Great and quick service, food tasted delicious, waiter checked on us frequently. Will be back soon.
Bill F.
I used to like this place for takeout, but no more. Every order lately has had problems with missing items and ingredients. For example, in my last order, my kungpao chicken had no peanuts, and was very souplike. The steamed rice was missing entirely, as were any fortune cookies (unless they've stopped providing those!) I made the mistake of not carefully inspecting all of the containers before leaving the restaurant. If you order here, don't make that same mistake!
Michael H.
At Chef Lees Mandarin House In Salinas, CA Again. We Always Enjoy Eating Here When We Get A Obsession For Chinese..!!! It's Always Full Of People. We Were Quickly Greeted And Seated Missed Damn Lunch By Five Minutes..!!! Anyway Guess We Have To Pay For Dinner. I Got The Combination Chop Suey Plate With Chicken, Shrimp, And Pork. Aidan Ordered The Double Crispy Hong Kong Noodles With Chicken. And A Small Bowl Of Wonton Soup. My Fiancée Ordered The Cury Chicken Plate.
Pat Ledo
After our last visit a year ago, I must say the food and service has definitely changed for unfortunately the worse. Chef Lee's when you first walk in is very nice and pleasant, a bit dark for my liking but overall okay, if you have difficulty seeing, reading glasses are a must to read the menu. Ordered the sweet-n-sour pork, mongolian beef, chicken chow mein, won-ton soup, white rice and fried prongs & egg rolls. Let's start with won-ton soup, it tasted a little weird and I got zero shrimp, not sure what meat is in the won ton soup but tasted spoiled, sweet-n-sour pork... it was like Chicharrón's, way over cooked and dry, after finding our waiter, I mentioned to him my issue and how dry it was and he said yeah its like that with pork, the white rice was dry like it had been sitting for awhile, can't understand that for the obvious reason, mongolian beef again was dry and over cooked, it did however have decent flavor, chicken chow mein was tasty but lacked anything else, little chicken and zero vegetables, Again I asked waiter who said they make it like that at times, the egg rolls and fried prawns were very good. Restroom had one stall out of order but clean, waiter was not attentive at all and restaurant was not busy for a Saturday night, waiters at front counter just talked and talked and could've filled water glasses, taken dirty dishes off tables etc.. kids. Overall I'm not overly excited about going back and spending $100.00 on 3 people for what I got. It should've been a clue when the restaurant was not busy on a Saturday night. I think the waiter should've made some of the dishes right or at least compensate. Over priced and greed is all I can think of. Dine at your own risk when Panda is right down the street, cheaper and far better than what I got tonight.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Egg Rolls
Pat L.
After our last visit a year ago, I must say the food and service has definitely changed for unfortunately the worse. Chef Lee's when you first walk in is very nice and pleasant, a bit dark for my liking but overall okay, if you have difficulty seeing, reading glasses are a must to read the menu. Ordered the sweet-n-sour pork, mongolian beef, chicken chow mein, won-ton soup, white rice and fried prongs & egg rolls. Let's start with won-ton soup, it tasted a little weird and I got zero shrimp, not sure what meat is in the won ton soup but tasted spoiled, sweet-n-sour pork... it was like Chicharrón's, way over cooked and dry, after finding our waiter, I mentioned to him my issue and how dry it was and he said yeah its like that with pork, the white rice was dry like it had been sitting for awhile, can't understand that for the obvious reason, mongolian beef again was dry and over cooked, it did however have decent flavor, chicken chow mein was tasty but lacked anything else, little chicken and zero vegetables, Again I asked waiter who said they make it like that at times, the egg rolls and fried prawns were very good. Restroom had one stall out of order but clean, waiter was not attentive at all and restaurant was not busy for a Saturday night, waiters at front counter just talked and talked and could've filled water glasses, taken dirty dishes off tables etc.. kids. Overall I'm not overly excited about going back and spending $100.00 on 3 people for what I got. It should've been a clue when the restaurant was not busy on a Saturday night. I think the waiter should've made some of the dishes right or at least compensate. Over priced and greed is all I can think of. Dine at your own risk when Panda is right down the street, cheaper and far better than what I got tonight.
