I love coming to this place for dine in or take out. The staff is always friendly and welcoming. The food is taste and fresh. The restaurant is kept clean and in good repair. The parking lot is kind of small and mostly hidden in the back but easy to get in and out.
(4)
Kim T.
Based on the cars in the parking lot, we decided to give this place a try. Big disappointment. The sign does say Chinese-American ... our first mistake in going there. Got some combo plate with an egg foo young patty. This thing must have been frozen and just thrown in the microwave because it was awful and cold. Food is not good or fresh. Husband did not care for his either. Place is old and unattractive. I really don't get the attraction here. We will not be back not even if the meal was free.
(1)
Troy C.
Kowloon Cafe is a Chinese\American restaurant, one of the few that remain in the Wasatch Valley of Utah. Being from Ogden we went to China Nite and the Dragon to get our Breaded Veal fix, unfortunately China Nite closed and The Dragon dropped their American food items leaving little or no options in Ogden. Fortunately, I work in West Valley and Kowloon's is in the vicinity, I have been going there for over ten years now. The American food is very good, their lunch specials are very well priced as is the rest of their menu. As I said my reason for going here is to get Breaded Veal which is one the best of the remaining restaurants. I have also had their Teriyaki steak and chicken lunch specials, again very good and priced right. I have tried the Chinese food only once and I was not impressed, I advise friends to stick with the American options.
(4)
Joseph S.
WHAT HAPPENED? The food is awful now it made me ill (2 days) and the server was kinda rude too I told the cashier that the food was not very good! His response was "I will let the cook know"!! I will never go back A 40 year customer
(1)
Marc C.
A friend and I went there to try since we always pass by this restaurant. We ordered the crispy egg rolls, vegetable soup, Szechuan beef and Kung Pao Chicken. We were served with a soup that was pretty good, the only highlight of the meal. What followed was not very good. The egg rolls were drenched in grease, had thick skin, and kind of overcooked. I had to use the horseradish hot mustard sauce to make it a bit more edible. The main entrees were disappointing; they had funny flavours to them and the sauces very heavy. The chicken tasted old. We could not even finish our meal due to it tasting bad, and did not even take home when offered the takeaway boxes. Eventually, my friend and I felt sick and had to cut our plans short in order to go home and use facilities at home. I think a lot of undigested food passed through. It was horrible. Even the water they gave you was quite chorinated. Talking with a friend, I found out that this building used to be a funeral home prior to the business opening up. Thus some Asians who are supersitious will not go there, and we noticed that most of the diners there were white Americans....
(1)
D. W.
I must have driven by this place a couple million times before ever bothering to stop in, largely or maybe solely because the exterior looked so seedy. Inside was better than I expected and this place is somewhat of a fixture. However, of all the people I've known who've eaten there and had good enough feelings to recommend it, zero of them have opinions I especially trust when it comes to the higher end of Chinese and that holds here as well. This is sort of a very odd amalgamation of Americanized Chinese and Chinaized American food, if those descriptions make any sense at all. The food itself is ok, definitely more towards the American sensibility of things and a lot more heavily geared towards the specific tastes of Salt Lake City when it comes to Chinese food. Think along the lines of Panda Express and you're in the right area. If that's your thing, then have at it. You'll probably enjoy it a lot. I took a shot at the most Chinese sounding things on the menu and though most of it was not too bad, but not too great, either, falling right about in the middle of of the various Chinese places, with nothing to redeem it, especially, but nothing especially foul, either. In fact, it could safely be said there was nothing memorable about this one way or the other, though the exterior could do with some brushing up.
(3)
Katie P.
