I've wanted to try Chen's for some time and was initially quite pleased. The storefront is a little rough and the interior decor likely hasn't been updated for decades... Both qualities that I tend to like as long as a restaurant is clean... and Chen's was. The food was decent but nothing special. The garlic sauce didn't taste like garlic... More like brown sugar really. The sweet and sour wasn't great either. To be fair, the friends that we went with loved their dinners. The killer was the rude server. We had barely finished eating and weren't planning to linger but apparently finishing our drinks and chatting for five minutes was a bit too much for him. He told us that there were customers waiting and that we had to leave. I might note that there were a few empty tables at that time but even if there weren't that poor behavior was uncalled for. We won't be going back to Chen's. read more

We noticed last night that the portion has gotten smaller with very little pork vs vegetables, and the prices have been changed higher on the menu. Not a good trend. If it's the same on our next visit, we'll complain about lack of meat! read more

Good food, good service. The menu is deep enough to satisfy lovers of Chinese food. They keep the hot tea coming. Portion size is good. They work hard to do things right at this Rochester establishment. The atmosphere is appropriate for families, and conducive to quiet dining. read more

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My boyfriend and I absolutely love this place. Every time the food is so insanely good and I recommended it to everyone that wants good quality Chinese food. It's consistent every time and the atmosphere is so quiet and peaceful. Staff are always friendly and nice and don't judge how much food the two of us can sometimes order haha. We will always go back to Chen Garden for Chinese. It is like hands down the best fried rice we have ever eaten. If you're ever thinking about it just try it and you will not be disappointed. Especially with the free tea and wonton strips to start off your meal you can't go wrong. read more

Chen Garden Restaurant - sesame chicken and pork fried rice - Chinese Near Me - Rochester, New York

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We came to celebrate Lunar NY and it was disappointing as soon as we walked in. The waiter must've been taking a break to eat when we walked in. I thought he would've stopped to seat us, but he kept eating as we stood awkwardly next to him. He did ask in between chews if we had reservations. Eventually someone who I think is the owner came from the back and seated us. Most of our dishes were heavily salted. There was only one time ever where I sent food back and now this is the second. I asked to return the salt and pepper squid app because it was inedible. I cringed when I took a bite. Waiter tells me it's going to have salt because it's salt and pepper squid. I get it, but it doesn't need to be coated in salt. I asked him to taste it himself. He came back and agreed and asked for the kitchen to make another. I hesitated to try the next batch, which didn't have the large salt chunks, but was still salty. The crab rangoon and sesame chicken were only okay. Sadly, we will not be coming back again. read more

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Ordered takeout on a Saturday evening. If you pay with card there is a 3% service charge. They have a sign posted to make you aware of this which is appreciated. The dining room looks lovely all lit up and packed with people enjoying their meals. We would have loved to dine in but didn't want to wait with no reservation on a Saturday. The man who took payment was so kind and gave us all the utensils and sauces we requested. Our meals were delicious and the portions were large. Didn't take as many pictures of the food as I would have liked to. We couldn't wait and had to get right to eating! It was that good! read more

Chen Garden Restaurant - Chinese Near Me - Rochester, New York

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We always LOVED this place. What HAPPENED? We went there on Thursday, April 24th at about 7:30 pm. It should have been busy. It was empty. That should have been our first clue. We ordered the items we always do. The duck sauce with the crunchy noodles was weird and rather awful. The vegetable spring rolls were mushy inside. My sesame chicken was dry and hard, like little rocks. I sent it back and got the identical rocks. The sauce was sparse and was not what you would expect with the item ordered. My husband's satay chicken was not to his liking at all. The only good part of our experience was our bartender/server, who was WONDERFUL. We took it all home and the critters we feed ate it. What a waste of money and time. Did they change owners again? read more

They have a great reputation for delicious and authentic Chinese food. Have you tried their spicy wings or dumplings? read more

