First Chinese Express

My family lives in the area and have been looking for a neighborhood Chinese joint to make our regular spot. Tried First Chinese Express based on reviews. We had a decent experience. The place is a hole in the wall, yes, but we were ordering take out, and the business seems like a nice family-​owned place. Our service was great, the person taking our order was able to answer all our questions about the meals, and the food was prepared fresh and fairly quickly (we ran across the street to the drugstore while we waited, and food was just about ready when we got back). She made sure to tell us what every container was and what went with what, and nothing was missing. As for the food, it wasn’t the best, wasn’t the worst. It did have a real, home-​cooked Chinese taste, but the flavors where mild, some bordering on bland. We tried pork fried rice, vegetable egg foo young, egg rolls, and broccoli with tofu. Everyone had the same opinion, not bad, just not as flavorful as we’d hoped. Egg rolls got the highest review in our house of all the items. Prices where good, but haven’t decided yet if we would try it again.

My go-​to when I’m craving Chinese food!!! I come here once a week!!! I found this place earlier this year because I live somewhat close and became instantly hooked… It’s definitely a hole in the wall and kinda run down, so advise to call in your order which I always do and my food is usually ready in 15 min. Chinese lady at the counter always takes my order and sometimes chit chats with me as I became a regular. Oh and the food it’s GOOD! I try the different chicken types on their menu, lemon chicken and the orange crispy chicken (non spicy) so far are my fav! I always get the shrimp fried rice and sometime their shrimp chow mien. YUM! Big portions in a box which can last me for 2 – 3 days!!! Not that expensive either.

Best Chinese food in town! Absolutely love this place! The food is always fresh and delicious and they have never messed up an order! My boyfriends family has been coming here for over 20 years!

Crazy good Chinese food. Visiting a friend in town and ate here two days in a row. Family owned business with great food and great prices. You won’t be disappointed!

Came here after craving some Chinese food but didn’t want to drive too far to get it. I was getting food for five people so I ordered quite a bit of food: broccoli beef, spicy orange chicken, chicken lo mein, pork fried rice, spicy chicken and Mongolian beef. It was all pretty good. The only thing I wasn’t too fond of was the lo mein. It was very bland. The Mongolian beef had good flavor and the beef was tender but there was A LOT of onions and not that much beef. The spicy chicken was good, perfect amount of spice, I thought. I will probably go back and try some of their other items.

Good salt and pepper shrimp. It does come with the shrimp shells, FYI. Last time I ordered the shrimp chow mein spicy and it was really spicy. So, use caution. Definitely a whole in the wall but the food is good.

This was my first visit to the restaurant and my first impression is they need some improvements with customer service and restaurant appearance.
Pros: I was greeted when I entered the restaurant; the cashier/​waitress/​cook assistance was polite, the tables, chairs and floor were in good condition, the menu had a good food selection and the prices were reasonable, I ordered the Mongolian beef and the meat was tender and had good flavor.
Cons: there was a stack of flat boxes in the corner of the restaurants dining area, no AC so the front door was left open, the cashier/​waitress/​cook assistance was not very friendly when I had a question about an item on the menu, my order was carry out and it took about 15 – 20 minutes to prepare, ten minutes into my wait a 4 or 5 year old child ran from behind the register counter and pretended to be an airplane running in and out of the shop blocking the door way entrance and making a lot of noise, the area behind the register was not very neat.
I would like to visit this spot again because the food was good and maybe she (the cashier/​waitress/​cook assistance) was short staffed that day which is why she was doing everything.

Tasty and greasy, but the good kind of greasy. Definitely a hole in the wall look which almost swayed me to go elsewhere but im glad I got food from here. The food reminded me of small Chinese restaurants back east in Jersey.
Ordered pork fried rice, walnut shrimp and mongolian beef. The pork in the fried rice were big and tender pieces of BBQ pork, the walnut shrimp was yummy and the monholian beef was nice and tender. Orders take a little while but they are made to order. I will be coming back when I get a craving for Chinese food.

$ 70 later… We realized what the other reviewer’s meant about only ordering the chicken wings if you come here. Everything else was such a waste of money! My family had a get together and we ordered 3 orders of wings, 2 orders of orange chicken, lg shrimp and broccoli, lg beef and broccoli, lg house special lo mein and a lg house special fried rice. There was absolutely NO flavor in any of these. BLAND, BLAND, BLAND to say the least!!! How could food taste watered down??? Well this tasted exactly like that… WATERED DOWN!!! We should have ordered $ 70 worth of wings because that’s all anybody wanted to eat. What a waste of money…

Yummy and a gem in Lemon Grove! Polite lady who served us :) we ordered Walnut chicken– awesome. Almond Chicken-​delicious. House Chow Mein — fantastic. I’ll be back!