My son and I had a craving for Chinese when we drove past this restaurant. I remember having driven past it a million times. I'm not a huge fan of Chinese American as it's just watered down Chinese. My hopes weren't overly high. I'm glad. While we left full, we did refuse the take out boxes of our leftovers. It wasn't worth bringing home. I had something I've never seen before...shrimp noodles with gravy. It was shrimp (they were good) in a somewhat Chinese inspired thick gravy over spaghetti noodles. That's it. The pasta had not been well drained and the bottom was very watery. My son ordered the Combo. plate #1. I've never seen ham fried rice with nothing but two or three tiny pieces of ham.....no veggies, nothing. The chow mein had no flavor...I tried it. The sweet and sour chicken drums were okay, he said. There were a lot of cars there. Usually a good sign? I guess we just prefer full flavored Chinese and know next time that this is not for us. The staff was very nice and it's clean.
(2)
Jake B.
I will never go back here. It was so loud and dirty and the food was too greasy. No thanks
(1)
Sam V.
In an effort to "diversify" my repertoire of Chinese restaurants in the city, I decided to keep an open mind when I went here with my boyfriend's family for Father's Day (can't deny a father his favorite place on Father's Day). At first, I found myself amused and somewhat charmed by the poster depicting a woman who looked like she was from the 50s or 60s claiming "they had the best food in town!" while holding up a plate of hamburgers, fries, and a soda. That should have been my first indication that this was going to be an interesting experience. My boyfriend and I ended up ordering the Service for 2, #2 Option, which comprised of: your choice of egg flower or chicken noodle soup (really!?), sweet and sour pork, ham fried rice, fried jumbo shrimp, and chicken chow mein (we chose soft noodles), and an order of paper wrapped chicken. Yep, it was a TON of food... however, I found most of it inedible and lacking in any depth of flavor whatsoever. The only thing I was able to comfortably finish was the egg flower soup, and that's because I douse mine with soy sauce and chili sauce anyways. The fried rice had the consistency of poorly cooked quinoa, the sweet and sour pork and fried jumbo shrimp had a ratio of breading to meat of 3:1, the chicken chow mein wasn't too awful, but I could easily make the same at home with a chicken breast and top ramen, and the paper wrapped chicken basically tasted like black pepper. I suppose with the entire kitschy feel of the place, I shouldn't have been surprised with the poor quality of the dishes. But in my experience, it's always been the sketchy places that have the best and fairly priced. If you're in the area and looking for Asian cuisine, honestly, Kowloon wouldn't even be ON my list of recommendations. The only reason they're receiving an extra star is because I saw how happy families were when they came here, they serve a HUGE quantity of food, and they have darling customer service. But seriously, there are better and cheaper options, especially in that particular area of town.
(2)
Steve A.
Wow, the reviews are all over the place. I find that Chinese food has to fit your style. What works for someone might be too much or too little for another. I personally am a fan of the breaded veal and halibut. The service here is great, and the food is decently good in my books. I'd say it's a solid try-it-yourself type of place. Add it to your rotation and decide for yourself.
It was an interesting experience reading the reviews for this restaurant. I read the one star review and I thought "I know exactly what you mean." Then I read the 5 star reviews and I thought, "could we really be talking about the same restaurant?" This place was just terrible. Awful really. A colleague and I were in Salt Lake for a business trip and we stopped here because of the positive reviews on this and other sites. Maybe we came on a bad night? Maybe we chose the wrong dishes? This was some of the worst food I've ever had, regardless of type. Chinese dishes are supposed to have flavorful sauces, right? Both of our dishes were served in a colorless semi thick sauce that had no distinct flavor, but regardless made me rather nauseated. The whole place was kinda skeezy dirty too. I went home feeling sick and unclean and utterly confused about how so many people could have positive things to say about this place. Reading the 5 star reviews leaves me similarly bewildered.
(1)
Randy I.
As someone born & raised in SLC; the past days of Kwong Ju, South Seas, Pagoda, Sunrise Cafe makes me crave the chow mein of my youth. Found the Cantonese chow mein of my youth at Kowloon...They have removed Seaweed soup off the menu, but still have ginger beef, sweet & sour shrimp, and Cantonese fried chicken. No one does it like this anymore.
(4)
Nick G.
