China Gate

Another business gone from Franklin Park…

FYI: They (and the business around them) are closed for now due to a fire. Since there was a hair salon next door, the clean up will take longer due to the chemicals from the hair products.
Before all this, I really enjoyed their broccoli mushroom dish. Hope they return soon. This was the only Chinese place in walking distance.

They’ve closed down. Has been for at least a week. Big orange sticker on the window which makes me wonder just how bad the kitchen was after the new ownership took over…

No longer my favorite, no longer my go-​to. Judging by the new faces, increased prices, quality slippage, and an uptick in mistakes, it appears they’ve changed owners. It’s a shame, because they definitely had something.
They updated their menu at the end of last year which was the first sign something changed. From said menu, they removed the excellent coupons they used to have for free appetizers.
It gets better.
The new delivery driver likes to attempt walking off with my $ 20 bill instead of giving me change. Sorry bro, I’m not a cheap tipper by any means, but 50% is a little steep. It also seems they’re forgetting to include something every time I order. Mostly recently, an egg roll that was supposed to come with my combination platter. Lastly, the food just tastes off now. Definitely lacking. I long for the days when they were so consistent.
I used love this place. Now, I may not even come back.

Decent, but not my number one spot for Chinese in Franklin Park.
I tried their Wednesday special of Kung Pao Chicken. It was extremely cheap, but wasn’t a big fan of their rice or egg rolls.
They were extremely nice and their service will probably warrant another visit. I noticed they have Orange Beef on the menu, so maybe that’ll be a bigger hit with me.

After reading many stellar reviews i decided to try out this little spot on Franklin Ave. I walk past it almost everyday and was in the mood for Chinese so I stopped. Not the usual staff of your typical Chinese take out place but friendly. There are some weird menu options like a fish and fries special and chicken gumbo. Again unconventional but I didn’t stray away I wanted some of this delicious orange chicken everyone on Unilocal was raving about. So I ordered a small order of OC and a order of egg rolls. The tab was almost 10 $ a little high but nothing that broke the bank. My order was given to the kitchen and I sat down to wait for my take out. While I was waiting I noticed flies and those nasty sticky strips in the dining room and through the kitchen window in the back. I was expecting to hear the yummy sounds you normally hear again at your typical Chinese take out joint. The sizzling of the chicken being fried, pots and pans clanging and a spatula scraping at hot wok. Unfortunately all I heard was Microwave doors opening and closing. minutes later I took my bag and was off on my way home to enjoy. I live about two block away when I got home the food was still warm, not very hot. the egg rolls were about the size of a spring roll and were almost uneatable not crisp on the outside and the filling kinda just tasted old and possibly turned. one bite and back in the take out bag they went. the orange chicken was nothing to be desired very little flavor, no spice and again soggy and mushy. i had a few bites and chucked the rest. Luckily it came with white rice which i gladly ate. I won’t be returning with many good Chinese take out places in the area that deliver like Chinese Kitchen in Schiller Park, or New Star in Elmwood Park I cant believe this place is still open.
Also I wanted to mention that their egg rolls were 2.75 $ for two most good places are only 1.99 $ and they don’t suck.
The orange chicken was a dollar more then all their other chicken dishes. I know they are trying to make a buck and a living. but to raise the price of an item just cause its popularity seems silly to me especially when poorly executed.
So all in all I would waste my time with this shack of a Chinese restaurant again. Just get something delivered.

Really have enjoyed my meals at china gate. Just found out they also serve Cajun Gumbo. Its pretty good! Was disappointed that they’re not serving crab claws and frog legs. But all the food Ive ever ordered here was fresh and really good. I make it a point to try a different dish everytime I come in. Today it was chicken gumbo and shrimp with green onions. Delicious!!! Definetely recommend!!!

If I could give them 6 stars I would! I love this place. Even if I didn’t love the food Id still give it 5 stars for the customer service. The Owner is such a sweet man who never wants you to leave upset or unhappy with your experience. From all the times I have been here and ordered to go, Ive only had one bad experince with my order being messed up. But with out even a blink of an eye the owner came over and fixed it! You can’t find a better run business ANYWHERE in this area, state, country… They have really good daily specials during the week. (Love their orange chicken!) Prices are so reasonable. Just a great place all in all. If you do have a big group i recommend calling ahead or taking to go because its a small seating area. But either way you will enjoy your experince from the food, to the staff!

At my house we had been craving Chinese we were going to order from Peking in Winston Plaza, but they were closed so after Unilocaling I found this place! It was delicious and hit the spot! We ordered an order of eggrolls, crab rangoon, beef friend rice, sweet & sour chicken, and the schwan special. Oh yea and tea. Our total was $ 30 and some change.
Eggrolls-​mehh ¹⁄₅
Crab rangoon-​6/​5
Beef fried rice-3.5/5
Sweet and sour chicken-​3/​5 the tomatoes could have been a bit more ripe and the peppers cooked just a lil bit.
Schwan special-​4/​5
Since we dined in we also got complimentary wonton chips and soups. The chips were good and the eggdrop soup was delicious, the shrimp gumbo was ok but I really wanted chicken, it wasnt complimentary though which doesnt make any sense. I will def be back next time im craving chinese. We even had majority of our food to take home for the nextdays lunch n maybe even dinner. Go and check it out! I think you will leave full and happy.

