Uncle John’s No. 1 Chinese Restaurant

Failed to give me chopsticks when I ordered also failed to give me fortune cookies! Never asked me for my name when I called for a pick up order, didn’t say how long the wait was to pick up the order.

Ehhh… what the heck? The food here used to be so good until they changed management. Food is super salty and everything is just cook in soy sauce and oyster sauce. Would only come back when I’m craving for dimsum.

I have been going to Uncle Johns for 6 years. I became friendly with the owners and even reached the point of exchanging cookies with them on Christmas. I liked this place a lot, it was one of my favorites and was always a consideration every time my group of friends and I went out to eat. Since the management change things have gone downhill for the restaurant and every time I go there it goes from being the place I loved to visit, to a place that I simply will not go to anymore. On my last visit I got my usual hoping that maybe they could prove me wrong, that maybe I was being too over critical of the new restaurant and that It was all in my head. Well Im just getting over the food poisoning that the new food gave me. Take that how you will. Sadly I dont think I’ll be returning to Uncle Johns again.

Went for Dim Sum. I have been there in the past and had a good experience so was excited to go again. Apparently the original owners have retired. The Dim Sum menu while limited tasted more or less as expected. I ordered the Garlic Egg Plant, which was very sweet and would best be called General Tso Egg Plant, not good unless you enjoy thick sugary syrup. Far better places back home in Chicago, do not think I will try this restaurant again.

This is not Uncle john anymore. :(so sad! I used to love coming here but now they changed owner and the food just taste like any other Chinese fast food take out place. Not the unique Uncle john food We used to have.

This used to be the most amazing food around! Under new management and the chef has also changed! This is now TERRIBLE!!! They can’t take orders as they could before I’m sick of repeating myself! Not the same quality of food! Time to find a new place :(

One day I had dim sum with a $ 13 bill. I signed the receipt but forgot to write down the total and when I come home check my banking, it turns out to be $ 27. This place is a fraud. Be careful!

Order from the traditional menu and you want be disappointed. The eggplant is delicious! This place is a hidden jewel of traditional home style Chinese food. It’s not crispy, sweet like other places but a much more complex dining experience.

Recently the management and staff has changed. I assume someone bought the business from the previous two owners. And you can tell.
For anyone who’s been there, the inside looks much nicer. Unfortunately the once very good food did not improve. It’s gotten considerably bad.
I’ve been there at least 5 times after the change has happen. Before this place was always my first option for quicker style chinese. But I can no longer recommend this place. The soul is gone from the food. It’s now just another run of the mill chinese place with greasy dishes, poor seasoning, and bad attention to details. These are what used to set Uncle John’s apart from the rest.

It is with a heavy heart (and a belly full of sickness) that I update my review. I would like to start off by making this very clear: John and Cynthia no longer operate Uncle John’s! There is a completely new cook, and completely new staff.
We have been in a few times since the change and the food has gotten progressively worse. Tonight is our last night, we will not be going back. The spicy chicken now tastes like it is drenched in ketchup and Sriracha sauce. The beef dishes taste like they are run of the mill American Chinese dishes. The eggplant dishes taste like burnt mush. But the worst part, the part that has made it so my evening went from awesome to terrible was the purported beef fried rice. Now, when John was there I got the beef fried rice a lot. Like a lot a lot. Really good stuff. The new cook apparently doesn’t know the difference between beef and pork or chicken. Not only did the dish taste like stale rice and nothing, but it was served with pork and some random chicken bits. I had intentions of seeing Captain America tonight. Been looking forward to it since I heard it was coming out. I like Captain America a lot. The first Captain America is so far my favourite Marvel movie. Why is this relevant? Because that was the plan tonight and instead I am at home juggling bathroom visits. You see, we didn’t order pork for a very specific reason. That reason being that I cannoty eat pork. It makes me rather ill. The waiter insisted that what he brought us was beef after we informed him it was pork. I wouldn’t have gotten ill if it had been beef. Now I get to miss a movie, feel ill AND have to write a review of my once favourite Chinese place becoming the worst Chinese food I have ever had. If I could give less than one star I would. But for now, I have to go lie down and feel miserable.

VEGETARIANS BEWARE!!!
I’m vegetarian and I have no problem sharing a meal in which I have to pick the meat out, especially if there are no other options. It’s not ideal but sometimes you do what you have to do. With that being said, I ordered a tofu dish (which was DROWNING in greasy brown sauce) from the VEGETABLE section. There was no indication that this dish had any meat whatsoever on the menu, so I felt safe ordering.
When my husband and I got our food home, we found that my tofu dish had GROUND BEEF in it. Seriously, who puts ground beef in a TOFU dish?! I couldn’t even pick it out because it was in tiny chunks.
I realize that to any meat eater, this would simply be a minor inconvenience, if that. However, I haven’t eaten meat in so long that I get physically ill at the smell of it so, this was not a pleasant meal. If you are allergic to anything (nuts, etc.) always ASK before taking anything on the menu for face value.
The quality of the food used to be a lot better. Now it’s gotten really greasy and it left me with heartburn all night.

eh… i’ve had better.
perhaps it was too ‘authentic chinese’ for my sad, ill-​informed, American taste buds, but the beef with broccoli was all oyster sauce (what sauce though? the dish was very dry) with broccoli that tasted rancid, and the general tso’s chicken was very overcooked and tough.
and what chinese take out place doesn’t have veggie spring rolls?
counter staff was very nice and polite, prices were fair, but just too blah to warrant my return.

