Chao Zhou Restaurant

I’ve actually never eaten in the restaurant itself… but have always ordered frm the menu when singing karaōke at Monster KTV (
) upstairs. The full menu is available and I’ve tried quite a few dishes over time.
My favorite is still the marinated duck! There have been some hit or misses, including noodle soup (miss) and the diced chicken, salted fish and eggplant casserole (hit!). Overall has good food, but nothing absolutely amazing that I am craving for.

I remember my family used to come here all the time back in the day to celebrate birthdays and other special occasions. The place was immaculately clean, the waiters were friendly and accommodating, and the food was excellent. A bit on the pricey side, but totally worth it. Absolutely no other Chinese restaurant that I have ever been to matched the quality of the food here. The sizzling platters were the bomb. And the wonton soup? Out of this world.
Then they closed down… I haven’t been there since then. If the new place (Red Bowl) is anything like Chao Zhou, then I’ll have to check it out :)

Located right across from the Flushing Queens Library on the corner of Main Street and 41^st Ave, Chao Zhou restaurant looks busy from the outside. At the front entrance is a crowd ordering take-​out and further in are tables for dining. It looked like a place for a cheap and fast meal so one summer day I decided to go with my husband after work. With a restaurant this busy, the food should be tasty.
Armed with no knowledge about the restaurant, we went through the take-​out crowd and got seated right away at a small four-​person table in the middle section towards the back. I remember there’s a really nice huge Chinese Horse sculpture near the wall. There were still crowds of people, but as the evening went on, there were still a crowd, but it was not so bad people had to wait on line. Still, for the majority of the time, the place is almost full house.
When I looked at the menu, I was surprised at how expensive everything was. I think it was $ 8 and up for a meal. I ordered Wonton noodle soup simply because I haven’t had it in a long time, but my husband ordered a dish (I can’t remember). For such an expensive price, we’d think we’d get a good portion of food, but when the dish came out, it was a miniature version of what a typical Chinese dish would look like. Instantly, I felt like I was at P.F. Chang’s with the surprisingly small portions of food. The taste was OK and I have nothing positive or negative to say. I guess the price is still better than Great House Restaurant
across the street on Kissena Blvd that charged me $ 12 for water spinach (Ong Choi.)
Since I was speaking English to my husband, the waiters automatically started speaking English to me even though I tried conversing in the Cantonese dialect. The waiters spoke possibly Mandarin though. My dad always wanted to take me here for a «cheap» eat, but we never actually made the time to meet up here. There’s always a take-​out crowd and for all the times I’ve seen non-​Chinese people try to order takeout from this place, which suggests that this place is well-​known, welcoming to all people, and a successful business in the neighborhood.
Overall, I’m not too excited to come back unless I’m meeting up with my dad. It’s an OK experience.
PROS: Location in the heart of Flushing
CONS: Crowded

Haven’t had porridge in a long time… My friend who stayed in Flushing for quite some time brought me to this place…
So we ordered the «tian ji”(in mandarin). which is frog porridge. it sounded gross I know but believe me… Frog tasted just like chicken and it;s more tender… The porridge was served in a hot stone pot. and we also ordered a side dish of duck… I love it because it’s healthy and it’s not Americanize at all…
I wouldn’t give a 5 rating because I think I had better porridge… but overall. it’s good and it’s not expensive… :)

We have visited this place many times throughout our visit… during nite owl hours… open 24 hours i think…
Yes, we know the grading system for NY restaurants, wish ours in the Bay were also like that…
We had great porridge and noodles during those cold late nights… cleanliness is ok, service is better than ok…
and once we went for breakfast burrito, never had a chinese buffet for breakfast, interesting… interesting…

RiP Big Bowl… aka Chao Zhou (again) You will be missed.

The place is open extremely late (which is great as everything closes in Flushing at night) and has a vast menu. It’s consistent and you can basically get anything you want.
They have huge cheap bowls of noodle soup, with a wide selection of meats and you get to choose the type of noodle.
As for my favorites, I would suggest the pan fried noodles. It comes in a thick sauce with chicken and vegetables, but the whole dish is seared before serving so the noodles on the bottom of crunchy. The secret is to dig in for that bottom part immediately.
They also serve clay pot bowls of rice with chicken, mushrooms, and other vegetables, which can take up to 30 – 40 minutes to make so they suggest you order that immediately as you sit to get the order in.
I will always like this as my go to place if I’m not sure exactly what I’m in the mood for in Flushing.

Ever since the management changed here the food hasn’t been as good. I had the country duck and it was just one note to it… SUPER SALTY!
I prefer the country style duck at Bo Ky on 80 Bayard Street. And I prefer it by A LOT more!

I love this place. I hate Americanized Chinese food. If you want CHINESE food, you gotta go where the locals go… and this mini Chinatown (flushing) spot is great. The prices are VERY FREAKIN REASONABLE and the portions are good. The quality is good… a bit of a homemade taste. It doesn’t taste commercial.
Their bubble teas are also quite good, particularly the coconut and the taro root.
YUMMMMMMMMMM

Cute place. Decent about of customers all the time with alright service.
I love them for their congee! There’s this one congee that I love most. I think its called House HK style congee? Or was it just HK style congee? Whatever it is, its good. They also need to stop running out of those fried cruellers or make more!
(Someone needs to change this name «Chao Zhou Restaurant» to «Big Bowl». NOBODY CALLS THIS PLACE CHAO ZHOU!