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Chen Garden Restaurant delivers a terrific dining experience that balances quality, comfort, and style. The food is excellent across the board--fresh, flavorful, and clearly prepared with care. Service is equally strong, with friendly, attentive staff who make you feel genuinely welcome without being overbearing. The ambience strikes a great balance as well, blending an old-school charm with modern touches that keep the space feeling current and inviting. It's the kind of restaurant that feels reliable and well worth repeat visits. read more

TLDR: Worst experience ever, got scammed for tips. First off, this restaurant charges a 3% card transaction fee so we paid in cash but there was a waitress who wouldn't let us leave because we didn't tip enough. We only had a little bit of cash to cover the check and the waitress was said, you need to tip 15% and pulled out her phone calculator. We ended up giving her 50 cents short of the tip she wanted and she was still upset and did not let us leave. It was pure harassment. The food is essentially upscale panda express. The setting was "romantic" in the sense that everything was dark with a couple of string lights. read more

Chen Garden Restaurant - Chinese Near Me - Rochester, New York

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Filthy, disgusting restaurant. Shut down by the health dept in January. Many booths have been ripped so badly they just keep putting more and more layers of tape, and now they are coming off. Walls in the booth we sat in were filthy, don't think they've ever been cleaned. Were the owners of this place raised in a kennel? This place needs to be shut down for good. The owners don't care - why should you? read more

Excellent food all the food was good. The service was excellent although they did not ask for a drink order. The ambience was excellent for a lunch. read more

Overall wonderful date night. Ambiance was romantic and quiet. We were seated immediately at a booth for two. We had a reservation as well, however we didn't need it. The food came out piping hot. We had to wait a moment for it to cool. For appetizers we ordered pan fried veggie spring rolls. These did not disappoint with the right amount of flavor and crunch. We also shared the 10 piece veggie dumplings. I loved dipping them in the spicy sauce (which wasn't spicy and instead gave them an extra pow or oomph of flavor in each bite). Then we each had Wonton Soup. For entrees the Sweet and Sour Chicken and the Shrimp and mixed vegetables with white sauce. Each meal here is delicious and filling. Definitely leftovers for another meal. A good value overall. Wendy our server was very attentive and polite. Thank you for an enjoyable evening read more

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My favorite spot for Chinese food in Rochester.. chopsticks down! Love the atmosphere of this place, I prefer to order family style. Some on my normal go to's; salt and pepper scallops, sweet and sour chicken, vegetable fried rice, beef lo lein, chicken Mei fun, general Taos chicken and pork egg rolls... yyyuuummmm Have also gotten food to go, never had any issues, portions are always large and fresh. Plenty of napkins, sauces and chopsticks. read more

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OOps. Went for lunch today. Greeted by sign taped to front door: CLOSED BY THE HEALTH DEPT. This about the 3rd time in recent memory this has happened. The new owners apparently couldn't be bothered to maintain a clean environment. Too bad for the employees. read more

Well, we had heard the news that Scott and his brothers retired, and that Chen is under new management/new owners. We also read all the bad reviews from decades-long customers disappointed with the changes. But we had to go and check it out for ourselves, being that Chen has always been our fave, and we had a gift certificate that needed using up. The GOOD news is there's lots that hasn't changed: the atmosphere, the staff, the interior decor, and many menu items. In addition, we were pleased that the dishes we ordered - fried pork dumplings, fried veggie dumplings, Chinese broccoli and pressed duck - all looked and tasted great, with one exception - the fried rice was utterly tasteless and appeared to simply be rice with soy sauce. The (other) BAD news (besides the fried rice) is that the menu is much smaller, and prices have gone up. The price changes didn't bother us too much because prices of everything across the board are up, so we can appreciate/understand $1 and $2 increases per dish. But in trimming down the menu, the new owners took a restaurant that was special with an amazing menu full of unique dishes and essentially made it average - just like any other Chinese restaurant. The biggest personal heartbreak: they removed pork with nira grass, my absolute go-to dish. Two more notes: it turned out our gift certificate expired in Oct 2022, but they agreed to honor it; and we had to ask for fortune cookies - apparently they aren't automatically giving them out any more. In the end, the hubs was pleased that the dish he loves (the pressed duck) was pretty much the same; I was disappointed my fave dish has been nixed; but we both agreed the overall experience was close enough to how it was before that we'll return again to try other things we used to enjoy - noodles, hot pot... read more