I came here for lunch on a whim since it was the only convenient chinese place nearby UB South and I had a craving for chinese food. My first impression was terrible. The tables were messy, the floor was dirty, and there was only one person working in the entire place — the cook.
That being said, while the atmosphere was definitely not conducive to a sit down place, the food was excellent. I would give this place a ⁵⁄₅ on food alone. But since I had the full dining experience, I can only give it a ⁴⁄₅.
My advice is this, if you want good, delicious and affordable chinese food, this is definitely the place to go. BUT this place is definitely more of a take-​out place than a sit down place. I will be back for the food for sure.

Very authentic restaurant, I enjoyed seeing the food cooked right in front of me, and because I was ordering off of the Chinese menu, it took some time for the owner/​cook to prepare (10 minutes), but the food felt very fresh. I ordered the fish and tofu casseroles, which was delicious! The flour was just right, not too much. The place is very small, so it can’t host any more than 3 party (of 4 each) at any time, but food is really delicious and way better than the other Chinese food place around here. Be adventurous and try the Chinese menu, especially the seafood section, even if you don’t speak Chinese the description pretty much speaks for itself.

Great hole in the wall place. Good food, great price & uncle John is very friendly. I usually get the lunch specials which I can barely finish. The food here is not super greasy like other places. I don’t know why someone would complain about the size of the restaurant & the plates, it is not that type of restaurant.

This is definitely one of my favorite Chinese restaurant in Buffalo.
There are two menus, Authentic Chinese or American-​Chinese food.
I only order from the Authentic Chinese menu. Some of my favorites from the authentic chinese menu includes, pipa tofu, mayo shrimp/​fish.
Authentic chinese food requires longer cooking time, but it is much more tasty as well. There are limited space in the restaurant itself. Only 4 small tables.

Mixed reviews of this place, hence the 3 stars.
It’s got terrific food, I’ll give it that. The dim sum is delicious and freshly made. I was also really happy they had congee on their menu, because not a lot of Chinese restaurants have that. So this place is pretty authentic.
What I didn’t like. It’s way too small. There are only four tables, so if it’s busy you have to wait. And there wasn’t a system for tables. There were these Chinese kids at a table, and they were there a long time, and then their friends came in later and sat at their table. And then the old friends left, and the new people had a table. And me and my partner were standing around 30 minutes for a table, and they snag it right away? It was so lame.
The other thing I don’t like is they use Styrofoam for in-​dining. Even the hot tea is served in Styrofoam. What is this the 1990s? There is so much research now how hot drinks shouldn’t be served in Styrofoam because the hotness leaches the plastics in the drink and then you’re basically drinking cancer. I also didn’t like how the plates were Styrofoam and the utensils were all plastic. It is such a waste and so bad for the environment.
As for service, it was iffy. The woman at the register/​cook was nice and helpful half the time, but she was rude the other half, especially when it was busy. She even made a customer apologize to her because he wanted half his food for here and the other half to go. She told him she couldn’t do that, How could he expect her to remember which is to go and which is for here. I laughed out loud when I heard this. But really it’s sad. There’s no reason the customer should be forced to apologize let alone for wanting such a simple thing. Makes her into the Dim Sum Nazi. LOL!
So yeah, three stars. The food might be good, but for all these reasons I couldn’t give this place more than 3 stars.

Review is for dim sum only. Came here because my friend wanted to try it. Although authentic (owner and cook are Chinese), the food was not very good. Some of the items tasted like they were frozen packaged foods. They were particularly stingy with the cha siu (pork) and shrimp in their dim sum… it was almost all skin (the starch clear skin that encloses the pork or shrimp). The jook (porridge) was also watered down and not tasty at all.
Although I was impressed that they had an «American» menu as well as a «Chinese» menu, the food quality was not worth the trip, money, or effort. Maybe their regular lunch/​dinner menu may be better…

This is the best Chinese take out we’ve had in almost 10 years & I have Unilocal!to thank for it.
Every dish was uniquely tasty, not the usual gooey fast food bland crap. It seems that all the local Chinese take out purchase the same processed/​frozen food from the same Chinese dealer, or something to that effect.
Seanie, Grace and I were the minority’s sitting in Uncle John’s. If Asian’s frequent the place, you know it must be good
Next time when we are sans kids, we’ll take more time and thought and order from the authentic Chinese menu.

A place you would never guess was that good. I drove by it every day for a year and never noticed. One day a friend brought me there and I was positively surprised.
Don’t be fooled by Uncle John’s Americanized Chinese menu. They also have the real deal — authentic Chinese food. I think it’s the closest to real Chinese I’ve ever tasted.
The couple who runs the place and cooks is very nice. They speak English well enough to understand details of your order, yet not well enough to take away from the authenticity of the place.
A small cozy spot with the food and bill which will leave you with a smile. A true Chinese pearl of Buffalo.

The safe alternative to China King is here. This little hole in the wall is run entirely by a Cantonese couple and is authentic to the point that there is a Chinese menu and Chinese people eat there. That alone is a big plus in my book. The downside though is that they’re very very very heavy on the MSG in most of their dishes. Their dim sum on the weekends is also a little bit disappointing but at least they have it. But this is probably the most authentic Chinese take-​out place I’ve found in Buffalo.