Great American take out at good prices. Our go to for basic Chinese food. Fresh and delicious and reasonable prices.

Talented Chefs and family run atmosphere lead to outstanding dishes. First time visiting and will now be a regular. Best and most flavorful sauces. Don't miss the wantons! Try a daily special as all are delicious! Jason the owner will take good care of you! read more

Food is high quality and the people there are so nice! Take out only A few tables Very fast service read more

8/2/25 Yesterday Owner's son John took great care of my order; Chicken Noodle soup w/added Roast Pork (packed separately); delicious Crispy Egg Rolls filled fully; Veggie Brown Fried Rice with extra Water Chestnuts & Snow Pea Pods (Quart size) very moist & tried Orange Beef for 1st time and very tasty with medium spices. Too much food I decided to 'share' with a nice neighbor -- well worth the order! Ms. Lonnie S Guilford CT read more

Good inexpensive traditional Chinese take out restaurant. Been around forever. Family owned. Very friendly

Delicious! Chicken and broccoli was better than average and my wife loved the general tso's chicken. Equal amounts chicken and broccoli. Fresh! Takeout. Good job read more

First Garden Chinese Restaurant - Drive through - Chinese Near Me - Guilford, Connecticut

Primarily take out. Called ahead order was ready for pick up. I highly recommend the chicken with broccoli. Broccoli cooked to perfection and the chicken was white meat and very tender the sauce was delicious not overly salty. I also recommend the Seafood Special under House Specials a bit pricey at $17.25 but absolutely worth it. Did not care for the egg drop soup and beef lo mein was somewhat dry the boneless ribs were good but could have used more sauce. Pork egg foo young was just okay and the sweet and sour pork was very good. A little pricey but overall enjoyable service was friendly. read more

First Garden Chinese Restaurant - Seafood Special all this even after taking out a serving. Loaded with shrimp and bay scallops - Chinese Near Me - Guilford, Connecticut

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Nice people but after being told 15 minutes on the phone for a wait and then waiting another 20 minutes after, I was let down. Usual Chinese fare here.. nothing that stood out. They apologized for the extremely long delay and not really sure what happened, but things happen. Would've been nice to have been offered a free soda or a dollar or two off my order for the trouble as I wasted my entire lunch break just waiting for my food. read more

First Garden Chinese Restaurant - a man standing in front of a counter - Chinese Near Me - Guilford, Connecticut

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The takeout from First Garden has been on point! Everything that we order is delicious. The sauces are great and the food is light and fresh! We especially love the shrimp and broccoli, broccoli and garlic sauce and the shrimp spring rolls! Consistent and delicious! The store is clean and inviting. The owners and staff and incredibly accommodating and kind. It's a staple in the Guilford takeout scene! read more

I go to a lot of Chinese restaurants and this place has the best service I've received. Food was great, I came two days in a row.

This is a take out place. We were staying in the hotel across the street. We walked, bought the food, and ate it back at the hotel room. The menu is pretty extensive and the food is reasonably priced, there's something for everyone. I think a lot of the locals buy food from there, since a few people walked in and out to pick up their orders, while we were waiting for ours. My husband and I enjoyed the food and the big portions. I had chicken and broccoli with fried rice and my husband had the pork ribs with fried rice. Also, we bought two egg rolls and we weren't able to eat all the food in one sitting. read more

Consistently great food from First Garden. We live about 25 miles away but make the trip because it's so good. Reasonably priced and service is very friendly. read more

I have no notes. It's your local family run Chinese takeout spot. Some of the friendliest people are working in there and they take great care of their customers. Food is always good and reliable. I also really appreciate how quick they can get orders out. read more

New owners are doing a great job. Very friendly and really good food. Plenty of meat in the dishes and fresh veggies. Definitely a serious upgrade. read more

Super friendly owner and they are open late. Lake Ting Tong shrimp, moo goo gai pan and moo shu pork are standouts! This is primarily a take out restaurant and they always make you feel welcome! read more

Definitely the tastiest Chinese food in town. Always fresh and no matter what we order it's delicious.

