Lotus House

I come here for the Szechuan Beef Noodle Soup alone. The other dishes are okay-​tasting, but I feel like there are so many other Chinese food joints in Berkeley with similar but cheaper and/​or tastier offerings. The beef noodle soup here differentiates itself because of the savory, authentic soup base and the tender, generous offerings of beef chunks. The noodles also taste like it’s hand-​made as I am able to taste the fresh dough aroma.
I usually like taking mine to go just because it is way too hot inside the restaurant, and the tables are usually quite sticky. However, the server/​cashier there is really nice and always greets people with smiles.
The prices here are pretty cheap and the portions are generous. Note that it is cash only.

Wow, this place has really gone downhill. This used to be my go-​to spot for pan-​fried noodles, but now that dish is completely out of the question. The noodles looked like they were deep-​fried rather than pan-​fried, and they were way over-​fried to the point of being a hard crunch that scratched the roof of my mouth like sandpaper. Practically inedible without softening up with some of the sauce. What happened?!?

Good location and decent prices. The salt and pepper tofu is delicious! Perfectly crispy and slightly spicy. I am a sucker for baked pork chop and I love how the sauce of the baked pork chop flavors the rice so well. The service is fast, but the baked dishes take a bit longer. Their prices are very decent. Have gotten the baked pork chop multiple times and while delicious, sometimes the meat has a lot of bone. It is a bit hard to cut though and the bone interferes with eating a decent amount. Sometimes a disproportionate amount of rice to meat. Definitely big enough to have leftovers. Still, I am definitely willing to come back!

I ordered the Singapore Style chow fun and I got something different from what was advertised in the picture. When I talked to them about it, they said just kinda offered no explanation and made it seem like it was my fault when the picture clearly showed a dish with different style noodles and texture.

Just your regular Chinese place in Berkeley.
I come here when I just want some food for a decent price. Generally I get the pineapple fried rice, they give quiet a bit for a normal price of a dinner at Berkeley. They give a lot of food, it’s decent, and warm when you need it XP.
The place itself has regular seating. A few tables in the front and a few tables in the back. It’s good for groups of 4 but definitely can handle more. Also it’s generally not crowded at all, besides maybe dinner rushes.

Most authentic chinese restaurant in my opinion. Tried food in LA and NYC. It is really good!

Lotus House is by far the best go-​to comfort Chinese food whenever I’m feeling sick or down with a cold or flu and need piping hot Chinese food. I always feel better after coming here.
MY RECOMMENDATIONS:
Szechuan Beef Noodle Soup
The noodles are really thick, and the soup is hot and spicy with peppers. In addition to tender chunks of beef, there’s also cabbage in the soup.
Roasted Duck Wonton Soup
Thinner noodles, and this is totally what it sounds like. There’s wonton and roasted duck.
Green Onion Pancakes
My kryptonite! I can’t resist these whenever I’m here. They’re super hot when they’re served, and I have to wait a minute otherwise I burn my fingers. They’re sooooo good. Thick green onion pancakes, mmmm!!!
Know that this place only accepts cash. This also isn’t the cleanest of places, and the bathroom on the second floor can only be accessed with a key. There’s also a stamp card you can take with you, and every time you go, get your card stamped. When you get 10 stamps, you can get something valued at $ 5.75 for free.
Try to avoid the rush lunch hour if you can. It gets PACKED here.

I would give them negative stars if I can.
The food here used to be not bad (4 years ago), but it has been getting progressively worse, to the point I think is not acceptable.
The restaurant replaces original ingredients of a dish with cheap alternatives. For example, YangZhou Fried Rice, a ubiquitous dish in virtually all Chinese restaurant. The standard ingredients includes: 1) BBQ pork, 2) Lettuce, 3) Shrimp. My jaw dropped today when I realize that they replace the above ingredients, respectively, with: 1) Chicken, 2) Cabbage, 3) No Shrimp. At the same time, however, the price is raised. This is completely irresponsible as a restaurant. Also, if you order their porridge, you would be unpleasantly surprised. A good porridge has balance between water, rice, and ingredients; a bad porridge has mostly rice and little ingredient: porridge at Lotus house — most water with little rice and almost no ingredients.
I regard this an insult to me as a consumer, and I vow that I will never come back again. Seriously, this crosses the bottomline and approaches Sun Hong Kong level (if you know this place). This place only survives because students have no nearby alternatives for Chinese food. If it is at Oakland Chinatown, I can bet with anything that it shall be driven to closure within a month.
I do not normally write review, so you can imagine how angry and disappointed I am. Guys should punish them by not eating there, so they know this is not right.

