Shine Yun Restaurant

This restaurant is now closed down. The strip mall was to be rebuilt with condo living and store fronts but the developers scrapped the plans after most of the businesses moved out for remodeling. So Shine Yun didn’t get any traffic through there which meant no new customers. Too bad as the food was great and the owners were deserving, kind people!

I love this restaurant and the owner is super nice.
Does anybody know what happened to this restaurant? Are they relocating or is it closed for good? I peeked into the restaurant and saw utensils on one table and the moveable chairs were not in sight, though the tables still are. There’s no sign in front of the restaurant and their phone # just kept on ringing.
I hope it’s just momentarily closed and will re-​open soon enough.

No way does this place deserve 4 stars. NO WAY.
First of all, the food is TOTALLY run of the mill.
Second of all, the location and ambience is TOTALLY sketchy.
Third of all, all the reviews talk about the great service. What great service? Let me tell you about our experience.
We came here with my daughter, my newborn son, and my parents after a few hours at the mall. We drove right up as the restaurant is the only open establishment in the large, sketchy, dead strip mall. We went in because I wanted to trust all-y’alls reviews. We walked in and there were 1 – 2 other tables full in a very large restaurant with about 25 tables. We were seated, but my newborn needed to be nursed. I told my parents what to order for my toddler and I went to the car to take care of the baby.
I came back 10 – 15 minutes later assuming that the food was about to arrive. My parents told me the waitress had JUST taken our order. What?!? There’s only 2 other tables. What’s the hold up?
I had ordered egg flower soup for my toddler because she loves slurping it and she likes the taste. As soon as it arrived, I made sure it was vegetarian as we don’t eat pork or any red meat. She informed us it had pork. What?! This is the first time I’ve ever seen egg flower soup with pork, but whatever, it was my bad for not clarifying ahead of time. It was her *attitude* about it that killed me. She was trying to convince me to eat it while avoiding the pork. I’m sorry, but what vegetarians does this work for? Pick it out? No, thanks. Don’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t eat. So, after listening to my daughter repeat, «I want some! I want some!» over and over, I decided to find our waitress and ask her to make a half order of a vegetarian egg flower soup. I found her and she told me they were too busy to make any more soup. Yes, the chefs were too busy with the 2 other couples orders at 4:30pm on a Saturday. What?!? Great job accomodating your customers, lady.
Fortunately, the rest of our food came out rather promptly. All of it was so average I don’t even want to waste the energy typing what we got. It was OK, that’s all that needs to be said.
The next fail was our departure. After delaying and delaying and delaying our check, my mom tracked the waitress down and paid and we asked for our leftover soup to go (for my parents), she came back a while later with the leftovers and told us to watch out with our daughter as she didn’t want her to spill it on herself. Wow. Thoughtful. We realized when we got back to the car that she said that because she put the leftover soup in a styrofoam cup WITHOUT A LID in a plastic bag!!! WTF?!? And she didn’t tell us it was without a lid! Fortunately, we figured it out and my parents got the soup safely home, but seriously.
This just goes to show you can’t always trust all the Unilocal reviews.

We decided to give this place a try couple weeks back. I have to say food was OK. I might even try it again sometime if this place is better maintain. Condiments bottle on the table look like they never been clean or change out in years. I don’t think we will come back again.

The food here was more than adequate, but what really got me was their customer service. They first told me they did not do delivery, but then the woman said she was closing and could just drop it off on her way home. How nice is that?

My boyfriend and I came upon Shine Yun last night as it was his suggestion thanks to Unilocal!
We originally were going to Tsing Tao, but come to find out it’s closed on Mondays (who is closed on a MONDAY?). Anyway we ended up at Shine Yun and I knew the area well as I have grown up around here. We were immediately seated by a really nice waitress (owner, perhaps?) and we were one out of two tables in the entire restaurant that was filled.
We ordered a bowl of steamed rice, vegetable chow mein, Orange Blossom Beef, and S&S Chicken. I was so excited because they had rice vinegar available and I am in LOVE with rice vinegar. The chow mein was okay, but I’m not a big fan of it anyway. The S&S Chicken came out before the beef and was actually really really good. It was a good portion for the two of us and was crispy and tender. When the beef came out, we were surprised as to how it tasted. It was a mixture of orange and cinnamon or ginger and really really delicious. (In fact I just ate the left over beef for lunch :]). The price with tip came out to be under $ 30 which was really good since both my boyfriend and I are in college.
The only reason why I did not give it 5 stars is because we had to wave down the waitress who was eating at another table and it kind of annoyed me after a while as I’ve been a server before. I’m not expecting to be waited on hand and foot, but I expect a couple check ins through out the meal.
Overall, great place. I’ll be returning!

