China Chef

Fried oysters were the bomb, just a little too much breading for my liking but it doesn’t taste like it was fresh from the can so that’s a bonus. The fried chicken skin was warm and perfectly crispy plus the vinegar they give you with it gives it a little extra kick. Only complaint is the tokwa’t baboy, it’s not prepared the traditional Filipino way which we asked the server and she said it was so a little bit of a letdown but at least the pork was flavorful and didn’t taste porky even though the tofu was not as crispy.

There aren’t many decent Chinese restaurants in Morton Grove, but China Chef makes the grade. They have a lot of Filipino items (the owner is Filipino) too, but the Chinese food is nothing to sneeze at. They have a lot of the standard Americanized Chinese dishes, but there’s a decent selection of authentic items.

My family has been going here for over 20+ years. The place does need to be renovated with new furniture and carpet, but the food is good here.
We normally order the Pancit Guisado, mongolian beef, salt and pepper shrimp, and etc. All of them are very delicious. Normally I’m not a fan of Chinese food, but this place would be the only Chinese food that I would go to.

I’ve visited the establishment a few times and I have not been disappointed. The dishes and service are outstanding. I am happy to see dim sum on their weekend menu. I plan on visiting again.

I’ve been coming here since I was little. Not sure if it’s an emotional attachment to this place, but I come here when my Chinese cravings kick in. I can honestly say, living in Chicago, I have not found a traditional Chinese restaurant (outside of China Town) that compares. Love the Mongolian beef and the pancit guisado. This place can get packed, so beware of that bottleneck parking lot on busy days.

I have been there a few times but this last time our waiter was pretty rushed! Even with him rushing us the food was amazing and I really enjoyed my experience there. I would definitely recommend this place! Just make sure you don’t get upset about how fast they want you in and out…

Placed an order on superbowl sunday at 1:30 pm for a 5:30 carryout. In a five minute ride, came home with an ice cold unnappetizing dinner. The eggrolls were limp, soggy, and not at all crispy.
the cantonese bbq ribs (2 orders) were burnt tiny bits of ribs. The rest of the meal was ‘meh’.
If one wants full sized meaty juicy bbq ribs, try sum’s chop suey on dempster. Along with crispy eggrolls. Won’t be ordering anything from here again. tried china chef based on some of these reviews.

Terrible service… tried calling to order for pickup and was told that I couldn’t substitute my friend rice. I was willing to even pay 1 $ more to get the rice I needed and they denied it. Very unhappy with the fact that they can’t accommodate to the customers that want to give them money.

This restaurant has been in business during the 70s waay before I even existed and has always been my favorite Chinese restaurant since I lived in Morton Grove from the years 1996 – 2006. I currently live in San Francisco Bay Area but I really do miss the way Chinese food is made in Chicago land. Whenever I visit my folks I always make an effort to come to this place because there are items here that are simply hard to find in California.
For the eggrolls is of the best that I’ve ever had with it’s crispy deep fried shell, cabbage with a peanut buttery texture mixed with pork and shrimp is well worth the $ 2 price. China Chef also has it’s own spin on Filipino favorites like Lumpia Shanghai and Pancit gusado. You would have the try it out as it doesn’t taste like a traditional Filipino version but is changed and enhanced with their own recipe.
The sweet and sour sauce I believe is their own recipe too as you really can’t buy anything closely like it from any store or most Chinese restaurants.
The Ho-​to-​tai soup is something I don’t normally see in any other Chinese restaurant especially in California however it is great! It’s almost like a wonton soup but a lot more stuff in it like shrimp, egg, and other veggies.
This review is coming from someone who used to live in Chicago but now lives in a pro dominantly Asian area in California with many different styles of Chinese food and other Asian food in my current neighborhood. This type of style and quality is simply hard to find outside of Chicago. When I moved out of Morton Grove, I always compared all of the local Chinese restaurant places to this. This still one of my favorite Chinese restaurants even after a decade of moving out of Chicago. Fun fact is there it is very rare if not impossible to find egg foo young in any Californian Chinese restaurant.

Great Chinese food. Good quality. My favorite dish is chicken kow and China chef is the only place that gets it right every time. I have been getting food here for a very long time so I couldn’t resist not giving it a 5 Star. Otherwise, I feel that they can improve on their customer service a bit considering how long they have been in business.

