Strangest combination of "Chinese" food I've ever had. The crispy duck was crispy all right. Very little duck left after frying the bejesus out of it. Not sure what the point of the fried tofu was. It was like eating regular tofu with the outside lightly toasted. And the HK pan fried noodles were quite burnt and very crunchy. Nothing against the people working there as they were very friendly and were talking about how their kids are all grown up and going to college which was very sweet. But... the food is definitely incredibly lackluster and overpriced. read more

We had a really lovely dinner. Food was excellent and the staff is just the nicest. Kale had a tad too much salt but hot and sour soup was delicious, as was the cumin lamb. Will definitely be back! read more

Eh. Not exciting. Very limited vegetarian menu. All versions of fake chicken. Fake chicken with sweet and sour sauce. Fake chicken with almonds. Fake chicken with brocolli. Kung pow fake chicken. The front end is understaffed. We asked multiple times for tea and for water. But this is the part that got to me. Renee's menu clearly states "For parties of 5 or more, 18% gratuity will be added". My party of 5 spent roughly $150- no problem. A $28 gratuity was added to the menu. Again, no problem. Its their policy. Clearly stated on the menu. We paid with a credit card and walked out, followed by the waitperson shrieking that we didn't leave a tip. Say what? Horribly embarrassing, vile and manipulative. How many parties of 5 or more fall for this? No, the 18% added to the bill was just fine, and we weren't going to give more, emotional extortion notwithstanding. The life lesson, especially for parties of 5 or more: Pay attention to the fine print, and always, always, always check the bill. read more

Elegant, tasteful, clean place to dine. Greatly appreciate the offering of Lundberg rices which I have seen nowhere else- loved the wild rice! Food is prepared with care- will be back soon to try more from their extensive menu. read more

Really wanted to like this place. Have been a couple of other times and stopped by for lunch with my wife. Decor is pleasant, if a bit dusty - on fans and tops of light shades. Friendly wait staff. My wife got the fish with black bean lunch. She said the fish itself didn't taste great - never a good thing. The calamari appetizer was fine as was the brown rice and salad. I had the dry fried green beans and although cooked nicely the sauce was way way too salty. The fried eggplant with garlic sauce was very good. My rice and salad were fine. The vegetarian corn soup was also good. read more

Renee's Place - Dry fried green beans and eggplant with ginger sauce. - Chinese Near Me - Albany, California

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Staff was incredibly polite and attentive and the food came was ready quickly. The duck, pork dumplings and hot and sour soup were excellent :) I hope to dine in here again post-COVID! Such a cute spot read more

Our favorite Chinese restaurant. The food and service are great. I hope Renee starts serving lunch again.

Organic Chinese food is like an oxy moron to me .... Chinese people (those living in China) don't understand the concept of organic ... I know this because I keep trying to get organic fabrics made in China and they keep telling me stuff is organic because cotton is from nature therefore it's organic. Silk comes from a worm that once was alive and therefore, organic. But I digress ... It wasn't until we walked in and smelled the restaurant did we realize this was Chinese food. Decor was very cool - very organic ... because you know, water and bamboo are from nature, and therefore, organic. The food was varied: - the Schezwan shrimp was delicious and should definitely be ordered - the sizzling rice soup was okay - I asked for salt / pepper and was told they don't have salt, but was brought some white pepper - the garlic spinach also needed a bit more salt ... but again, no salt to be had (I like the garlic spinach at 168 more) - the ironplate sizzling scallops ... the scallops were cooked to perfection (which is hard to do), but the sauce didn't have as much flavor as I'd hoped. It may be because the sauce from the shrimp over powered it - so maybe you don't want to get both. Service was fine. Renee seemed really nice, but of the 2 other staff, one girl definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe she was annoyed at us for walking in so close to closing time or maybe it had nothing to do with us at all ... but if you smile at me, I'll smile back, if you scowl when taking my order, I am not much encouraged to revisit. read more

I've been here before and the food has been pretty good. However, $17.50 for a modest portion of Chow Fun and a soft drink is way too much! I could have had a full dinner most other Chinese restaurants. Organic or not, how would you know? read more