We tried out the Shine Yun Chicken and some prawn with broccoli on the lunch special menu. The chicken was ok but nothing really special, same with the prawns and broc.
What was terrible was the service, we had to get up and ask for help every time wee needed anything. Another disappointing Chinese place in the this area, I’ll add that to my growing list.

This was the worst Chinese food I’ve ever attempted to eat (we left with the serving dishes full). We decided to try this place after all the 5 star reviews on Unilocal.The location and restaurant itself are as others say, but I did not take this into account when writing this review.
We ordered the chicken chow mien, orange blossom chicken, and garlic flavored broccoli. The chow mien came first… looked great, but tasted like straight soy sauce. The chicken was very salty. Oh well, the other stuff will be great, right? Nope. The garlic flavored broccoli was plain BOILED broccoli on the bottom of the serving dish with a vinegar/​non-​garlic spicy sauce mixed with indescript veggies on top. It was obvious it was boiled by the large amount of water that pooled at the bottom. The orange blossom chicken was small pieces of fatty skin and gristle chicken parts deep fried and covered in sauce… YUCK. There was hardly any chicken at all! To be fair, the sauce tasted good, but who wants to eat deep fried crap?
My question? Who are these Unilocal Reviewers?

The place is located in a nearly abandoned strip mall next to a laundromat behind a Del Taco. it’s creepy, yes, but once you step inside, you’ll notice the Kenpo folks in the back practicing on some evenings. Instant protection if you just yell: D
Seriously, though, the place is freakin’ good. On top of that, it’s consistently good.
The house chow mein is very good and so is the orange beef. Perfectly fried, crispy and saucy! The kids dig it… and they dont like eating very much. You can order it with chicken instead but the beef is so much better.
The trick here is to ask for stuff or specials not on the menu. One of my favorite things to order is the tofu egg fu young. Yeah, it sounds funny but it’s soooooo good. It’s not on the menu so you have to ask for it. It’s basically silken tofu, pan fried with a crispy egg topping and brown sauce. Simplicity at it’s best… I order it and my family has to rush to get a bite before I suck it all down.
Also, the spicy broccoli stems… yum.
The best part is, super good food with nearly 0 wait for seating. Nobody can see it from the street. It’s sad, that it’s not so well known, but that just means more good food for me! Definately THE GEM of Campbell!

this place is most definitely super shady on the outside. it probably looks scary if you go at night, since it’s sort of located in an abandoned strip mall kind of deal. actually, i was kind of creeped out when i went there… at 1 pm in the afternoon.
BUT, this place has amazing chinese food at really affordable prices. ordered the HONEY WALNUT SHRIMP and BEEF WITH GREEN ONIONS with a side of PORK FRIED RICE. the rice was especially yummy– it’s not bland or dry [which is sometimes the case at other restaurants]. was slightly disappointed with the shrimp though. i know that it’s not mayonnaisse-​d out, which is nice, but i also felt like it was too sweet. all the other subtle flavors that should accompany the dish just kind of gets overpowered by the honey, i guess.
regardless– break out of your pruneyard/​downtown routine and head here for some wonderful dishes. at least here, you won’t have to fight for parking spots!

DON’T BE SCARED! I know. It’s the only open storefront in the strip mall, and there is no one there, there is only one light in the parking lot, and whne you get in they are playing top-​40s. Do not be fooled. The food is d-​e-​l-​i-​c-​o-​u-​s. We got hot & sour soup, egg rolls, kung pao chicken, and the sesame chicken. The sesame chicken is totally yummy. The prices are reasonable, the staff bends over backwards to be helpful. Go. Just do it.

My mom used to say never judge a book by it’s cover and this place is the ULTIMATE example. When your driving down Hamilton its easy to miss this place situated behind Del Taco at the far end of a empty strip mall, the only give away that it’s open are «maybe» 2 — 3 cars out front and a faint light coming from the restaurant, but if don’t go in your missing one of Campbell’s and maybe one of San Jose’s biggest Chinese food secrets.
I always was curious about the place since I live close by and always pass it, although mostly coming from Gold’s Gym which is kinda self defeating but I digress. I also never stopped since well let’s face you equate lots of cars to good food and the opposite with less traffic however, although a lil nervous we jumped on Unilocal and thought why not. Once again my friend and I were two of a total of four people in the place, although this place could easily have over 50 or more. We decided to jump face first into everything so we ordered orange blossom chicken, Mongolian beef, honey walnut prawns (thanks Winona J for the tip on Unilocal), shine yun rice, and egg rolls. (yeah yeah lots of food but that’s beside the point. back to the review) After reading some of the reviews we didn’t know what we would get back but was very impressed! They say you eat first with your eyes, and if that’s the case we were full because the food looked good, tasted better, and smelled the way Chinese food is supposed to. Walnut prawns were still crispy even after sitting in the sauce for 20 — 30 minutes, fried rice was not dried out like soo many places I’ve been too, Mongolian beef was delicious, and egg rolls were fresh. I loved the orange blossom chicken as well, although some might find it a bit sweet (reminded me almost of a light caramel sauce) but I liked it and wasn’t too sweet for me.
So many Chinese places in the area we’ve been too try to rush you out, sub par food, or treat you rudely like your the one who should be thankful for the opportunity of eating there… not this place. The lady was very nice, and even asked us how we liked the meal… who does that anymore?! Safe to say we left a very nice tip and made a mental note to return again. Not sure how long they can stay located in the same area if it continues to stay a «secret» but here’s hoping they do, excellent food, nice employees who actually smile and love cooking. All in all, we read the reviews and understand not everyone has the same tastes however, don’t pass this hole in the wall since you might be passing on your future fav Chinese food place.

