Chef Liu

Nice folks. A little pricey (but all Chinese food is expensive these days) but worth it every once in a while. For quick and simple I tried some steamed rice with the House chicken (ask for it boneless). Warm, crunchy, spicey… super good.

Decided to take a break from cooking and chose Chef Liu. Usually the food is reasonable, but not this night. The meat was overcooked and the noodles sticky and hard; like they had been sitting around awhile.
Kind of disappointing. We don’t eat take out a lot, so was supposed to be a treat. Won’t be going back.

I eat here at least twice a month. Not the best, not the worst. But come to think of it, I’m not really looking for awesome Chinese food. It’s certainly consistent, and in walking distance from work! Staff is always friendly, lunch special prices are affordable. My usuals are the curry chicken or the won ton soup. Those are pretty good!

Food isn’t bad. I can tell, though, that most of the food is pre-​made as it comes out lightening fast. Granted, the place wasn’t busy, but the food just doesn’t taste fresh, although it didn’t taste bad. Service was good. Hot and sour soup was more tangy and had a really loose consistency, but was still tasty. The Kung Pao chicken was decent, again not tasting fresh.

Chef Liu is a nice little neighborhood restaurant that’s doing everything right; almost. The service was friendly, attentive and spectacular in all ways. One downside is that the menu has not taken vegan & vegetarian diners into consideration. To my delight the staff there created a custom dish for me that was fantastic. The tofu-​eggplant stir-​fry that Chef Liu concocted was out of this world. There’s a photo of this dish included with my Unilocal tip for Chef Liu. They should really add it to the menu.
It’s disappointing that this restaurant has yet to offer vegan mock meat proteins. Products from Gardein, Beyond Meat, Yves & Tofurkey are available in bulk from restaurant suppliers. It’d be easy for the restaurant to get the new ingredients as well. Vegan vegi-​protein crumbles are similarly easy to find. Places like Chopstix in Felton offer vegan Chinese options currently. It’s not a stretch to have these available in this day and age.
In case the business owner/​manager reads this review I’ve supplied a link to a resource that explains exactly how to get these veggie protein bits: The full list of restaurant suppliers is on page 17 here:
Felton & Scotts Valley have a lot of vegetarians. Please appeal to us by revising your menu with an alternative outside of simple tofu.

The owner is very accommodating to special orders and their food is wonderful! I asked if she could add eggplant to my General chicken with a smile she said, ‘of course!’

My boyfriend and I decided to try this Chinese place instead of our usual place. We tried their basics, chicken fried rice, generals chicken, sweet and sour chicken, and beef and broccoli. I must say I was a bit surprised when we called in our order and they said it would be ready in ten minutes… But we still went to pick it up and it was pretty standard pricing for any Chinese place and the staff was very nice. When we got home (5 minutes later) our food was lukewarm and looked like it had been sitting for awhile now (did not look appetizing to say the least). After trying a few bites of each we ended up throwing it all away. Honestly the worst Chinese food I have ever tried. It was soggy and the flavors were awful to say the least. Wish I could say I would give the place another chance, but not after that meal.

The food is very overpriced, the food was stale, and it was not worth the money at all. I ordered crab cream cheese puffs, a small white rice, and orange chicken and it came out to $ 20. The crab cream cheese puffs were stale and tasted pretty old. The orange chicken tasted like it had been sitting in a heater for a while and was just not good at all. I came here once before and decided to give a second chance. Regretted that. The store was completely empty while I waited for my food. I figured they would probably give me fresh food, but nope. It didn’t taste very fresh. Not going to go again, and I wouldn’t recommend anyone to go here.

Third time’s a charm! This is the third Chinese joint I’ve tried in Scotts Valley and its the one I’m sticking to. I base my decision on 2 items, Hot & Sour soup and the Kung Pao Chicken. Both items have loads of flavor and the Kung Pao is not all the same bland peanut color like the other places I’ve tried. I can actually see AND taste the zucchini and green pepper. On another note, the service was friendly and quick. It’s a win!

Best lunch specials in the area and the best hot and sour soup. Come here all the time.

I would highly recommend the pork and green beans, with garlic sauce. I also had the pork fried rice, and hot and sour soup. Everything was great. I will be returning for dinner in the future.

Decided to come here after none of the thai places around scotts valley sounded good. Good service throughout the whole meal. And the food was tasty with big portions. Definitely more than enough for later. No hot tea was brought out, and I didn’t see it on the menu. I didn’t ask though.

