Chinn Chinn — Restaurant in Antwerp Township

So after hearing about this place for over a year from my co-workers I decided to give it a shot. I do have a favorite Chinese food place in Coloma I prefer but they don’t open until 4pm on Saturdays, and it’s over a 45 minute drive there. By the time I get back home I have to re-heat my food. So I chose to try this one, a 15 minute drive from my house.

It started okay, the girl on the phone was very polite. Her name was Jamie. I did tell her I wasn’t sure what to order because I had not been there before, this would have been a perfect opportunity for her to suggest something, however she did not. So I ended up asking for generals chicken and some pot stickers.

She then informed me they did not have generals chicken, and suggested some mango chicken instead saying it was just about the same. Now I’m no food expert but spicy generals chicken did not sound the same as a sweet mangos chicken. So I skipped that and went for something more common. Sweet and sour chicken instead. She then asked me how I want my pot stickers. Moo’s in Coloma only has pot stickers one way so I wasn’t sure what she meant. Apparently they do fried or steamed pot stickers here. I requested steamed.

I picked up my order shocked at the price tag. $26.00 and some change. Pot stickers are Moo’s are $4.62. Sweet and sour chicken is $7.83. The price alone at Chin-Chins is almost double of what it would have cost me had I spent the drive to go to my favorite place. Had I been informed of the price tag when I ordered I would have canceled and waited for Moo’s. Jamie should have told me the bill on the phone. Just another negative mark.

Got my food home, unpacked the large bag to find…a small black take out dish with a divider in it and a large white box. The box was labeled dumplings. I chose to start there. I opened the box and looked in. The pastry itself was see through it was so thin. It had a gummy feel to it, and as little stuffing as possible. It was clear there where small pieces of green onion in it and a few tiny pieces of chicken. For the size of the pot stickers, there just was NOT enough stuffing. You had large bits with no stuffing at all. The pot sticker sauce was very bland. I ate two before tossing the rest in my rubbish bin.

Onto the Sweet and Sour chicken! Again I was disappointed. The sauce did come in a separate cup so the chicken wouldn’t get gummy. However I did note that some where gummy anyway. The sauce was so thin it reminded me of water, or maybe a sweet and sour soup as it had large bits of carrots floating around in it. The portion was extremely small for the amount of money I paid. At Moo’s if you order sweet and sour chicken you get a large container for the chicken and a large container for the sauce. Here, it’s maybe 6 pieces of chicken on one side of the black to go box.

The other side of the box had some noodles in it. Honestly in my opinion they where the best part of the meal. They had a bit of a spice to them. Not so much it was over bearing but just enough for a good bite. The noodles where done properly with no starchy aftertaste. IF I ever order here again, I’m just going to ask for the noodles.

Until then, I’m taking the drive to Coloma for Moo’s Chinese food. I would suggest that Chin Chins calls them and ask them how to make pot stickers, and sauces with flavor that stick to what you are...

Ive been to this spot a few times now, and when the food hits, it really hits. Some of the dishes are absolute standouts and keep pulling me back.

The cucumber chicken salad is to die for — super fresh with what I think is a thinner eel-style sauce that’s totally addictive. The fried prawns with Japanese curry? Legitimately the best golden curry I’ve ever had. Flavor, aroma, texture — all perfect.

We also had the chow fun, which was amazing. The noodles were new to us but worked beautifully with everything else on the plate. Fried beef dumplings were okay — the meat was soft and unseasoned, more like shredded roast beef, but the dipping sauce really brought it to life.

The drinks were incredible (and virgin, which we appreciated). There was a small mix-up and we got two of the same drink by accident, but they gave us the one we originally ordered on top of that, which was a kind gesture — and all of them were delicious.

Now, onto my one major letdown — the bibimbap. I was excited to try it, but when I asked what kind of meat came with it, I was told it was “kogi,” which in Korean just means “meat.” When I asked if it was marinated, the server said no — it was just plain, unseasoned cooked meat. That really surprised me. Bibimbap is all about balance — sweet, salty, spicy, umami, and fishy elements all working together. The meat is traditionally seasoned to help carry that flavor harmony. Using unseasoned meat in bibimbap feels like a major miss, especially when the rest of the dish relies on well-balanced, bold toppings. It made me second-guess ordering it entirely — and I ended up skipping it.

Instead, I went with the bulgogi. I didn’t mind that the beef was thick-cut instead of thin slices — that’s creative liberty — but it clearly wasn’t marinated. It tasted like beef that had been tossed in a sweet bulgogi-inspired sauce right before plating. It wasn’t bad, just flat. Lacked the depth and savory punch that bulgogi’s supposed to have. And the portion was surprisingly small, with two tiny pieces of watermelon on the side… for reasons?

Service wasn’t the strongest this visit. It felt a little disorganized — not rude, just off. Maybe the server was new or nervous, hard to tell. Order-taking could definitely be...

The two of us came in at a 7:00 pm on Saturday, walking in without a reservation. We asked a young guy with a shaved head ( which turned out to be a busboy) about how Long the wait would be. He could not give an answer or a guess. Regardless, we would wait as there were about 4 groups in front of us. As we waited, one of the groups (dad of a family of 5), was getting upset about the wait -apparently had been there a while. They left. Another couple approached, saying their web site did not take reservations, but people kept entering and were seated. After waiting 50 min, I called their phone number to make a reservation inside the restaurant. Was told the earliest available was 8:10pm - so I took it, realizing we would likely be seated prior to 8:10pm. It didn’t happen. I stood up, walked to the reservation desk and said I was the 8:10 reservation. “Oh, you are the Bill”, said the busboy, watched him cross us off the wait list, and seat us. We were the last couple waiting for a table. I was shocked to see all the open tables available, with about only half of them cleaned off as we were seated(70 min after arriving). I expressed my extreme displeasure ( controlled and professional way), explaining what we had just went through, what we witnessed in the waiting area, the open tables while we were ignored, etc. Our waitress was very apologetic, got our food out fast, and thanked us for sharing our experience. We will be back only because of the food and experience after getting seated, but will make reservations, and if walking in, check the seating area to see what’s going on. As I am writing this, I see another party EXPERIENCED THE SAME ISSUE A WEEK AGO. I found out from our waitress that the busboy was only 16 yrs old. Agree with the other complainant that he should not be seating people. Probably overwhelmed with multiple tasks, and from all the dirty tables around us when seated, they were not getting cleaned either. Hope...