I am a picky about Chinese food and often piece meal a dinner from favorites at multiple resturants. Example, I will pick up Emperor’s rice from Sino and then get sweet and sour from Tsing Tao. That is how picky I am.
This restaurant is in the shopping center behind Del Taco. Totally unfair that the shopping center has lost most of their businesses and the landlord could care less.
So if you don’t know it is there, it is very easy to miss.
But once you get in there:
1) Friendly warm service. I think that this is against the law for most Chinese resturants because this is the friendliest Chinese restaurant that I have ever been to.
2) To die for combination fried rice. Thick plump juicy shrimp and tons of them. Everywhere else I have to ask for «three dolla extra shrimp» to get a halfway decent amount of shrimp. Shine Yun give not only tons of shrimp but thick juciy tender pieces of beef and huge slices of barbecue pork. Now this is true combination fried rice.
3) Honey Walnut Prawns –Forgot about the usual mayo cream colored monstrosities of typical restaurants these days. Shine Yun’s honey walnut prawns are actually made with honey and are a goldish light brown and perfectly crisp. The size is rather large and they are shelled completely. Love them.
4) Chicken Salad –If you love big juicy warm pieces of lightly fried chicken in you chicken salad you are in luck. They are very generous with the chicken and it is super tender and breast meat. How do they make breast meat tender and juicy. Don’t know but I love it!
5) I would write about more items, but just thinking about their food makes me want to go raid my left overs. Oh and the prices are so reasonable and they give you tons of fresh good food.
They must be spending a fortune to keep their food such high quality and generous portions, because their is not much traffic due to the circumstances of the shopping mall.
This is a treasure to find and welll worth going out of your way. They deserve for people to know about them!

Pretty dam bad Chinese food.
In fact, It probably has to be the worst Chinese food I have ever tried at a restaurant.
The only reason why it isn’t one star is because. well honestly… I don’t know. Food was edible, didn’t get seriously sick from it and the price was dirt cheap.
This is the second time I’ve tried this place. The first time was about a year and a half ago. My boyfriend works down the street and told me he tried the food for lunch one day. He craves Chinese food from time to time and to be honest, I hate Chinese food because I grew up on it. Can’t really crave something that you are surrounded by. Anyways back to the story, I ordered the seafood chow mien first time I was here. I was REALLY disappointed because the «seafood» I received was 1 scallop, couple of shrimp and some non fresh looking pieces of squid. The noodles were watery and overall the dish was relatively tasteless.
So its been awhile since I went here. I wanted to surprise my bf at work one day and take him out to lunch. I was sick all week and didn’t really feel like putting too much effort into finding a non-​crowded place for lunch because of his short lunch break. We stumble upon Shine Yun Restaurant. It is dead inside. No one. Nothing but me and my boyfriend. A lady comes out from the back and seats us. We order the Lunch Special. (1 entrée with soup of the day and choice of white rice, fried rice or noodles.) My bf told me the portions are really generous and we decided on the Beef and Broccoli and Sweet and Sour Pork.
The sweet and sour soup that came with lunch was pretty decent. Probably the highlight of the meal. Came out hot but was pretty small. We got hot tea but no water. One bowl of steam rice to share between two people (I thought we got our own rice since we ordered 2 lunch plates.) The lady serving us kept coughing in our food which was disgusting… We finally got our food.
Beef broccoli:
Very very salty. Very very watery and the broccoli was very very hard. It was just pretty dam awful. I didn’t eat it…
Sweet and Sour pork:
The first piece I picked up had a hair IN it. like. not on top with the sauce but fried into the pork. It was pretty nasty. A short, dark. CURLY. black piece of hair. UGH. But whatever. Scanning the restaurant, you really can’t expect too much.
Over all the meal was 12 dollars. When I tried to pay she said «oh 20 dollar minimum for all purchases on a card». I said «where does it say that?» and she goes «oh. I said it.»
ugh. Well after standing there and showing her either a debit card or credit card and our 3 dollars in cash. She finally let me pay with a card. We got our fortune cookies. one didn’t have a fortune inside. haha
Over all it was a pretty bad lunch experience. The food was just horrid. The service was pretty sad. The restaurant has definitely seen better days. (all the lights were off… we were eating in the dark) and that one guy who ran into me while i was trying to pay and didn’t say sorry yet GLARED AT ME can go get hit by a car.

