Chili Palace

Business is closed, I tried to visit this place on June 11^th, 2016!
Food was soooo good!

One of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the Bay Area. Authentic Chinese food, good ambience and reasonably priced. Been to this place a few times now and it never disappoints. Strongly recommend.

Finding true, authentic Chinese food can be difficult in a world full of fusion-​type restaurants. The most fusion you’ll find at Chili Palace is a variety of offerings other than those from Hunan.
I was looking for a fish dish and I expected that this restaurant would have it. I was greeted quickly as I entered from the door nearer the road. Sometimes, I go into a Chinese restaurant, and not being Chinese, I get some odd greetings. This was friendly and made me feel welcome.
As someone brought water and tea, the hostess asked if I needed a fork. Damn, I look too Caucasian. I assured her that I didn’t, and I joked about it for a while with the man pouring my water. (I make a mess with a fork when eating Asian food or Italian pasta. I take chopsticks into restaurants when I’m getting a salad.)
The menu was extensive, with a lunch (Mon-​Fri) menu on the back. The prices seemed inexpensive. I stuck to the vegetarian and seafood sections and found a Sautéed fish and vegetables dish. It’s something I recently had and it was good to have a comparison. It was useful that the Chinese was written in Traditional characters.
The waitress had just finished with the table ahead of mine and stopped suddenly to ask if I was ready. I ordered, and she asked if I also wanted steamed rice, which I did.
It took a while, which is fine. Fast food places can scoop food out of the bin, but it’s always good to have the food cooked individually to order.
When the food arrived, I was surprised at the size of the portion. $ 11.95 could have required a much smaller portion. This was generous, and ended up being a bit too much.
I was pleased with the taste. It may seem odd having a non-​spicy dish at a restaurant which seems to specialize in spicy dishes, but maybe it’s a good test. You can see from the photo that there were pea pods, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and tomatoes in addition to the fish. Oddly, the rice looked a bit gray, but it was fine.

The food is OK. Not the best, not the worst. Service is usually pretty good. Today is the exception. I know it’s due to the Chinese New Year, there were several large groups of people dining in. On that note, knowing it’s going to be busy, they should have ample staff tending to the patrons as well as taking care of the take-​out and order-​ahead orders. I ordered at 11:55AM via their online website. I get the confirmation email and arrive at 12:20 only to find out my order was never received. Why? Because the fax was lying on the floor. They put my order in at 12:23. I was told it would be ready in 20 minutes. Not happy but these things happen. I finally get my food at 1:00. When I asked how long until my order was received, their answer «I have no idea». Well, that’s just lovely. No water was offered while I wait. No complimentary appetizer. No discount on my order. Nothing. Just «too bad for you». I guess so. NEVER get Chinese food on Chinese New Year for lunch unless you don’t mind wasting your lunch hour for the food to come.
Their Chong Qing (Chili chicken) is not the traditional kind. This one is breaded. Yes, like popcorn chicken with a sorry excuse for flavor. Each bite is a mouthful of oil, it’s not spicy and there’s so much bread, I’m not sure there’s any chicken in there. They’re nice but that’s about all.
UPDATE: OK, two stars down to one after today’s lunch. I won’t be coming back to this place. First off, I ordered spareribs with garlic. It’s not the typical Chinese style spareribs where they’re cut into small pieces. There isn’t a garlic to be found or tasted and it’s DRY. No sauce, no seasoning, no flavor. The WORST Chinese food I have ever tasted. I am thoroughly disappointed and would go back to complain if it wasn’t the lunch rush. There are much better places to eat in this plaza like Phở Nguyen place across the plaza, even if they charge an extra .50 cents for a to-​go container.

In fact, another pot calling kettle black, except that their dishes are up to certain medium standard. The family running bistro could hardly bear the fame best or even better. Cause even if they boast to operate with rich experience, still they lack of the real human management. The owners don’t know who they are dealing with.

