Mao’s Kitchen

Always a fan of this place. A bit cleaner, better service, and tastier than the Venice location.
Recommendations: Orange Ginger, Long life Beans, & Spinach Shrimp Dumplings

A hidden gem! I love the chicken fried rice. Great prices and so much food. The server was also really nice. Service was kind of slow but the food was well worth the wait :)

Favorite place to go eat on melrose, so yummy lots of portion for what you pay, chill atmosphere, great service, nice candle light, super yummy fried tofu. My favorite item is fresh veggies over lo mein. I can eat that for days!

Started off on a good foot but progressed into horrible service. Ordered delivery and were quoted an hour and ended up over an hour and a half! When I called to ask what’s the status I kept getting brushed off and told the driver is on his way. I mean, I get it you’re busy but you’re not going to do something for your customers and dismiss them! Woman who answered the phone could have cared less. They definitely lost points and ultimately a customer. Never again. Don’t waste your money or time.

No soy sauce with delivery, for reals? Even after I got on the Telly and asked the dudette at the restaurant to call the driver, still no soy sauce. Now I’m eating soy sauce-​less rice and lemme tell ya, I shoulda just eaten some top ramen.

Waiting for my food to come. It’s been over 50 minutes. I’m pretty sure my stomach is eating itself judging from the noise it’s making. The waiter is not helping one bit. Offer something to your customers if you know your kitchen is slow. Be more courteous. Be extra friendly. Never going back. Avoid at all cost until the owner knows how to run a restaurant.

The waitress was anything but welcoming. It did not seem like she wanted us to be there. When I asked about allergies in foods (shellfish) she acted like I was being outlandish. The decorations are pretty bad. The food was a D minus. We ordered the pancakes and they were so bland, it just tastes like simple bread. Then we ordered the tofu dish and it was covered in this black sauce that was really not good and the whole thing was loaded with tofu and a few pieces of bell pepper and way too much onion. I would not recommend this place to anyone. It was all around thumbs down.

A worm in our wonton soup! This place used to be our favorite. We would drive from north Hollywood just for their soups & egg rolls. Tonight we were very disappointed & disgusted. We called them right away and they said they would credit our card but it’s not about a refund, we had to stop our dinner. The sickening part is we don’t know how long this has been going on. How many people have gotten stomach viruses without knowing where it came from. People, always check your food before eating. Sorry Maos kitchen but I feel obligated to inform of experience.

Food here is pretty good. But, the lady who just took my order over the phone for pickup is just beyond rude.
She had trouble taking down my phone number and seemed annoyed right off the bat.
When I gently and joking corrected the spelling of my name that she wrote down, she barked «it doesn’t matter what your name is, it goes by your phone number».
When it got to adding protein to the fried rice order, she sounded fed up and super annoyed when it took a minute for me to decide.
Before I could find out how long it’d take, she simply hung up on me.
Someone must be having a bad day, but don’t take that to work and lash out on customers.
Will definitely be dining in or ordering online instead next time.

I actually liked the kitschy theme and service here, and the new location behind the old one is very pleasant with the trees and patio. However, the food was rather flavorless and what flavor there was resembled no other Chinese food I’ve ever had. Actually it reminded me of the times I’ve tried to make Chinese food at home (with no training): there’s ginger and garlic and fivespice, yet it completely lacks the soul and depth of real Chinese food.
Back to the drawing board, chef.

Healthy, home made style Chinese food.
Don’t come for the ambiance, come to just eat good food.

I love ordering from Mao’s
They have excellent lunch options that are sure to fill you up.
My «go to» is usually the ginger orange chicken, but I don’t get it fried (although I’m sure that fried is even better)
When you eat in they offer crispy wonton chips with a mouth watering plum sauce, we got seconds it was that good.
Service here is usually friendly and their delivery is always speedy.
Great little spot you got here guys ;)

I just ordered delivery from Mao’s for the first time and wow… those Dan Dan noodles (with pork) are YUM YUM! A mix of savory flavors in a sauce that makes me oh so happy. Also got the shrimp & spinach dumplings (Yay!) and the Long Life green beans (a little on the sweet side, but still good).
I’ve been disappointed by a lot of Chinese delivery in the area, so I’m sooo happy to find Mao’s! Fresh, delish & here in under 45 minutes! And not your average menu. I like that.

Really like this place
Great service and good food
I’m plain and eat the same thing usually
Orange ginger chicken, curry sticky noodles and home made ginger ale

Loved the place, loved the food (especially their hot n sour soup) but HATED THE SERVICE!
Im not sure if ill wanna go back their waiters are super aggressive and unprofessional. Not all of them of course but 2 of them last night were cranky with frowning faces! U guys should carefully pick the people who work for you or at least train them n teach them the basics. Major turnoff!

