Village Gourmet Chinese Restaurant

Still really yummy and the staff is still incredibly professional and polite. This is so awesome for lunch on a rainy day with the soup and green tea. Scallion pancakes, wonton soup, seafood thai curry soup, shrimps in blackbean sauce and general tsos chicken. All were delicious. And the chef makes the dishes look so delicious. Take a look at the pics.

Been a customer for 18 years. My family and friends have ordered from Village Gourmet since I was a little kid. That goes to show the food consistently tastes good. But I’ve noticed some changes in the past 5 years or so worth mentioning. They stopped giving free white rice with take out orders, no matter how much money you’re spending. My advice is to order more than you THINK you need. I’ve watched the containers of friend rice and Lo mein get smaller and smaller over the years.
Also, they don’t offer/​accept coupons anymore! These changes I’ve mentioned have brought my family to finally make the switch to a different Chinese place after ALL these years. We’d consider coming back if they made coupons available again. Otherwise, the food tastes great, but the cutbacks they made result in it being too expensive to feed the whole family .
The friend rice, Lo mein, egg rolls, and any kind of chicken are always on point. Can’t go wrong with those if you’re wondering what’s good here.

This is seriously some of the best Chinese food I have had since I lived in Australia. (and they have fantastic Asian cuisine there!). The quality and quantity are great, the service is friendly and I have never gotten a bad dish from there. My friend and I randomly found this place and will never go anywhere else. They do not have delivery but their takeout is totally worth it. Nice place to go and sit down as well. Quality Chinese food!

Delicious, fresh and friendly! Tried this place for the first time last night. Loved the Thai seafood curry soup, Kung Pao chicken and sweet and sour chicken. Big portions, great quality and not too salty/​oily. We’ll be regulars!

Consistently good food. Perfectly cooked vegetables. Comfortable room and great service. Only complaint is the cramped entrance, especially when everyone’s waiting for take-​out.

Best ribs in town and better choice than upscale places like Little Litchen.

A friend introduced me to Village Gourmet a few years ago. I was blown away from the very first bite of my very first pork dumpling. And I don’t even like pork! So why did I try it? To be polite at first. And then I started to see rainbows and unicorns. I also love their steamed vegetable dumplings. I have tried many dishes from VG and I haven’t disliked any of them! The homestyle tofu is amazing and my husband regularly orders the orange chicken. Mouthwatering. I’m not a huge Chinese food eater, but this takes it to another level altogther. The restaurant is super clean, the staff is outrageously friendly and courteous and they don’t watch over you every second like in other restaurants. I’m delighted to go there. I feel very comfortable and at home. And I’m kind of an anxious person.
Take out is great as well. They give you crunchy fried dough sticks (sorry I don’t know what they’re called) and duck sauce… along with adorable fortune cookies.
This is definitely NOT your typical Chinese restaurant. Village Gourmet is all about class, amazing food and great people. I highly recommend it! Now my mouth is watering.

This place is simple to talk about. Great food served in an unpretentious atmosphere with pleasant service. I will come here again. Next time with the family.

Best place to get Chinese food in Norwalk. Food is fresh and absolutely delicious. The staff are friendly and have always made my boyfriend and I feel welcome!

Hands down BEST Chinese in Fairfield County. Unbelievable fresh. Must try: pan fried pork dumpling, crab Rangoon’s amazing, Curry big noodle bowl soup, crispy walnut chicken and shrimp is the best I’ve ever had!

First thing, if you aren’t from this area, this place is tough to find. You’d swear you are going to wind up in someone’s house driveway. Thank goodness for modern map apps on smart phones. I still missed it and drove past it the first time.
This place is basically what you would expect from your average, decent, family Chinese restaurant. It won’t blow you away, but it’s certainly tasty and a good value for the dollar. Small and cozy dining room, although it felt a tad on the cramped side. Lots of people coming and going for take out, but it’s smack in the middle of a neighborhood, so no big surprise there. The dishes are not terribly remarkable, but if you are generally familiar with family style Chinese dishes, you will get what it says and what you expect. Price is right in line with what you would expect to pay at about $ 12-​$ 20 a person for dinner and the higher end of that range would include an appetizer if you chose to order one. Portions are ample, but not excessive. Vegetables are a nice al dente and not slathered or marinated in sauce and otherwise soggy, so good there.
I wouldn’t hesitate to take family or friends here, although it’s a bit more true to family style rather than gourmet style Chinese. Set your expectations accordingly and you won’t be disappointed.

This place gets a 5 our of 5. Without a doubt the best Chinese food in Fairfield County. The servers are so nice, and fast and the food is amazing. The Seafood Dumplings are my favorite thing on the menu. They are amazing! I’m also a fan of the Sesame Chicken. Village Gourmet is such a good restaurant. You should really check it out.

I have had dinner here several times over the years and have never had a good meal.
I’m usually with friends or family who like this place and I get talked into going. «Maybe you’ll like it this time» they say– so I go. (Definition of a Fool is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result)
Where do I start? Cold Tea, Watery Soup and «No Heat Please» Mongolian Chicken that had ½ dozen hot red chilies mixed in. Ouch.
The next visit I thought I’d try the Thai food and ordered Pad Thai thinking they couldn’t mess that up. I was wrong. Ewww. It was horrible. It tasted unlike any Pad Thai I have ever had — and I’ve had a lot.
Unfortunately, we had gotten it to go so I threw it out and had a P, B & J .
Now I’m putting my foot down … I’m never going back.