By far the worst food (not just chinese food) I have had in the West Valley area. My chicken lo mein dish was top ramen noodles with old-bad chicken and was bland at that. I should have known better. There is a cutout wooden cowboy out front of the restaurant. What respectable chineese restaurant would have that out front? The fact that you can buy a hamburger at a chinese restaurant should have been tip number two that this was going to be bad. I am not sure how other reviews can say that the food is five star. I am suspect of their reviews personally. They might work there or something because even if they boiled the top ramen in evian it couldn't be five star. I have tried some of the other places around this location and while they are nothing special, I would take them anyday over Kowloon. If you like terrible food and the diarhea that is sure to follow then give Kowloon a try.
(1)
h p.
This small business is great. I came here with a few friends recently. The service is friendly and soo much selection on their menu. I really enjoy the fried rice and the sesame chicken is perfect! Something there you wouldn't expect to be here is chicken fried steak.. But it's crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Also the price is great for the portions. Would definitely come back.
(5)
Ms. M E.
Kowloon is a total dive restaurant. The service was great but the food was not. It was very greasy and lacked flavor. I was disappointed because I have been looking for a good Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood.
(2)
Gene K.
Ok, the food was a bit better than in my last review, and everyone was so freakin polite and friendly! This pl actually made an effort to improve.
(3)
Mandy B.
We were visiting in town and read all the great reviews, so we decided to try some takeout. The place was packed, always a good sign....so we thought. I ordered the Kung Pao Chicken, Chicken LoMein, and the Sweet and Sour Soup. First when I was ordering, I asked what she recommended. The cashier replied she had never eaten the soup. Should have been a warning sign, but I thought perhaps she was new. It was actually inedible. Smelled like fermented tofu and tasted like it was 3 days old. The Chicken LoMein had no flavor at all, and the chicken they used was dark meat and fatty. The Kung Pao Chicken was edible, but honestly left a bad taste in your mouth. It also was dark meat and fatty. The fortune cookies were even stale. I dont understand why people are spending money on food that is barely edible. Obviously they have never had great Chinese....so sad and disappointing. One positive note, its an incredible price for the amount of food you get. But considering my dogs wouldn't even touch it, should be an indication of just how bad it was.
(1)
tiff t.
I've been eating at Kowloon for years. It's one of the few places I don't get tired of. Their food and service is always great. The menu has a variety of options, and odd as it may be, not all Chinese. I'm seated quickly provided with great service. It's nice that the manager frequently checks in as well to make sure I'm taken care of.
(5)
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Address :2055 W 3500 S
West Valley City, UT, 84119
Takes Reservations : Yes Delivery : No Take-out : Yes Accepts Credit Cards : Yes Good For : Lunch, Dinner Parking : Private Lot Bike Parking : No Wheelchair Accessible : Yes Good for Kids : Yes Good for Groups : Yes Attire : Casual Ambience : Divey Noise Level : Average Alcohol : Beer & Wine Only Outdoor Seating : No Wi-Fi : No Has TV : Yes Waiter Service : Yes Caters : No
The popularity of Chinese food in America can be adjudicated by the appearance of China Town in many major cities in the United State of America. The popular trend of ordering or opting for Chinese take away food isn't unknown in America. Chinese take away food comes to rescue when you're too tired from work or too exhausted to cook. No one can resist the temptation of eating spicy noodles, shrimp, chicken, beef or pork cooked in the sweet and spicy sauce. The cooking method of authentic Chinese food is a lot different compared to what is served in America.
Generally, Chinese use dark meat small bones and organs to cook dishes but this changes when you are eating American-Chinese fusion food prepared using white boneless meat cooked with broccoli, carrots and onions. Back in China, the food is less spicy and oily as they favor steaming and braising method for cooking the most popular dishes. So, if you have a taste for authentic Chinese food, then try finding a real Chinese restaurant in the city. You can also try the most popular fusion Chinese food like Pecking Duck, Chicken Feet, Hot Pot, Shrimp Dumpling Soup, Mapo Tofu, Wontons, Chop Suey, Egg Rolls and not to forget Fortune Cookies.