Renee's Place - Chow Fun, of course. - Chinese Near Me - Albany, California

This is not authentic Chinese food, but the food is organic, fresh, tasty and flavorful nonetheless. An added bonus is that they have dishes that can be prepared gluten-free, which was nice because my nephews and nieces are gluten-sensitive. The sizzling rice chicken soup was light-tasting but still quite flavorful and was a pleasant surprise to many of us (we had ordered it because one of my nephews wanted to try it). read more

I really like this place. Their food is organic. The restaurant has a glamorous ambience. Plus the servers are VERY friendly, polite and for the most-part, attentive. I have ordered: Wor wonton soup(medium $15,large $17)- Chicken broth with shrimp, chicken, mushrooms, a little carrot, won tons, and some greens. I really like it. $15.50 Chicken Iron skillet- Tiny chicken slices, in a black pepper gravy, with mushrooms, baby corn, and some greens. The portion was tiny, and it was a bit salty. I would also order this again (once in awhile). $11 Combination Fried rice- pretty good, basic faire. But a little greasy when it cools down. $11.50 Baby greens and black mushrooms- I'm obsessed with the dish in general. Here, the Bok choy was cooked to perfection, but the mushrooms were ok and the sauce was kind of coagulated.... I didn't like that, but the rest of it was ok. $2.50 Sencha tea-good and light read more

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Heavenly Chinese Cuisine on the Solano Ave! Pros: Food is Great, to dine in or to go. Cons: Can get crowded at peak dinner hours, but that's a good thing right? Excellent ingredients (comprised from Petaluma poulty to Niman Ranch meats) help round out the Szechuan / Hunan menu that is sure to satisfy any Chinese food lover's appetite from this nice little culinary nook known as Renee's Place. Service with a smile, and the very stylish decor appointed with Chinese monuments and encased bronze artwork create a very ambrosial and welcoming atmosphere. read more

Renee's Place - Photo by The Q! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theq/2611542/) - Chinese Near Me - Albany, California

It's a small and quiet pkace here in Albany. We came aroynd 2:30 PM on a Saturday and they close at 3 PM but they attended to us cheerfully. Food is great, servings are just right. The service is pretty quick! read more

Renee's Place - Sweet and sour pork - Chinese Near Me - Albany, California

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This place has incredibly delicious Chinese food. They're super accommodating, have great service and the restaurant is super cute inside. Definitely give it a try, you won't be disappointed. Lots of great veggie options too. I love the sweet and sour tofu, veggie chow fun, basil eggplant and string beans! Yum!! I usually come here with my family and everyone always leaves full and happy :) read more

Renee's Place - Such delicious food!! - Chinese Near Me - Albany, California

Love the pot stickers! Mongolian beef and shrimp dishes done just right with mice's sauces. Nice owners and staff.

I never had the opportunity to try this place until recently. I've always was intrigued by their organic Chinese dishes. They have a nice atmosphere and decor in the restaurant. Service: The server was a little slow, but she was friendly and professional. Food: I have to admit that this is more geared towards American, rather than Chinese. The lunch special came in a bento box, which was puzzling to me since that is notoriously done by the Japanese. Mongolian Beef - The beef was overcooked, but the flavors were there. Salad - The salad dressing was different than anything I've ever tasted. I didn't like it, but that's just me. Fried Calamari - It was fried nicely, but wish I had more than just 3 pieces. Overall: I cannot recommend this place because I felt it was more Americanized Chinese than authentic Chinese. read more

Hands down, my favorite Restaurant in the world. It is simultaneously exactly what you are looking for in Chinese food and several steps above what you would expect, with a level of quality & freshness that is unmatched in my experience. There is none of the heavy or greasy feel that I sometimes experience at other Chinese restaurants. None of the ingredients feel as though they have been added to fill up the plate. I would go for the pot stickers alone, since they are phenomenal, but across the board the food is top quality and delicious. When I first visit a Chinese restaurant that I have never tried before, I use the following cross section as a quick way to review their food quality: Pot sticker, Hot & Sour soup, and Kung Pao Chicken or Mongolian Beef. Many restaurants I have tried have nailed two of those, but it is supremely rare to find one that does all of them well. The first time I visited, I was so blown away at their quality, that I returned the next day as well, and experienced the same bliss a second day in a row. Since then, I have made it as often as I can (despite moving several cities away in the interim.) I have been going for years, and never had a bad experience. As I have returned over and over, I have tried quite a variety of their dishes, and while I have my personal favorites, which I order over and over, everything I have tried has been fantastic. A truly fantastic choice if you love Chinese food as much as I do. read more

