Chef Li

Excellent customer service. Family owned. It is our go to for Chinese food. Always excellent. Always leave full. Great lunch deals. Very very clean!

By far the best Chinese place around fresh, lean and delicious. So worth it from anywhere in the Oldsmar/​Westchase area.

FINAL UPDATE: Now that I finally got a chance to try the place after it was closed I can safely say that it is some of the best Chinese food in Tampa. This is including sit down establishments as well. The variety of food is wide ranging and the flavor is out of this world. I can’t recommend enough the won-​ton soup, general tso’s chicken, and the «dim sum». I say «dim sum» in quotes because it’s really just sumai and not the all encompassing variety that dim sum is traditionally associated with. I very much encourage anyone and everyone to try this place if you live in the area and are craving some Chinese cuisine.
UPDATE May 12, 2016: looks like they passed whatever health violation they had and are back open. I will give them another shot soon and update my review based on that.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: There’s a «closed by order of health department» sign on the door today. Not a good sign…

I enjoy this place! I finally found a place that makes great Lo Mein! This restaurant is super clean! I even seen in the back cooking area before and everything is organized and well kept which makes me feel even better about eating here! Customer service has always been great as well!!!

The food was delicious! We had it delivered and it took an hour but they informed me of that before I ordered! So yummy!

I was recently looking to try a new lunch place and stumbled upon this establishment. They have a great lunch menu for $ 5.35, hard to beat that! It also includes either an egg roll or soup. I always order to go and have never been disappointed. So far I have tried the teriyaki chicken, bourbon chicken, sweet and sour chicken and lo mein with shrimp. I cant believe how much food they give you! This meal is enough for two meals for me. All were very tasty, but I have to say my favorite so far has been the teriyaki chicken. The shrimp lo mein was good, but it was a lot of starch having the lo mein and fried rice… not enough protein hehe. I always get the egg roll, it is sooooo good! Whenever I am in the mood for Chinese, this is where I go!

This is the closest It gets to NYC Chinese take out. The food is phenomenal for take out. The chicken is always fresh and they always nail the order for delivery. My wife and I have become weekly regulars since we’ve moved to west chase. We forgot to order an item we typically order in our weekly order tonight and it was in the bag and I wasn’t even charged for it. The staff takes great care of you!!!

The food is fresh and delicious. I had been hesitant to order Chinese food since I’ve moved to the Tampa area. After reading reviews I decided to give Chef Li a try and I’m glad I did! I definitely will make this place my Chinese food go to place!

The food is very fresh and tasty! My family loved the food and was beyond happy with the quality. We will definitely be ordering from here again! We think this is the best Chinese around!

Small, family owned restaurant with four tables that’s big on flavorful food. Ordered take out from here and everything was really good. General Tso’s chicken, pork fried rice, beef with broccoli and the egg roll were all fresh and delicious (pics attached). Definitely recommend

I LOVE Chef Li. It is my go to neighborhood Chinese NYC style take out place. I have to tell you that it is so much more that that though. I feel like I am eating fancy food from take out wear. It is fresh, it is flavorful, it is made to order.
The people who own this place, Patty and Chef Li, are lovely human beings and I think that puts it over the top. These are hardworking business owners who care about their customers and who care about quality food.
The food is ready in a flash, the place is clean, it is unbelievably cheap. My favorite is the sesamee chicken and the wonton soup. They also have delightful dumplings and dim sum. My mom really enjoys the orange chicken here. I have also had great seafood dishes including the kung pao shrimp – shrimp as big as your head.
You won’t regret your stop here.

Reasonable Chinese food, which is saying something in this area. Don’t expect anything spicy, even in the Hunan-​style dishes. Everything we had was American-​Chinese style but fairly well done.
Hot & Sour Soup — neither Hot nor Sour, but still managed to be tasty
Egg Roll — ok, wouldn’t order it again, not much flavor but not oily either. Not bad, just not great.
Orange Beef — good, crispy beef with nice sauce, light breading — one of the better presentations I’ve had of this dish
Don’t plan on eating in here. Do they have tables? Technically, yes. The lighting made me think I was being interrogated. Everything was served in to-​go dishes with plastic-​ware.

The chicken they use is better than any other Chinese place I’ve ate at in Tampa. It’s white, tender and big pieces. Normally in General Tso chicken, other places use the lowest grade stuff and you can tell. Chef Lee uses the good stuff and you will recognize the difference. Egg rolls, crab Rangoon, and hot and sour soup also all really good. Hot and Sour soup had noticeable fresh ingredients. I’m glad a Chinese place finally decided to use good ingredients and not use the cheapest stuff available. I hope it will pay off for Chef Lee and more people will go out of the way to buy from him. There are 4 Chinese places in West Chase, and I will drive by all 4 to go to Chef Lee from now on. Everyone in West Chase should too.

