Yen Ching Express

This place is gross. We found multiple short & long hairs in our food. At first we didn’t say anything when the hairs were short but then one of my family members pulled out a long hair. We just wanted to show them & let them know, just so they could do something to prevent it from happening again. When showed to the owner she brought the hair back over examining it in front of the whole restaurant & us say they don’t have «blonde hair in this store». When the hair was obviously brown & long which one of there workers had. But no one in our group had hair like. & when we approached the idea of it being there employee with long brown hair (which was down & not held back) she said I wasn’t here when your food was made. But she was working with food when she got back from break. we ended up leaving not asking for anything in return but ended up getting blamed for there being hair in our food that we did not make or have the same color as. Just want to give a warning to any potential costumes.

Stopped here while passing through Illinois for a quick bite to eat. We were greeted with exceptionally friendly customer service and a quick explanation of the menu. The food is cheap and good here! Everything is also made to order here and substitutions can be made. Definitely give yen ching express a chance

Maybe it’s nostalgia, but this is my favorite cheap Chinese place. Whenever we are back in Illinois visiting family we make a stop here.
The food freshly prepared. The staff is easy to work with and the price is right. Glad they opened back up.
Try the Rangoons. They are the best of anywhere I’ve eaten in this category.

I usually don’t write many reviews but I had to for this place the wontons were horrible the chicken wings were greasy and fatty and the chow mien didn’t even resemble chow mien

I read the reviews and figured I’d give it a try. I went in and ordered in person. I was greeted as I came in and asked if they had egg future yung. They did. I orderwd pork egg future yung with fried rice. The inside is exactly what I expected from any Chinese resteraunt. The food came fast. The egg patty was not overcooked like most. Places do. It was better then I expected. Will be back next time I’m through.

For people just visiting town, this place isn’t for you… that being said sometimes (if you’re like me) you just want cheap Chinese food in the worst way possible. It is good (ish) but not great.
Yeah, that’s about it.

I am not from here, so I just stopped in coming off the interstate highway. I had decompile chicken and it was absolutely terrible. It was flavorless and completely full of MSG. The rice was old, and possibly reheated. When I got to my car they did not even give me a silverware coming through the drive-​through window. I had to go back around to the window and then it took me five minutes to get someone’s attention to come and help me and give me the right utensils.

Yen Ching Express is a family run restaurant owned by John and his lovely wife Rebekah (along with John’s parents), with Ching dedicated to Ching-​He Huang, of Cooking Channel TV, who played a major part in making Yen Ching what it is today.
They got a simple yet complete Chinese food items such as Twice Cooked Pork (回鍋肉), Mongolian Beef (蒙古牛肉), and many other popular traditional Chinese gems. You can ask for mild, or extra spicy and they cater to your taste buds.
John’s wife Rebecca is a wonderful hostess who would do everything she can to make your visit an enjoyable one. Rebecca is one amazing lady who’s very supportive of John and always seen holding John’s hand — isn’t that lovely?
C’mon people. John and Rebecca are what American Dreams are all about; particularly in a small town like Bloomington, IL. Drop in and give them a try, you won’t regret it!

Came here for a carryout and got the teriyaky chicken & egg roll for 6 bucks. They updated there dining room with done cheap chairs & painted the walls. rumor has it a famous show from the food network was there this summer. they also increased there prices too, rather steep too. I got my food and asked for 3 packets of hot mustard, and she was going to charge me .50 cents for 2 packets, they also charge for soy sauce too, what a joke. I get ready to leave & notice I have no egg roll, she tells me woops I forgot that.
The food was ok at best as usual. but I’m really disappointed in the changes here good luck to anyone who stops here.

