Pearl River Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in San Jose

I have loved Chinese food since I was a young boy. I have been looking for an establishment that can compare to my absolutely, all-time favorite, Hings Chinese Take Out, located on Branham Lane and Pearl Ave. (Unfortunately, they closed their doors, way back in the mid 80's. I have tried many Chinese food restaurants, in my 50+ years and most have not even come close to my childhood favorite, "Hings" . Except for Pearl River, they are the closest. There are 2 locations, and both are delicious. The Pearl River on Blossom Hill and Snell has a way better atmosphere, than their other location on Lincoln and Curtner. You will pay more money for the "atmosphere" location, because of quality of food is just a tad better than the one on Lincoln, which is less dining in, and focused more on delivery and take out. I personally go to the Lincoln Avenue spot. Both locations, have very good food, and some excellent entrees that they created themselves. Like the "Nest", which is really good. XO Beef is another fantastic dish! I highly recommend either of these 2 restaurants to anyone who is looking for great quality Chinese food. The staff is awesome, and Steve and Francis are the founders who care about what they serve, and it shows! Plus, they are really nice guys. "A" for the food, "A" for their customer service skills and "B" for their prices. What do you expect? (You pay a little more for quality ingredients.) If you love this genre of food, then give them a try, you won't be...

For those who know me, you know that I hate, hate, hate giving bad reviews. there is enough negativity out there that I do not have to add to it. Plus, previous reviewers have done a good job of warning folks.

But . . .

Okay, so the first thing is that when I walked in, there were fries and ketchup on one of the tables. Cool, cool, cool. This could be one of those Chinese places that serves everything from breakfast to late-night grub. Mmmmm. Not really.

Okay, so I ordered mushu chicken and sauteed broccoli. Both were just fine, but not all that flavorful. Food seems like "Chinese food for non-Chinese folks, which in this area seems unnecessary and a missed opportunity because there is not much in the way of Chinese food out this way. I was disappointed, to say the least.

I think the worst part was that the place seemed genuinely and visibly dirty. Heading back to the bathroom may have been a mistake. Now, don't get me wrong, I do love a good hole-in-the-wall place, and I have been in my share of Chinese restaurant back areas, so the fact that this place gave me pause should tell you something.

To give a single start for me means "never ever again," but in a pinch, I might come by for takeout something, but ONLY in a pinch, and I won't be going to...

I selected this restaurant because it had 3.9 stars, but it is completely and utterly not recommended.

Ordered take-out online, website said will be ready in 20 minutes. Then got notification that order will be ready in one hour. Tried to call to cancel the order, but no reply and voice message was full. called again - same result. wish I could give 0 stars for "service".

So, we paid already so had to wait ... the wait did not prove worth it. We ordered 3 "meals" - one with chicken salad and Mongolian beef, one chicken cashew and chow mien, and one beef cashew with chow mien. all were very disappointing - again I wish I could leave less than one star. salad had no dressing and the chicken pieces were dry. Mongolian beef tasted mostly like soy and oil, very little hot spice. beef was stringy and not really good. Both chicken cashew and beef cashew had very little meat, both was mostly zucchini - beef had onions, chicken had celery - but very precious little meat. And they both had, unfortunately, the same bland no-flavor of generic nothingness.

You will do better with getting any other Chinese food - even from a generic restaurant like panda or the such, or even...