I was visiting San José and decided to drop by to fulfill my Chinese food cravings. The wonton noodle soup was delicious! Exceed my expectation! I love my noodles with a chewy texture. The portion size was good, enough for me to last until my next meal! The price is reasonable, and I would surely come back to try other dishes! read more

DEFINITELY coming back. I've found my favorite spot now. The noodle soup tasted fresh and clean, not reused from the day before or anything. Also looks like they filter it thru pretty well because there's no floating pieces from when they were making the broth. A usual establishment for something like this though with actually much faster service than I'm used to but also, something that stood out was our server, Huy, he was able to help us understand more about the menu. Turns out later that he was a manager. Be it so, it's nice that he cares to conversate and educate the customers about the food vs just serving you food and that's it. Overall, I encourage others to give this a try. Delicious food, quick service, and knowledgeable staff goes perfectly great together! read more

China Chen - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

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Absolutely unacceptable!!! Order to go and my boss grabbed food for me. Come back to find a dead bug in my food!!! So disgusting! DO NOT COME BACK if you value your health! I understand being busy but to the point you overlook bugs in your food??? This used to be my favorite place back in college and now I don't think I can ever come back! read more

China Chen - Ordered a Combination Fried Rice and look what I found! What the hell is this?? Who checks this foot! DO NOT COME BACK HERE!!! - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

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I found this place through postmates and decided to order cause delivery was cheap. I didn't really have high expectations since I've never been here and the food looked mediocre, but I was so wrong. I ordered the shrimp wonton noodles with a side of squid, banh bot chien, and an extra side of wonton soup. I ordered the extra wonton soup on the side just in case the noodles didn't fill me up. With the price being lower than most places, I wasn't sure how the portions would be like. I was honestly a little surprised that the there was a lot of noodles and meat packed in the bowl. I actually had to remove some noodles and meat to save it for later with my wonton soup. Banh bot chien was great!! I definitely did not finish this. This can feed like 3 people. This was pretty big for me to handle lol but it was delicious! Totally would buy it again I like my noodles with vegetables to give it the little freshness, but I didn't get any packed in my order. A little bummed, but not a big deal. I'm also pretty thirsty after the meal so I'm guessing there's a little too much MSG or salt?? Overall I would definitely come back! Super affordable and tasty read more

First time here, and ai really like the place, how it is cozy, with big window view to enjoy the street view. So I had the egg noodle soup with sa sieu , and some pork kidney as an extra thing( +$2.30), wow they gave a lot of the sa sieu meat mang, I don't think i'll be needing to add anything extra next time. the sa sieu, pork kidney were good, the noolde was not bad, the soup however was more on the salty side so my usual finishing to the last drop was not an option even though I squeezed a piece of lime in it. Oh Well over all it was still a good meal. So a small sa sieu egg noodle soup bow with pork kidney added came at 10.70. read more

China Chen - Egg noodle with sa sieu n pork kidney 10.70 - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

The BEST place to get your egg noodles fix in the Bay Area! I highly recommend getting the Banh Bot Chien (Fried Flour Cake w/ Egg) as the appetizer! It has a soft, chewy consistency with a crispy outer layer and it pairs well with the dipping sauce for a great texture with every bite! You can't go wrong with any the egg noodle dishes! We got the #20 The Mi Sui Cao (Shrimp wonton Egg Noodle) I wanted to try a non-soup egg noodle dish & I ordered the #50 Mi Xao Bo Say Te Cay (Stir fried slate beef thin egg noodles - spicy). Its super tasty and the noodle textures are BOMB!! If you are not in for the mood for their egg noodles then get the House Fried Rice which is filled with great flavors & textures. *CASH ONLY* read more

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Been coming to China Chen since I was little girl, parents would always come here for their cantonese style noodles and the fried flour cake. The only fried flour cake that was better than this one was in Vietnam, so trust me, dis legit. My favorite was always the Sui Cao noodles or shrimp wonton noodles, however, today I chose the seafood noodle because I was feeling a bit more adventurous than usual. Needless to say, would still prefer the sui cao noodles over the seafood noodles. There wasn't that much seafood, only 1 shrimp and 3 pieces of squid and a 3-4 fish balls. Soup was very similar to the shrimp won ton noodles. Only weird thing was that their satay sauce (condiment on the side) was not spicy at all, even after 2 spoonfuls, and usually I would be crying from my eyes and face after a half a spoonful. Anyways, I digress. It is located in downtown SJ, so good luck with parking - even worse now with all the construction. Don't be desperate and park in the parking lot across from it. 10$ flat is such a ripoff. Find street parking or park next to the huge parking garage next to SJSU campus, the rate is 1$ every 30 minutes. This also decreases the chance of getting your car towed or broken into - meter parking is about the same price. read more

