Kung Pao Kitchen

Get the house chow mien, its phenomenal. Probably the best chow mien in the LM area. If you want great house fried rice then go to China Garlic on Piedmont — just fyi. This place is great though and worth a try.

Kung Pao Kitchen is just a 2 person circus. expect delays in getting food. time given was 15 – 20 minutes for one order.
eats: eggplant with spicy (5.25lunch special)
–white rice clumpy, probably last night’s leftovers
–egg plant ok, spiciness was on top of sweet & sour sauce. huh?
–fried twists day old
2.5 stars
take outs:
–was asked if a wanted fork, said no
–check later, no cookie nor napking given either.
–wouldn’t repeat, pizza’s better next door. 2 stars?
foodnotes:
–yet wah restaurants in s. f used flour tortilla as mu shu pancakes decades ago.
very time consuming to make, no commercial vendors then making mu shu pancakes.

Astonishingly bad for the price. Ordered the curried chicken.
Bland and tasteless.

Moo shu pork was pretty good. Sweet and sour chicken is dry and tastes fishy. Green beans are ok but not great. Delivery was reasonably timely.

I hate when a small business is a let-​down. You want to give them your business and expect them to come-​through, but then something happens that makes you question their entire process. I went to this place after receiving a great manicure next door. I had limited time to get back from lunch so I tried it out. I walked in to an empty restaurant and wondered if it might be closed. After waiting for about 5 minutes, a woman popped her head up from the counter. She laughed and apologized, her favorite show was on.

For the price and style (almost Chinese take-​out), this place is a good value. Been their many times and food is consistent. The couple, I think, who runs it is real friendly.

Somehow, Kung Pao Kitchen managed to ruin even the most standard dishes. This is unequivocally the worst Chinese I’ve ever had. What we ordered:
Shrimp chow mein — had one shrimp in the entire order. And the noodles were dry and flavorless
Chicken fried rice — I think they forgot to fry about half of the container
Hot and Sour Soup — tasted like they made the stock from pennies from the cash register
Crab puffs — stale and had virtually no filling. Bland flavor.
Pot stickers — again virtually no filling, bland flavor, and was not given any sauce

I love this place! I have been here a few times and each time has been a great experience. Note: I have always ordered my food to-​go. If you are not sure about what to order, the lady at the counter has a few suggestions.
The Kung Pao Chicken is very good, but it is a little too spicy for me (you can customize the level of spiciness). My favorite by far is the Garlic Chicken. It comes with rice, a few pieces of some kind of fried chip and a lot of garlic chicken. The chicken was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The sauce was the best part. It was so good that I had to spread it all over my rice.
My only regret was not having a breath mint with me :)

Pot stickers and chicken wings are on hit and the hot and sour soup is priced ridiculously for the amount you get. The day to day flavor isn’t consistent so some days will be better than ever, but regardless, make sure you have some white pepper at home. I haven’t tried much else here.

First the good: they deliver… and with a smile.
The bad: tried to pass off flour tortillas as mushu pork pancakes. We’ll call that Mexican-​Asian (con)fusion. And the rest of the food: meh. Even the fortune cookies were sub-​par.

If you’re looking for that cheap Chinese food that hits the spot, this place isn’t it. I should have listened to the previous Unilocal reviewers on this one. I thought people were exaggerating when they said there was «more bread than chicken» on some of the chicken items. They were right! If this was an inexpensive, «2 Item Combo» Chinese buffet place, I would have STILL been surprised at how bad the quality was.
I’ve eaten at plenty of hole in the wall Chinese food establishments, from LA skid rows, to China, to Africa, to NYC and back to the Bay area. This one has to be the worst that I’ve had in memory. NEVER AGAIN!

Kung Pao Kitchen is my sorta dive «go-​to» place. I like it here! Maybe «dive» is a little harsh for them. It’s not like the place is dirty or dangerous or anything. It’s fast, reasonably priced and easy. And they’re pretty much always open and available when I’m looking for some quick, good, basic Chinese food. Everyone needs a place like this in their dining repertoire and Kung Pao Kitchen fits the bill quite well, I think.

Very reasonably priced, and amazing food. The menu is extensive and the portions are huge. Delivery is super quick and reliable, and we always get consistent service here.
It seems like a small/​family business, which I love. The woman is so abrasive that we find her lovably enchanting.

I eat here occasionlly. Brown rice is an option with meals (altho $ 1.50 more), and everything is made fresh. Get anything with broccoli, because they cook it just right.
I believe they use MSG unless you ask them not to, which I did. I also asked for less salt; the chef came out and asked me if soy sauce was ok and i said yes. I have tried a few different dishes and they all were good.
The downside is that this is a small storefront. One of the tables near the counter always seems to be occupied by a Chinese newspaper, no person, just the paper. They frequently have a TV behind the counter (Chinese TV) and sometimes it is difficult to understand the person at the counter. And the napkins are tiny.
However, the meals are plentiful and healthful. You get free soup, and the staff is cheerful. I leave full and satisfied.

This restaurant dropped a bunch of delivery menus at my apartment building, so I figured why not try it… this is a neighborhood Chinese joint which seems to have no illusions about what kinda place it is
I actually called in an order instead of delivery, but delivery is free after $ 15. Not bad!
The people here are super nice, which makes it hard to give a mediocre review but sadly the food just isn’t that great :/​
I had fried crab wonton… they were somewhat soggy and the inside was a weird, spotted (really!) and somewhat cheesey tasting thing that was totally unappetizing… I ate around the middles and just had the part with no filling, haha.
Combination kung pao fried rice was the best thing i had. Pretty good fresh/​hot!
Tofu soup was bland. I don’t think they even made broth… just put vegetables and tofu in water. o. O
HK crispy noodles was alright, too.
The portions are HUGE, which is nice… but sadly the flavor just ain’t there :/

Why Kung Pao Kitchen?
Why didn’t you answer your delivery phone line last lazy Monday afternoon?
You tease me with all your goodness on your menu and then ring ring ring and nothing!
Can I count on you next time? I hope someday you will stop screening my phone call and not leave me feeling like needy hungry chick.

No steam tables and everything is cooked to order. Not your run of the mill Chinese fast food. You will have to wait a few minutes but for the price it is well worth it. Parking in this area is a bear.
The weird thing about the food here, is the vegetables. They taste… Like vegetables. The eggplant tastes like eggplant. The bell peppers taste like bell peppers. It’s strange. I don’t consider myself a Chinese food expert, but I do know somethings about food. Any time you can taste the «Layers» in any dish someone is doing something right. IMHO.

Pretty good delivery Chinese food (Americanized, but sometimes that is good), with great service — open long hours every day, and reliable delivery.

Ok… so this is *definitely* not traditional Chinese food BUT it’s the closest to east coast style takeout Chinese food on the west coast. I’ve been grateful for this greasy, delicious guilty pleasure.
The orange chicken, sesame chicken, lo mein and (of course) the kung pao chicken are pretty good.
Delivery has always been fast and reliable.

Oddly enough, my favorite dish here is the kung pao tofu. If memory serves, I had it three times in two weeks (and I’m not a vegetarian).
Very consistent Americanized Chinese food. The food is evenly cut and cooked, and the regular Chinese dishes on the menu lead me to believe the chef here is legit.
Also like the way they do the chow mein with thicker, hand stretched style noodles.