Wah’s Golden Hen

i don’t usually review anyplace that has this many reviews… because i am not sure what i can add. but in this case, i do have something to add:
everything you have read about this place is true. good and bad. like every review you read on Unilocal — take the review in the context of the reviewer. what was their expectation? what was their compliment? their criticism? and how does that play into who they are.
this is why i love this place and why i gave it 5 stars: it is the real deal. authentic, warm and with longevity. the food has pluses and minuses — some dishes better than others. the prices are fantastic. the ladies awesome. read the other reivews to see what is good. they are mostly accurate.
I’d rather spend 30 bucks on chinese take out than 60 bucks. and, i do not know a better place — every place has their good and bad dishes. i’d just rather come here than any other place — it makes me smile that they are part of my neighborhood and my routine.

The food was hot, fast, and accurate. Howver, I thought it was a bit bland and overpriced.

My friend and I came here after another place we were interested in was too busy to seat us. Wah’s Golden Hen is conveniently located, we were able to find street parking close by and were greeted right away when we entered. The restaurant is small and has a very casual atmosphere (a step up from fast food atmosphere) but the staff is super friendly, the food came to our table very fast and was extra tasty! On top of that, the final bill was much lower than I expected and they gave us SIX cookies for the two of us! (4 almond cookies and 2 fortune cookies)
I’m sold! The only downside is that I don’t live closer so I could come here more often! I only intended to eat half my plate of noodles and shrimp but then I looked down and I’d eaten ¾ of it and of course I had to keep going, not wanting to take a small bit home. I finished the whole plate and felt full but not stuffed.
#1 reason to come here: the staff — friendly, enthusiastic and checked on us just the right amount of times.
#2 reason to come: the food — delicious, fast and fresh!
#3 reason to come: the price — won’t break the bank!
PS someone else noted that the food seemed low quality and implied that because it came out so fast it was maybe pre-​made? I ordered noodles but wanted the dish custom (no scallions or onions) and they were happy to accommodate and my food was still very quick so maybe some is set up before hand but it all tasted good and I appreciated it could be customized!

I ordered the egg rolls because they looked so good! …They were huge because they were mostly breaded. The food wasn’t bad.

AMAZING Wonton soup. Super sweet owner and cook. Loved it. Would be a frequent diner if I lived closer

For the price this is by far the best deal you can get for Chinese food in the East Hollywood area. Prices are reasonable and food is up to par. Make sure you order the shrimp fried rice and the broccoli beef they are very delicious. I’m giving this place 5 stars because the food of course but specially because the price is right. The owner/​server is very friendly as well although she could forget to fill up your water at times but it’s okay. Lol

Smallish restaurant, limited seating in a non-​descript strip of shops.
Owner very friendly, food is good. We had house special wonton soup, steamed fish, pepper beef, garlic-​fried green veggies. Food is quick to serve and delicious. The steamed fish was off-​menu, and they probably do not serve much of it since I think the fish was frozen. Tasty though.
Gives free almond cookies and fortune cookies after our meal. Owner was quite happy to meet my dinner friend who came from same province from China. Been operating the restaurant here for 30+ years!
Cash only business!

Great food and excellent service! I had take out with my neighbors. We are all from the Midwest and are constantly searching for Cantonese Chinese food that we grew up with. We found it!!! The eggrolls are like no other that I’ve had in LA. The Beef with Peppers was delicious; melt in your mouth beef and perfectly cooked green pepper. This is my new «Take Out» on the way home from work.
The owners are exceptionally warm and friendly!

Been coming here since 2007, I was recommended by a good friend. I love this place I’ve tried almost everything on the menu and everything is delicious by far one of the best Chinese restaurants I’ve ever been too. The wonton soup is so good! The owner Lina is a sweetheart she always remembers us. We didn’t come for almost two years (we don’t live near by) and to my surprise she remembered us! Especially my daughter. Oh and her daughter is really sweet too. She will let you use the restroom if you ask. Love this place I have been coming more often because it is worth it!

Stopped by from Griffith Observatory. Great good, awesome prices. Feed a family of 6 for less than $ 53. The Golden Hen owner Super nice. I will go back for more food real soon. Thank you Golden Hen.

This place is everything you want it to be. Hospitality is a bit of a lost art, however Wah’s makes you feel at home. Excuse the cliché because it is actually real here. The food is really good as well. Simple and the food comes fast. Also the prices are super reasonable especially when you consider the portion sizes here… huuge.

The lady was really nice and I had high expectations given the reviews.
The place is easy to find and there was a parking lot (fairly full) next to it.
The food is of fast-​food quality and taste, which means it’s mostly fried, and came out within 5 minutes of ordering. We ordered the most expensive family dinner for 2. It was more than enough food, but did not feel good to eat.
–Egg rolls were the size of my forearm and fried.
–Shrimp was battered like an onion ring and there was about 70% batter 30% shrimp.
–Pork was fried in the same batter as above and possibly 20% pork 80% batter.
–Soup was good, but wontons were overcooked, felt like they were sitting in the soup.
Overall, cheap, fast food. Comparable to McDonalds for asian food. Tasted fried, fast service, but will make you feel like crap after.

Great price for good food! I love the hot tea they serve on hot days, haha. But i love the simple but delicious menu. If you order take out you will love the Chinese boxes stuffed full of your food.
Maybe they should upgrade their AC system so its nice and cool inside.