Tricia Anne
The food was great. The server was really nice. There wasn't a lot of people when we went here. So we didn't have to wait to be seated.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Honey Walnut Shrimp, San San Soup, Fried Rice, Shrimp Fried Noodles
Sylvia Santos
Tasty Chinese food in large portions in a family friendly
I really like their sizzling rice soup, fast and friendly service. My cousin and I enjoyed a nice quiet atmosphere. Family friendly, delicious food. I will definitely return every time I visit. Plenty of parking.
Gastronome F.
I think overall the food was mediocre. I ordered chicken and it was just okay. The chicken came out in small pieces.
Sherry Cox
Very friendly staff and great service!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Mandarin Fried Chicken, Sizzling Rice Soup, Hot and Sour Soup, Chicken Chow Mein, Soup
It's Definitely not what it used to be, I remember coming to this place a few years back and everything tasted amazing. But now the quality of the food has dropped significantly and there is major portion shrinkage as well. I get the need to save money and cut costs but it shouldn't affect the quality and effort put into the food. For what they charge for their food I would not recommend this place.
Malachi Licea
Overall it wasn't the best food, not the best service, also the drinks we had both tasted like dirty water (we had soda). I walked in approximately 2:10pm and the lunch special ends at 3pm there was no one waiting for a seat yet took about 20mins to be seated, i asked if they could honor the special since i was there on time and it was about 2:30-40 and i was told no.This place needs a deep clean and more staff.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Carol Newman
First time there.Best hot& sour soup I've had.Very attentive staff.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Sylvia Madrigal
Spent 4 hours talking to and catching up with a great friend and no had a problem with us being there for so long. Thank you CEF LEE'S SALINAS CA LOCATION!Wheelchair accessibility: Front door parking was GREAT for me!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Carl B.
Long time satisfied customer. Something has happened here. Some menu items no longer available, food seems flavorless and sub par. A friend told us that the restaurant has undergone a change in ownership. I hate it when that happens.
Great and quick service, food tasted delicious, waiter checked on us frequently. Will be back soon.
I used to like this place for takeout, but no more. Every order lately has had problems with missing items and ingredients. For example, in my last order, my kungpao chicken had no peanuts, and was very souplike. The steamed rice was missing entirely, as were any fortune cookies (unless they've stopped providing those!) I made the mistake of not carefully inspecting all of the containers before leaving the restaurant. If you order here, don't make that same mistake!
At Chef Lees Mandarin House In Salinas, CA Again. We Always Enjoy Eating Here When We Get A Obsession For Chinese..!!! It's Always Full Of People. We Were Quickly Greeted And Seated Missed Damn Lunch By Five Minutes..!!! Anyway Guess We Have To Pay For Dinner. I Got The Combination Chop Suey Plate With Chicken, Shrimp, And Pork. Aidan Ordered The Double Crispy Hong Kong Noodles With Chicken. And A Small Bowl Of Wonton Soup. My Fiancée Ordered The Cury Chicken Plate.
