Hot Chili House Chinese Cuisine — Restaurant in Abbotsford

This is my favorite Abbotsford restaurant, the food is always delicious and ready in time with the estimate. Take out only at the moment. Over the last year I have tried a fair few menu items from their lunch specials and enjoyed them thoroughly. Here's a few recommendations from the lunch menu:

Spicy String Beans Szechuan Style: Served with rice and a small bowl of wonton soup. Easily my favorite menu item and on the right day when the beans are in season it is truly fantastic.

Chinese Style Chow Mein (Pork): Different from other chow mein I've had, has a slight rice vinegar taste to it which cuts the fattiness excellently. Very good, highly recommend trying it.

Wonton in Spicy Garlic Pepper: This is my favorite soup hands down. Nothing else can approach the delicious flavour of it. Mid to Hot spiciness depending on how used to spice you are but worth it. Has a numbing spice to it that isn't alike normal spicy foods. Mostly likely from the plentiful schezwan pepper flakes.

I have never been treated kinder by a family restaurant then here, they know the foods I like so well that often I don't even need to say what I'd like and just chat about the day for a bit. I highly recommend trying it out but make sure to eat it quickly and not let it sit, food is best freshly cooked naturally!

Now open...

We thought Hot Chili House may turn out to be a hidden gem after reading some very glowing reviews and testimonials online. Since we were in the mood for takeout this weekend we decided to give them a try. Very disappointing. Their house special ginger beef was overcooked: most pieces were very dry and difficult to chew. This was exactly the texture I expect from low quality beef that's cooked for too long.

The spicy string beans didn't fare much better. They were a bit too soft and wrinkly, a sign of overcooking again. The most egregious thing about our meal was the utter lack of flavour. The string beans were not too spicy, which I appreciated, and I could tell some salt was added, yet nothing brough out the natural flavour of the beans, nor was there a kick of anything going on seasoning-wise. The beef was heavy on the ginger flavour but the overcooking pounded out whatever texture or flavour could have been salvaged from the meat.

I've learned to set my expectations lower as someone who moved to Abby from the Lower Mainland. But it looks like I'll have to resign myself to the sad reality that no Chinese cuisine in town can come close to matching even a mediocre meal at a HK cafe or Cantonese diner in Vancouver...

My original review was after my first time sampling their food so I feel the need to update my opinion. My first observation on my first and second order is that the food is good but very bland. My second order took over 2 hrs because the online system placed my order but this wasn't noticed for over an hour when I was called and asked if I still wanted the order. I did still want my order but the food was ice cold upon arrival. My most recent order was plagued with payment issues. I tried for 10 minutes for the debit system to work which it didn't. I then agreed to pay cash but the driver didn't have change ($10) The machine finally began working but it took over 10-15 minutes so the food was completely cold. I don't appreciate having to microwave a $100 order. I will go back to my previous provider.

Great Food, excellent take out packaging but a bit cold upon arrival. The drivers could use some thermal delivery bags. Wish there was a menu with my order. Really enjoyed our meal...