China Bowl Express & Young Hawaiian Barbeque

Very friendly staff. The food is very good at a reasonable price. The orange chicken is amazing. If you buy a thai tea they give you 1 free. Free rolls if you buy more than 2 combos. Love this place

If you’re going to advertise that you close at 9pm then close at 9pm. If you want to close at 8:45 then advertise that. At 8:50 chairs are already up on the table and the cashier lied and said that her computer said 9pm. I’m here now and it’s clearly 8:57. Very poor experience today.

Buy 1 get 1 free boba or Thai milk tea!!!
Buy 2 combos get 2 egg rolls free
They offer Chinese food ready to go or Hawaiian combo plates. I prefer the Hawaiian BBQ. I love the fresh steamed cabbage! Combo plates are filled with food. Easy to split with someone else.
This place is very clean and prices are very reasonable.

I love this place!!! The food is amazing! That’s all I have I say. You can get Chinese and Hawaiian food all in one stop.

The place was good a few years back, possibly it was under different ownership/​mgmt. But as with any lack-​of-​vision business the quality has degraded sharply especially this year, currently it is at it’s worst, so becoming a typical cheap & bad cookery.
Specific examples referring to the ready to serve food choices they have on the counter:
— Pepper «Chicken»: this menu choice is a fraud ever since I’ve been there, it has virtually no chicken in it. They trick the plate with a lot of potatoes browned to look like cooked chicken.
— Mandarin «Chicken» (and most of the non-​breaded chicken plates), lately the «Chicken» meat in these plates is mostly skin and fatty chicken discards; that’s right, it looks like the use the worst chicken discards to make these dishes. Last three times I bought food here, it’s been the same so this is not a single occurrence, it’s nasty food, worst than a big mac.
— Breaded chicken plates (orange chicken and similar); of course this is pure flour fried in fat, virtually no chicken inside; if you find a pea sized pc. of meat in it you’re lucky, and it will be hard to know if it came from a chicken.
— Recently, they advertised an offer («buy two combos, get to egg rolls free»). The last time I was there I had to bargain with the lady to get the offer honored, she tried to lie to me saying that the offer was for more expensive combos than the ones I bought, while the offer clearly did not state that. This is blatant dishonesty and tells very little of a business.
I mean it is dishonest enough to sell plates with a bunch of fried flour and fatty skin cuts and call it «chicken». I might as well go to the donut shop nearby and lunch with donuts, for less $$!!
I’ve had it with this place; next will try the thai restaurant just 2 doors down the alley

Running special deals! 2 combos with 2 free eggrolls ($ 1.25 /​order)
I like this place cause you can get some tipical chinese takeout and fried Hawaii katsu in one place, they also have Thai tea and boba tea (buy one get one free deal now)
The owner is always friendly, the food is fresh, not too oily or too much sauce. It is a great place to get those fried food fix :)

Yesterday was my first and last time here. I walked in around 7pm and there was quite a few people eating and a few people waiting to order. There were no employee’s in sight, I assume they were in the back. I’m looking at the menu and then I hear a child gasp, I look down and there is a huge 3 inch COCKROACH casually strolling across the floor in broad daylight. OMG! It wasn’t even running, like it was used to dining with the customers. So nasty!!! I turned right around and started walking out. The was a family eating by the front door after the lady asked me what was going on because of the little commotion and I told her there was a giant roach. As I got into my car I saw other people leaving. This place needs pest control ASAP. I didn’t see their health grade but they clearly need a visit from the health department.

This place gave me really yummy food… I ordered Teriyaki chicken with mixed veggies, white rice and chow mein. Got to admit I was first in so it was fresh and good. Chicken was tender and crispy. I was bummed because I wanted to try the Hawaiian BBQ but there was only one guy cooking in the back about to deliver an order, so I didn’t have a chance to try it

It’s pretty good here, I got pineapple chicken and it was soooo good and juicy! Overall it was delicious for a fast food place, plus workers are also friendly! :) I’m really picky with Chinese food but this was good! :)

This is the best fast food Chinese food around. I used to like going to Happy Wok down the street, but this place is by far much better. They always hook you up with rice or chow mein, and whatever food you order. I’ve read other reviews about the food being cold and the service being not so great. Hey it’s Chinese fast food … lol.
I honestly haven’t ordered any Hawaiian food because I just want to be in and out of here, but every time I’ve come, I’ve always been served pretty quickly and I’ve always been satisfied. I have heard from friends that the Hawaiian food is not too bad either.

OMG！the Wonton soup is amazing! It taste same like the food from my hometown! Soooooo happy, will come back to try more food here!

Food is bomb… better than most chinese fast foods and their hot and sour soup is yummooo. Lots of food, good price.

Since my last review they have changed the curry sauce itself as well as the temperature they serve it/​pack it. The curry doesn’t contain any peppers as before but tastes good. They also have smoothies, slushies and milk tea. Right now they have a BOGO deal on the milk tea drinks.

Best Chinese food place I’ve ever been too! The food taste great. And they serve a lot! Never really had a problem with having to wait in line or anything. The employees are really nice and patient. I just really liked this place and I’m gonna be going there every time I’m craving Chinese food! Ha (:

Be patient. There’s always a line.
The food is awesome.
The ladies that serve the food… they take forever and they’re always arguing.
I’ll still go back though. I love their food.