It all depends with the dishes you get here. Could never go wrong with the beef broccoli and shrimp fried rice shrimp are chopped up so u could have some shrimp with every bite of it. It’s a small restaurant but the lady that serves you is so sweet. I love the service there although she sometimes forgets to refill my waters. Mushroom chicken and spicy almond chicken are so good as well. I’ve had other dishes that weren’t so good, but not stopping me whenever I’m craving Chinese food this is always my spot to go!. It is a CASH ONLY and closed on Mondays.

Believe it or not, this restaurant has been running for 40 years!!!
Awesome Chinese food.(house special wonton soup and fried squid must tries!!)
Sweet and friendly service.
You will always get Almond cookie after the meal:)

I’ve been coming in here for years. My sister’s in-​laws (they’ve been loyal costumers for over 20 years or so) introduced us to this place and automatically fell in love.
I brought my boyfriend here today and he also converted. Their wonton soup is to die for! I love their sweet and sour chicken and the fried rice always hits the spot.
The service is amazing. Definitely a great spot.

I like the chow mien and Mongolian beef. The staff is friendly and they have a small parking lot beside the restaurant.

EPIC FAIL.
I really wanted this to be good Chinese food experience. It’s close to where I live and it has some really good reviews here on Unilocal.Unfortunately I found it to be some of the worst Chinese food I’ve ever had in my life.
NOTE: First off let me say that the woman running the front of the place is very, very sweet and friendly. The service was very fast and attentive. But the food… well, it was awful.
I only got to try two dishes (thankfully). Both of them are American inventions, but they are two very popular items at American Chinese food restaurants and they among my favorites to order; egg foo young and chop suey.
The chop suey was a goopy, over-​cooked mess. I ordered it with beef but they use a kind of limp, spongy ‘meat’ product here that is questionable not only in texture but also in taste. The dish consisted of about 55% bean sprouts, 25% water chestnuts, 15% carrot slivers, mushrooms, and other vegetables, and only about 5% ‘meat’ (which in this case turned out to be a blessing). The worst chop suey I have ever had.
The egg foo young I ordered made with ‘chicken’ — and again, it was served with this bizarre limp, spongy ‘meat’ stuff. But this ‘meat’ was dropped on the sides of the plate, not diced up and in the egg mix. They give four thick patties of what they call egg foo young, but instead of it being a delightful, eggy omelette with crunchy fresh bean sprouts and diced green onion and chicken, they were odd, overly browned, pucks that tasted like there was some kind of flour batter mixed in with a bit of egg. They came absolutely drenched in a nasty dark brown gravy that tasted just like it came from a box. One of two worst egg foo young dishes I’ve ever tasted.
The place is bare-​bones with zero personality (like a funky low rent donut shop). It smelled very strongly of stale, dirty cleaning rags inside. I saw the ‘A’ rating on their door so I hoped it was evidence that they at least try to keep the place clean. And to top off my delightful dining experience there was an extremely loud argument going on in the back room/​kitchen between a woman and the cook — the ENTIRE time I was there! Then the very nice lady who waited on me got on her cell phone and started having a super loud conversation with someone. The man she called was so loud you could hear his end of the conversation from anywhere in the dining area — and she was doing her best to talk over him!
Nice lady. Horrible everything else.

It’s a mystery to me why this place has such a high rating but it’s probably because the women who work here are exceptionally nice and give everyone a lil bag of cookies. Tbh theyre probably LOLing in the kitchen munching on string beans like damn those cookies were a good idea!
Are you really gonna trust these reviewers writing things like «they use real Chinese takeout boxes here!» on what’s really good with chinese fare? Anyone complimenting the absurd fish & chips-​battered «egg roll» that i thought was a youtiao is out of their mind or regularly eats at Chipotle.
Go to new dragon seafood in chinatown a few miles away for war wonton soup without the corn starch, with whole shrimp in the wontons. Come here to support the nice ladies — which is what everyone else seems to be doing.

I’m gonna be real… the food here is not the best, but I mean, I’ve had much worse. There were some truly terrible dishes, and there were some pretty good ones too! So I guess this restaurant is a solid mediocre. I feel bad for saying that because the owner really is, as all the reviews say, such a sweet lady. We also speak the same Cantonese dialect, so she reminds me of… all my relatives.
The restaurant itself is pretty small… the lighting is super fluorescent up in there as well. For some reason though, I felt right at home while sitting there waiting for my order. This place is cash only by the way.
I ordered the Family Special for «Three Persons» (hehe, adorable), which came with the fried shrimp, wonton soup, house fried rice, house chow mein, egg rolls, sweet and sour chicken (+sauce), beef broccoli, almond cookies, and homemade fortune cookies. The total cost was $ 30 including tax… can you say CHEAP? We all couldn’t even finish the meal since it was just SO MUCH FOOD. The two-​people portion would have been perfect… next time.
Next time, I would just order the wonton soup, house fried rice, house chow mein, beef broccoli and almond cookies. Those were decent. Unfortunately, the rest of the meal was a MAJOR miss. The egg rolls were something else. Probably the largest egg rolls I’ve ever seen in my life. It tasted so bad! So you’re stuck with not only a gross egg roll, but a HUGE gross egg roll. Fried anything here should be avoided because they use waaaay too much batter. The fortune cookies were too hard for me, but it said I was going to «receive pleasant news of a personal nature» soon… so FINGERS CROSSED!
Anyways, this is a great deal of food for what you’re paying. Even though half of it is almost inedible, it’s actually very impressive that it’s so inexpensive. I guess you get what you pay for.