Fast, fresh, inexpensive Chinese food, taste good but not amazing. Plates are $ 6-​$ 10 dollars and are a really good portion for one. Ordered peppered steak (comes with steamed rice) and when I first saw the small box thought it was a small amount. But they pack both boxes so it’s more than plenty of meat and rice. I hadn’t eaten in 6 hours and I was full. The peppered steak was solid, but the rice stuck together a little too much. Not really a place to dine, better for take out. All in all if you want something better than Panda Express for just as quick and inexpensive, come here. I’ll be back for more.

Had the cashew chicken and rice.
No flavor waited nearly 40 minutes for my order when i finally got it i asked for sweat & sour sauce the lady behind the register so i couldn’t have it unless i ordered something else.
Then my son asked if he could have a fortune cookie and she said he had to buy them.
Definitely not returning!!!

I just love there food. Its great. There sweet n sour pork is amazingly delicious. I also had there shrimp fried rice which is also amazing. I had also purchased for my coworkers Walnut Shrimp, broccoli and beef, chicken wings, spicy sweet chicken, n there chow mien. It takes about 15 minutes to prepare the food but to me its worth it because it freshly prepared. I definitely go back again.

My fiancée and I love this place! It’s a diamond in the rough for sure! He loves cashew chicken the most but everything he gets is always good. My favorite is tofu and vegetables — it comes with a TON of veggies and tofu… I also love the other tofu dishes…
Everything is really fresh from here, and anything takes 10 – 15 minutes. The owner is really sweet — support a small local business — way better than any chain restaurant that’s for sure :)

Probably the worst fast food Chinese I’ve ever had. I couldn’t even finish. I got two dinner specials with my girlfriend for $ 5.99 each. She got Orange chicken and I got Kung Pao, both came with fried rice, a jumbo shrimp, and an eggroll.
First off it took 20 minutes to get our food and there was only one other customer the entire time. What were they doing back there? I would’ve been okay with the wait if the food had at least tasted like food.
The Food:
Kung Pao was dry and lacking in flavor. The sauce just felt like an afterthought. Worst Kung Pao ever. It wasn’t even hot.
Most fried rice you get has some vegetables, eggs, etc. and fried together with soy sauce. This was simply rice with soy sauce mixed in. Not what I expected, but it was actually the best part of the meal. It at least tasted like rice…
The «jumbo shrimp» was not jumbo, and it was hardly shrimp. It was a normal shrimp, pressed and flattened to make it look bigger, and then poorly breaded and fried. It was this nasty disc of bread and a little bit of shrimp fried together.
Lastly, the Eggroll. This was not an Eggroll. At first I thought it was a spring roll. But no. This was simply cabbage within an eggroll wrapper. It was mushy, had a terrible flavor, and just disgusting.
The cashier was nice. But the tables weren’t clean. The place didn’t look clean at all.
I have no idea how anyone rated this place with anything other than 1 – 2 stars. They must not have had any «chinese» food before. Literally anything would be better.

The food is great deffinalty better than panda.
The food is fresh and does not sit under lamps.
The owner is very nice. Ive known here for years.

Washing my clothes so I decided to drop in. The food is cheap but you get what you pay for. I had the spicy Orange chicken lunch special with fried rice and an egg roll. The orange chicken was soggy, rice was mushy and the egg roll was blah. Everything was lacking in flavor. Just nasty!

I was really craving chinese food but didnt want to pay much, nor drive far and this place is right down the street.
We ordered take out and I cannot believe the prices! A dinner special for 5.99!!! It includes fried or steamed rice, an egg roll, fried shrimp, an entrée, and wonton chips. Like seriously?! Thats cheaper than panda express!
The service was really great, the ladt behind the counter was so sweet and even put all our food into a box to make it eaiser to carry out.
We ordered the sesame chicken with fried rice and the szechuan beef with steamed rice. The portions are big but we didnt really like the rice, steamed nor fried. The fried rice was just plain rice with soy sauce. The sesame chicken was goood, but the szechuan beef was too sweet in my opinion. I was expecting it to be salty and spicy but it was really sweet and saucy. I wouldnt order it again.
We also got the hot and sour soup which I loved! It was filled with tofu and bamboo shoots and chicken. It was really delicious. The egg rolls were also really great, but I wasnt that fond of the fried shrimp. It tasted like flour :/​
All in all, the price seriously cannot be beat for cheap chinese food. The service is quick and great, and the food was pretty good too. Especially for $ 5.99! :)

If it is your first time trying this place, try the CRISPY BEEF — its crispy, succulent and delicious, trust me. And from the comment below also order the wings — I haven’t tried it but i will in my next visit.
3 and a half stars?! Really?! This Chinese restaurant made a huge impression on my taste buds. I feel guilty for not going more often — only because I live in the area and I would rather have a change of scenery when I go out and eat. The lady in the counter is extremely nice and I adore her and I want to see her family business growing and thriving. This place should not be located in such boring and impoverished area; it deserves more.

Best Chinese food in the area! Even though you might have to wait, the food is alway fresh and hot! I finally don’t need to go to convoy to get good quality Chinese food!