A Unilocaler is not supposed to eat fast food but I have been to this Chinese Fast Food joint more than once.
The rice is a bit bland
The orange chicken is way to sweet
But besides that, I can’t get enough of everything else. Though it is fast food, keep in mind.
Song parody of Billy Paul’s 1972 «Me and Mrs. Jones»
Me and China Bowl
We got a thing going on
Unilocal knows that its wrong
Flavor is too strong
To let it go right now
It’s not some trendy way
Or some Hipster café
But at lunch time, I will be there
Eating rice with spam
Fried rice though its bland
While I think of this Billy Paul song
Me and China Bowl, China Bowl, China Bowl
China Bowl, got a thing going on
Unilocal knows that its wrong
Flavor is too strong
To let it go right now
I have to be careful
Not to make my rating to high
Cause they will serve fair, and so will I
Me and China Bowl, China Bowl, China Bowl
China Bowl, got a thing going on
Unilocal knows that its wrong
Flavor is too strong
To let it go right now
…

If you want cheap, flavorful, and filling food, this is the place to go. I have been coming here ever since they opened a few years back. I haven’t tried the Chinese food here yet because I’m not that big of a fan of fast Chinese food. However, I have had the Hawaiian food here every time I swing by. I usually order the Chicken Katsu and the BBQ Chicken combo meal along with a request for two extra teriyaki sauce containers. Comes out to about $ 8 IIRC without drinks. That’s the best combination of different textures and flavors of Hawaiian food in my opinion here at this place. You get the crispiness of the chicken katsu as well as the juiciness and soft texture of the BBQ chicken. Not to mention filling as I can barely go through half the dish in one go sometimes. With that said, the BBQ lamb is pretty damn good as well.
Also, note that you can ask for all macaroni salad if you don’t want the rice in the combo meals. Why is this relevant? Honestly, this place has the best macaroni salad I’ve ever had from any kind of restaurant. Seriously, it is pretty damn amazing. I got so sick of the rice portion that I simply asked for all Macaroni Salad rather than the rice and macaroni combo they have. Kudos to them for letting me have that.
Service wise, it’s ok to good. Nothing really bad but nothing really outstanding. Then again, they do give me two extra teriyaki sauce containers and letting me swap out rice for more Macaroni salad when I request them so does count as outstanding, huh?
All in all, definitely one of my go-​to places for a cheap filling meal.

I find it funny that I have two standards at rating food. Fast food and sit down food. Well this place is getting my fast food rating. It’s fast food and I still enjoy it. Everything I’ve had is quite tasty. I’m going by memory since it’s been awhile since I been down (too lazy to drive that far.). All the chinese fast food dishes are pretty standard: Teriyaki chicken, Orange Chicken, BBQ pork, broccoli and beef, ect ect.
If you want good chinese fast food then this is your place. If you want amazing cooked as you ordered restaurant chinese food, well this isn’t your place. I’m still looking for that place myself around here.
One bonus for me is that they have milk tea on the menu too. Pretty average milk tea, but I can’t complain for a one stop run :).

Summary:
— Cheap, fast, decent food
— Extremely friendly staff
— Large portion of food in the party trays
Detailed:
1. Regarding China Bowl Express:
Similar to Panda Express. I ordered the following party trays for a work lunch party:
— Fried Rice — a little towards the dry side but that’s how I prefer my rice to be since that means they use less oil in its preparation.
— Fried Noodles — a little bland but unlike some other fast food chains, these noodles were not oily at all.
— Chop Suey (Mixed vegetables) — I actually like their cabbage/​zucchini Chop Suey. I usually don’t like the smell of cabbage especially in Chinese fast food places because of a certain smell. I’m glad that it wasn’t present with the way they prepared it.
— Broccoli Beef — the beef was extremely tender and the broccoli wasn’t mushy like some of the other Chinese places that I’ve ordered from.
— Kung Pow Shrimp — right on! This was worth ordering.
— Deep Fried Chicken Cuts (w/​Sweet & Sour sauce) — some pieces had more breading than chicken but I have to admit that the sauce just makes this dish worth having again.
— Small side of fried chicken wings (w/​spicy salt) — a little towards the salty end but was extremely crispy.
Note: I think the advantage of ordering party trays is that they have to prepare a fresh batch for you because of the quantity needed. They can’t just get it from the food line because it won’t be enough.
2. Regarding Young Hawaiian BBQ:
The menu is practically the same as L&L or Ono Hawaiian BBQ and the tastes are so similar that the first time a coworker ordered from here, I thought it was from either L&L or Ono. I really like their Pork Katsu, Chicken, and Short Ribs.
They also have Slush and Smoothies for $ 2.95 each. I ordered a Mango and a Peach slush and they really paired well with the BBQ meals.

I try to avoid fast food and soft drinks so clearly going to China Bowl was not my choice. But I wanted to be agreeable so I said, «I eat everything; don’t worry, I’m flexible.» If I ever say that to you, you should know that it means, «I want to go somewhere with delicious food and a nice ambiance. You should learn to read my mind and guess exactly where I’m thinking.»
Anyway, the choice was made and China Bowl it was. For a place of its type, it actually wasn’t that bad. I ordered #5 with chicken and Hawaiian BBQ beef short ribs. The cashier told me it would take 7 minutes to cook but in reality our meals didn’t come out until about 15 minutes later. The chicken was really tender and well-​seasoned and the beef short ribs had some resemblance to kalbi. The huge portion of steamed rice was warm and delicious. The macaroni salad was completely unnecessary and greasy.
One of the other diners in my group had tofu with steamed vegetables. All I can say is that I felt bad for him because it didn’t look very tasty.
Since I am in touch with my Asian-​ness, I got a boba milk tea to drink. It was way too sweet and the boba didn’t taste all that fresh.
The total for 3 people including beverages came out to $ 30. I think it was more expensive because we ordered off the «made-​to-​order» section of the menu. I saw lots of people getting the 2 or 3 item combos of «Chinese food (yuck!)» and those cost less than our meals and are piled to the top of the container.