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Having visited this restaurant multiple times throughout the years, it still remains a favourite of mine. You wouldn't expect to see a beautiful, old school Chinese restaurant that's impossible to tell from the outside. Starting off with a couple appetizers, the pan-fried dumplings were delicious and 100% homemade. Crisp exterior and tender filling on the inside. The fried squid was phenomenal. Possibly the best fried squid I've had in Rochester. These were fried to perfection and the squid was tender and fresh. For mains, we opted in for sweet & sour shrimp which is difficult to get wrong. The shrimp itself was ginormous which was great, and the sauce had the perfect balance between sweet & sour and the consistency was great. We also opted in for the market priced crispy seabass. This took me by surprise as I wasn't expecting such a huge fish, fried and accompanied with a great slightly sweet and savory sauce. The presentation alone left my jaw on the ground. The seabass was crispy on the outside and succulent on the inside. Overall, a great dinner, an amazing atmosphere and friendly service from "Wendy." 10/10 read more

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In general this is a good place, the service was good, the food was well prepared, but the menu is a challenge, very difficult to follow, and the ambiance is a little lacking! I will return! read more

First time ordering. Soup fabulous. Spicy scallop entree fabulous. Pork Egg rolls really good. Thank you read more

An American fusion place right in Pittsford. Among the Chinese restaurants, I would put this way below Revolution in authenticity and taste/freshness. It is below Sichuan opera house and Han Noodle Bar. It would tie with Red Sun down the street but slightly cheaper. The menu is overwhelmingly long and thick. This is already a turn off- in the end, it's A LOT of different sauce combos with the same ingredients over and over. If your'e into American fusion, this place is ok. However, any place with this many dishes is kind of a Jack of all trades, master of none vibe. I would have preferred they shorten the menu to their BEST dishes, rather than be over ambitious. Staff is harried and not the friendliest. We also had a black out in the middle of our dinner. We ordered the sweet and sour vegetable soup. This was a mouthful of heavy corn starch and pepper corn. It was very difficult to eat. Too much filling and the soup was very thick. It was so heavy in pepper corn that I couldn't appreciate any other flavor. The duck was ok- if you're a huge duck person however, the duck wasn't fresh. If you want good duck, your best bet is to go to Asia Food Market on Jefferson and buy it off the rack. That is the freshest duck in Rochester. This duck wasn't bad quality just sitting out a little too long and tasted off. The sesame chicken was alright- need to eat this fast because it got stale really fast but the flavors were right. The beef casserole was ok. Lacking in salt/flavor but at least the meat was cooked correctly in soft and falling apart in your mouth. staff was kind of rude and not the most pleasant. You had to wait around and also felt like you were being rushed. Would recommend they hire more staff and also decrease their item menus and focus on quality rather than quantity of items. read more

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Man, all i have to say is that, if you have never tried duck or eaten duck, you do not know what you are missing. I knew immediately i wanted their Pecking Duck plate here when we sat down and looked at our menu's. Pretty expensive place to eat and dine. But this is authentic food, and its delicious. Place is like a family environment. Nice people and cool atmosphere. The Duck was delicious with lots of flavors and sauces. It was not overcooked or undercooked. It was just amazing.. read more

Great tasting food Pretty decent service except the bartender ignores you when waiting for a drink read more

We recently ordered a take out lunch from Chen Garden. The food was over priced for the quality, which tended be poor (cold and mostly tasteless). One of the items we ordered was spring rolls, which on the menu was supposed to be two per order for $3.95. When we brought the order home, there was only one spring roll in the bag. We checked the receipt and we were charged for two. We then called the restaurant back and spoke to the manager who admitted he only gave us one. We told him we were charged for two and asked if we could get a credit the one we did not receive. He rudely argued with us. Basically, lost a customer over a two dollar over-charge and poor quality food. read more