The service here is pretty awesome which is uncommon for an Asian restaurant. I usually come here for the wonton noodle soup. Pretty good broth. read more

Won ton soup please and thank you!!!! My coworker loves soup any and all times of the year. She will go anywhere but I wanted authentic so we asked another coworker who recommended this place. We dined in. Fast service. Delicious food. How awesome they sell fresh and frozen won tons as well!! Prices are good and comparable to other places. Customer service was good and we will be back again soon. read more

Very good noodle soups. The noodle texture was to my liking. I prefer it to be tender with a little bite. The broth was not heavy and it was flavorful. The ambience is like a typical Asian noodle place. Not fancy by any means but I usually only need a good affordable meal that's nearby to satisfy me. read more

China Chen is back to its glory days. I remember my family use to come here all the time, until it got worst as the time went on. Well boy did they make a comeback, my family has been there 3 times within the last year. The broth flavor is just as good maybe even better than ever before, and the wonton are always on point. I also have to give appreciation on how much cleaner it is in there now. read more

Sometimes simple is the best. China Chen epitomizes that saying. Their menu doesn't push the edge of culinary boundaries, but what they do have to offer is just plain good food. Their wonton is super satisfying, the noodles (both egg and rice) are great compliments to taste of the soup and wonton. The flour egg cake is a nice combo of crunchy and soft. They even supply Chinese mustard, a huge plus! 10/10 I'd recommend you stop by and try their soups. P.S. they accept cards now. read more

Came here yesterday, I ordered shrimp wonton egg noodle with extra kidney.shrimp wonton & kidney are not fresh at all they tasted like they had been in the refrigerator for few days. read more

I've been going here since I was kid. We would eat here as a family and then my mom would go to the market down the street. And then when I went to SJSU I went here all the time. I freaking love this place! Mi sui cao always is my go to order and I do soup on the side or with soup depending on my mood but it never fails. It's soo good, I drive here to eat by myself... that freaking says something. Haha read more

This is the worst Chinese restaurant I've ever seen in California! No one! At first, the waiter was very rude and threw the menu around. I was very worried about the time of my meal. And I called the waiter several times when I checked out. ... When I paid the bill, they pretended that they could not understand Chinese. May I ask what you mean? Is the guest against you?（I want to remind you that everything I said is true! Hope the official can verify!!! ) read more

I was craving noodles and looked through Yelp and found this gem. Fast service and good food. We were seated within a couple minutes of walking in. The staff were ready to take our order within a few minutes but we were not ready as it was our first time visiting this restaurant. Most of their menu are soups. We had multiple orders of the #10 and an order of #25. All soups were flavorful and the noodles were good. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the lettuce on top of the soup. I would have preferred cilantro or bean sprouts or something else but the green leaf lettuce threw things off a little for me. Overall a good experience and I will return even if I need to pick off my lettuce. Haha. BTW- if you're driving.. I'm unsure if they have a parking lot as I forgot to ask and I parked on the street at a meter which is $2/hour. read more

To go order "Hu tieu nam vang" so bad that I'm speechless...seriously, no word for this. read more

China Chen - To go order. This was supposed to be "Hu Tieu Nam Vang". Never ever had any bad like this!! Seriously. - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

Finally came here after seeing it so many times in college. Enjoyed the comfort of the food and how all the flavors came together so well. The customer service was fast and I can't wait to come back to try more of their dishes. read more

My friend took me to this place because she said how their food is amazing! She was not wrong ! Their soup is so good ! Highly recommend

I love this local Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant. Great dishes for about $10 (a steal for the quantity and quality). Must get the fried flour cake w/egg and the shrimp wonton soup. Feels like comfort food, but better and more unique than the generic Chinese/Vietnamese dishes. It's really clean and service is excellent as well. Big fan. read more

Decent Chinese place! The location is in the middle of the downtown, convenient but a little dangerous at night. We came here after pottery class around 6,7ish and there was only 1 group eating there. I ordered no soup noodle w beef. Big volume which fed me 2 meals and tasted really good. Meaty! We shared fried shrimps. Yummmmmy!! I definitely come here again. read more

China Chen - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

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Been here a few times and it seems something has changed. Ordered a large bowl and yes I probably received the bigger bowl with a small portion. So not sure why they offer 2 sizes if they are the same. Hopefully others are noticing this as well. read more

We checked this place out because of all the reviews on yelp. It's a small restaurant. The seating is uncomfortable. They are cash only. I thought the menu would be more vast but it was very limited. Charged extra for extra wonton in my wonton soup. Nice guy helping us out but it was just a meh experience with meh items. Nothing special. read more