This place is growing on me. We just got food here again for another quick dinner and everything was great. We had the won ton soup along with chop suey, bbq pork, and shrimp kow. The soup and everything else was great. As it has always been take out for me I still cannot say that much about the service though the people usually seem nice enough (all very young). The restaurant has been quiet both times I have been there and so it is a decent place to read a book while they make the food or just sit down and relax…

So I continue my never-​ending quest for solid, go-​to Chinese in the western suburbs, ’cause China Gate ain’t quite it.
I was encouraged by the reviews and by an article I found stating that this place was run by authentic Chinese chefs with high-​class backgrounds, but alas, the food just didn’t measure up. Let’s go through what we ordered:
Crab rangoon — average, 3-​star quality. Good crab flavor and pepper in the filling, but the outside was overcooked.
Potstickers — average, 3-​star quality, the opposite of the crab rangoon: the skin was cooked well (although fried on both sides…), but there was something «off» about the pork filing inside, like it’d been soaked in something and lost that good pork taste that supposed to be in a potsticker.
BBQ Pork — this is not what Chinese barbecue pork is supposed to taste like! This tasted like grandma’s pork roast, with some soy and sweet and sour thrown over the top. It was decent pork roast, but far, far from the sweet, savory goodness of real Chinese bbq pork. I don’t even think it was the right cut of meat. 2 stars.
Kung Pao — this was actually delicious. Probably a high 3-​star/​low 4-​star dish, albeit it was weird having combo meat in a kung pao dish — I would have preferred to have beef, especially since I don’t remember there being any beef in the dish itself.
Chicken with Garlic Black Bean sauce — this was Americanized Chinese sewage. Too much MSG/​corn starch — it became solid like cheap gelatinous gravy in the fridge. Good Chinese food I look forward to eating the next day. This I did not. The chicken had this preserved taste and the dish had zero garlic flavor.
All in all it’s around 2 – 3 stars. I rounded down b/​c I was put of by what should be a simple dish. If I lived next door, I might go back to this place for cheap appetizers and maybe try some fried stuff or their crab/​seafood offerings on a second chance. But from where I live, I might as well into the city (or stick with places like Lotus). This is really not that good even by Americanized/​non-​authentic standards.

Nice little restaurant in a nice little neighborhood in Franklin Park. It is basically Chinese food with some Cajun entrees on the menu. The service is really friendly and the food is not so bad. I discovered this restaurant through Unilocal!about 3 weeks ago. Since then, my girlfriend and I practically meet up there for lunch every week.
On Tuesdays, they have a special for an Orange Chicken entrée for only $ 2.99. An extra dollar would get your fried rice instead of steamed rice as well as an egg roll. That is probably the best price I’ve even seen and experienced that involved Chinese food. To top it off, a free cup of soup comes with the meal as well. The orange chicken came and it was quite tasty. The white meat chicken was really soft, it’s like the chicken melted in my mouth. My girlfriend is a big fan of Gumbo soup and with CG’s Gumbo soup, she ended up liking it. The Clam Chowder is not so bad itself.
This place is a 5 in my book due to the generosity the restaurant gives to its patrons. As an appetizer, a basket of fried wonton chips is delivered to the table. They’re real good if you dip them in the Gumbo soup or Clam Chowder. The portions are also too much for the price they are offered at. Even the appetizers like Fried Calamari come with a side dish of fried rice. Unlike most Chinese restaurants, the food is not so greasy. The smoothies are also not too bad. You have the option of having it with tapioca as well as whip cream. You’re also able to combine the many fruits CG offers.
This place is great for lunch; I can tell it’s a neighborhood favorite. On a side note, salmon, tilapia, and catfish are also featured on the menu. The great part is that you can have it char grilled, Cajun style, deep fried, Far East style, or sautéed with butter, lemon, and wine sauce.

Hmm, second time around the food was not as good. The fried rice tasted a little flour’y. Other than that, portions are huge.

We have been alot.
They do a great job for on all foods, but has anyone every ordered the seafood noodle? We saw a table of men eating this dish, asked WHAT IS THAT? The young waitress explained it as a dish that only is ordered by a few. Told us it was not for everyone! Had to have since she said that. Since we love Phở & this looked alot like Phở we HAD TO HAVE IT… AWESOME a chicken broth with seafood!!. Scallops, shrimp plus all their other sources of goodness. China Gate never let’s you down. LONG LIVE!!! YUMMY!!!