China Chef is a nice, consistent, local Chinese restaurant that also offers a few Filipino dishes. The staff and owners are friendly and recognize the regulars with a smile and a wave. The best deals here are the weekday dine in lunch specials. Soup, fried rice, entrée, and depending on what you order, maybe an egg roll too. If you’re choosing a saucy entrée like shrimp with lobster sauce, I recommend substituting white rice for fried. Likewise if you’re watching your sodium intake. Lunch specials are available for carry out as well. As many Unilocalers have pointed out, instead of the soup, you get a plastic fork and napkin. ;P
The dinner menu is very reasonable and reliable. My family loves the Lomi, or soft noodles with lobster sauce and the Lumpia Shanghai (small meat egg rolls). Salt and pepper anything is good here (smelt, squid, pork, etc.). Yesterday we tried ordering something new off the specials menu, but we weren’t impressed. The special was Eggplant with spicy pork — was way too sweet and the dish overall was not spicy unless you ate one of the peppers. The eggplant was properly cooked though — not hard and not mushy. Something I have yet to master at home. Another thing I haven’t been able to replicate is their Egg Drop Soup. So smooth and silky. It’s my daughter’s favorite soup.
The parking lot can get full during peak hours. Don’t park in the lot next door with the laundromat and Nano’s Pizza. Look for street parking along Lincoln or the side street just West of the restaurant. It’s the suburbs, so no meters to worry about.
The owners always donate gift certificates to the local school fundraisers and occasionally sponsor the Morton Grove Farmers’ Market. China Chef also offers catering and is open on Christmas Day!

After our other regular Chinese restaurant went downhill, this place has become the family’s new go-​to Chinese place for a decent, sit-​down, Chinese meal in the near suburbs.
We always order the Pancit and the Ho Do Tai soup. Both are excellent choices. They also have all the regular chinese take-​out dishes like mongolian beef and egg rolls. They have a pretty decent walnut shrimp as well. We’ve tried quite a few of their menu dishes including some of the not so typical ones like the taro duck. All of them have been good, nothing spectacular, but definitely solid.
They recently started a new dim sum menu, for anyone who is craving dim sum and not willing hike all the way to Chinatown. It is a bit pricier than Chinatown, but may be worth it. Quality is decent, I believe they are made to order as it took a little longer.
This is one of the larger Chinese restaurants in the area, they have quite a bit of seating, I don’t think we’ve ever waited for a table. And we also hosted a family/​close friends birthday party for my niece here which they were very accommodating of.
Overall a great family restaurant with quality Chinese (and some Chinese-​Filipino) dishes.

This place is consistently serving quality food. They have one of the best egg rolls I’ve ever had. It’s the old school kind made with a touch of peanut butter. And it’s a decent size. I love the wonton and hot and sour soups and they have a nice selection of others. Mongolian beef is solid but I opt for the Mongolian chicken instead. If you like the old time Chinese restaurants you’ll like it here. We drive down from Highland Park to come here.

Had the Pancit today. Nice big shrimp and tasty. They have added Dim Sum to the menu on weekends. Will try it one day.

My friend lives close by and has always had family parties here including her rehearsal dinner. The food has always been good and plentiful. It’s been a while since my friend had an event here so I was glad I was in the area one day and ordered take out.
The menu is Chinese (mostly the old-​school take-​out kind of options) and Filipino fare.
The Ho Do Tai soup is light but so full of flavor. I love that the veggies (chinese cabbage and mushrooms) are super fresh and not overcooked and there was nice bits of pork and shrimp.
The Camaron Rebosado (Fried shrimp) is tasty but could use a bit longer to drain some of the oil off after frying. These are nice sized shrimp, battered and crispy fried. My other favorite is the BBQ Fried Rice – a little on the greasy side, great flavor and full of bits of bbq pork.
My take out order was ready in exactly the time they quoted which was nice. The space is certainly dated, nothing really special stands out except maybe the giant fish tank. The parking lot is small and cramped… you’re better off parking on the street.
Old school Chinese take out is one of my favorite kinds of comfort foods and it’s pretty good here.

Fried rice did not had a good color or taste. My green peppers and steak was okay but did not like the sticker on my Green pepper makes me think they don’t wash their vegetables. The only good thing service is fast.