Pleasantly surprised by the food and service. I normally don't eat Chinese food on the road as I'm from NYC and we have great food. We had soup, Lo me in and fried wontons all were very good. Also we thought it was a very good value. Super family friendly and everyone was friendly read more

I've lived in Guilford since 1978 and I believe this place has been around since then. I say this since I've been there hundreds of times over the years and have always been very satisfied. Unfortunately, the past few times I've been there I swore I'd never go back. Blah, blah, blah is all I can say about the food. No taste, no flavor! For years I saw the same manager there packing the food. Very friendly and happy to please. Since I no longer see him anymore or for that matter don't recognize any one else there anymore, I asked if the ownership has changed. They said no and they have another place now. I just don't know and frankly I'm just going to find somewhere else to go. Sad, I really liked it there. read more

For Chinese take-out, it doesn't get much better than this. Not over-salted, not over-sauced, everything I've had here has been tasty. Love their vegetable mu shu and their steamed vegetable dumplings. Would appreciate just a bit more spice, but that's easy enough to fix at home. read more

Awesome Place! The food is great and is reasonably priced. The family running the place is super sweet and nice. I had some awesome dumplings and crab rangoons! They also have a really smart buffer system set up to protect both the staff and the customers! read more

I love this little Chinese take-out place. They have the whole family working there and they are very friendly and welcoming every time you come in. They usually give free extras for big orders! Their food is very good and reasonably priced! read more

They are very nice. I didn't realize that they only took cash. So I didn't have the full amount and they let me give them what I had and said I could pay the rest next time I come back. Best Chinese in Guilford. read more

First Garden Chinese Restaurant - the menu - Chinese Near Me - Guilford, Connecticut

Since it changed to new ownership the quality has gone down and prices up. Many errors taking the orders. Tried twice to give the new owner a second chance. Last time we go. Time to look for a new place. read more

this place is cash only and no sign warning you. :( the fried rice i had was ok but DAMN you are talking on your iPhone the whole time I am there, you can just get that square app for your phone and take charge cards. My rice was like $8 and i am sure it cost you $1 to make, so you really should just kick in the few pennies to get the ability to take charge cards - unless you were selling your food for so cheap at such a small margin, yah cash only would be ok. eight dollar rice cash only. WTF?!? food tasted like it was fried in old oil. read more

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We just enjoyed our first takeout order from First Garden last night and it was GREAT! Neither over- nor under-seasoned, generous portions, prepared and ready on time. We highly recommend First Garden for your Asian takeout dinners! read more

I have had good chinese food here a few years ago, but i think its changed. First, they got the order completely wrong- it was too far for me to go back. Second, the general tso's shrimp that i was given was soggy and overly laden with sauce. The cold sesame noodles were swimming in so much sauce i think it outnumbered the noodles. Not worth it! read more

Go there often for vegetarian takeout (fried rice, tofu and mixed vegetables, lo mein, egg fu young) so I can't speak to the quality of meat dishes. The food is good, as are the prices. The service is always friendly and professional. I'm not sure about the confused reviewer who claimed to be charged twice on her credit card-they don't accept credit cards for payment there. read more

Favorite Chinese food spot, and very reasonably priced. Really nice family running this spot and they are amongst the latest take-out options in guilford. I don't get Chinese food from everywhere else. read more

