those pork chips than eat this calamari yuck. It just tasted like a fried piece of friedness. Couldn't even taste the squid part. Not only that, when we ordered to go the lady just hung up on us not even asking for our names. I'm being nice. I gave an extra star for their quick service when we came to pick it up. But what the heck on the salt and pepper calamari -___- Have you guys tasted real calamari before? Anyways, my low rating mainly goes towards the calamari and bad customer service. Wouldn't bother to try their other dishes because my mom can make them. Yes, I am Chinese so I know what real chinese food tastes like. read more

Very bad service. Dirty tables. Lady in d cashier taking orders n cleaning up tables wearing hospital gloves not taking it off, not washing hands after cleaning tables then she also serves your orders, water n utensils still with her hospital gloves on and also uses her gloves getting orders n counting money. No bathroom to use. Bad bad bad!!!!.... Filthy dirty filthy dirty!!!!...,, this place needs to be reported to Department of Health. Just lost my appetite! I had a better experience in Chef P's Milpitas. read more