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In A Nutshell: -You gotta love this little neighborhood restaurant that serves AUTHENTIC Vietnamese/Chinese food. -Tiny, yet never overly-crowded & very effecient service. -The main thing my wife and I always order is their Won Ton Soup. The temperature is always piping hot, the broth is very tasty (not too salty) & the won tons are the big, flappy kind which wraps the heart of the won ton: the succulent shrimp. -Try their Fried Game Hen. Extra crispy & moist. Overall, China Chen is the epitome of the type of Asian restaurant you'd find when visiting your favorite Far East city. A real dandy! read more

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Call it destiny if you will, but when several previous reviewers proclaimed the egg noodle soup at China Chen the best in San Jose I knew I had to try it. The restaurant sits on the corner of East San Salvador and South Third Streets one block from one of the entrances to San Jose State University. It is busy and very crowded. I went there at 3 PM on a Saturday afternoon, and the place was filled. You walk in and grab whatever seat is available, but do it quickly as there are two entrances and someone is certain to grab that same table you're eyeing. The waiters are fast here roaming the narrow aisles between tables with food orders and menus in hand. Zwoosh! As soon as you are seated there's a glass of ice water in front of you and a menu in your hand. The time it took me to peruse the menu took longer than the food to arrive and I concentrated on just one section of the menu. I knew I wanted to try the egg noodle soup so that is what I focused on. For just the egg noodle soups there are 16 to choose from, and for just a dollar more you can make your serving large. I was curious whether the large meant a larger bowl, more soup or more noodles. Well it's neither the bowl nor the soup! My large Wor Won Ton Egg Noodle Soup (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/dRTsqnuEtOT3DoYaGnBCSw?select=sc-H7JeYISj5GtyxzFKi-Q) gave me nearly a pound of thin egg noodles in a clear broth mildly seasoned with MSG. The noodles are firm and chewy and did not become soft or soggy while sitting in the hot broth. If you love shrimp or prawns the won tons here are made especially for you as each won ton is a single medium shrimp wrapped by a won ton wrapper with no pork and no other fillers, just one firm and crunchy shrimp. Tender spears of Shanghai Bok Choy and a single giant prawn finish off the noodle soup. With the exception of the mild MSG afterburn I thoroughly enjoyed my bowl of egg noodle soup. read more

China Chen - large Wor Won Ton Egg Noodle Soup - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

Walking into this little restaurant, it looks like a little diner with a bunch of booths and some tables lined along the center. It was hard coming in with a family of six because we ended up sitting at two tables since they didn't want to pull it together. Makes sense because there was very limited walking space in between each table. I ended up sharing a shrimp wonton soup with egg noodle (#28) and Bot Chien (#1) with my sister. The shrimp wonton soup with egg noodle was good. The wonton was nice and flavorful. I especially like eating it with vinegar, which had a nice bottle ready at the table for us. We really didn't want the egg noodle because it would make us too full, but the menu didn't show any way of getting wontons only. We got the soup on the side and that was a plus. Our bot chien finally came out and it was actually really delicious. The dipping sauce was just right. The only issue I had was that the waiters kept walking back and forth through the aisle and that meant that they kept rubbing against our tables since their was barely any room. After paying, they were so impatient to clean the tables that one pushed me while I was trying to get up and leave. It was a nice place to try, but not sure if I'll be coming back since it's not very close to home. read more

China Chen - (#1) Bot Chien - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

Great Chinese food, but be warned its CASH ONLY. I usually stop by hear when my cousins from LA are in town. We love their soup based items. Food: 1. Wonton Soup with BBQ Pork + Egg Noodle. I like to get my soup/broth on the side because they will give also include some beef bones. The BBQ pork has great flavor and is cooked well. Service: 1. Food comes out relatively quick since most of the soups are pre made 2. Staff are friendly Ambience/Seating 1. Typical Chinese seating with low quality chairs & tables read more

China Chen - Wonton Soup with BBQ Pork and Egg Noodles. Asked for soup/broth on the side so they can give you some extra beef bones. - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

This is my first time writing review. I'd like to thank Huy, a young owner, for keeping his family business and keeping the authentic taste of Chinese-Vietnamese egg noodle soups alive. My families have been coming to China Chen for over 25 years. Our favorites are Mi xiu cao, Mi Trieu Chau and bot chien, of course. They remind me of our childhood foods that we missed. Now, they become my kids' favorite place. We came back to Vietnam recently, we couldn't find any good Mi Xiu Cao there. We congratulate the whole China Chen team and hope they will keep this authentic taste go on for many more decades. read more

Mi Su Cao (Wonton Soup with Egg Noodles) FTW!! Broth is incredibly flavorful. Wontons are delicious - I'm not a huge fan of shrimp, but I love these! The small size is the perfect portion. Like many other Yelpers have mentioned, their Banh Bot Chien - Fried Rice Flour Cake, is excellent. I get tired of this if I eat too much so beware! I can never order both and finish them - make sure you share! read more