Ordered fried udon for take out. Came home and saw a bug in the fried udon. Quite disappointed really and heavily grossed out

Pretty good Chinese with dishes such as Lo Mein, roast duck and porridge that aren’t readily available at most restaurants outside of Chinatown. Cash only though and don’t pay attention to the cashier, it’s not personal, she’s always like that.

I had only been to this place once before and did not get to eat much because I had already eaten but what my coworkers had looked so good I knew I had to come back. I had only a couple pot stickers and they were oh-​so-​crispy and good!
This time around, I got three dishes to share with one more person.
— Mongolian Beef Combo — it can come with rice, fried rice or chow mein (we chose chow mein) and Thai iced tea
— Green onion pancakes
— Pot Stickers (of course!)
I love Thai iced tea but it can be so sweet! I chose to forego the boba (so nice that they ask you if you want it or not). It was still sweet but perhaps not as overtly sweet as other places.
The main entrée was quite large for two people and we didn’t finish it. The beef was delicious. The chow mein was all right but great with the beef and some soy sauce/​sriracha.
These green onion pancakes are a little different than the kind I had tried someplace else. They seem thicker and of a different consistency but we’re still fried goodness in their own way. I liked them with soy sauce or dipped in the sauce the lot stickers come with.
And then the pot stickers. My favorite! I love anything fried and carbs and crispy. They’re so warm and really great dipped in the sauce.
They give you 4 pot stickers and about 6 – 7 pancake slices and a huge plate of the combo entrée. We had to take about half of it home.
The best part? I got it all under $ 20! So awesome! I can’t complain for such a great meal at that price

PRO
+ cheap, large portion (can last 2 meals)
+ food comes out fast
+ tapioca is chewy and not under– or over-​cooked
+ thai tea not overly sweet
+ large selection of dishes
CON
— cash only
— charges extra for take-​out
— taste of food is inconsistent, ranges from okay to ew. Most of their rice plates taste the same. They also use a lot of onions in their dishes. Their pork chow mein is not bad though.

milk tea went from authentic to mediocre. Thai tea was bland and not sweet. Definitely not coming back.

Oh Lotus House, Lotus House. What can one say?
I really have a love/​hate relationship with this place. Up to about two year ago most of the ingredients, used to cook the food here, was fresh and the flavor of most dishes decent and pretty authentic.
However, the proprietors have performed the perennial sin of most of the semi-​cheap-​food establishments around the country… namely these i.d.i.o.t.s discovered the «Huy Fong Sriracha Chili Sauce» !!!
Now these guys will no longer use fresh sauces that they used to make themselves which created the great flavors: «ANYTHING THAT SAYS SPICY ON OUR MENU, WELL LETS ADD A HEAPING AMOUNT OF THE SRIRACHA CHILI SAUCE!!! «
Like all other dumb-​ass Asian proprietors of Asian food establishments (or for that matter dumb-​ass proprietors of any food establishment of any ancestry who have spicy dishes) who commit this egregious sin, the thinking is:
«well we are cooking for Americans (and Americanized Asians) and those dumb lots will not be able to tell the difference, so let’s take the extra money we make not spending on fresh ingredients all the way to the bank ! «
WRONG!!!
We can tell the difference. Most Bay Area palates specially have tasted fresh ingredients and proper cooking and even if it is not apparent right off the bat to them from glancing, from the first spoonful of the newly made garbage food, we pick up that something is wrong.
Unfortunately, now I am reduced to only the items on their menu that they have not messed with (or cannot mess with) such as walnut prawns which do not require canned Chili Sauce and are still halfway decent.
What a shame! The place used to be a real gem.