There are not many restaurants in America serving authentic Chinese food. A little research on Restaurant Listings directory can help you locate the best Chinese restaurants in the city. Chinese cuisine is continuously evolving, and you can find a variety of dishes categorized as the food for lactose intolerant, gluten intolerant, vegan, vegetarian, and diabetic friendly. So, if you have a group of friends with different taste patterns, save the hassle and visit the nearest Chinese restaurant in your city.
Lisa A.
I love coming to this place for dine in or take out. The staff is always friendly and welcoming. The food is taste and fresh. The restaurant is kept clean and in good repair. The parking lot is kind of small and mostly hidden in the back but easy to get in and out.
(4)Kim T.
Based on the cars in the parking lot, we decided to give this place a try. Big disappointment. The sign does say Chinese-American ... our first mistake in going there. Got some combo plate with an egg foo young patty. This thing must have been frozen and just thrown in the microwave because it was awful and cold. Food is not good or fresh. Husband did not care for his either. Place is old and unattractive. I really don't get the attraction here. We will not be back not even if the meal was free.
(1)Troy C.
Kowloon Cafe is a Chinese\American restaurant, one of the few that remain in the Wasatch Valley of Utah. Being from Ogden we went to China Nite and the Dragon to get our Breaded Veal fix, unfortunately China Nite closed and The Dragon dropped their American food items leaving little or no options in Ogden. Fortunately, I work in West Valley and Kowloon's is in the vicinity, I have been going there for over ten years now. The American food is very good, their lunch specials are very well priced as is the rest of their menu. As I said my reason for going here is to get Breaded Veal which is one the best of the remaining restaurants. I have also had their Teriyaki steak and chicken lunch specials, again very good and priced right. I have tried the Chinese food only once and I was not impressed, I advise friends to stick with the American options.
(4)Joseph S.
WHAT HAPPENED? The food is awful now it made me ill (2 days) and the server was kinda rude too I told the cashier that the food was not very good! His response was "I will let the cook know"!! I will never go back A 40 year customer
(1)Marc C.
A friend and I went there to try since we always pass by this restaurant. We ordered the crispy egg rolls, vegetable soup, Szechuan beef and Kung Pao Chicken. We were served with a soup that was pretty good, the only highlight of the meal. What followed was not very good. The egg rolls were drenched in grease, had thick skin, and kind of overcooked. I had to use the horseradish hot mustard sauce to make it a bit more edible. The main entrees were disappointing; they had funny flavours to them and the sauces very heavy. The chicken tasted old. We could not even finish our meal due to it tasting bad, and did not even take home when offered the takeaway boxes. Eventually, my friend and I felt sick and had to cut our plans short in order to go home and use facilities at home. I think a lot of undigested food passed through. It was horrible. Even the water they gave you was quite chorinated. Talking with a friend, I found out that this building used to be a funeral home prior to the business opening up. Thus some Asians who are supersitious will not go there, and we noticed that most of the diners there were white Americans....
(1)D. W.
I must have driven by this place a couple million times before ever bothering to stop in, largely or maybe solely because the exterior looked so seedy. Inside was better than I expected and this place is somewhat of a fixture. However, of all the people I've known who've eaten there and had good enough feelings to recommend it, zero of them have opinions I especially trust when it comes to the higher end of Chinese and that holds here as well. This is sort of a very odd amalgamation of Americanized Chinese and Chinaized American food, if those descriptions make any sense at all. The food itself is ok, definitely more towards the American sensibility of things and a lot more heavily geared towards the specific tastes of Salt Lake City when it comes to Chinese food. Think along the lines of Panda Express and you're in the right area. If that's your thing, then have at it. You'll probably enjoy it a lot. I took a shot at the most Chinese sounding things on the menu and though most of it was not too bad, but not too great, either, falling right about in the middle of of the various Chinese places, with nothing to redeem it, especially, but nothing especially foul, either. In fact, it could safely be said there was nothing memorable about this one way or the other, though the exterior could do with some brushing up.