After our last visit a year ago, I must say the food and service has definitely changed for unfortunately the worse. Chef Lee's when you first walk in is very nice and pleasant, a bit dark for my liking but overall okay, if you have difficulty seeing, reading glasses are a must to read the menu. Ordered the sweet-n-sour pork, mongolian beef, chicken chow mein, won-ton soup, white rice and fried prongs & egg rolls. Let's start with won-ton soup, it tasted a little weird and I got zero shrimp, not sure what meat is in the won ton soup but tasted spoiled, sweet-n-sour pork... it was like Chicharrón's, way over cooked and dry, after finding our waiter, I mentioned to him my issue and how dry it was and he said yeah its like that with pork, the white rice was dry like it had been sitting for awhile, can't understand that for the obvious reason, mongolian beef again was dry and over cooked, it did however have decent flavor, chicken chow mein was tasty but lacked anything else, little chicken and zero vegetables, Again I asked waiter who said they make it like that at times, the egg rolls and fried prawns were very good. Restroom had one stall out of order but clean, waiter was not attentive at all and restaurant was not busy for a Saturday night, waiters at front counter just talked and talked and could've filled water glasses, taken dirty dishes off tables etc.. kids. Overall I'm not overly excited about going back and spending $100.00 on 3 people for what I got. It should've been a clue when the restaurant was not busy on a Saturday night. I think the waiter should've made some of the dishes right or at least compensate. Over priced and greed is all I can think of. Dine at your own risk when Panda is right down the street, cheaper and far better than what I got tonight.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Egg Rolls
After our last visit a year ago, I must say the food and service has definitely changed for unfortunately the worse. Chef Lee's when you first walk in is very nice and pleasant, a bit dark for my liking but overall okay, if you have difficulty seeing, reading glasses are a must to read the menu. Ordered the sweet-n-sour pork, mongolian beef, chicken chow mein, won-ton soup, white rice and fried prongs & egg rolls. Let's start with won-ton soup, it tasted a little weird and I got zero shrimp, not sure what meat is in the won ton soup but tasted spoiled, sweet-n-sour pork... it was like Chicharrón's, way over cooked and dry, after finding our waiter, I mentioned to him my issue and how dry it was and he said yeah its like that with pork, the white rice was dry like it had been sitting for awhile, can't understand that for the obvious reason, mongolian beef again was dry and over cooked, it did however have decent flavor, chicken chow mein was tasty but lacked anything else, little chicken and zero vegetables, Again I asked waiter who said they make it like that at times, the egg rolls and fried prawns were very good. Restroom had one stall out of order but clean, waiter was not attentive at all and restaurant was not busy for a Saturday night, waiters at front counter just talked and talked and could've filled water glasses, taken dirty dishes off tables etc.. kids. Overall I'm not overly excited about going back and spending $100.00 on 3 people for what I got. It should've been a clue when the restaurant was not busy on a Saturday night. I think the waiter should've made some of the dishes right or at least compensate. Over priced and greed is all I can think of. Dine at your own risk when Panda is right down the street, cheaper and far better than what I got tonight.
The food was great. The server was really nice. There wasn't a lot of people when we went here. So we didn't have to wait to be seated.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Honey Walnut Shrimp, San San Soup, Fried Rice, Shrimp Fried Noodles
Tasty Chinese food in large portions in a family friendly
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Sizzling Rice Soup, Orange Chicken, Chicken Chow Mein, Mongolian Beef, Egg Rolls
I really like their sizzling rice soup, fast and friendly service. My cousin and I enjoyed a nice quiet atmosphere. Family friendly, delicious food. I will definitely return every time I visit. Plenty of parking.
I think overall the food was mediocre. I ordered chicken and it was just okay. The chicken came out in small pieces.
Very friendly staff and great service!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Mandarin Fried Chicken, Sizzling Rice Soup, Hot and Sour Soup, Chicken Chow Mein, Soup
Restaurantji Recommends
It's Definitely not what it used to be, I remember coming to this place a few years back and everything tasted amazing. But now the quality of the food has dropped significantly and there is major portion shrinkage as well. I get the need to save money and cut costs but it shouldn't affect the quality and effort put into the food. For what they charge for their food I would not recommend this place.
Overall it wasn't the best food, not the best service, also the drinks we had both tasted like dirty water (we had soda). I walked in approximately 2:10pm and the lunch special ends at 3pm there was no one waiting for a seat yet took about 20mins to be seated, i asked if they could honor the special since i was there on time and it was about 2:30-40 and i was told no.This place needs a deep clean and more staff.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
First time there.Best hot& sour soup I've had.Very attentive staff.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Spent 4 hours talking to and catching up with a great friend and no had a problem with us being there for so long. Thank you CEF LEE'S SALINAS CA LOCATION!Wheelchair accessibility: Front door parking was GREAT for me!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Long time satisfied customer. Something has happened here. Some menu items no longer available, food seems flavorless and sub par. A friend told us that the restaurant has undergone a change in ownership. I hate it when that happens.