This is a yuppie Chinese restaurant. That means that if you order, say, Mongolian beef, the meat is a really fine cut of beef, too fine, in fact, to make good Mongolian beef. That the sauce is heavy and overly sweet doesn't help. Lunch plates are served in a bento box. The restroom, while not actually filthy, was extremely dingy and not well or recently cleaned. A startling contrast with the pristine zen-garden-style eating area. Made me wonder what the kitchen is like. read more

We love Renee's place! The food is consistently fresh, flavorful, healthy and cooked to perfection! Some of our favorites are the garlic eggplant, pea shoots, and potstickers....People are super nice! Please support this neighborhood business! read more

Ordered some take out the other day. We had the homemade dumplings, Basil eggplant, and Chicken Chow Mein. I am pretty picky about my food. They cooked it all to perfection. Everything was really fresh, and not greasy at all. Really happy to have such a great Chinese restaurant so close by. read more

This place is a rare gem. Orange chicken and pork dumplings were off the chain. Brown rice was moist and fluffy. Beyond the flavors, it's hard to get organic ingredients with ethnic food, so we appreciate the commitment to food quality. read more

So, I had a real hankering for Hot and Sour soup. I have tried other Chinese places in the area, and thought they were mediocre, so we decided on Renee's Place. Picture it, Noon-Friday. NOT A PERSON IN THE PLACE! Should have known. We ordered lunch specials. (it was the only menu provided). Soup, Salad (more on that later), appetizer, entree, choice of rice(white, brown, fried) or Chow mein. I chose eggplant with ginger sauce, and Szechuan Prawn, with fried rice. Before ordering, I asked for tea, she said it would be right out. We ordered, still no tea. (this is a Chinese restaurant, right?) She brings the tea, a full 10 minutes into being seated. Weird, i thought it would be leaves, NOPE! It's a bag of jasmine tea in water. Maybe they hand boil the water? who knows. The tea staining on the outside of the teapot made me not care. The bamboo chopsticks, which are cute, don't appear to have a great cleaning process. Scary. Entree comes, with the appetizer along side it. Did I mention it was an appetizer(like they called it that, but it came with the meal). The salad, remember that? Well I'd like to forget it. it was shaved iceberg lettuce with some random lemon-esque dressing. it was pitiful and sad. The shrimp, which were completely "swimming" in sauce, had been frozen, were okay, but nothing to write home about (and apparently not much to review here either). The fried rice was nothing more than rice with fried egg in it. is it not a restaurant that advertises vegetarian Chinese? Cause some veggies would have been great. The hot and sour soup, was at best, flat. It had lots of mushroom and tofu pieces, but nothing more than a bucket of white pepper in it. hot, maybe, sour-only my opinion of it. Now, to finish up it was $10 plus tax. I guess that's fine. But, if you advertise that your food is locally sourced, does Safeway count? Frozen shrimp, iceberg lettuce, sub par fried rice? no thank you. And now the wait staff. There was only one other table occupied (a two-top). We had barely received our tepid water, and the bill was brought to the table with the fortune cookies. I mean, why don't you just tell me to leave? Rude. Pure and Simple. Renee, you have some serious explaining to do. read more

Alan and I met here for lunch today after finding Bo's up the block closed. The lunch menu remains the same, although the price has risen to $10 in the 6+ years since I was last here w/ Mary, not an unreasonable increase. Alan comes here regularly for dinner w/ his friend Haig and they linger afterward to play Scrabble. I chose the eggplant w/ garlic as my appetizer again and lemon chicken as my main, w/ brown rice. Alan chose the vegetarian spring roll as his appetizer and the spicy Szechuan prawns as his main w/ chow mein. We were brought hot and sour soup to start. It was slightly balanced toward the hot and I considered asking for some vinegar to balance it but decided against it and was happy w/ it as is. Alan didn't eat his and offered it to me but I decided there would be plenty of food, so refused. When our lunches were served I was pleased to see that the bento box had been replaced by a large white plate which allowed the cutting of the eggplant and the mixing of the sauce from the chicken w/ the rice. I am partial to lemon chicken and this was the best I've had, w/ the sauce clearly made fresh from lemons, w/ the occasional piece of peel diced in. It was a pleasure to eat. Alan offered me a taste of his shrimp w/ a chow mein noodle attached and the flavors were equally vibrant and fresh. Neither of us found it spicy, which is good for us. Overhead classical music plays. Though it's bits and pieces, which I normally don't like, it's well programmed and complete movements play, so the transitions are less jarring. Alan, who'd been at his exercise class, was tired and went home to take a nap while I stayed to pay the bill. My favorite piece of classical music came on, the slow movement of Schubert's C Major Cello Quintet, and I just sat there to listen to it until it ended. Between the food and the music, my memory of Renée's Place has been redeemed. read more