Forgot about this place. Used to come with my parents and siblings. Huge portions pretty good food. Great customer service, hard to find not on a main road. Parking is small and cramped. In addition to Chinese they also have Filipino food.
Go hungry roll away full

Um… I have no idea what happened to this place. My family has lived less than a mile from here for over ten years but have only eaten here once or twice. We ordered from China Chef today for the first time in several years and it was beyond disappointing.
*The chicken chow mein was slippery, slimy, and gross.
*The kung pao shrimp was loaded with vegetables and maybe 5 pieces of shrimp total.
*They didn’t give us any fortune cookies!!!
The only reason I gave two stars was for the superb crab rangoon. But everything else we ordered was just plain bad.

My family has been ordering food here for as long as I can remember. We used to live pretty far from China Chef, so it was always a treat whenever we got their food. These days, we usually just order for take out and it’s our go to place whenever we have dinner at my sister’s place. All I can say is that the value is great for the quality and quantity of food you get. We can easily have food for days for a fraction of the price of going out to a sit down restaurant. Their menu is a combination of Cantonese and Filipino food.
Ho Do Tai Soup — I don’t think I’ve seen this soup at any other restaurant I’ve been to. It’s a pretty simple soup with just shrimp, some veggies and a light broth, but it’s so delicious. The Filipino in me loves to pour that salty broth all over some white rice.
Mongolian Beef — Usually at Chinese take out places, the mongolian beef dish is half onions and not too much meat. Nope, not here. They don’t mess around. Literally it is all beef. They might throw a green onion on top but that’s just for show. The beef has the perfect amount of caramelization on the outside and the sauce was slightly thick with a nice bold flavor. Hands down the best mongolian beef I’ve ever had anywhere. On their menu they list it as spicy, but it’s not at all.
Camaron Rebosado — This is the dish that made me love this place ever since I was a kid. It’s basically a Filipino version of fried shrimp. There’s just something about that batter they use that makes it so crispy and delicious. It’s a little on the greasy side but it’s sooo good. We always get extra of the sweet and sour type sauce comes with it.
Lumpia Shanghai — This is one of their more average items. Filipino eggrolls are one of my favorite foods, but I think my family makes much better lumpia than the ones they have here.
Dungeness Crab — I’m not a big seafood fan, but my mom and sister love this dish. It’s a huge crab that has an insane amount of meat in it. It’s covered in some sort of oyster sauce.
Chicken Lo Mein — Usually when we get Lo mein at a Chinese place, the noodles are the main focus and the meat is just filler. I don’t know what it is, but I love the chicken that they put in their lo mein. It’s seriously entrée quality chicken that they throw in here. It’s tender, juicy, and has that Chinese velvet texture on the outside. For me this is more of a chicken dish with some noodles on the side haha.
Chicken Fried Rice — Maybe I’m not like most people, but I’m not a fan when there’s a ton of filler items in my fried rice, like sprouts all over the place. Like the mongolian beef, China Chef keeps it simple and their chicken fried rice is mostly meat and rice with minimal veggies, just the way I like it.
Overall, China Chef is one of the places I crave when I’m hungry and just want some quality Chinese/​Filipino takeout. It’s totally worth the drive.
Shout out to Dolan, one of our favorite servers at China Chef!

Last night we went to China Chef for a dinner hosted by my wife’s co-​worker in honor of his new 2 month old grandson. The food at China Chef is decent.
APPETIZER
Fried chicken w/​crispy fried chicken skin, calamari & chicharon.
SOUP — Ho To Tay — Chicken broth, Chicken, Bok Choy. This was pretty tasty 3.5 stars
MAIN COURSES
Fried Rice — some meat & vegetables added in 3.0 Stars
Mongolian Beef over white styrofoam noodles — Very average nothing too special 2 stars
SWEET & SOUR CHICKEN w/​green peppers & pineapple — Usually I’m not a huge fan of Sweet & Sour, but This was pretty good 4.0 stars
Seafood dish — shrimp, squid & vegetables
Pancit Guisado — ehh bland and not much taste 1.5 stars
Steamed White Fish w/​ginger, onions, cilantro w/​boiling hot oil & soy sauce — this was excellent 5.0 stars
Overall the food was a little above average with good company. This made for an enjoyable evening.