Excellent, fast service. Good food. They offer the lunch specials until 3pm everyday.

When I was a kid I used to live next door to Mei Garden before the name change to Chef Liu. Back in the day when my mother doesn’t feel like cooking we just go next door and order food here. The people that work here knows us too.
As for the food it is wonderful and worth spending your money. They have the best Chinese food in Scotts Valley and they still currently do. I highly recommend trying out the Hot Braised Shrimp and Five Flavor Chicken if you’re a fan of hot and spicy food.

Yum! I’ve been in Coeur d’Alene, ID for a few months and the food there is so-​so.
I treated a girlfriend who likes this place to lunch. My first time here.
I loved the hot & sour soup, garlic beef and pork-​fried-​rice lunch. She said she prefers the egg-​drop soup over h&s but I guess ya get the soup of the day and I lucked out.
Lots to choose from on the menu.
Guess I’m taking off 1 star because the forks and napkins were stored on our table and it’s kinda weird having other patrons and staff taking those items from the table at which I’m sitting.

Good food. Quick service. Always treated well here. The walnut prons are a must! Their water always has lemon in it unless asked otherwise, however I love lemon water so it was enjoyable!
Clean as well, just quite a few flies.

Tried it for the first time after reading some of the good reviews. Was hoping it would live up to the legacy that so many Unilocalers have claimed. I think Legacy here is overrated.
The food was average but by no means outstanding. It’s good for a Chinese food fix but it won’t be one of our regular joints.
I over-​ordered which I love to do when trying new places so I can compare and contrast. I did ask for low-​sodium which they accommodated.
1. Sizzling rice soup: better than average, lots of veggies
2. Appetizer platter: fried shrimp was less than average, tiny shrimp in a lot of batter. Even my son who eats any type of fried shrimp wouldn’t eat it. Pork was fairly lean. Eggrolls were average and appreciate they weren’t overly greasy. Wontons were blah — really thick and heavy.
3. Chicken moo shu: the best dish out of what we ordered. Was not over cooked, the cabbage was crisp and no funky chicken.
4. Orange chicken: nothing amazing here, sauce wasn’t too heavy, lots of crispy pieces.
5. Sweet and sour shrimp: too much batter on the shrimp. I ended up scraping it off the pieces I was eating b/​c it was overwhelming.
6. Special chow fun: second best dish out of what we ordered. No funky meat, good noodles to veggie/​meat and not overly greasy.

First I don’t understand these prissy fools complaining that it isn’t clean. Hell by authentic Chinese restaurant standards it’s damn near pristine! All of the food seemed fresh. The service was very good (also I don’t judge service by what kind of pants the server is wearing, who cares so long as they are comfortable!). I like the décor here too, kind of classic Chinese style and yes they have booths :)
The food was good overall but nothing stood out as excellent. We’ll come back and try some house specialties next time.

We make the quick drive from SC over to Chef Liu’s at least once a week. Love the hot and sour soup that comes with lunch — really nice and spicy.
Don’t miss the garlic shrimp — fantastic. When it’s not crowded, it’s also lightning quick.
I also walked into this place once at like 10am just to grab a menu and the lady was at a table hand-​rolling all of their spring rolls for the day. Great to see a Chinese place scratch cooking everything.
I love the people here too — the waitress is this super-​friendly Chinese lady who takes your order, then goes into the kitchen and yells it at the top of her voice to the cook in the back. Not exactly a quiet romantic atmosphere but hilarious every time.

This place used to be Mei Garden.
The same great family still has it and cooks all the food.
They changed the name because people would call in orders for the Santa Cruz Mei Garden and then not pick them up.
So, to end the confusion, as Confucius say… New Name!
We love the Wor Won ton soup, which is a meal in itself on a cold evening. It’s not salty at all & It’s full of white meat chicken, prawns, BBQ pork & lots of fresh veggies, oh, and large won ton. We also love the Fresh green beans with chicken and spicy garlic sauce. Their General Chicken is a spicy favorite also.
They will cook any item specially, just like you want it and have no problem with special requests. I always ask them to cook all my veggies very crisp, fresh & delicious.(No soggy veggies here.)
They have dozens of wonderful lunch specials every day & always have new specials on the board.
The service is wonderful and they always treat us like family.
Call on the way home from work and your food will be ready for pick up.