Orient Express

I drove up to this unassuming strip mall to check out restaurants in the area for dinner after work. Most places seemed really quiet, but this place had a line out the door. I will say this first — I am not a big fan of the Panda Express-​type meal, but I saw you could «special order» items fresh! Now that sounds more my type.
This place is obviously a mom-​and-​pop type of shop, with the language difficulty/​pointing at the menu to order. The lady at the front confirmed I was okay waiting 10 minutes (that didn’t seem that long to wait) and I saw that my meal would be consumed sitting on a bench next to a bunch of planters (the tables were full of groups of people). This did not deter me!
I went with something I haven’t had for a long time — Hong Kong style noodles with beef and bok choy. It was steaming-​hot and filled with tons of vegetables along with the order. Great decision! Everything was cooked well, and didn’t have the greasy-​feel I was expecting. The large styrofoam package was just the right amount!
Crowds don’t always mean great food, but I can see what everybody was lining up for. This is Likely the first place I have went during my bay-​area trip that I will have to return to try something else! My only regret was not trying the potstickers — they looked amazing and I would be thinking of walking back in to grab a few of them if I was not content.
FYI — the line went fast enough that even the items at the «steam» area were constantly being replaced — no hours old anything!

Best value for takeout and best Chinese in San Ramon. friendly, small, personable and fresh.

Best Chinese food in San Ramon! This place is amazing. My usual is the mini box with steamed rice, salt and pepper chicken, and lemon chicken, sometimes I just get double the salt and pepper chicken. The mini box is pretty much the two choice combo but smaller. The salt and pepper chicken is always perfectly crunchy and just the right amount of salt and hotness from the jalapeños. The Lemon chicken is SO good. These two are my favorite here.
The owners are always super nice and very friendly! They always pack your box with food. You definitely get a lot for a small price! I believe the mini box is $ 5.75. And it sounds small but with the amount of food they pack in it, I easily get full off of it. The one choice combo is $ 6 and the two choice combo is $ 7. If you’re a broke hungry college student like me, come to this place.
The place is small. There are 2 two people tables inside. It’s more of a take out place. But there are a lot of benches and tables right outside the door. No problem finding a seat.
I love this place!

Super friendly –very busy take out joint.
Not so greasy! I found it fresh and tasty– using fresh veggies.
Great Noodles (fried rice ok)
Pot Stickers are the bomb! (no gristle or boney” fragments”)
A little on the salty side
Giving the mom and pop my business make me happy

Not sure about the negative reviews about this place but I had a great experience!
I ordered the salt and pepper chicken and it was just as good as everyone mentioned.
I also ordered the hot and sour soup, love the little kick at the end!
The guy who helped me out was extremely nice and I would definitely come back again.
Now that I know they do party trays, I’ll definitely be ordering their S+P chicken.

Not the healthiest food, but quick and cheap. Even the Safeway employees eat here instead of Safeway. Employees are busy and efficient.

I love this place! Great food! I recommend you take you family or someone in your life to this place. They will love it to!

Solid Chinese food for the price. The salt and pepper chicken/​fish is my favorite. The better is to die for! Great deal for the price, the combo plates are STACKED and could easily last me 2 – 3 meals. They also have yummy potstickers, hot and sour soup and Kung pow chicken!

I work in the area and have the occasional hankering for Chinese food, so I thought I’d give these guys a try. Overall I was unimpressed by the food quality (2 stars at best), but because of the quantity/​value I gave it 3 stars. I ordered lemon chicken and spicy tofu chicken with chow mein and ended up with enough food to easily serve 2 and maybe even 3. The total cost was around $ 8 and I was in and out of there in less than 10 minutes.
The good: The amount of food they give you for the cost is impressive. If you are starving with little money, one meal could give you an entire day’s sustenance. The people working there were nice enough and efficient.
The bad: The flavor of the food:
Lemon chicken (or orange chicken) is a guilty pleasure of mine, but in order for it to be worthwhile it needs to have several attributes: 1. the meat to batter ratio of the dish must be 1:1 or greater. In other words I don’t want 2 inches of batter on 1 inch of chicken. Meat content is important and getting one of those smaller pieces of «meat» that end up being all fried batter with no discernible protein in it just makes me unhappy. 2. the meat needs to be crisp. 3. the sauce needs to have a distinctly citrus-​y flavor and have a slight sourness to it. I want to KNOW that I am eating lemon chicken and not some other vaguely brownish sauce chicken. If it isn’t at least a little tart, why bother?! Orient Express’s lemon chicken failed on all 3. There was more batter than meat, it must have been sitting on the steamer table too long because it had very little crispiness left. Most disappointingly, I could barely taste any lemon — just a vaguely sweet sauce with a slight hint of lemon and no tartness. None. Zip.
Spicy Tofu chicken: Brownish sauce with some pepper flavor and small pieces of chicken surrounding by large cubes of tofu. Tasted vaguely of salt or soy sauce. no other flavors.
Chow mein: Large greasy noodles with no significant flavor. Even the vegetable in it seemed sad. I don’t expect much from a side dish that competes mainly with steamed rice, but even then It was just OK.
The mediocre: everything else.
Overall: good if you want a pile of food for $ 8. if you value your caloric intake and want to actually taste something for the work you’ll have to do to burn it off, go elsewhere. The 3 stars was strictly value related. I will not be coming back until I forget how little I enjoyed this meal.