Summary: Delicious and reasonably priced. American-style Chinese food with solid quality, great taste, friendly service, and pleasant decor. My wife and two of our friends went here on Saturday night at around 6pm for dinner. We were quickly seated and given some time to peruse the menu. After deciding, we ordered the following: Mongolian beef - Tender cuts of steak with no gristle. Lots of flavor. A decent-sized portion as well. Combination pan-fried noodles - Veggies, chicken, beef, and shrimp over a large bed of crispy, thin, fried egg noodles. The sauce was tasty, the noodles had the proper texture, and all of the accompanying elements were delicious and excellent quality. Garlic prawns - Medium-large shrimp sauteed in a garlic sauce with bamboo shoots and water chestnuts. Again, very tasty, fresh, and high quality. The three dishes and some white rice were large enough for the four of us, and the total came to about $50. The food came out quickly and our water glasses were refilled regularly. We did have to flag someone down for the check, though. Ultimately, this is not authentic Chinese cuisine, but it is delicious and high quality for a reasonable price. read more

Healthy Chinese Food! Whatever I eat from Renee's, I always feel good afterwards! My favorite is the chicken with string beans and their won ton soup is the best I have ever had. It has delicious, perfectly cooked shrimp in it and the broth has good flavor. For takeout, they are fast! With certain friends, we just keep going to Renee's for both the good food and the quiet. What a nice change to be able to sit and have a conversation where you can hear each other. This is like an oasis from all the madness - thank you, Renee! read more

The ambiance is nice with different size lanterns hanging above the sitting area. The host or maybe the owner was very nice and the staff attentive. The orange scallops only one in our group of 3 like it. The scallops are breaded and deep fried. We also shared a wonton soup which was hearty filled with mushrooms, shrimp, chicken, bok Choy and wontons. We thought that was the best dish. The broccoli beef lacked flavor. The fried rice was meh. The calamari was forgettable. The duck was good, crispy on the outside and tender meat. 3 stars for the ambiance and duck. read more

Renee's Place - Chinese Near Me - Albany, California

Before I get into it let me just say, the food was OK. My family ordered green onion pancakes, veggie spring rolls, braised tofu, sweet and sour tofu, Mongolian beef, chow main, green beans, general tso chicken, and lemon chicken. The green onion pancakes and sweet and sour tofu were the highlights. The S&S tofu was not typical but still good. As for the green beans, general tso chicken and lemon chicken, I would love to give my opinion however we NEVER RECEIVED THEM. After sitting waiting with empty water glasses and plates for 30+ minutes after our last dish arrived we were given our check with all items (even those we did not receive listed). The server did not realize we had never received the items, although she probably would have realized if she had checked in on us at some point. After alerting her that the items never arrived we told her that we did not want the items anymore. She did not apologize but told us the items would be taken off. Very disappointing dinner, we will not be returning. They should consider reevaluating their customer service if they want to stay in business. read more

What I ate: Hot and sour soup, orange chicken, eggplant with basil, steamed rice, green tea Visit date: November 10, 2011 First time? Yes, thanks to rock star parking (a convenient parking space right in front)! Whoa. Best orange chicken. Hands down. Crispy perfection on the outside; tender, juicy goodness on the inside. Served with just the right amount of sauce to satisfy, but then you (obviously) crave more of it because it was soooo good. The soup and eggplant were also tasty, but I'd come back for the orange chicken (and to try other yummies on the menu). Decor was beautiful, service was welcoming. Definitely costs more than your typical Chinese restaurant, but the quality of the food is worth it. Stop by. :) read more