I guess everyone has their own experience, I went to First Garden a number of times and I always really enjoyed it. I did consistently get the same thing, General Tso's Tofu and vegetable dumplings, and I thought they were both great, and a good bargain (in my experience the Madison chinese places all charged a lot and gave a person almost no tofu). First Garden gave a huge amount of well cooked tofu. The dumplings were particularly good and a little unusual. Most chinese places I've been to in this part of CT had those same green-dyed vegetable raviolis. These were way more interesting. I should say, I always ordered the tofu as hot as they could make it, and to an American palate it still wasn't spicy, although I could tell there were szechuan peppercorns or whatnot in it, so it was numbing, but not spicy per se. Maybe a little building heat. Anyway, yes, they do only take cash, but with two BOAs in a pretty short distance that wasn't really an issue for me. I always found the folks who ran the place to be very friendly? Anyway, I was sad I didn't discover First Garden sooner. Then I moved. read more

The best way I could describe this place is with one phrase: EXPLOSIVE DIARRHEA. Everytime i eat here i find myself on the can for hours. Now I'm a plumber and luckily i know how to snake a toilet. Not many people were blessed by the plumbing gods like me kid. Stay away if you and your butthole have a good relationship read more

I Iove love the first garden! It is by far my favorite Chinese food place around the guilford area. Everything that I have ever ordered has been very good and fresh, especially since we're talking about Chinese food here. This is my first pick when I have a Chinese food craving. Highly recommend. read more

I've lived in Guilford, NYC and Hartford...First Garden in Guilford is my favorite Chinese spot. The chicken is fresh and delicious. The people there are extremely friendly, and if you need something quick to take home one night, this is your spot. They also make a very hot szechuan chicken if you'd like. I go for the general tso's because that's my favorite, but everything is delicious. Also very affordable! read more

Awful general tsos. Had little flavor besides the overbearing sweetness. Chicken was tough to chew through. Ended up tossing it because it wasn't easy to eat. Crab rangoons weren't the best but were okay. Also got charged twice on our card but the employee working compensated the overcharge in cash. Kind of unprofessional all around. Won't be returning. read more

OH My GOODNESS!!!!!!! They have really friendly workers. You should really try chicken and bro lie . The vegetables taste very fresh . I would return again if I could. It's a very small cute place.i love it I think it should a franchise so I can eat their food wherever I go! read more

Great food, great prices. Boneless ribs are the "dry" kind instead of being slathered in that sticky sweet sauce. I just wish they took credit cards, I'd go there more often! read more

A fairly typical Chinese take-out place. If you are looking for a more healthful option, you can order sauteed or steamed vegetables here with "light sauce", which comes with white rice. Prices are reasonable; the people are nice. They do have a few tables, but not a good choice for sit-down. read more

I lived in Guilford for many years and First Garden was a staple for Chinese Food in our house. The chicken noodle soup, shrimp with lobster sauce and chicken wings are some of the faves on their menu. I no longer live in Guilford and the chinese food near me is horrible no matter where I go I aways hate the shrimp with lobster sauce. I make it a special point to stop off for take out at First Garden to bring back home whenever I pass thru the area. read more

I have been eating at first garden for several years, I notice that they use fresh vegetables and no added salt or MSG on the dishes that I have eaten.. The basic Lo Mein and fried rice fare is not their best Dishes. Dishes such as the happy family that has plenty of fresh fish and the vegetables that are cooked just right so they arestill crunchy. I moved here from New York and they have plenty of delicious reasonably priced Chinese food and first garden is comparable. read more

I really like the food here, and they threw in a free crab rangoon order for us once when we placed a sort of large order. People seem to be really divided on what they consider to be good Chinese take-out, so I'll get specific here. The fried rice is (thankfully) not the bland, very yellow saffron-looking kind. It's the browner kind with lots of pork bits in it. The boneless spare ribs are the dry kind, not smothered in some weird red goo. The egg-foo young comes with the gravy already on it. Everything I've had I enjoyed. Sure, it's salty, just like any other place, but I didn't get the lethargic feeling after that comes after eating the cheap crap at other places. read more

They're nice, quick, and affordable..but their food leaves much to be desired. I know people that love it, but I'm not a fan. It doesn't hit the spot when I have a craving for Chinese take out..in fact, the times I have ordered from here I end up giving it to someone else. Not a fan. read more