Joe Chan's Bistro — Restaurant in Roosevelt Park

TLDR: good food, great service, not too expensive. The crab Rangoons are AMAZING!! Drinks need a little help, as does atmosphere, but those won’t keep me from leaving a 5 star review!

My bf was excited to try this place as it had been years since he had gotten to experience the ✨magic✨ of Joe Chan that he remembered from his youth 🤣. We started with drinks:

He ordered a Pink Cadillac (Tequila, Triple sec, Sour mix and Cranberry) and I ordered a vodka soda with a lime. They were so incredibly strong that we both made faces upon first sip 😵🤣. The lime in my drink couldn’t cut the vodka. Good on them for making strong drinks, but we enjoy a well-made cocktail, and we couldn’t stomach these ones. I then ordered the CHOCOLATE martini (Vodka, Baily's & Kahlua) hoping that the sweet nature of it and space it took on the specials menu would make it a better drink… not so much, unfortunately. I ended up ordering a soda water. Our server was super friendly and recognized that I wasn’t enjoying my drinks and took them off the bill without me asking for it or complaining- she just saw I wasn’t drinking them 🤣. The only reason I’m mentioning the quality of the drinks is that I think this place could be so much better with the right training for the bartending staff.

We ordered the Crab Rangoons (Crispy wontons filled with a crab meat and cream cheese blend) and they were FANTASTIC- see photo to see how much crab you get inside- not your typical GFS product, at all! They served it with a duck sauce and a house mustard (if you like horseradish, definitely try it, and if not, steer away because holy cow, was it strong!). This appetizer was the highlight of my meal, for sure!

We ordered a Wonton soup, which was delicious but holy cow was it A LOT! HUGE portion size, which is always nice. We took some home for later.

We also ordered a Chan's Egg Roll (Hand rolled with pork, ham and shrimp and bean sprouts). I don’t eat meat as a pescatarian but he said it tasted as he remembered it- which is super good. 😎

For mains, we ordered the Sweet & Sour Chicken (Hand Battered garnished with white onion, green pepper and pineapple, drizzled with house made Sweet & Sour sauce) which was thoroughly enjoyed, and just as he remembered from years ago.

I ordered the Pad Thai with Shrimp (Stir fried noodles with bean sprouts, carrots, red pepper, scallions and peanuts). It was good, but I didn’t read the description. It definitely was unlike any Pad Thai I’d ever had before, and had I not known it was named that, I wouldn’t have guessed that it was Pad Thai. Like I said, it was good- quite delicious, actually, but you can see from my pics that it’s not as the name suggests. I’d still order it again, but I’m writing about it to give a heads up!

Overall, we really enjoyed the food here, as well as the fun conversation with our very attentive server. Granted, we were one of two tables there at 7 on a Sunday, but we appreciated the service.

One thing I’d suggest is that the atmosphere could be greatly improved with some music. You can hear in the video I posted that there is sort of an awkward silence with dishes and silverware clashing in the kitchen, as well as full conversations (not muffled).

Other than that, I’d say we really enjoyed our dinner and will definitely be back!

UPDATE: We came back and didn’t order drinks 🤣 but we did get the sweet and sour chicken again, as well as the shrimp lo mein and they were both delicious! Thanks for great service again!

UPDATE!: we came back and ordered a drink and it was good! The pink Cadillac was tasty this time 😎 wet also got some orders odd the sweet and sour shrimp, sweet and sour chicken, and seafood Szechuan. Everyone enjoyed their meals a lot. I’m also updating my atmosphere score from a 3 to a 4 because although you could still hear everyone in the kitchen, the music was turned up in the dining room so it was...

UPDATE: I still have my original post below as that was our initial visit and impression. We have since been a second time in October 2023. We will not be back. Because our first meal was good (3 out of the 4 entrees ordered), I decided to go back to celebrate my birthday. We ordered the same 2 dishes that we so much enjoyed our last visit. The Hong Kong Steak and the Sweet and Sour Chicken. The waitress came out with our food apologizing that there was too much sauce on the Hong Kong Steak and she was right. It was very salty and tasted horrible. It was very disappointing to learn that meals can fluctuate greatly in what the kitchen turns out. Sorry Joe Chan's! I wish that you were my go-to for Chinese food in Muskegon, but I don't feel comfortable taking that risk.