This is food heaven for the real fans of southern chinese cuisine. Hardcore. As other reviewers said, the smoked pork is wonderful. The smoked fish stir fried with peppers is EXTREME. You can go off-​menu here if you know what to order. Bring an expert. Bring a fire extinguisher. Things will get spicy and flavors are intense.

Pretty good place for authentic Hunan food.
The famous smoked pork is the best of the best! None of any other places offer in-​par smoked port to this. Keep it up!

It is the best authentic Chinese food in south bay area. More specifically, it is best authentic Hunan style food.
As indicated by the name of the restaurant, most of the food in the menu is spicy with a lot of chili. However, it has also some good non-​spicy choices for kids. Our children like the steamed chicken pot and chili palace seafood tofu. They eat more here than at home. :)
My favorites are steamed combination of smoked meat/​fish/​tofu, chili fried chicken and chili fried fish.

Looks like those who are giving this place low rate are mostly not into authentic Chinese food.
Cleanliness:
Bearable. Not good. Not the worst.
Service:
Like the waitress who will accommodates us promptly and helps us to order every time.
Food:
One of the best Chinese food. I am eating. I visit a restaurant for food.
Recommendations:
Don’t order anything you can see on the menu of Panda Express.

Delicious food, generous portions, and attentive servers.
My friends and I made a reservation for dinner at Chili Palace on a Sunday night and were seated promptly when we arrived. The place is located in a small shopping center, but it’s at the end so it was fairly easy to spot from Calaveras Road. Parking was a breeze.
As far as food, I don’t remember everything we ordered because my friend ordered in Mandarin, but the fried chicken wings were my favorite! It looks really spicy, but I would say it’s a little more than mild, and the red chili is there mostly for flavor. Between the 6 of us adults and one toddler, we ordered 9 items and devoured all but one dish, which we brought home with us. :D I’m not sure if that speaks to the flavor of the food, or to our pigginess, but I’m going to say it’s the flavor so I don’t feel so guilty about eating so much.
We didn’t eat anything here we didn’t like. Solid 5 stars.

When I walked up to this place my first thought was that it looked a little dirty and run down from the outside but after stepping inside I realized that maybe this was because we were entering from a side door. The restaurant was ok on the inside with nothing to write home to mom about.
We went here with a large group (20+ people) and I feel the restaurant accommodated us ok. All of the dishes that we ordered came out relatively quickly and everything was pretty hot and relatively tasty. I would say that it was not as good as the other food I had just the day before at Ranch 99.

Every dish was delicious! My friends and I had the preserved vegetable soup with fish, which had plentiful pieces of fish in it. The smoked pork belly had an authentic subtle smoky flavor to it. The spicy fried chicken wings were the best. They were just spicy enough for my tastes. For those of you who think the wings are too spicy: toughen up!

Best Chinese restaurant of bay area, and probably
the best Hunan food in the whole US.

The food is not for real Chinese ppl.
Can not eat any of these food.
Service is even worst.
probably they can tell that we really don’t like it. After paying the bill, they already clean up the table, and waiting for us to leave.

Fruit flies are everywhere, especially in the front. We awkwardly shared a table with strangers. The mongolian beef was decent but not that spicy. The scallop and broccoli dish was great though.

My friend and I had lunch there today
Egg Rolls: were greasy and soggy, not crisp. I asked for hot mustard and they brought me French’s yellow mustard. I called the waiter over and again asked for Chinese Hot Mustard, and was told they don’t have it. This seems inconceivable, but that is what I was told
Shredded Pork in Garlic Sauce. Not bad, decent favor, not a hint of spiciness regardless of what the menu said, portion somewhat on the small side, but within reason.
Lemon Chicken: Hugh portion had quite a bit left over (which we didn’t take) I can not remember when I had a more tasteless chicken. the only thing remotely lemony was the day glow yellow color.
Full Disclosure: I have had lunch here two or three time before and recall it being a fairly decent, middle of the road place, maybe this was just a bad day-​bad enough to motivate me to review.