Food is really good, and even improved after original owners sadly sold the restaurant. Service to order over the phone for take-out sucks! The guy who took my call would not give me his name, and did not read back to me what my order was (just the total $83.86). I called back and asked, "just want to make sure my order included Sesame Chicken." I said you didn't read my order back. He said "You forgot what you ordered." I don't know what the word for "dick" in Chinese, but he is one. read more

Good to go. 1st time there since original owner Sam & Scot sold restaurant. Reluctant since reviews have been mixed at best, especially the rude and poor service plus harassing customers over tips. Known and loved Sam over 40 years and their food. Tried a couple other places & Decided to try Chen again figuring how much worse than a take out #1 or #2 type places can it be? Husband & son went up to order at bar. First stopped at Asian market to buy a duck since we were told by Chen's a couple days prior they could not make & not on menu. Very disappointed. They received good service from bartender and she put in order & got it perfectly correct. Crispy noodles were prepackaged but surprisingly good. House duck sauce was horrible. We used store bought duck sauce and made homemade mustard. Pan fried pork dumplings-ok and still 10 per order. Smaller size and no ginger, green onion and lack of flavor. We used our homemade dumpling sauce and were better. Hot and spicy shredded chicken. Good lots of chicken, celery, carrots & scallions. Just needed little more hot so added hot oil. Hot & spicy shredded Beef. Same but husband liked our chicken better. Fried rice very bland. Was plain fried they give with entrees. Added dumpling sauce. Their sauce missing scallions, garlic and ginger and rice wine vinegar so added to my homemade to stretch it. Pork egg rolls-not bad. Overall, food was pretty good and better than others we've tried. Husband and son said bartender they had was really pleasant and nice. We will definitely go again for take out...still leery of wait staff and dine in based on reviews. Enjoyed having decent Chinese food. Hard to find good Chinese American combined with authentic. Sam had the touch and new owner could kick up food flavors a notch and make sure staff know what good customer service should be. Keep my hot & spicy shredded chicken dish! . Maybe have Peking Duck as a "pre-order/reserved ahead" item? Hang in there! read more

To be frank their service is shit - wholly unorganized and chaotic handling of takeout orders. Inconsistent accuracy of assembling orders. Food flavor has gotten less enjoyable and occasionally poor over the last few years. Seems to be running out on nostalgia and former reputation. read more

Seriously chen garden used to be amazing!!! But now it's gross the chicken was flabby not crispy the egg rolls had absolutely no taste at all it was pretty bad please don't waste your money read more

This used to be one of my all-time favorite restaurants, not just in Rochester but anywhere. Now - not so much. I know it sold and is under new ownership. But gosh what a let down. What once was an incredible experience every time is now abysmal. The service is terrible. The food is also bad. Ive been here twice since it changed owners. Both times equally a bad experience. Today, the food all tasted burnt and smoky. Like really not good. Also, I ordered mine gluten free. The menu indicated it could be made gluten free upon request. I saw her write it down on the ticket. But given the nature of my gluten allergy, I was immediately sick after eating the food so I know it was not prepared gluten-free as ordered. Why have that as an option if you can't abide by the dietary restriction? Super super disappointed. read more

Love their food. I thought it was a little pricey until I saw how much I got. I had leftovers for lunch and dinner the day after. I get takeout about every other month from here. read more

I stopped in for a dinner break while working near by. I have CELIAC DISEASE and I feel confident other people with celiac disease can eat here, but I will note this is not a CELIAC DISEASE safe establishment! I sat and looked at the menu in the dimly lit restaurant (that's the ambiance, if you have poor eye sight you may struggle navigating inside with the lack of light.) There are specific markers for "gluten free preparations/can be made gluten free." While I did not state I had celiac disease, I did specify gluten free, and chose the "Mei Fun Chicken" which comes with a side of rice of your choosing. When I looked this up online it showed no real sauce and that's promising because with celiac disease I usually go with the "if it's brown put it down" type of mindset. Any brown sauce usually had wheat in it sadly. Anyhow- quoted 10 minutes, and received my food in 10 minutes along with a few packets of gluten free soy sauce, fortune cookies, crispy chow mein noodles, duck sauce and spicy mustard. Though I can't eat those extras, I can put them in a food pantry for someone else to eat, and the packages were sealed so I wasn't worried about cross contamination. My food was hot and there was no shortage of vegetables or chicken. The portion was large at least 2-3 meals for me, and the workers were nice. I will also say I've met the new owner and they are very nice as well. I will be eating here again when my budget/meal plans/and lifestyle allow it. read more

