Chen's China Bistro — Restaurant in Cape Coral

The food: First I would like to talk about what I liked. My wife and I ordered the bo bo platter, the coconut bubble milk tea, orange chicken and pork lo mein.

The bubble tea, the meat skewers in the Bobo platter, and the egg drop soup were amazing. The spare rib was also good. However everything else was either mediocre-at-best to downright offensive.

Which brings me to the orange chicken. The sauce did not taste like oranges, or anything really aside from slightly sour, and the chicken did not taste like chicken. When I first bit into it the sauce made it somewhat tolerable, but that quickly wore away leaving what was left. It's quite difficult to describe. It's not quite like burnt, more like burnt's cousin with a dash of rot. Needless to say getting that flavor out of my mouth quickly became my chief concern. When I was done just the sight of it on the table made me lose my appetite, as if I was staring at some other unedible, unpleasant substance which I won't describe. My wife, obviously, did not ask for a "to go" box. In fact she couldn't even swallow one bite. The quantity was also a bit sparse, with average prices (~$8.00 for a lunch entree). I also didn't like the fortune cookie, which is a new one for me. It had an unpleasant aftertaste that reminds me of how I imagine Styrofoam would taste. EDIT: A bold friend of mine confirmed "packing peanuts" would be a good description. The lo mein was pretty bland, and the fried rice was sub-par. No real vegetables in the rice and the pork ranged from slightly unpleasant to bland (unlike the spare ribs). The egg rolls were overcooked and the quality of the filling was suspect. Not bad with sweet and sour sauce though. The breading on the tempura shrimp was a little overcooked, but ok once some was removed. The crab rangoon was the worst we have had, but not by a long shot. Good if you are pretty hungry or its free. The fried chicken was decent. Maybe slightly above average, but that may be more the novelty effect as it was somewhat unique.

Because of what was good I'd give it a 2/10.

Atmosphere: The layout was nice enough. Nothing amazing, browns and dark reds dominated mid to low level, with a bit of oriental decor. The room was somewhat dark so the lighter tones weren't highlighted well. The music was a bit odd. All in all 5/10

Staff: Our waitress was an oriental woman. She spoke English pretty well and was relatively attentive and polite. It was not very busy and my drink was empty couple times but not for very long. All in all 4/10.

Other: They do not include the bubble tea menu by default, but I do recommend asking. They serve coke, which is a huge plus for my wife and me. They also serve complementery "Chinese fries", or fried flour chips with sweet and sour sauce and spicy mustard. They also have a discount card. After spending $100.00 in $10 intervals you get $10 off. Which is pretty minor, even if you manage to buy in exactly $10 intervals, but its still kinda nice and worth mentioning.

Final thoughts: Better quality controll would do this place a world of good. However it is worth mentioning that we are here just a few days after hurricane Irma (it hit us Monday, today is Saturday), so that may be a reason. However in my opinion if because of that they couldn't live up to their normal standards (assuming this isn't) they should not...

This place is not the same place, it used to be a long time ago. I think management might’ve changed. We never frequent here ever when we lived here before, but we knew family that used to like it and then said it wasn’t any good anymore yeara ago. We tried it today. It was a huge disappointment. I remember this place being bigger inside. I’m thinking maybe it’s management changed overtime? . Everybody seems to complain about the quality of food. It isn’t good ams it’s the worst fried rice we ever tried to eat it. Pork fried rice taste like boiled rice with no pork no nothing in it. This is not pork fried rice! This is like colored white rice that’s mushy has no flavor at all! The eggrolls were good NOT the best WE ever had ever had another was not fresh luke warm. Meet at this mess come off of somebody’s plate that didn’t eat it. How are two of them hot and fresh and the other one was a complete opposite? Marv, what was the name of the food you ordered? They have horrible reviews. Everybody says this place is gone way downhill. It’s not the same place that used to be. Ordered Beef Chow Mein was not the best too much sodium/ Salt/MSG and Pepper steak it was same too much sodium/Salt/MSG. We won’t be back. The waitress was not too interested in taking care of us. Never asked if she could refill the drink or anything didn’t even clear the plates or come back. Pretty sad!

You really can’t find decent Chinese food whatsoever in Cape Coral and I don’t even know much exist in Fort Myers. However a good place is by the movie theater in North Ft Myers.

We used to live near Tampa and we struggled to find anything decent over there too. It was a little bit better choices, but Chinese has gone way downhill over the years in Florida for sure and not much better in other states such as Ga or Tn. It’s just not the same anymore. Chinese take out use to be a choice in our takeout choices but no longer for many years.

Lulu‘s on skyline was the best Chinese that we used to ever eat when we lived here years ago boy we miss her food! We understand she closed down in 2017 and retired, and is still in area. She should come back but we know her and her husband were so busy and worked very hard, and did their time... They were also a regular choice on the student menu at the private christian school near her too. She delivered there regularly. Her food was always piping hot, super fresh and tasted so good. The portions were also large and she had the best...

April 2019

Chens China Bistro, Pine Island rd., Cape Coral, Fl. Here is my 2 cents on the food.

It was delivered via bitesquad. The food was hot to the touch when handed to me.

I got the Singapore Mai Fun... Angel hair noodles with shrimp, beef, chicken, veggies and extra hot peppers as I ask.

The dish was much better than I thought. It was filling and very good.

My 2nd dish, beef chow fun. It arrived hot to the touch. BUT it was not as spicy as I needed..

It tasted fine. Here is the BUT... Too much filler....lots of chopped celery, carrots...Plenty of onions...Not much other veggies. Good for local folks...Not good for discriminating taste buds of global experience.

I would recommend it though.

Chen's China Bistro, Pine Island Rd., Cape Coral, Fl., Here is my 2 cents on the food and chatter. The food. A couple of egg rolls, 1.50 each, Kung Pao chicken, extra spicy, hot & sour soup. 9 bucks The egg roll crisps and flavorful. Hot & sour soup, thick with tofu so very good. Kung Pao chicken... a bit disappointing ....Though I asked for extra hot it was not. I needed chili paste. The chicken was white meat. not my first choice, was very tender. Lots of peanuts. Plus way too much celery. Over all just ok this time. Chatter... This is one of the better chinese joints around ( Ginger Bistro is better) NOTE: they give you a card ,where after spending so much here ,you can get a free meal. Service was fine...