This place never ceased to amaze me! We actually accidentally stumbled upon this place because we were looking for a different restaurant which was around the same vicinity.
ATMOSPHERE:
It’s a small restaurant. There’s a small area in the front where you can dine and also in the back (watch your steps; there are stairs!). We dined both in the back and in the front and it was comfortable. The noise level was pretty low and the ambiance was homey. The place itself was clean. After you finish eating, you clean it up after yourself because no one cleans it up for you which wasn’t a problem.
FOOD:
Food was amazing here! I got the chicken teriyaki and it was flavorful! I usually don’t finish meals from Chinese restaurants because they serve them in generous servings but it was so good I was able to finish all of it! Not to mention the mango tea with boba! I’ve never had a boba that good before! Second time going here, I forgot which boba I got and mistakenly ordered the mango milk tea and it wasn’t great. Ended up finishing only half of it.
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
The only time we interacted with the employees was when we ordered. They were sufficient and they do their job well.
Would I come back here? YAAAS! Would I recommend this to a friend? YAAAS! I wanna try more of their boba!

Not a bad place for wonton noodle soup. It’s only 6 dollars and some change and the portions are generous. Not enough for two meals but still delicious.
The soup comes with wontons of pork and shrimp and golden egg noodles. There is always some delicious cooked cabbage. The broth is rich and full of flavour, but a tad salty so you should add about a half cup of hot water to dilute it.
I’ve also ordered the black pepper chow mein. I don’t know why I did that since I don’t like the strong taste of black pepper, but overall the chow mein was good.
Service is fast and efficient. The workers are polite and ten minutes is the average wait time. However they charge an extra 20 cents for to go orders, just an FYI.

So I usually go here if I’m in a rush and I just want some sort of noodle dish.
Portions: HUGE. I eat a lot and this lasts two meals for me.
Price: Everything is generally under $ 10 — Get a stamp card!
Food: Pick and choose… rice dishes are pretty good. Their seafood dishes are too fishy for my liking since it’s overly packed with imitation crab (ew) and lacking real shrimp.
Specifics:
Combination plates: This gets you the most bang for your buck! It’s an entrée + eggroll, + boba drink for ~$ 8. They don’t have lunch specials but this is kind of like their «special»
Chow Fun: SKIP IT. Order something else! Their chow fun is extremely greasy and I think loaded with MSG. I ordered a beef chow fun for the first time the other day and I felt a little sick afterwards (not sure if it’s from the oil or MSG).
Chow Mein: Beef chow mein is flavorful (unlike the chow fun). This is usually what I like to order. They give a decent amount of beef as well.
Thai Tea/​Tapioca: Pretty good for what you get. The thai tea is not overly sweet like other places. Their boba is usually chewy as well and not too over/​undercooked.

Definitely one of the better places for Chinese food around UC Berkeley. I usually order orange chicken here or general chicken, some sort of Americanized sweet and sour chicken. They have an upstairs area that has more tables if you have larger parties. My friends love getting the salt and paper tofu here. I’m not to sure about the boba. For a long time, they were cash only so I ended up going to Mandarin House which is right next door. But i like the orange chicken here for sure over Mandarin House. They also give broccoli in their orange chicken.

The wonton soup is tip top.
Beef noodle Szechuan is ok.
I tried the steamed pork dumplings today & they were pretty good also.. .
(Not quite as delicious as in China:)

I would give this place 2.5 stars if I could.
Pros:
— WONDERFUL PORTION SIZES. I’m the type of person who eats a lot. They give you great portions here. No need to worry about having not enough noodles/​rice/​soup.
— Usually really quick, reliable and friendly service.
— Free wifi!
— Szechuan shrimp rice plate is good. They have piña colada snows here too.
Cons:
— Cash Only.
— Their Singapore Fried Noodle can get salty sometimes.
— Potstickers have a thick skin that can get kind of hard and chewy or thick like a cracker after being fried. Might be better if they used a thinner skin or didn’t deep fry the potstickers.
— I said the Szechuan shrimp rice plate is good, but sometimes they give you too much rice (and that goes for a lot of the rice plates). The proportion of [xyz] to rice is a bit off and you sometimes feel too heavy and full after eating there.
— Hong Kong pan fried noodles are way too salty. The sauce they use has way too much salt and you feel like you need to drink water after 3 – 4 bites.