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| - I have been finding Chinese restaurant since I moved to Tempe. Yesterday (Oct 2, 2016), my friend brought us to Chou's Kitchen. It was amazing and really cure my home-sick. Most of the food, service, and environment are good and relaxing. Also, the price is reasonable. Thus, I would like to give them 4/5.
[Food]
I and four of my friends order 6 dishes in total: Spicy Beef Tripe, Stir-fry eggplant & minced pork with garlic sauce, Toothpick lamb, Szechuan Spicy Chicken, Kung Bao Chicken, Stir-fry Chinese wood ear mushroom with shanyao. And the rice are unlimited supply. They are all in a big portion which can serve 5-6 people.
* Spicy Beef Tripe: It's a cold dish. Instead of spicy, it's taste more" numb".
* Stir-fry eggplant & minced pork with garlic sauce: I had really high expectation on this dish, however, I think it is the one that tastes furthest from the genuine flavor. I might not order it next time.
* Toothpick lamb: They strung small pieces of lamb on the toothpick and flavored it with cumin. It was good but not great because the dish was cold when it's served.
* Szechuan Spicy Chicken: This dish is made with huge amounts of hot pepper, but it's not super spicy.
* Kung Bao Chicken: This dish is more sweet than spicy.
* Stir-fry Chinese wood ear mushroom with Shanyao: I wasn't expect much about the dish at first cause I'm not fan of either Chinese wood ear or Shanyao. However, the taste was amazing. It has the smell coming from stir-frying (the smell which fried rice usually have).
I also order Plums juice. It's not too sour nor sweet. It drinks more like tea. I don't really like how it taste.
All the dishes go well with rice. To sum up, I would recommend Spicy Beef Tripe and Stir-fry Chinese wood ear mushroom with shanyao as the must-try dishes.
[Service]
The servers were kind. They asked us if we need some drinks first and gave us plenty of time discussing before taking our order. All the dishes came approximately at the same time. The waiting time was a little bit long, but it's still endurable. They came and asked we need more water or rice just when we need, and that was great. The only complaint I had was that sometimes the server took the place so fast that made us felt a little stressful.
[Environment]
The restaurant is located next to New School for the Arts & Academics on Apache Boulevard. There're spaces to park cars and bikes. The restaurant is bright, clean and in a Chinese style. They provide traditional round table which many people can seat together.
This is my first time dining at Chou's Kitchen, and, surely, I'll visit it next time. I'm glad to find a Chinese restaurant that provide genuine traditional foods. I would like to try some Handmade Appetizers and Clay Pots next time!
If you're still hesitate whether to try or not, it's definitely the right place explore Chinese cuisine.
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