Okay place for spicy Chinese food, but everything’s so greasy! I generally don’t like oily food, but if it’s really good spicy food, I’m much more tolerable. Unfortunately, Chili Palace’s dishes are lacking in flavor and spiciness. I’d only come here if my parents wanted to. Otherwise, there are probably better places to satisfy any cravings for spicy Chinese food.
My parents ordered since I never know what to order at Chinese restaurants, so I’m not entirely sure if I remember the right dishes.
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–MINCED BEEF WITH EGG WHITE SOUP — 3.5÷5
This was the only thing we ordered that wasn’t covered in oil, so naturally I enjoyed it much more. Pretty light but filing soup with beef, tofu, egg whites and mushrooms. I wish there was more beef in it though.
–DRY SAUTEED STRING BEANS — ²⁄₅
Meh. I’ve had better. and by better, I mean less greasy and spicier.
–CHINESE GREENS/​BOK CHOY WITH MUSHROOM — ³⁄₅
Decent veggie dish but nothing special.
–CRISPY FISH FILLET WITH SPECIAL SAUCE — ³⁄₅
We either ordered this or the fish fillet with sichuan sauce. It was basically fish that looked like it had been fried, but was no longer remotely crispy on the outside because it had been drowned in some sauce. The only reason I’m giving this a 3 instead of anything lower is because the fish was actually cooked really well and super moist inside the soggy batter coating.
–SHREDDED PORK WITH GREEN AND RED CHILI — ²⁄₅
Again, not sure if this is the right dish, but it was basically thin slices of streaked/​fatty pork (like bacon) with some peppers. Even greasier than the string beans and wasn’t spicy in my opinion.

2 ½ stars (rounded down for consistently using bad cuts of meat and skimping on the shrimp/​prawns)
Short Version:
You know what would help this place get the 4 stars that they should have gotten? If they bought their prep cook some effing glasses!
They started off at 4 stars, and would have kept all the stars and made a few regular customers since their food tasted better than any other Chinese food I’ve had in SJ in the last year… but they walk away with two stars because almost every dish had too many pieces of sh***y quality meat that your teeth would never be able to cut through and they’re pretty stingy w/​their shrimp/​prawns
Extended Version:
Vegetarian Spring Rolls (3 stars)
— Nothing special… just some decent egg rolls
Mongolian Beef (3 stars)
— Tasted very good, and was even a little spicy, but I had to deduct a star because at least ¼ of the meat was un-​chewable/​inedible
Kung Pao Prawns (3 stars)
— Deducted ½ star because there were barely any prawns in here. Take a look at the picture and see how many you can find. My guess is 4 – 5.
Hunan Style Beef (3 stars)
— Deducted only ½ star because there were less pieces of inedible meat in this one
Lamb With Cumin (3 stars)
— Damn… the best tasting lamb dish I’ve had in a while — it was spicy, and not gamy at all — but more than half of the lamb portion was either fat or inedible/​un-​chewable pieces
Combination Chow Mein (3 stars)
— Comes with beef, chicken, and shrimp, and was pretty good, but I had to take off ½ star because of the inedible piece of chicken and because there were only 2 pieces of shrimp
Steamed Rice (3 stars)
Misc.
— The restaurant had a funny smell and could use a good cleaning, carpet shampoo, and a better ventilation system, so you’re better off coming here for take-​out
— Service is always pretty cool and friendly
— Check your bill because sometimes they’ll overcharge you by accident
— I read an older review and saw a picture of a roach here… came by a few times anyway, checked my food, scanned the area… no roaches in site

