Chan’s Garden

This is easily the worst restaurant in Ann Arbor. I was tempted to go in but the low-​priced lunch special, and I can definitely say I got less than my moneys worth. All of their food seems like nothing but a mixture of trash, MSG, and toilet water. Everything in the restaurant was sticky and weird. The water came in a pitcher that clearly hadn’t been washed in weeks and was served in styrofoam cups. Avoid at all costs.

This is a very specific review for a very specific aspect of their menu.
I was craving some fried appetizer treats for the football game.* Tbtotallyh, I put «zucchini» into seamless to see who delivered fried zucchini in the area.
This place has the most disgusting fried food I have seen in years. Years. By far. One of the appetizers was hidden in .5−1 cm-​thick pillowy dough. When I tore the dough off to see what was inside, there was something limp and bright yellow and vaguely fibrous, like it had once been a vegetable.
So sad. It was all I had wanted.
I tried to pick up a piece of shrimp toast and it slid out of my fingers, which started running with oil. Each piece soaked through two heavy-​duty sheets of paper towel on each side.
The crab cheeses (crab rangoons) were slightly less dripping with oil, but «least drenched with old, many-​times-​used oil» does not (sadly for me) equal «tasty.»
No idea what their real food is like but they should rethink their approach to batter, oil, and fryolators. I just threw everything out. So gross.
*if anyone else for some bizarre reason is also dumb enough to consider ordering fried appetizer style food from this place, I can tell you that NYPD is a great place to order delivered fried food. if only they had fried zucchini.

The «crab cheese» was not too bad. Other than that, it was all really terrible. We also had some sweet and sour stuff and General Tso’s chicken. It was all really bad. Meat was tough, everything was bland.

Ordered delivery from Grubhub. It showed up in like 20 minutes with a friendly delivery person, even though Grubhub predicted an hour. The food is yummy and super fresh and even still steaming, despite the car ride. I need to throw more good reviews into the universe, so keep on keepin on, Chan’s Garden, you’re doing it right.

I ate this food 3 times in one week. Can’t beat their BBQ pork lo mein and crab cheese!

Ann Arbor… no, WORLD diamond in the rough. part of what I refer to as the «MIRACLE MILE» of great food (Chela’s, Pilar’s Tamales, HELLO FAZ, and Taco King), CHAN’S GARDEN is some of the best Chinese food I’ve ever eaten. there’s some granola hippie haters on here saying the tofu is «thickly breaded»… LOL. the tofu here is next level. every time I eat here I think «this was the best CHAN’S ever…» and then I order again.
friendliest people with the best food, I eat here minimum once a week. the general tso’s tofu is my favorite dish. bae alternates between the beef broccoli and the orange chicken and she says they both rock. the spring rolls and veg dumplings both go HAM.
swag joint, please stay the same forever.

I wanted to like it– I really did — and thought I would after reading the reviews on here, but it was in the running for the worst Chinese food I have ever, ever had. And that is saying something.
The ginger and garlic tofu dish looked promising. Until I realized the tofu was thickly breaded and fried.
The moo shoo was okay– but hardly any pork and the pancakes were dry and crumbly.
The spring roll was something I never need to try again, uninspired at BEST… but the dumplings… The dumplings were the absolute worst. I can forgive any Chinese food place if they have good dumplings, so I was looking forward to them. They were so thickly breaded I couldn’t do it– I peeled off the breading, dipped the meat into the sauce and wanted to choke the second I put it in my mouth– I’m not sure what it was, but it was NOT pork. It had consistency and texture worse than any hot dog– gross
The ONLY reason it gets 2 stars is how friendly they are. We will never be back to spend a dime in that place. Sadly, the search for good Chinese continues

This is literally a hole in the wall, a tiny restaurant in a small strip mall. The food is very good and freshly made. Staff is friendly, prices are excellent! Great take out in the neighborhood.

I could say so many good things about Chan’s Garden. I have enjoyed all the food I have ever gotten from here and it is well priced, especially their lunch deals. However, the main thing I love about Chan’s is the customer service. Even though my family probably only eats here about once a month, they recognize us every time. Whenever I go in they ask about how my parents are doing and are always so kind to me. I have recommended this place to many of my friends. While it’s a bit of a hole in the wall, it is by far my favorite chinese place in all of Ann Arbor.

We often complain about the lack of quality Chinese food in Ann Arbor. And while Chan’s Garden is, admittedly, not the ultimate… we’ve come to feel that it’s Ann Arbor’s best offering.
Further, they are consistent. Their food is always good and they listen to our requests (e.g., extra spicy). They also offer large portions and do not feel overpriced.
I especially like their meal deals, for example the $ 8 orange chicken dinner that comes with a full tub of soup and lots of rice (fried rice, if you want!). So much good food. Just wish it had more broccoli.
We always get Chan’s Garden delivered.

I liked it here! It seems to be a family-​run business, which adds to the charm. Got two $ 3.99 lunch specials to split with the bf (curry chicken & chicken w/​broccoli). The bf chose egg drop soup as his side item, while I chose white rice. We ate at the restaurant since none of the seating was taken, and almost immediately after sitting down, a sweet old Chinese grandma brought us a pitcher of water and cups (which we didn’t even have to ask for!).
You could see far into the back of the takeout place, where the chef (husband of the lady who took our order? didn’t ask) was cooking. That was kind of cool.
The portions were great for $ 3.99, and I found it to be almost too much food for myself. I liked that there were plenty of vegetables (trying to convince myself that I’m eating healthier these days), but I didn’t feel like they skimped on the chicken at all. The curry chicken was spicy! and I really liked the sauce. The chicken & broccoli was also tasty (I cleaned my plate) and had an array of vegetables other than broccoli that I wasn’t expecting
The cooking style reminded me a bit of some of the dishes my mom (who is Chinese-​Vietnamese) made for my family as I was growing up. I’ll definitely be back whenever I start feeling nostalgic/​homesick.

**Attention Chinese food junkies**
Probably not logical, but I do love this place and it’s all about the FOOD! Take out or delivery is a must, but they will serve you if you want to eat there.
Sweetest, nicest people you can hope to meet and they can cook. Wow. I just went in for lunch today, ate at one of their three tables. I ordered Wonton Soup, (4) Crab Rangoon, and Cantonese Shrimp Chow Mein.
It. Was. Excellent.
The soup was perfect. Nicely flavored chicken stock, properly steamed dumplings, fresh green onion and served with wonton chips. *bonus
Crab rangoon was hot, fresh and brought out with just hot mustard, and hot oil, as I asked.
They timed the service just right. I finished up with my soup and was grateful she didn’t make a grab for my soup bowl, as most places usually do. (easier to eat chinese food with chopsticks, out of a smaller bowl than off a large plate) The CSCM was huge, hot and glorious! Perfectly crispy and chewy golden noodles. Accented with the hot oil, oh boy!
I packed up enough left over for dinner tonight, paid the check and waddled out.
If you want cheap fast takeout: they do have $ 3.99 lunch specials on the board.

Delivery was almost an hour late, and my cashew chicken was LITERALLY 95% celery. Ick. I called to tell the owner that they were really late and I had to leave my house, but I’d be back. They never told the driver. The food was mediocre at best.