Renee's Place - Orange chicken. - Chinese Near Me - Albany, California

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Excellent fake chicken, in classic Chinese sauces. The service is stellar; the waitresses smiling and warm, inviting. The sauces can be as mild or spicy as requested. I ordered General Tsu's fake chicken in mild sauce, and replaced the bell peppers for broccoli. They were super kind about the substitution- no problem! Yummy comfort food, with a calm and romantic ambiance. read more

Renee's Place - Inside Renee's - Chinese Near Me - Albany, California

This is the fourth time I've gotten Rene's, and it's my favorite Chinese food in Berkeley/Albany. For one, it's all organic. Two, the takeout packaging is all compostable- no plastic!! Yay!!! Finally!!!! I've only gotten take out, but have always found the service to be great. Rene, the owner on the website, is actually there as a host when I pick up the food, so it feels like you know where you are. Three, the food never tastes overly greasy or salty, and the vegetables are crisp, never too soggy. The bad news is I eat too much of it, and it is perhaps a bit high end, but I'd rather have quality because I rarely trust any restaurant to be as good as what I eat at home. Like almost every restaurant in the area, there's no AC, but the restaurant interior looks very inviting, fresh, and clean. I don't understand why it doesn't have higher ratings. read more

Picked up take-out from this place tonight while I was in town babysitting the granddaughter. The food was very fresh. Not greasy, not salty, really delicious. Organic, no MSG. Really good stuff. read more

Got $90.00 plus dollars of takeout on Father's Day, a HUGE splurge for us in our post Covid recovery. Our Marco Polo prawns were rancid...I mean stink up the house, open the windows horrible and our vegetable chow mien had beef in it...much to my vegetarian daughter's horror. I called that night and spoke with Renee hoping that she would refund me for those two items. Nope, she wanted me to bring them back to the restaurant so she could examine them. I actually did try on Monday but found the restaurant closed in spite of it being during normal posted open hours. I dumped the disgusting prawns down the disposal when I got home...the chow mien is still in my fridge awaiting the same fate. Too bad, this place was one of our favorites for special occasions. Renee, you lost 4 kind, generous customers. read more

Amazing. Not greasy and you leave feeling super satisfied. I will definitely be coming back again!

Highly underrated. Excellent food. Great vegan options. And the only organic Chinese restaurant in town. Ask for the vegetarian sizzling rice soup. Not on the menu but our favorite. read more

Renee's Place is hands down the best Chinese food in and around Berkeley. The food is fresh, delicious and carefully prepared. The veggie chow mein is the best I've had. We get it every time we order, along with the Szechuan Beef, pork pot stickers, and green onion pancakes. My family cannot get enough of Renee's! read more

As a Chinese person that seeks out conscientious Chinese food (organic, humanely raise meats), I was looking forward to trying Chinese food made with quality meats as I spent 3 years ONLY eating grass fed beef and pastured chickens so I know the taste and texture of humanely raised meats. Sad to say, but upon tasting the meats (we ordered Snow White chicken, combination fried rice, lion's head pork meatballs, prawns with mixed vegetables, and Szechuan rock cod soup - total $68), I'm highly skeptical the restaurant actually uses the meat they purport to sell and use the claim of "organic, sustainable" blah blah to justify their high prices. They claim to use Prather Ranch beef and pork and Mary's Chicken. But the meat tastes like run of the mill Chinese restaurant meat - factory raised cheap meats with no flavor. It's clear they don't use MSG, which is a plus. But my biggest qualm is whether the restaurant is actually being honest about how they source and being from the food industry, this is a big faux pas and grounds for being outed for their dishonesty. read more

If I could give this place 6 stars, I would. Even 10 would not be an exaggeration because Renee's is everything you want in a restaurant. It's clean and very tastefully decorated. The service is attentive, friendly and so hospitable, you'll feel like you've been invited over to a friend's place for dinner. Now to the most important, THE FOOD (I would overlook a messy table or even an rude waiter any day for a delicious meal). Renee's is by far THE BEST (American) Chinese food I've ever had. Allow me to list just some of the menu's highlights: The rolling lettuce chicken: damn good. (Perfect seasoning with a perfect sauce, a light, fresh appetizer) The prawns with pecan and honey: damn damn good. (Juicy, amazingly fried prawns in a honey drizzle that match the roasted pecans really well) The orange chicken: among the best things I've ever eaten. Because its greatness cannot be described in mere prose, I present a humble haiku to the orange chicken I love so much. Sour sweet savory Orange chicken that I love is from Renee's place If you like food. Especially if you like GOOD food, and still haven't made it to Renee's, get off yelp & go! read more