When I first moved to town, this was the first Chinese restaurant I saw. I thought there’d be no way I’d ever eat there. Where I’m from, we had a Yen Ching that was a restaurant that people would visit from all over the place. Imagine my dismay to see this joint sharing the name of something we all held in high standards.
Let’s fast forward many years. The Food Network has a program, which I think is called «Save my Restaurant», and came in and added some items to their menu. They did. The result is fantastic. Please, before you dis this joint, don’t order off the standard menu — order off the white board that’s close to the cash register. I ordered the jalepeno chicken — I will now be back! Even if it’s just for that.
When I ordered, the cook stated that he could make it to any heat that I wished. Bonus! I asked for a little hotter than he normally makes it. Perfect for a pepper fan like me. BUT, I have to say, there are jalepenos in the dish, however, they’re not as hot as you’d think them to be. They have a slight burn, but more of the taste of a hot burn — if that makes sense. Since I’m a pepper fan, you’d might like to just let him go to his task.
The rice that came with it was great — a hint of garlic — something that I miss in other Chinese joints around town. I also ordered an Egg Roll. OMG — dang was it good. It had white pepper inside it that made most other egg rolls bland, but this. .. quite good. On this dish — I give it a 4
Sure, the décor is crap. But let’s face it. .. would you rather go to a joint that has great décor but crappy food or a joint that crappy décor that offers great food (even off the menu) Choice is yours

I went through the drive through as it was after a movie about 1pm on a Saturday. There were very few options to choose from. I didn’t see any of my standard choices, General Tso’s Chicken, Orange Chicken, Sesame Chicke, so I choose Chicken Chow Mein. After recieving my food I asked for a menu so I knew more options in the future. The lady indicated that they didn’t have any menus right now??? WHAT. You are a restaurant, isn’t a menu the second more important thing next to food…
Food was bland tasting and soda tasted flat. Won’t be returning here soon.
Only positive, it is cheap… Unless you are drunk I wouldn’t recommend.

The food is wonderfully delicious, reasonably priced and the service is friendly. My favorite dishes there are the twice cooked pork and Mongolian beef. Nothing else like it in town. Will be back.

My boyfriend took me here because he actually like the food here. I wanted some Chinese food and since I’d never been here I figured I would try it. The inside was dirty. Dirty like I didn’t want to sit on the chairs dirty. We got our food to go. The food isn’t really flavorful. The crab rangoon had too much mayo mixed in, yucky. I also got the beef and broccoli. It was kind of bland, almost like it had been sitting around for a while but I still ate it because I was hungry.
I did not get a bad stomach ache like I expected so I gave an extra star but I will not be going back.

After being recently dissappointed with another Chinese place in town, my fiancé and I decided to try the Yen Ching Express. He has gone multiple times, and I take his fried rice! I have tried the chicken and the pork fried rice, and both were very good — not greasy or over salty like it sometimes gets. The crab rangoon is also great. It sounds weird, but the sweet and sour is just right, too.
The cashew chicken, however, is why I am writing this review. AMAZING. No large pools of sauce, a ton of green peppers, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and carrots (I may be missing some veggies), and what I would estimate to be over a half cup of cashews in the large portion. And it tastes great!

As I sat at my table waiting for my food couldn’t decide if this place was dirty or everything thing in the place was just really old… no wait I just decided it was dirty.
Luckily for them that doesn’t make me shy away from cheap food, went with my old standard Orange Chicken It wasn’t great, but I think I’ve had worse and at least it was made to order however the rice tasted of ash and void of any vegetables like peas and carrots that you would find in the fried rice of similar Chinese restaurants but I did find a few stray pieces of, ah mm, pork I think it was?
Great now feel bad about myself for writing a 2 star reveiw.

One of our favorites! Great service and food! Some of the best customer service in town.

If I were a rich man, ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum, I would never eat here again.
This place is your classic fast food Chinese fried garbage restaurant with a small, greasy menu that is limited to the old standby entrees. The consistently fast and friendly service would normally earn them another star, but their constant running of Fox News snatches that star right back. Décor is bad, as is the parking lot and every other intangible.
However, for less than $ 5 you get a really filling meal and a drink for lunch, so for that reason it gets another star and I will probably go back again.

The food is pretty good. I think their prices are really low which is the biggest plus. When I ate there with my husband, an older woman that worked there kept yelling at us about not being allowed to share our food. It was odd. The interior is pretty cruddy and it is in a bad area.

Not as good as the original Yen Ching. Decent prices, but smaller portions and longer waits. All the dishes are the same quality (decent) as the old place. Scary location — lock your car if you do drive-​through, and park by a window if you eat-​in (to watch your locked car).