Chen Garden Restaurant - GF Chicken Mei Fun (w/ un pictured white rice) FREE GLUTEN crispy Chow Mein with X.O Sauce -X.O - Chinese Near Me - Rochester, New York

Tried to go at 9pm - Yelp says they close at 9:30- lights off door locked Please update your hours read more

My family and I have spent literally thousands of dollars at Chen Garden over the past two decades. Always a great experience; food quality has varied a bit from time to time, but even their worst dishes are better than many other local Chinese takeout places. So you can imagine my disappointment when a recent order was not just sub-par in terms of how it tasted, but actually bad--as in, food poisoning bad. All five of us who ate the food became very ill the next day. Naturally I contacted Chen Garden to let them know--in the event that others had the same issues that evening--and to respectfully request a refund for the meal that gave us food poisoning. As such loyal customers, I never expected there to be any issue with this. Unfortunately, Chen Garden flat-out ignored my messages. I contacted them several times in various ways and... *crickets.* This order cost us over $75, not a huge amount for a busy and popular restaurant, but significant to my family, as our takeout/dining out budget is pretty slim. Chen's was always worth the splurge, until this incident of course. I'm very surprised that they would forego loyal, repeat customers in lieu of a $75 refund. I guess they're so busy and popular that they don't have to keep customers satisfied? At any rate, they can rest assured we'll find a new fave takeout place. There is no shortage of Chinese restaurants in Rochester--many of them in the same neighborhood, and therefore just as easy for us to pick up or get delivery. read more

I got the total bill on a bill holder. The bill holder said I will be charged 10% of total for processing a credit card unless I paid Cash. I paid cash to waitress who never gave me a receipt. Good food but Shady business on the part of waitress. That should have been disclosed on the menu before ordering. read more

Looks like Chen is going to be our new (old?) go-to for all things chinese food! I used to go way more frequently and have lately deferred to other downtown spots (Han & He's). Since Han has gone way downhill and He's has been closed, our dumpling craving lead us to Chen Garden for takeout. Everything came piping hot and was delicious, though not at all sustainably packed. Crab rangoon: reason enough to knock Chen down a star. I was CRAVING crab rangoon and these were by far the most nasty I've had. A pea sized amount of crab and EZ cheese in oily wanton. Would absolutely skip this if you're considering. Pork dumplings: These are fantastic. Sometimes with takeout dumplings can get soggy, which is not the case here. Pork dumplings are generously filled and fried to perfection. Sesame chicken: fried dark meat chicken. Tastes like sesame chicken...nothing further to report. Very delish. Beef lo mein: we ordered way too much food so I only had a couple bites of this, but what I had was super tasty. Mushrooms and lots of veggies make this a big win and beef that is tender as opposed to chewy. Would order again! I need to not be so adventure averse in my ordering as Chen has a huge array of seafood and tofu dishes in sauces that look outstanding. Their menu is massive so we went the classic Americanized route, but please know there is a lot of other options available. Happy ordering! read more

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A pretty dependable Chinese restaurant in Rochester. The interior is a throwback to the '70s & '80s Chinese-American dining experience with dim lighting, Chinese Horoscope placemats and complimentary fried wonton cracker appetizer with sweet and sour dipping sauce. A huge menu with all sort of protein with a variety of sauces. I am a fan of their clay pot dishes. They also have a special menu during Chinese New Year, which is popular. There are probably better Chinese restaurants that have popped up over the years. But Chen Garden still holds a certain aspect of nostalgia for residents of Brighton and remains popular for good reason. read more