Nancie is the best! She is friendly, accomodates every detail you request with a smile ;)
We had my tweenty something bday here and with only one helper she managed over 20 people in a prompt and smooth way. The food never looses its taste and I love that it doesn’t feel greasy or too smelly when I eat here. I just love thinking about the next time my husband and I are craving chinese so we can hang out here until our bellies can’t breath anymore. Yum yum!

This review is almost more about supporting local businesses than it is about good food. I haven’t found any truly excellent Chinese restaurants in San Jose. Shine Yun doesn’t exactly break that mold, but it does give hope at the very least for affordable food.
Two person «family» dinner comes out to about $ 26 – 27 with tax and tip, and is a pretty good deal! You get a whole won ton soup (not just two cups, but the whole bowl), 2 egg rolls, and plates of mongolian beef, (some nut) chicken, and rice.
I think for the price point, you can’t do much better in San Jose for Chinese.
Happy points: cheap price, fresh veggies (crisp), good portion size that gave us a good plateful of leftovers.
Sad points: Well, to be honest, the sauces weren’t dead on. The chicken’s sauce was pretty think, and the mongolian beef was unusually spiced with red peppers.
Net outcome: I will return, if not just to support the very nice idea of a cheap, happy, local Chinese restaurant.

Decent Chinese food is difficult to find in the South Bay, but finally I stumbled onto Shine Yun. It’s a small, family-​run shop, and while it’s not the best Chinese food I’ve ever had, it’s certainly way better than anything else in Campbell. Nancy, the owner, is a real sweetie, and immediately brings my son a small dish of his coveted sweet and sour sauce. Because she’s the owner and the only server, sometimes service can be a bit slow, but she always has a smile on her face.
The food is pretty good. Meats and vegetables are high-​quality, and the flavors are good. We like the Three Flavors with String Bean, Mongolian beef, and pot stickers the best. The Shine Yun chow mein and chow fun are also good. Other dishes are tasty too.
The restaurant is usually empty when we’ve gone, earlier on a Friday evening, but there’s a steady stream of take out orders. Décor is nice, understated, and clean.

The BF says he wants to take me to eat dinner. drives like a maniac and then suddenly turns into an empty, dead looking plaza with almost no lighting and where all the stores look closed. Already in a bad mood because of his horrible driving, i assume for the worst. This is the same BF who has taken me to not 1, but 2 horrible Chinese restaurants in the past. As i walk in, i find the restaurant almost completely empty except for about two families. skeptical i just let him order as i go to wash up. the restroom is surprisingly clean. a plus there. I come back to find that he has ordered four dishes.
1. West Lake Beef Soup
2. Mongolian Beef
3. Orange Chicken
4. Beef Chowfun
Surprised? Boy was I! Good Food. Good Portions. Nice Waitress. Decent Price. And the food came out at a good rate. First the soup, then after the soup the next few dishes followed. The Mongolian Beef was good, not too salty like some other places. The Orange Chicken was crispy and had a good batter to chicken to sauce ratio. Beef Chowfun was alright. It was good, but i’ve had better. and what’s better than drinking hot Beef Soup on a winter’s day? also, we got a prompt refill on the tea. YES!
Starting with 0 stars, this place ended up getting five stars from me.
1 star for the clean restroom
1 star for the taste of the food
1 star for the portion of the food
1 star for the decent price
1 star for the service
mmmm satisfying.

I always worry for this restaurant when I go in. The new location isn’t great — way worse than their old one near the Nob Hill. My family’s been coming here for years (and we’re Chinese).
It’s yummy, great service, authentic, cheap. Check this place out if you haven’t!

This is a great restaurant with superb FRESHLY COOKED food, nice ambiance and the best service ever!
We have loved everything that we have ever eaten there. The chicken fried rice, beef fried rice, Shine Yun fried rice, beef with broccoli, vegetable plates, meat plates, all of their soups and so on and so on and so on. We definitely love the pot stickers with this sauce we make out of the vinegar, hot sauce and soy sauce all mixed together. Our favorite fried rice is the Beef Fried Rice, so try it out!
Nancy is both the owner and the server. She is MORE than friendly and once you go there a few times she will remember you, your names, your drinks and your food selections. WE LOVE NANCY! Be sure to tell her that you found her online!!!
Nancy does catering to your office too so you can have Shine Yun food at the comfort of your desk! YAY!
You can also also rent out the back room for karaōke (they supply the equipment) or for any party that you want to have there, just talk to Nancy!
This is by far and away our most absolute favorite Chinese food restaurant EVER!