Big Fish Chinese Cafe 大魚飯店 — Restaurant in San Jose

Our family just ordered from Big Fish for the first time, spending about $74. I drove down to the restaurant to pick-up our order, paid, and then drove back home. At home, we discovered that they didn't include the lemon sauce for the lemon chicken (to which we had to drive all the way back to the restaurant for, causing our food to get cold). We had to throw out the chicken salad because it had way too much salad dressing on it, it was basically like lettuce soup. Why can't they just put the dressing on the side so we can choose how much dressing we want? And on top of that, we didn't receive the hot mustard for the salad, no soy sauce packets, and no fortune cookies - something that all other Chinese restaurants provide to customers. Bottom-line, our food got cold, missing lemon sauce, inedible chicken salad, no mustard, and no soy sauce packets or fortune cookies.

However, I must say, the staff were very friendly and polite, and except for the salad, the rest of the food we ate was pretty good, after we reheated it. I understand that some mistakes were made on this particular order, and I also know that it was not intentional. Most likely we will give them...

Hidden Chinese

West San Jose and Willow Glen are not the strongest areas for authentic Chinese with a variety of establishments with dated decor and chop suey on their menu

But in the corner of a strip mall on Branham, Big Fish Chinese Cafe has potential

The menu is standard take-out fare and should satisfy anyone accustomed to more Chinese-American fare

However, my eye was attracted to the daily specials including house made Xiao long Bao and Sheng Jian Bao as well as a variety of noodle dishes and regional specialties

I stopped by after an underwhelming meal elsewhere and my instincts proved right

Flavors were on point and I enjoyed the time taken to construct each item. Prices are a touch more than expected but the ingredients and flavors fit the price point

I only sampled a few items but I look forward to trying more

📷 Xiao Long Bao (8 pieces) $16.95 / Szechuan Dan Dan Noodles $15.95 . 📍Big Fish Chinese Cafe (San Jose, CA)

Dining is indoor only and credit cards...

I don't write many reviews, but this place deserves one. Great people and great food. It's a hybrid of American Chinese and typical stuff you find in China.

We ordered the Eggplant in garlic sauce, think of it like a hot and sour soup with eggplant and no soup, 5/5. Next thing we tried were the Peking spare ribs, as any Asian person knows, always chew slow. They fry these babies up bone in. The sauce was just the right amount of gooey sweet, 5/5. We got an order of their Juicy-pan fried pork buns. It came out a bit deflated, so the owner was kind and comped them for us. He didn't need to, not the best I've ever had, but a good example of what they should taste like, 4/5. Lastly, their pumpkin pie... It's not American Pumpkin pie by any means. Asian pumpkin filling, deep fried in a wet batter. Ate like a mochi, 4/5.

Go check this place out. They hustle and their...