I ordered their red-​bean and chinese yam congee. It was served in a pot. it was quite satisfying.
The prices are cheap and fair
The line can get really long, not so good for large parties. People are always walking in and out so try to not stand in any of the hallways. There wasn’t a waiting area so there was no where to stand.
Their soup noodles are not so great
The drinks are overly priced, so instead i brought my own bubble tea.
It took the waiter 15 minutes to bring my friend her ice water.

If I’m ever in want of a bowl of congee, I come to Chaozhou.
Because at Chaozhou, instead of a bowl of congee, they give me a POT of it. For about 5 bucks. Yeah, that’s right. They’ll give you your own pot of congee. You can either share with a friend, or be a glutton and eat the whole thing yourself. Decent congee for what you pay for. It’s certainly not the best, but it gets the job done.
If congee is not your thing, they have a plethora of other Chinese dishes as well such as noodles, rice dishes, chicken this, beef that, etc. There are always people inside Chaozhou; whether they’re grabbing a quick bite, getting take out or slow dining with friends. The service is quick and if you’re in a rush, you can get in and out of there within 20 minutes with a full belly and barely any damage to your wallet.

The food is pretty good. They’re cheap too. Our favorite there would be the Singapore mei fun. It’s a spicy curry noodles. Very tasty! Great for late night too since this place open late.
Yea, if you mention Chao Zhou to some people, they might not know what that is. Just say it’s the Chinese restaurant with the BIG BOWL on top! =D

Food was okay.
but more importantly, their bubble tea was delicious.
i dont even go there for the food anymore, it’s always to get tarot bubble tea.
:)

Kind of confused about which restaurant people are talking about here, I didn’t see a big bowl. Is this the restaurant right across the street from Starbucks on the corner? Well that’s the restaurant I’m reviewing.
First of all their Chinese food is pretty good, and feels a lot lighter and less oily than most places. Second of all, they have the best Kung Pao chicken. I have been having a craving for that lately and this place hands down had the best. Lastly, I think they might not be accepting credit cards any more even though there is a visa and mastercard logo on the door. Or it could just be that since my order was only $ 9.75 the lady figured she would lie to my face.

This place is not Chao Zhou…
This place is called BIG BOWL!
If you call this place Chao Zhou people think u weird and shit, ITS BIG BOWL!!! YEA BOY
But yo, i’ve been going here for like 15 years, and theres alot of good shit to eat here you don’t even know son!
Im gonna list some madd good shit u gotta try, you can’t go wrong with these dishes! If u get other stuff Good LUCK man!
BEEF CHOW FUN + GRAVY SAUCE ON TOP (AKA WET VERSION)
SALTY FRIED SQUID, SCRAMBLE EGG WITH SHRIMP, COUNTRY STYLE DUCK (GET HALF). PAN FRIED NOODLE/​WITH SEAFOOD, I GET BEEF ON TOP THOUGH. COW TONGUE. BEEF WITH BELACHAN SAUCE.
Pretty everything on the Lunch Special menu is safe to order.
You can try FLAT NOODLE SOUP WITH DUCK, I used to get that all the time.
BIG BOWL!

I usually come here when I want some quick, cheap, Chinese food. If you come with a large group and order enough food, they’ll also serve you tong shui for dessert (warm, sweet soup, usually red bean soup).
Some recommendations:
Salt & Pepper Squid
Fresh sliced fish with veges over rice
Any Rice Congees
Eggplant with Beef
Pork chop over rice w/​Lemon grass
Wonton noodle soups w/​roast pork/​duck
Tea eggs
However I’ve never used the bathroom here in the past 5 years, until recently. The one time I actually had to go, the toilet was broken and they attached a string into the toilet bowl. There was a sign on the wall that said «Pull rope down to Flushing.» I was confused? Aren’t I already in Flushing? If I pull the rope, would I be Alice in Wonderland falling into the toilet hole? Anyway I pulled, and it didn’t work. That’s the last time I’m using the bathroom here. Why are Chinese establishment bathrooms always gross anyway?

We were hungry and this place looked like it was busy, which is a good sign, so we went in to have dinner. Oh boy, what a let down. My friend had the curry shrimp over rice and it was pretty bland. She had to add salt and hot sauce to make it more palatable. Again, I ordered an eggplant dish, it wasn’t the best, but edible. We also had a taro tapioca drink and tell me why it was sooo damn sweet! What the hell?
In any case… not coming back here when you have so many other choices in Flushing. I am wondering how they stay in business?

Located right off Main street, this restaurant is like most Cantonese-​style restaurants in that it’s fast, and definitely aiming to move customers in and out. The soy chicken is good, but watch out for undercooked chicken. The soy tofu, better… although they were out of the seaweed side of the dish.
Congee w/​pork and preserved egg was good, though, and big. Appreciate that given the size.
And the freshly made, fresh taro milkshake — awesomeness. None of that crazy purple powder, this is the real thing.
Minimum $ 5/​person if you sit down to order. Cleanliness leaves something to be desired, like most of Flushing… open until around 2a or 4a, depending on which part of the menu you’d like to believe.

Taiwanese style cuisine. The staff is somewhat attentive as they automatically assume patrons speak Mandarin rather than other Chinese dialects. This restaurant is not known for Dim Sum but for noodles, rice, Congee, and other entrees. Although they do offer Dim Sum but it’s served unorthodoxly on metal containers rather than the traditional bamboo steamers.
Since it’s Taiwanese style they offer Bubble Tea which the quality is not that good. It’s not served cold with ice for a whopping $ 5.00 and tapioca is an additional $.50.
Chao Zhou opens very early at 7:30am for patrons who have breakfast meetings and closes late at 2am.