FIRST ORIGINAL POST: Our family of four visited Joe Chan’s for our first time this week and were overall quite happy with the food. We started off with the crab rangoon for our appetizer. They tasted like they were homemade with fresh ingredients - as opposed to what you get at other Chinese-style restaurants. When placing our dinner order, we followed our waitress’s recommendation and ordered the Hong Kong Steak and the Sweet and Sour Chicken. Both had great-tasting flavors. One of our family members ordered the Sizzler Steak (med-rare) and another ordered the Ramen (Seafood Ramen).
The Sizzler was cooked to PERFECTION and was tender and juicy, but sadly that is the only good thing I can report about the sizzler entree. The steak had absolutely NO flavor. It wasn’t seasoned. This steak was a complete disappointment because of the lack of flavor -something so simple! To remedy this, we asked for A-1, a seasoning we never use ourselves, but it didn't help. I know the steaks here, with proper seasoning, have the potential to be REALLY REALLY good. The sizzler came with a choice of two sides and we had ordered mashed potatoes. They were flavorless and the gravy tasted like instant gravy from a can. Not good. The Seafood Ramen was good. It was a good-sized portion. We also ordered a side of Pork Fried Rice which was not great. It was dry. However, I saw another plate of fried rice go to another table that looked really good. In the future, I’d go back for the Sweet and Sour chicken (white rice) along with the Hong Kong Steak (white rice). Those were both very good, classic dishes, with great flavor. And I’d probably get another order of the crab rangoon. One last thing. Our waitress did a good job. She was attentive and helped us enjoy our meal as she was the one who recommended our favorite dishes of the evening. I gave this place 4 stars, rating Joe Chan's by our OVERALL experience. I omitted the steak dinner in this final rating. Three out of our four dinners were rated good. Thank you Joe Chan’s for a...

I'm absolutely positive a lot of people in Muskegon love this place. I did not. But I really love Chinese food.

I spent so much money on this meal that I am very disappointed to report that it was the worst Chinese food I've ever had at a restaurant. I unfortunately have a feeling we may be on our way to very upset stomachs. Joe Chan's has been on my list to try for a while. I saw the mixed reviews, but overall (somehow) it was higher than the others in Muskegon.

Our total was $85, we ordered:

Asian spicy chicken wings- soggy, overbreaded, drowning in sauce, not spicy, some mysterious sweetness that was weird.

Vietnamese spring roll- weird. not authentic. there were a lot of red bell peppers in there, which totally overpowered the flavor. And the shrimp were sauteed? Weird.

Egg drop soup: this was actually okay for me, but i tried it after my meal so who knows. My husband said it "tasted off"

Potstickers: Bland, not fresh. The potstickers I buy from the asian grocery store and fry myself are 10x better and those are $8 for 25. They also came with a really weird red sauce that made me gasp in disgust when I tried it and my husband wouldnt even try it after I told him to.

General tso chicken: soggy, overbreaded, oversauced, too sweet... like what you'd find in the freezer aisle at the grocery store, but the cheapest bag, not even the "nicer" one. Maybe like what you microwave in a Lean Cuisine but much worse for you.

Peking Pork: extremely extremely oversauced. It was drowning in sauce. The sauce was so congealed and sweet. The fried rice i got with it was embarassing, half of the rice was white, and the rice was somehow still "dry" looking like they used zero oil in the wok. No veggies, just a bit of egg.

My husband says he has no doubt that this restaurant is a direct result of wanting to cater to the mass west michigan market. After decades of white people complaining about dishes that were too authentic, they gradually dumbed it down, added american dishes, and ruined their food. They have a soup and salad combo that you can get a BLT and an egg drop soup for goodness sake. They gave me saltines with my egg drop soup?!

I ate like 1/10 of my food and I believe that I will be throwing the rest...