The food is very good and of good quality… Takeout waits have never been long, food always hot, pleasant service… this is my go-​to for Chinese… Restaurant is very clean and in the nice Cranbury area… Enjoy
Sesame chicken/​hot & sour/​crab meat wantons are my favorites

We have been dining here since it opened over 17 years ago and believe it’s one of the better Chinese restaurants in the area. The owner is on site and closely oversees operations which is a plus. We generally like the specials using seasonal ingredients and enjoy the beef and chicken options the most although the seafood is ok. This review is not about food, which is consistently good, but rather a unique service experience which makes me hugely sad to report.
The only reason I am posting this comment is to report something that happened that I have never experienced in visiting any restaurant ever.
We arrived early for Sunday dinner and the staff wasn’t fully set up, but we were seated. We had trouble flagging someone down to take the appetizer order. We had to ask for tea (which was stone cold) and water. They were out of white wine so we were brought a really marginal glass of red wine. We quickly were delivered the fried crab dumplings which were tasty. We were only ½ done with the dumplings when our four main dishes were dropped on the table. There were no serving utensils for the entrees so those had to be requested. We had no dinner plates or silverware so that had to be requested too. We truly had no idea who our server was as each request was handled by a different person. We had to ask to have the appetizer plates cleared as the table was quite full with the entrees.
The meal itself was fine but any time we wanted water or tea we had to look to find someone as nobody seemed to be on the floor paying attention. The experience wasn’t pleasant or easy from a service standpoint. I had also brought two guests so having them experience this level of service was also off putting.
We finished and flagged someone down to get the check. I paid the bill and left a 12% tip which was less than the usual 20% we leave at the restaurant as this time the service was random and completely inattentive.
As we got up to leave a server who I can only think was the missing floor manager came over yelling and waving the check saying that the tip was not enough and that I should leave at least 20%. The restaurant was now packed so everyone was aware of what was going on and was witness to this awful scene. This person proceeded to go through the bill line by line telling me in a very aggressive manner that I had added up the bill incorrectly and so miscalculated the tip amount and that I needed to add more to the tip amount. She was totally in my face. I asked her to leave and give me a minute to review the bill.
She came back and I said everything was in order and reflected the service shortcomings which I spent 5 minutes explaining. I did add a small amount to the total but frankly I’m angry at myself that I did so. She continued to give me nasty looks and attitude and finally stomped off with the bill. I can honestly say that I have never experienced any restaurant anywhere where servers feel entitled to 20% tips for simply bringing plates to the table. Perhaps this is the new world order in the restaurant world? But if it is I plan to not pay any attention and continue to tip based on service quality. Never once while this was going on did the owner intervene, which was a huge disappointment.
I spoke with Eric the owner about this experience via phone later in the evening. He seemed to understand and said he would look into the matter. He listened closely and seemed interested to hear all the details. The thing is that even though I like this restaurant I won’t be back as I truly don’t believe that the behavior of the floor manager is not known by the owner or other staff. This truly was an awful service experience and to be directly confronted by someone that was not our server in such a public and aggressive way is something that I find totally unacceptable. I am voting with my feet and not returning!

What happened, Village Gourmet? We were regulars here for years because the food was consistently good. Now it’s hit or miss, but mostly miss. Tonight the wonton soup was inedibly salty, as was the egg drop soup. Our old favorite, the Szechuan dumplings, were nothing like the deliciously spicy and delicate dumplings of the past. General Tso’s chicken was heavy and dry. Steamed mixed vegetables with chicken was bland and the accompanying sauce was watery and couldn’t save it. At least they didn’t ruin the fortune cookies. No more tries, we’re done here. Shanghai Gourmet (also in Norwalk) is so much better; always consistently fresh and delicious.

Supper out on night one of our weekend. Before we walked in, we stopped to look at a menu and an older gentlemen stopped on his own way in to pointedly tell us how amazing the food is.
After being seated, we were asked if we minded moving for an older couple who had a seating preference. We were happy to and had no issues. We ordered cold sesame noodles to share (an item we ALWAYS get at Chinese places) as well as Duck Spring rolls. I had to ask if they had mushroom in them. Before placing the order, the waitress did ask and warned us they do. I truly appreciated this since my allergy is why I asked. I requested the scallion pancakes instead. Hubby had pan fried noodles with scallops.
The cold noodles were not especially spicy until you completely mix them with the thin sauce at the bottom of the bowl, then it hits you. The scallion pancakes are a generous portion and mostly mine since hubby isn’t normally a fan of that dish. He told me his pan fried noodles had a very mild, but tasty sauce and a good amount of both veggies and scallops.

Best Chinese in Fairfield county. Always fresh and not too oily. 100 times better than Little Kitchen. Only complaint is that they don’t deliver.

The only decent place to get Chinese food in Norwalk!
The quality is consistent and the menu contains all of your traditional favorites. No Pan Asian, fusion or sushi — like most other places. Do you know how hard it is to find Moo Shu in the area? Impossible! They’ve got it and it’s goooood. And you can keep your spring rolls and summer rolls — give me a classic egg roll any day. Hot, crispy and never oily.
This is not the «dirty Chinese» that you’ve come to accept. It’s flavorful, full of tender meats and vegetables and is sure to remind you what Chinese food should be.
We’ve only done take-​out so I can’t speak for the interior, décor or staff, but it’s worth the drive over to the somewhat random location.

My go to Chinese takeout place when I am in the area. And, I don’t really like Chinese food all too much but enjoy the food here.
Once I saw Christopher Walken and his wife dining in too.