China Chen - Yum - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

#2 and #7 chef special are their most popular items. It's soup with egg noodles, with some vietnamese influence of brisket/tendon. #7 has the won tons and #2 has the shrimp and fishballs. Hoisen sauce and siracha sauce are standard at each table which definitely adds to the vietnamese influenced elements! If you're looking for warm noodle soup and you're tired of pho. This is the place to be!\ I actually enjoyed the broth, it's light and slightly sweet, which is a nice change from pho and other soup establishments. The egg noodles were cooked perfectly; very soft and goes down really easily. The soup came out at a very good temperature. Nice and hot, but not too hot. Overall very pleased with the food for the amazing price! This place is really close to San Jose State University. Perfect for lunch on a college budget. The soups were $6-7 and its only $1.00 for a large size. They've recently done a lot of remodeling and HVAC upgrades, though keep in mind this is still a hole-in-the-wall with great food and not fancy dining. Service was quick when I went. Though this place can get crowded sometimes, the wait is short. read more

China Chen - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

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This place is the real deal! Delicious broths, authentic food, great fast service. I love all the soups and the fried eggs w rice coin. If you like pho, try a new Asian noodle soup before it gets trendy and Americanized! read more

An outstanding noodle spot. I like the shrimp wonton with rice noodles. I add some extra wontons for three bucks and I'm full for several hours. The broth is delicious with bits of pork, the noodles are good and the wontons are delicious. The pork noodle soup is good too. I like to add plenty of the jalapeño peppers and juice they provide. I've also tried the flour and egg cake since they seem to be popular and didn't regret the decision. This place is a hidden gem that you should discover! read more

Wow. As someone who is an avid fan of noodle soups I can honestly say that China Chen is one of my favorites. I only ordered their noodles and soup, but it was an incredible meal nonetheless. Broth is the most important part of any noodle soup I eat; China Chen's did not disappoint. The texture of the egg noodles had the perfect chew texture and did an amazing job taking in all of that broth flavor. I will be ordering their popular shrimp wonton soup next. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to China Chen. read more

The food here is alright. I guess it's decent for the price but the place is just extremely run down and dirty so this review is mainly an explanation of the type of experience you would get. The service was quick, but it's like a typical asian place that rushes you to sit down, eat fast, and leave. It's not a hangout place. The table was just so sticky! Everything was sticky like the sauces on the tables accumulated fingerprints and it was just nasty! The portions were also smaller than what I'm used to for this type of food, like I probably could've finished it in 4 bites if I tried but I wasn't even complaining about the portion when it came out because my appetite was gone the moment I sat down and realized how sticky everything was! read more

China Chen - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

Chow down on cheap goodness Hot day in downtown I was craving some wonton soup! Nice and cool inside Ate the whole bowl of shrimp wonton and egg noodle soup ($5.95) This place was fairly clean and decent. Not dirty like other people had mentioned. Didn't see any black flies flying around or experience any fingernails in my soup. hahaha I ordered #7 Shrimp wonton and egg noodle soup, but I think they gave me the works. Next time I think I'll just get shrimp wontons and no egg noodle. Yummy yummy in my tummy!! :D read more

Good food. Located near SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY. Location is not the best but food is great.

Grew up eating here! I love this place. It feels very warming, and authentic. Noodles here are a decent price! Lots of options, and the workers here always smile at you. If there's something wrong with your order, they'll fix it! Cash only. Street parking. Lovely, lovely place. My favorite and go to place for noodles. read more

China Chen - Deep fried fish ball with beef ball rice noodle. - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

Just another day in Downtown and I came here. There wasn't that much service and it took a bit to get my food, but that's minor. For $10, I think I got my money's worth. The popular and main soup dish, Mi Sui Cao was delicious. The broth was rich, the pork were't super dry, standard veggies and noodles, and good shrimp wontons. There isn't much for me to complain about so China Chen is a great Chinese(/Vietnamese) restaurant. read more

China Chen - Mi Sui Cao 4.5/5 - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

It's really nice peaceful place with delicious food, customer service is very good also. Tired Nursing students Just trying to have some lunch but the quality of the food , service and atmosphere really made our day special. Thank you China Chen for the delicious food and kind service. read more

Definitely a place that reminds me of my childhood with lunches with my dad. My dad knows most of the people who work and own the place, he's been coming here since way back and I've been coming here since I could see above the table. The noodle dishes here are great, the interior may seem lacking but it's about the food. I usually get the Egg Noodle Seafood bowl here or get dry noodles that come with soup on the side. Chow Fun here is the real deal here too. Plus, for those who like Fried Egg Flour Cake ... you might end up ordering a plate or two. The egg noodles always come nice and chewy, broth seasoned well, a good portion of meat or seafood and then topped with cabbage, green onions and even bits of pork rinds (my favorite). Definitely a great sit down place, to just eat if you're ever in the area. P.S. Parking is a bit difficult. So you may have to park on the street with meters. read more