Sorry we couldn’t hang — the price was inexpensive but there was no taste. Sweet and sour pork, chicken chow mein, pot stickers, spring rolls and steamed rice. They tasted like nothing. I wouldn’t come back.

$ 5 for a large soup? Sold! People are always raving about the hot and sour soup, but it’s all about corn soup! Chunks of chicken, plump kernels of corn, not too thick broth. You have to call and special order it since they don’t have it on display. I remember ordering this as a kid. Still love it! Frankly, I think it’s even better than the hot and sour soup. Perfect on a rainy day.

I finally get to try this little hole in the wall.
So it’s a little different than what I am used to when it comes to Chinese food. This reminds me of your grocery store take out section, where you choose what’s sitting under the lamp and they’ll package it for you. So you can a combination plate based on whatever is available. However, you can also ask them to cook a special or something outside of what’s sitting under the heat lamp.
The serving size is large and the price is reasonable.
I asked for the green beans (this is a «special»), salted and pepper chicken, and tofu chicken. I did not regret any of the dishes. I like that they stuffed the container, and the food was good.
I plan on coming back quite often if I am in the area.
The owners here are extremely nice. Based on their Chinese dialect, they speak Cantonese if you want to communicate with them in Chinese.
They also take credit card, woohoo!

This place is my lunch spot almost everyday for the last 3 months of Summer. Their Salt & Pepper Chicken is very good and also the best on the menu. The second best thing would be Salt & Pepper Fish (I love deep fried stuff). Their portion is as big as Texas. All for less than $ 10, which is fairly cheap.

Came to this place because of a recommendation from my older sister. She had told me that it was very comparable to the hole-​in-​the-​wall places in Oakland Chinatown, she was wrong. This place may LOOK like the places in Chinatown but it does not taste anything like it!
Noodles were very oily and chicken was chewy and seemed like it had been sitting out all day. I would not recommend this place!

*DO NOT COME HERE*
The people are ruuuuuuuude and yelled at us today when we tried to order about $ 6,000 worth of food for a 12 day conference. Who yells at their customers AND turns down business? We only asked if we could pick up at 11:30 and the girl started flipping out, screaming, waving her hands around, telling us her workers are exhausted and come from San Francisco etc etc etc. like why do I care and why are you yelling at me in the first place??? Lame.
Also, I AM Chinese and their food is mediocre at best, soggy lukewarm dishes that are anything but authentic.
There are so many better options in the area, save yourself and your tongue frustration and go somewhere else. King Palace and Imperial Delights are way better and the people, get this, understand how to treat their customers. Mind blowing.

The prepared food is okay. The chow mein and barbecue pork fried rice are very greasy and they don’t really have any flavor. Ask for soy sauce, if you have to order the prepared items.
If I am up for trying orient express in the future, I will try to order from the menu by calling ahead of time to see if those items taste better.

One of my favorite chinese take-​out!
Friendly service!
There’s always a line here every time I go! Everything here is pretty good especially for the price and the amount they give you.
It’s all about the salt and pepper chicken! You must try that before getting anything else. I’ve read a couple of reviews regarding the taste of their food. It’s not the best chinese food out here but they really do give big servings!
Only thing is that they don’t have much tables only two small tables! So we always just take it home or eat outside.

Super cheap and huge portions! They give you way more than what you pay for! I’m not a huge fan but my family loves it and brags nonstop about this place! You always have left overs! The soup is great and so are the noodles! It’s a small little hole in the wall, so you’ll be waiting in line outside but the line goes pretty fast!

Solid 4 stars. Found this place on Unilocal and now this has become my go-​to place for Chinese take out. No msg!
Expect a line when you arrive. That’s how good this place is.
I ordered the following:
chow mein — great seasoned taste and flavor!
Salt and pepper chicken — he piled it high in the brown paper bag that the togo box wouldn’t close. It was so good!
Beef and broccoli /​vegetables
I want to come back and try their salt and pepper pork, pot stickers, egg rolls, and fried rice.
Generous portions! The owner knew half the people in line by name. There are a ton of regulars here!

Closed on Sundays. Located to the right of the Verizon Wireless store.

Since I’ve discovered this place, we go here sometimes twice a week. (Depending on how lazy we are)
Best way to describe this place is like Panda Express. They have certain dishes out and if you want anything else you order it from the menu and wait 10 – 15 minutes.
There is one table inside, this is not a «dine — in» place, it’s a take out place.
I love their hot and sour soup
I love their pot stickers (except when they give me burnt ones!!!)
My better half always gets there noodles, pepper chicken and Kung Pao Chicken. He loves it.
It says they use no MSG.
You get a large portion of food for reasonable prices. (Well you get a lot of noodles or rice) It’s quick and easy if you don’t want to cook. I think it’s healthier than fast food but who knows.
I love their sweet and sour soup.

Omg NOM NOM NOM