Not good. The dumplings were greasy and burnt, the sweet-and-sour chicken was dry and crumbly with maybe an eighth of a cup of sauce, drizzled over the top. The rice was tasteless. And the pork dish had huge chunks of fat in it. The meat was essentially scraps.. I couldn't find a single piece of decent pork in the dish.. It was weirdly rubbery. So unpleasant. And the hot tea was tepid at best. Our entrées took a long time to come out, and were not hot when they got to the table. I felt like we wasted $50. This place used to be great, what a disappointment this meal was. And the light fixture at our table looked like it hadn't been cleaned in many months. Gross! I wouldn't mind the 3% credit card surcharge if this establishment was serving quality meals, but it was hard to have their fees passed off on us, when they had also passed off such terrible food. read more

Food wasn't what I expected I ordered a chicken and broccoli meal with baby corn it tasted close to nothing $20 for chicken and broccoli to taste like hotdog water the staff were nice but food was not good also ordered a small white rice and wonton soup wonton soup was edible but the rest just wasn't good very bland prices are way too high for such a quality of food read more

A group of us came here for Chinese New Year, and the food was really good! I'd never been here before, and I already have plans to come back! There is virtually no parking, so be prepared for that. A few of us parked in the plaza to the right which had a few stores on the end that were closed. We went on a Saturday night, and it was packed! I recommend you go early rather than later in the evening. The New Year menu didn't have anything vegetarian on it that I noticed, so the items I ordered were on the main menu. We ordered for the table and shared. The vegetarian items I had were salt and pepper crispy tofu, scallion pancakes, tofu and eggplant in a clay pot, green beans and sauteed snow peas. The salt and pepper tofu was the main thing I wanted to try, and it was really good. But I had never had scallion pancakes before, and I LOVED them!!! Funny story, I'm allergic to onions, and I shouldn't really have scallions either. I ate them anyway because they were so good, and I'd do it again! Yum!!! It was worth it! :) You can't forget the wontons and dipping sauces you get when you sit down. Those are also great! I also had a pina colada. It wasn't great and was really foamy. I'd try something different next time. Chinese food is not usually my favorite, and I like it occasionally rather than a regular thing. I am ready to go back here RIGHT NOW! Everything we ate was so good!!! And we had a great time! Go check it out. **Edited to add - we got take out from here. Both things my husband ordered came in plastic containers, and he really liked them. I got the salt and pepper tofu and sesame tofu, and they both came in cardboard boxes. It made them so SOGGY!!! It was gross! I have never gotten sesame tofu from any Chinese restaurant that came in a cardboard container. I had to throw a lot of it away. On a brighter note, we got lots of the noodles and the duck sauce, and my husband really liked his meal. I don't know if that was a one time thing or they always do that, but if I ever do get take out from here again, I'll specify that it needs to go in the plastic containers. read more

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I haven't been here in about 5 years. Stopped in for lunch with some friends. The place is nicely decorated and everything was clean. The server was very nice and brought us water, tea, and fried noodles quickly. I ordered the chicken and rice soup to start with. It was a good portion size, plenty of rice and chicken. The broth was sort of bland though. I had the beef chow mein. It was a large portion. Everything was sliced into perfect bite size pieces. Plenty of wonderful flavors. It was very satisfying. The check came and I was surprised how little it was. Prices seem lower than other places. While this is not my go-to Chinese place, it's not a place to pass by either. read more

Chen Garden Restaurant - Beef chow mein - Chinese Near Me - Rochester, New York

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I've eaten at Chen for probably 20 years and it was a favorite of mine for both the food and atmosphere. We ate there a few weeks ago and I thought the food was bland although the menu prices had increased. Today I ordered takeout and whoever answered the phone said hello rather than Chen Garden making me think I had the wrong number. I ordered the General Tsao Chicken and the Chicken with mixed vegetables in Brown sauce. What I got were dried out pieces of General Tsao with a few green peppers, and a small amount of chicken pieces and some lettuce instead of the chicken and mixed vegetables I had ordered. I've read here that there are new owners so that could explain the change. read more