Pagoda House

Hidden little spot with great service, friendly people and authentic chinese food. I got the honey walnut prawns with fried rice, was delicious and I would def go again.

this place has been in san jose for 40+ years and we used to go very often but i have not been there for a good 30, went there for nostalgia purposes and ordered 3 dishes. stir fried green beans, salt and pepper pork and a hong kong style chow mein to go. the food was not great but not terrific, the reason i drop 1 star on these guys is because of the chow mein. i bought it for my brothers dinner, he opened the container and immediately smelled a musty mold like smell and he would not eat it. i suspect that this restaurant does not sell hong kong style noodles often and they went bad on them, to serve it to me is disgusting.

I’m not a fan of their chow mein but I love their salt and pepper shrimp! Better to take home than eat in.

The décor is from the 90s, the food style is mix of American and old school Chinese. Depending on what you order, but it has a bit of something for each preference. Go during their hours and you will find a great complete meal for under $ 8.

Pagoda House is a family-​owned Chinese restaurant that’s had its ups and downs in the time I’ve been going there. The family that owned it when I started going there left has apparently gone to a new place called Yen Ching off of Capitol Expressway. When the new family took over the food wasn’t nearly as good, and the staff seemed really timid and stiff. Since then things have been improved a great deal, and I’ve become a regular again. It’s still a little more expensive than it used to be though, and outside of the set meals you can expect to pay $ 10 – 12 per person for a typical family style meal.
For getting a good price, their individual meals and lunch specials are the way to go. You can get a pretty good meal for $ 6.50 or so that way, though keep in mind these usually consist of an entrée, chow mein, and fried rice, so it’ll be pretty carb-​heavy. For taste, their best dishes tend to be ones that step away from the cliché Chinese food served in America. The garlic chicken wings are great for example, and they have good noodle soup dishes too. The chicken salad, while not exactly authentically Chinese (I have a Chinese-​American friend who insists that Chinese cuisine does not use uncooked vegetables) is really good as well.
For tea, both hot and iced, they serve jasmine green tea, which is quite good if you’re not allergic to jasmine like I am. They also have soda, including the Mexican Jarritos, and a few kinds of beer.
The ambiance is about what you’d expect from a family-​owned Chinese restaurant, decorated with a modicum of the kind of Chinese kitsch you can get in pretty much anywhere in Chinatown. They have a TV going most of the time, and sometimes I’ll see their kid hanging around the restaurant killing time or whatever.

This review is only for the soup; I have been coming here for the last 2 years just to get my won ton soup fix! I will admit that this restaurant is in the ghetto but their soup is sooo good! Definitely my number one pick in the area!

My family use to get take out from here at least twice a month. This was back in the early 80’s, yeah a Long time ago. There was a Chinese man with a limp that use to help us and he was very very nice. Too bad that there was too many changes from what I hear. We use to get beef broccoli, lemon chicken, egg foo yung, beef chow mein w/​pan fries noodles, brown rice and steamed rice. If it has changed from the quality in the 80’s then I wont go there no more… Does anyone remember the place in the 80’s???

I used to come here fairly often. The food was excellent, especially the Wor Wonton Soup. Nancy said it took hours to cook the broth and it has a sauce on the top that brought tears of happiness! But the old owners got tired and sold. Unfortunately, the new owners changed immediately! No more Wor Wonton! Unforgivable! Why do away with the finest soup on the planet? Now the food is average chines takeout quality. The new décor is stark and unappealing. The new owner is friendly, but desperately needs to change this place. I have put them on semi-​permanent probation on my favorites list which means in about a year I will try again and if they still fail, they go on the do not patronize list. I hate the changes here! Please restore the old menu items

The best chinese food in the area. The owner is very nice. When she went on vacation, her substitute was not nice and she told me that the «buy 10 and get one free» cards were not valid when they actually were. Made me mad. I stayed away from Pagoda House until the owner returned. Great food, though!

This place is better than the typical fast food Chinese food. We tried Pagoda twice during the past two months. We like the beef dishes and feel the chicen dishes are average, not memorable. Although we do not like sodium or MSG in our food, the dishes were slightly towards the bland rather than spicy interesting.
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Decided to check out this place on a friends’ recommendation — we got the $ 5/​-​lunch special; it was good, yes the food seemed a bit bland & salty but for this price its’ ok. Would definetly go again as its’ closer to work and reasonable priced.

So i used to be a HUGE FAN of this place. Like another reviewer mentioned this place has come under new management. And due to the change the entire place has just gone down hill.
Nancy the previous owner remembered me by name and recognized my voice when i called in orders to go. She even remembered how i like my dish as im picky and they make me a special plate.
I truely miss the original owners. And i would go out of my way to recommend this place to people not just because the food was good but the owner and atmosphere.
There are definetely better places to go for Chinese food.

Oh my god they give you a lot of food here! I was in the mood for chinese food today, and I didnt want to drive far to get it, so I decided to check this place out. Its not too far from Downtown, down the street from the infamous Wendy’s where the lady pulled the Finger in the Chili bit.
I was pressed for time so I ordered my food to go.
I ordered the chinese Chicken Salad which they stuffed into a clam shell to go container, it was really good. Lots of crispy fried chicken and fried wonton skins. I also ordered a combination lunch plate consisting of Pork chow mein, pork fried rice, and Mongolian beef. Again I got a to go containter piled high with food. the chow mein and fried rice were not any more or less special than any other chinese places around. The Mongolian beef was spiced very nicely, with lots of green onion.
All around it was a very enjoyable lunch, I couldnt finish it all because they pile it high.
The place isnt in the best of location… kind of in the hood, and its next to a liquor store. But the food is tasty enough, and they give you lots of it.