Coworkers and I decided to order takeout from this place the other day because it was so close to work. We ordered the sweet and sour pork spareribs, braised tofu, beef&broccoli and rice and the worker told me to come in 10 minutes.
When i went in, the place was DEAD. there was literally only 2 couples sitting there eating. They could fit a lot more people since its a pretty big restaurant. They have a fish tank near another entrance/​exit in the back. In the front of restaurant by the cashier, they have huge bowl of fortune cookies and a bowl of water with a lotus on top. Ambience… dead and quiet…
–Pork spareribs: flavor isnt lacking, but the whole thing has this very bright red color. Granted, the sauce is supposed to be like that, but its little too neon color and thick for liking. Also, do they think we’re cavemen? LOL the pieces they cut up are waaaayy too big. and the breading is really mushy, like slightly soggy bread
–Braised tofu: Usually people cant mess this up, but what… LOL one of the better dishes of the night, but the tofu tasted SO WEIRD. yes, on the menu it said they had bamboo shoots in there, but the tofu is definatly not supposed to taste like that, it had a bitter aftertaste
–Beef & Broccoli: pretty standard. everything was cooked right. pretty easy to make. but… WAY. TOO. SALTY. i swear i drank like a fish after i ate this. some people might be fine with it, but i dont like too much salt in a lot of things… except in my french fries.
–RICE!!!: my coworkers said that it was too mushy and soft, which caused the rice to break a lot. Im guessing this batch, they added too much water to the rice cooker. But i mean, rice is rice. whatever.
One star! I rarely give these out. But you know, i wouldnt give them zero stars either. I had their stuff before, like their mongolian beef and that was pretty decent, minus the spiciness. and my coworkers and i were regulars of this place before

My Coworker and I were originally headed to Layang Layang (LL) after reading a Unilocal friend’s glowing review. Upon our arrival there we were saddened to see that there was already a line out the door and a possible long wait. Unlike some people I don’t have time for nonsense so I started to look around for other options close by. We did notice Chili Palace (CP) as we were parking, but I’m not a huge fan of Chinese food. However I did note a lot of Unilocal reviews mentioning «spicy» and they do have the word «Chili» in their name so how bad could it be? Plus, I love calling audibles; it’s how I roll. We ordered a nice assortment to get a feel of the place. Here are my thoughts:
Hot & Sour Soup– This comes out complimentary to all their guests and it was very good. It had a nice soy sauce flavor with a dash of heat at the end. My only complaint is it was a bit salty but not enough to distract. 3.5*
Green Onion Pancake– This is not something I normally would order –in fact it was the first time I’ve had it– but my cohort usually does when eating Chinese. It was OK. I found it to be a bit oily and it did not have a lot of onion flavor; however I did like the texture: a bit chewy with a little crunch. 2.5*
Shanghai Steamed Dumplings (aka XLB) — This was my first time trying XLB but my accomplice (a self-​annointed expert) claimed it was good but not great; he said they were good for a first timer. I personally thought they were delicious and would definitely order them again. All three elements (soup, meat and dumpling) were delicious. 4*
Bell Pepper Beef Chow Fun– The Chow Fun had a nice flavor that can best be described as clean. They also have a nice touch of heat at the end that kinda sneaks up on you but that didn’t prevent me from adding some Chili-​Garlic (conveniently located on the table) which really took this dish to a whole new level. The veggies were terrific as well and the beef was super-​tender. 4*
Mongolian Beef– This is my standard «go-​to» dish that I order whenever I eat Chinese and CP’s version did not disappoint. The beef was, again, super-​tender and the onions had a nice subtle crunch. The sauce was good but could’ve been a bit sweeter and a little spicier but those are minor gripes. 4*
Service and Ambiance– CP was pretty empty when we first walked in (which can always be a bit worrying) but it quickly filled up (other LL refugees?) The décor (one of my favorite things at Chinese joints) is very reminiscent of Chinese New Year and very pleasant on the eyes. The service was not very good but they seemed a bit understaffed and they were all bustling about in a flurry so it wasn’t due to a lack of effort. 3*
While CP wasn’t my first choice for lunch I’m glad I came. Their food was very good and they don’t heavily sauce any of their dishes (which is one of my major gripes with Chinese food). While I still can’t say I’m a fan of Chinese food, I can say I’m a big fan of Chili Palace.