I came to the restaurant for dinner since a friend of mine, the owner's child, introduced me this restaurant. The overall experience is very calm and quiet which is my preference. Location 5/5: The restaurant locates on the Solano strip where there are so many restaurants and shops nearby. The only tricky part is the limited parking spaces. Since the restaurant is a not at the center of the strip (I meant near Zachary's pizza), I never had troubles finding parking space. If there is no parking on the street, I would park near the residential area right behind the restaurant. Service 4/5: My boyfriend and I came at 6pmish on a Friday night. There were still many seats available. So never have to worry about the wait! After the waitress seated us, she gave us three menus without telling us the differences. I would appreciate more if she can be more engaging in the conversations by asking how we were and introducing the best dishes. After ordering the food, the kitchen didn't take long to cook the food which was a plus for hungry customers!!! Sometimes, the waitress would come back and checked on us. Maybe she was shy when we first met I wondered! *lots of question marks* At the end of our meal, she gave us two complimentary fortune cookies :) There was a particular detail that I felt a little annoyed was their choice of chopsticks. The bamboo chopsticks were unarguably nice looking but not very practical. Due to the roundness, these chopsticks are slippery for everyone. I would prefer to use smaller end chopsticks to grab the food. Food 4/5: We ordered the Chicken Wraps, Beef Chow Fun and Spicy Pork Ribs. Everything was in large portions, so I can easily togo them for the next day lunch. The chicken wraps were light and refreshing. Because the portion was huge, it filled my stomach before I started the other dishes. The beef chow fun was okay. The dish that surprised my taste was the spicy pork ribs with basil leaves. A little bit sourness and tanginess in the sauce made the perfect compliment sauce to the chow fun. The ribs without fats, however, were a little dry. I wish there could be a chow fun dish served with the spicy pork ribs's sauce!!!! YUMMMM In short, I would come back if I want a taste of the spicy pork ribs. Their pricing is relatively high. Overall, the restaurant doesn't seem to have a lot of seat-in guests. I see a lot of people ordering food to-go! read more

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With roughly three hundred Chinese restaurants located within about two blocks on my house off Solano Ave., there's pretty much one for every mood. Feeling old-school and greasy? China Village rules. Looking for a wide-open family vibe? King Tsin and its pan-touched chicken is perfect. Wanna slump in a booth and nibble on cream-cheese Wontons? Tsing-Tao it, and pronto. But regardless of your mood, you absolutely cannot go wrong at Renee's. The food here is so much healthier and tastier than most Chinese food in the East Bay, it's silly even trying to compare. Their fried rices are somehow not oily or slathered in MSG -- light, fluffy, moist, tasty as hell, and, comparatively speaking, good for you. Unlike the often gamey chicken you find at other joints, the chicken here is organic and free-range and tastes like it, even when it's just diced up into a chow mein. And as a recent member of the low-cholesterol club (which is easily the worst club I've ever been in), their vegetarian dishes are smart, offbeat and mostly delicious. I don't know how a menu item called "Dried Sauteed String Beans" can kick ass, but trust me, it totally kicks ass. Don't pass it up. Why only four stars? Because despite the great food, it's still too pricey. And while I appreciate the clean, nouveau interior, it feels oddly pretentious. Dial down the snobby look and hack a few bucks off each dish and this is the best Chinese restaurant ever. As it stands, it ain't too shabby. :) read more

Healthy Chinese - that's like what I try to be at the start of every new year. They use organic ingredients, with no MSG in sight. Opposite of divey, its got an upscale soothing ambiance. The food works if you stick with their specials or beefy meat dishes. The soup dumplings and black pepper beef + onions were satisfyingly flavorful and tender. The Kung Pao chicken rather bland. Portion sizes are small for the price, but I guess sometimes being healthy costs more. Of course, by the end of the year I'm back to Unhealthy Chinese. read more