Yang Chow Restaurant — Restaurant in Sierra Madre

ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE.

Terrible food.

Terrible serve.

Unsanitary conditions.

And a dash of racism.

I have been looking for a good old-school Chinese American spot for a while and had hoped Yang Chow would be a new favorite. I was wrong. So wrong.

First, we arrived yesterday, Friday at around 2:30. There was not a single other soul here, red flag #1. Okay, well it's mid-day, no biggie I thought.

I walk in and we are greeted and told "Sit anywhere" Okay, no problem. My daughter and I take a seat and we are offered tea which I accept. The tea was bland even after a long brew time. Okay, no biggie.

I tried asking some questions about the food but the lady had very limited English and didn't seem to understand or care and just barked back the names of the dishes. We ordered sweet and sour pork, Schezuan chicken, pork fried rice, and to-go wonton soup, pepper beef, and crispy pan-fried noodle.

Here is the overview:

(1/5 Stars) Sweet and Sour Pork: Very tough gristle-filled meat. Most of the meat was inedible. I spit most of it out because it was so chewy.

(2/5 Stars) Szechuan Chicken: Better than the pork but surprisingly one note and nothing particularly memorable.

(2.5/5 Stars) Pork Fried Rice: The rice itself was okay but the pork strips were very chewy and inedible.

(1/5 Stars) (Wonton Soup: Incredibly bland. No flavor, not even any broth richness. Pork inside the wontons was flavorless. The whole soup was really terrible.

(2.5/5 Stars) Pepper Beef: Less bad, the meat was actually tender, with some flavor but sauce was thin and runny).

(1/5 Stars) Crispy Pan Fried Noodle: The worst of the already bad bunch. The majority of the noodles looked like they had been boiled and just thrown into the container totally naked. No sauce, no oil, no frying, nothing. And yet the edge of the noodle block was fried to a black char. I suspect the noodles were cold and thrown into a pan without any seasoning not stirred and put into our to-go containers. It was so bad it was embarrassing.

Now for the worst of the experience. Once our order was taken I looked over and saw a waitress sitting at a booth chopping broccoli with her bare hands. No gloves, no hair net, and while sitting at a customer booth. Gross.

Then I couldn't help but notice that after the waitress took out the order they started speaking loudly in their language and looking conspicuously back at us, and laughing, big cackling laughs. I heard the woman yell something toward the kitchen and an old Chinese man (cook) came out and literally looked right at us and pointed and they all started talking and laughing.

My thirteen-year-old daughter was very disturbed and said, "Mom I think they are laughing at us." They sure are honey, they sure f*cking are.

Looking at the one-star reviews another gal (clearly non-Chinese) had the same kind of experience. We did nothing to warrant such treatment. No one was rude to them. We weren't loud. Nobody was dressed scandalously (not that any of that would warrant the treatment we got). The ONLY thing I can think of is that we are Mexican American. Considering how nice we were I can only assume this was straight-up racism and prejudice.

This place deserves to be shut down. They are horrible on every level and I hope they get what they deserve. Judging by how empty the place was I suspect people have already figured out they don't...

Excellent food and service. There are two locations of this establishment, one in Chinatown at Broadway and this one in Pasadena. I have visited both locations and the service and quality are the same: excellent. Each has a display of the many celebrities that have enjoyed a meal here - Dr Drew, Magic Johnson LL Cool J, Drew Barrymore, Live Schreiber to name a few.

This is a very cozy casual no frills place with good variety. Very welcoming servers, they treat everyone like a part of their family. Excellent place for groups, family dinners or just lunch or dinner for 2. You can enjoy a cocktail with your meal.

Food is fresh, service quick and you will leave satisfied! If they have the ingredients, they will make the accommodation. I was in the mood for shrimp the night I visited, and had a taste for one of their specials with chicken. They were happy to make it with shrimp - for small fee. And believe me, it was worth every penny!

The portions are very generous. I could have shared my meal with my husband, but he wanted Chow Mein that night, so we got both and shared a taste. We left full and satisfied with a take away bag, enjoying the leftovers the following day for lunch.

There is a small parking lot here, so you may have to park on the street during busy periods. Worth the wait! I look forward to...

WARNING: DO NOT ORDER VIA YANG CHOW'S WEBSITE

We ordered via Yang Chow's website online for delivery. The food was not delivered. When we called the restaurant (the only contact provided), the first person hung up on us after hearing about our problem. When I called back, a different person asked we bring our complaint to their delivery service directly (despite no contact being available), and refused to remunerate us for the undelivered food. We will be disputing the charges with our credit card company. Upshot: Yang Chow wants your money, and they don't care how they get it.

In response to the owner: we contacted the third party, and they said Yang Chow must refund us directly. I sat on the phone while the representative called Yang Chow, and Yang Chow refused to process the refund since their "manager wasn't there". If you go to Rushable’s website, it explicitly mentions the restaurant itself must process refunds. In addition, we ended up receiving a confirmation from the restaurant for our order after 9pm which was supposed to arrive at 6:10pm. Our guess is Yang Chow forgot to confirm the order until after 9pm, so we were charged and the delivery driver never came. Yang Chow does not understand how their own delivery...