I had a late work night so I figured on my way home I just pick up Chinese food! Well, great choice ! It was the first time I ordered pick up here and it actually turned out pretty tasty ! We had orange chicken combo, house special teriyaki chicken and general tso chicken combo all with fried rice and it comes with an egg roll if you order the combo ! Flavor was good for all three!
In addition I ordered us egg drop soup which was honestly way too much ! The egg drop soup IMO lacked a bit of flavor so I wouldn’t recommend that. Otherwise I will most likely order there again but if you order the combo meal that’s plenty of food. Staff was super friendly when I ordered and upon pick up

We order from here at least once a month. Their food is always very fresh and reasonably priced. Tried the General Tso last time and it was very good. Not spicy though, so I will be asking them to make it hotter next time. Delivery is super quick, they say 45, but it’s normally 30. Never been to the location, so I’m not sure if you can eat in. Had the burbon chicken and beef and broccoli before, which were also good. Will continue to eat here.

Growing up in new york, I am picky about my Chinese Take out. Chef Li is definitely not NYC worthy, however, they are a solid Chinese establishment. They are not greasy, they use great cuts of meat and light breading. I ordered a General Tso with pork fried rice. The rice did not have bean sprouts (which I see in most NY Chinese places) and it lacked in pork. The Chicken had a good amount of sauce and when I bit into it, I could barely taste the breading. I like their honesty and the fact that they don’t deceive you with chicken crumbs that are 70% breading. The flavor was light and pleasant and I didn’t feel bloated.

So, we went here again today, just to make sure that my first review was indeed a good review. And Let me tell you, THIS PLACE ROCKS!!!
My family and I were very very happy with our food tonight. Of course, we had the chicken egg foo young again, extra dark sauce, and it was just as delicious as it was the first time I had it. We also had the shrimp fried rice and sweet and sour chicken, and let me tell you again, this place is GOOD! The food was amazingly hot, delicious, great, good, and I don’t even know what else to say. My kids, who are as picky as their mama when it comes to food, were so happy and we are all sitting around now fat and happy.
When we got there, the owner was in the back, so a lady took our order, and you know I told her that I wanted my egg foo young gravy dark like my husband. So when the owner came out, he said «Hey you came back. How was the food?» And when we told him we loved it he said good and when he looked at our order he said, «Extra dark sauce I remember». That means a lot to me. I like that he remembered us and with service like that we will keep me coming back.
So now that I am convinced that this place is legit, we will be coming here for our monthly Saturday Chinese food takeout.
If you are near the Oldsmar area and looking for sumin good to eat, do try Chef Li. The only reason I don’t give them 5 stars is because although they are good and better than ANY Chinese restaurant we have had in FL, some items could be a bit better.

I am giving this place three stars only because the food here is not the best Chinese but it was pretty good. I ordered the general tso chicken, the boneless spare ribs, pork fried rice, and an egg roll. The sauce for the ribs was really good; however, I was not a fan of how the inside of the ribs tasted. I felt as if the fried rice was cooked perfect. My favorite was the general tso chicken. Unlike other Chinese takeout places, the chicken here was made with real white meat chicken breast. I like the fact that I can’t second guess what kind of chicken they use. In addition, they did not use a thousand pounds of breading. The egg roll was not drenched in oil when it arrived. They also put generous amounts of filling, which also tasted good. The portions here are pretty big, in my opinion. The guy who took my order estimated about 45 minutes for delivery, and they got to my house in about 30 minutes. Although I am only giving this place three stars, this is officially my go to choice for Chinese takeout food. Knowing that takeout places use real meat, is a big plus in my book!

It’s a nice, clean little place with 4 tables and very friendly owner. The prices are great and the portions are a nice size, too. The quality of the food was also above par. My only problem was with the flavor. It was just lacking and needed some heavy-​handed doses of soy sauce and duck sauce.
The egg drop soup came out piping hot, which I like, but it was a bit thin and very bland. The lo mein was flavorless, but the texture of the noodles and meat was very nice. The pork fried rice had one little piece of pork in it and nothing else and it too, needed some help in the flavor department.
I would come back if I were in the area because I appreciate good quality and friendly service, but I’ll be inclined to see what else is around first.

We got our food to go and they kindly gave us some free pot stickers cause of our large order. I would say the food was better tasting than average and also cheaper than average. However, the meat dishes were somewhat minimal and a liberal application of soy sauce and/​or hot mustard were required to reach the bottom position of my totally subjective flavor scale.
Bottom line. They offer a good deal but this isn’t a taste sensation.