This place needs a new chef!
Ma po tofu had almost no flavor. Supposed to have garlic, ginger, and wood-​ear mushrooms, had none of the above flavors. Just bland tofu and sliced beef swimming in red oil.
The weiwuer lamb was fatty and chewy, had a sour flavor.
The kung pao was ok but sliced carrots are not as appetizing as the diced carrots the recipe calls for.
The fried rice also had a sour, less-​than-​fresh taste.
All of these dishes are supposed to be based on fresh garlic and scallions and none of these were. If I had to guess I would say the chef is using some sort of garlic paste out of a jar which has lost whatever flavor it once had and now has only a sour-​y taste.
The concept here is great. My suggestion: raise all the prices $ 1 and hire a real Szechuan chef and a helper to chop fresh garlic + scallions.
I would have given the place one star if not for the offstreet parking and excellent filtered water.

The short…
Get over the name, the food tastes fresh, and they have parking! lol
The long…
Walked by many times, was put off by the name but finally came around to try. We were pleasantly surprised by the fresh flavors.
Location: North side of Melrose Avenue between Poinsettia Place & Fuller Avenue.
Parking: Yes yes yes!!! There are a handful of stalls in a small adjacent parking lot. Street parking (meter/​non-​meter) also available, if you park in residential be sure to read the signs as most surrounding street parking is only limited to 2 hours.
Environment: Unsuspecting exterior; the interior is very simple, faux finish concrete floors, modern design, soft dim lighting for late dinner gave a relaxing feel. Main room is spacious, patio is visible from parking lot and a nice way to enjoy the Southern California weather. Staff was a little slow with our drinks but otherwise on top of everything else.
Food: Everything we tried tasted fresh made, even the dipping sauces were delicious. It was such a great sensation to taste something that didn’t come straight from a bottle. We tried:
–Complimentary wonton chips w homemade sweet sour sauce. The sauce was so good!
–Potato Pancake vinegar-​like sauce. Yummy, best to consume at the restaurant. We took it home & it was too tough to eat. lol
–Egg flower soup w zucchini, razor thin carrots slices, delicious & fresh natural egg texture, not slimy or gooey. This soup had a surprisingly delicate taste, loved it!
–Ma po tofu good but HELLA HOT for this weakling. Mild version recommended if you’re sensitive like me. lol
–Sweet sour pork was not over cooked or oily, just right.
–Jasmine iced tea was perfect for a warm night.
WC: Spacious, modern, clean & had a great full length mirror.

I’ve eaten at the Venice location before and liked it. This was a completely different experience.
The dan dan noodles:
I’ve had this from the Venice location. There, I loved it. Here, it was mediocre at best.
The orange-​tangerine chicken:
I ordered the orange chicken (such as the one I had in Venice) and they gave me orange-​tangerine instead. It was completely different (not fried) and it was terrible.
The sautéed bok choi and black bean fish:
They were good but nothing special.
The atmosphere here is a lot better than the Venice location, but the food is considerably worse.

I truly love Mao’s affordable and delectable menu items, tasty complimentary appetizer, $ 2 (per-​person) tea-​kettle (optional), hip style décor, awesome location and FREE parking lot.
However…I truly don’t love how long it takes to receive the main courses! I mean, what’s takin’ so long back there? Is the constant take out orders pushing my order to the back of the line? Did you forget about me? Do you not care that I’m hungry and waiting for my delicious meal to arrive???
Hmmm.
Well, whatever the reason for the delay — please be better! As I don’t want to have this complaint again in the future.
Most graciously,
Jane

I stopped in around 11pm for a late dinner so it was pretty empty. Interesting décor. I thought that the menu had clever little bits from Chinese history, but wasn’t quite sure whether some of it was bordering on offensive. I decided that it wasn’t. Good history lesson on the Long March, Gang of 4, and the Proletariat.
In any case, the price of everything is around $ 10. Pretty cheap for what you get. Portions were large. I got the dandan noodles, which had peanut sauce, ground pork, veggie shoots. Delicious! I haven’t had one this good in a long time. Great flavors, everything tasted fresh. My friend got one of the lamb dishes and it was delicious as well. I think this place really does use quality ingredients and cooks everything as its ordered. I appreciate that. It has the prices of a Chinese restaurant, but the food quality of a Western establishment.
It’s also open until midnight, which is perfect for a late savory dinner. I’ll definitely consider coming back here to try their other items. It was hard to decide! A surprise find and very pleasantly surprised!