Chan's Restaurant — Restaurant in Silverton

I used to say I would take the worst Chinese food over the best Mexican food. I don't like Mexican food. I mean, really good Mexican food is fine, but it never knocks my socks off because I don't particularly like the flavor palette, period. Meanwhile I really love Asian food, and Chinese is an easy, familiar favorite.

Unless you live in Silverton and have Chan's. Oh god, I've TRIED, y'all, but Chan's is not good. I'll have to eat my words, because Ixtapa, the local Mexican place, is so good by comparison. The atmosphere is solid, there're always a lot of people there, the owners are really nice, and the food is good. But we're reviewing Chan's here, so let's do it.

Chan's is a dive. I know, I know. As far as American Chinese goes, "dive" is the bar that is set and plenty of places make up for atmosphere by having killer good food, but Chan's... let's just say that customer presence is really important to add to the atmosphere, and there's never exactly a line out the door, let alone anyone else in the building when we've been. Actually, there're been a few times when we've driven by and wondered if they'd finally shuttered the business.

Service wise, Chan's is fine. It's family owned, and they generally seem nice and laid back. We've been present for at least one pretty intense squabble between family members though, and it was really awkward because we were the only white people in the building and didn't know how to comfort the woman serving us with tears in her eyes. I know to western ears Mandarin and Cantonese sound very intense on the regular, but that night, we definitely witnessed something unpleasant. I felt really bad.

Finally, food. The reason we're here, and the reason I'm writing this review so that when I'm tempted by desperation again to "just go to Chan's" instead of ordering takeaway from Bing's (Mt Angel, so much better than Chan's, only open for carry out, not always convenient for alleviating cabin fever) or one of the Thai/Japanese places in town (all good, but don't always hit the "Chinese" craving), I'll come back to this and remember that, no, we should never just go to Chan's.

Chan's is bland. It's really hard to distinguish dishes from each other because they all taste the same. The vegetables are essentially the cheap bag of mixed cubes and spheres trying to pass as carrots and peas you ate as a kid. The sauce is a gelatinous goo that comes in clear for dishes with veggies, and red when it's "sweet and sour," but the flavor is still nonexistent. There are no other sauces, by the way. There is no orange chicken, sesame chicken, or General Tso's. They're on the menu, but when you order, say, sesame chicken, it comes out as deep fried batter with sesame seeds in it... and a side of ketchup and mustard for dipping. WHAT?! The pork is also really questionable and has made me sick every time I go, including now. It was the sweet and sour pork this time, but the ribs are what got me the last time.

Don't go to Chan's, especially if you're a tourist. Yes, it's cheaper than a lot of our restaurants, but the quality for those places is worth the price, or we have other cheap places that are far more worth your time and dollars. I know this family relies on this income, and I hope the best for them (especially given how stressed they were at least that one time), but I can't eat...

Let this be the most honest review you can read on here of Chan's.

The service was quick enough, I was seated in 2 minutes even though there was only 1 other customer at the time. I had my order put in and it was served maybe 10 minutes later. The hot tea is not very strong but it gets the job done. The egg flower soup was pretty good, hot, eggy, and had some mushrooms and a couple peas in it.

The entree: I ordered Dinner Combination 1. The pork fried rice was decent although not very "fried" and not a lot of pork. The "pork chow mein" was a real drag. It was small bits of pork mixed with large amounts of bean sprouts, onion, and celery over a bed of thick crispy chow mein noodles (the kind that you top salads with) the sauce was a kind of clear gravy like chicken pot pie filling, but not flavorful.

The Egg Foo Young was a story of its own... a dense gray cake thing made of mostly bean sprouts again bound together by egg. Topped in some kind of brown gravy that tastes nothing like normal Chinese brown sauce.

But the place was clean, the service was quick enough, so... 2 stars. I'd recommend any other Chinese place before Chan's but it wasn't the worst restaurant...

I feel abashed that I have not reviewed Chan's sooner. We have been going to this restaurant for over 26 years.

The food has evolved during that time become much better over the last 10 years. Food used to be a bit on the greasy side but is now much much better.

Recently had sesame chicken and it was light and crunchy and very flavorful! Their BBQ pork is very good as well has a nice crunchy texture on the outside and is served warm. The hot mustard is super great but is hot so please be warned.

Wife ordered chicken and broccoli was great as well. Not slimy and the vegetables were done perfectly.

Take out is fast but be patient with the folks as often times English is a second language and we can tend to talk to fast.

Dine in is always great and service is awesome. This is what one expects from 2nd generation owners/operators.

Thank you folks for feeding the family for...