China Chili — Restaurant in Phoenix

I want to give them 5 stars and I'm sure they will earn it next time. The service was excellent, plates were cleared promptly and refills offered ahead of time. Patience was given when helping a special needs guest. The area was very clean and gently decorated. There was sufficient staff to provide for prompt service.

The food was done right. Possibly the best Mongolian Beef I have ever had. And I'm no fan of chicken, but my guest had it, and it was the prettiest sweet and sour chicken I have ever seen. The egg rolls were cut at an angle and displayed in a nice arrangement, but they were done a bit too hard in my opinion: they were crunchy and dark as if overcooked. I'm not familiar with their normal, but it was well done compared to the darkest ones I've had in my life. The steamed sticky rice was served in a cool fashion on the saucer with the bowl covering it, which kept it warm longer. The noodles, amazing flavor, perfectly cooked.

Why 4 stars you ask? Although we arrived at 810 for a 900 closing time, it took some extra time to order because, like most places, they did not have an ADA picture menu available. So I had to Google some items to show my guest pictures to see what he liked, and doing one picture at a time was a little time staking, atleast I knew things he did or did not like already, or it would have taken longer.

But the real kicker was at 846, the lady whose assignment was to refill all the sauce bottles on the tables, stopped at our table soon after we got dug into our entrees, and before we even opened our rice. She had no way to know she would startle my deaf mute and half blind guest, but she did by stepping to the empty seat between him and the wall, to get the bottles on the table. She did ask first, and I just quickly agreed the ones in the caddy weren't being used, and wanted to get back to this most amazing Mongolian Beef ever. But the two bottles sitting next to my plates, she asked if we were done with them too. I said I was still using them. She didn't seem happy.

Everything else was really well done from start to finish. I believe in sharing feedback and wanted to make sure that I wrote it on my credit card slip I signed, and wanted to be sure the boss saw it. So I carried the tray from the table and another guy must have worried I was running off with it and came to get it so I asked for the boss and he went to the back and the boss lady was right out there instantly. I explained what happened and she apologized and said she would watch better, and make sure thst didn't happen again. I was grateful, and around the wall was the lady who had done it an she peeked around and explained what she had to do, I told her I truly understood but you just don't remove things from a table while people are still eating. She also apologized and thanked me for the advice, and the boss repeated her apology and promise to improve.

I totally believe my next visit here will have me editing my review to 5 stars. I appreciated the candor in management as well as the person against whom my dissatisfaction was. And one last time, I repeat, the food is absolutely everything the reviews say about it and the...

AVOID! This is one of the worst Chinese restaurants we've eaten at, anywhere in the US (dine-in and take-out). We've been here 3 times, vowing never to go back after the 1st two times -- but now tried it for our 3rd (and definitely final) time. We've tried 4 or 5 different dishes -- all terrible except for Chinese broccoli (hard to ruin it).

As examples (see photos below), the menu describes the Mongolian Chicken as "Sliced tender white meat chicken sauteed with scallions and ginger in a savory seasoned sauce with hot peppers". Note there is a mention of "scallions", but NO mention of "onions" (other dishes specifically mention "onions"); yet the dish was literally two-third onions (see photo below - yes those are ALL just onions), and the amount of onions was probably 7 or 8 times the amount of chicken. Another example, the menu describes the Prawns in Lobster Sauce as "Stir-fried prawns in black beans, garlic, bell pepper, onions and egg whites in a traditional sauce". Note there is NO mention of water chestnuts or mushrooms; yet the dish was literally over half water chestnuts (see photo below - yes, those are ALL just water chestnuts covered with a tasteless brown sauce), about 20% mushrooms, about 20% onions, and several bland shrimp. We've had similar experiences with their Mu Shoo dishes (mostly shredded cabbage & mushrooms, with little chicken or pork) and curried chicken (lots of bell peppers and onions). And to add insult to injury, most dishes had no real flavor.

Over 25+ years, we've eaten in several hundred Chinese restaurants -- whether in Hong Kong, NYC, SF, LA, Chicago, Seattle, Boston etc (cities where one would expect A+ Chinese food), or in places where we expect nothing outstanding but there are still some real gems (Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Kansas City, Charlotte, Minneapolis, etc). China Chili has been among the worst Chinese restaurants that we've experienced, despite giving it 3 tries. If you find some dishes you like here, good for you! Most people might do much better, and for far less money, at...

My first few experiences with this establishment were mediocre. This Sunday, I decided to give it one last go because I was in a mood for Chinese food and this place is close-by as well as constantly mentioned amongst people in my circle. Placed a take-out order for Beef Egg Foo Young, Salt & Pepper Calamari, Pepper Scallops & Prawns, and their Chow Fun. Did not notice it while there paying and picking up but came home to find that sauce from one of the dishes just completely leaked ALL OVER. The entire bottom of the bag was flooded. Just an entire mess to unpack. The clean-up itself already made me to lose my appetite or desire to eat. How is it NOT logical or sensible to use proper to-go containers for saucier or soupy dishes??? This is just beyond me. Now let's get to the actual taste and quality of the food. The Salt and Pepper Calamari is one of the worst I've had. Heavier on the batter than most other restaurants offering the same or equivalent dish. This dish is typically prepared by a finishing stir-fry or sauté in which a mixture of onions, bell peppers, and jalapeños are chopped or finely sliced. This place opts to only do jalapeños which to me, isn't the problem. It's that they barely even put any effort into the stir-fry/sauté step. It tasted honestly like they deep fried the calamari and then just threw in freshly sliced jalapeños in at the end without any additional effort. The nerve too that they even list this dish as "spicy" on the menu. If you pick out the jalapeño slices and strictly consume the calamari, it has barely any flavor to it at all. Now onto the EFY, The egg is terribly overcooked. If I didn't know it was their EFY, I wouldn't have even been able to guess what it was. Another letdown and disappointment. I was not impressed by the other two dishes either. Though so many in central Phoenix consider this place top-notch for a Chinese restaurant, sadly IMO you can pick ANY hole in the wall spot in Mesa/Chandler and most likely you'll find equivalent quality and at a friendlier...