(3)Katie P.
My son and I had a craving for Chinese when we drove past this restaurant. I remember having driven past it a million times. I'm not a huge fan of Chinese American as it's just watered down Chinese. My hopes weren't overly high. I'm glad. While we left full, we did refuse the take out boxes of our leftovers. It wasn't worth bringing home. I had something I've never seen before...shrimp noodles with gravy. It was shrimp (they were good) in a somewhat Chinese inspired thick gravy over spaghetti noodles. That's it. The pasta had not been well drained and the bottom was very watery. My son ordered the Combo. plate #1. I've never seen ham fried rice with nothing but two or three tiny pieces of ham.....no veggies, nothing. The chow mein had no flavor...I tried it. The sweet and sour chicken drums were okay, he said. There were a lot of cars there. Usually a good sign? I guess we just prefer full flavored Chinese and know next time that this is not for us. The staff was very nice and it's clean.
(2)Jake B.
I will never go back here. It was so loud and dirty and the food was too greasy. No thanks
(1)Sam V.
In an effort to "diversify" my repertoire of Chinese restaurants in the city, I decided to keep an open mind when I went here with my boyfriend's family for Father's Day (can't deny a father his favorite place on Father's Day). At first, I found myself amused and somewhat charmed by the poster depicting a woman who looked like she was from the 50s or 60s claiming "they had the best food in town!" while holding up a plate of hamburgers, fries, and a soda. That should have been my first indication that this was going to be an interesting experience. My boyfriend and I ended up ordering the Service for 2, #2 Option, which comprised of: your choice of egg flower or chicken noodle soup (really!?), sweet and sour pork, ham fried rice, fried jumbo shrimp, and chicken chow mein (we chose soft noodles), and an order of paper wrapped chicken. Yep, it was a TON of food... however, I found most of it inedible and lacking in any depth of flavor whatsoever. The only thing I was able to comfortably finish was the egg flower soup, and that's because I douse mine with soy sauce and chili sauce anyways. The fried rice had the consistency of poorly cooked quinoa, the sweet and sour pork and fried jumbo shrimp had a ratio of breading to meat of 3:1, the chicken chow mein wasn't too awful, but I could easily make the same at home with a chicken breast and top ramen, and the paper wrapped chicken basically tasted like black pepper. I suppose with the entire kitschy feel of the place, I shouldn't have been surprised with the poor quality of the dishes. But in my experience, it's always been the sketchy places that have the best and fairly priced. If you're in the area and looking for Asian cuisine, honestly, Kowloon wouldn't even be ON my list of recommendations. The only reason they're receiving an extra star is because I saw how happy families were when they came here, they serve a HUGE quantity of food, and they have darling customer service. But seriously, there are better and cheaper options, especially in that particular area of town.
(2)Steve A.
Wow, the reviews are all over the place. I find that Chinese food has to fit your style. What works for someone might be too much or too little for another. I personally am a fan of the breaded veal and halibut. The service here is great, and the food is decently good in my books. I'd say it's a solid try-it-yourself type of place. Add it to your rotation and decide for yourself.
(4)Mike C.
Kowloon Café is one of my must go stops whenever I am in the salt lake area. Their food is generously large and their prices are very reasonable. They really do go the extra mile. I recently just visited again, and WOW, they completely remodeled the interior.. it looks GREAT! Keep up the good work!
(5)Ted O.
It was an interesting experience reading the reviews for this restaurant. I read the one star review and I thought "I know exactly what you mean." Then I read the 5 star reviews and I thought, "could we really be talking about the same restaurant?" This place was just terrible. Awful really. A colleague and I were in Salt Lake for a business trip and we stopped here because of the positive reviews on this and other sites. Maybe we came on a bad night? Maybe we chose the wrong dishes? This was some of the worst food I've ever had, regardless of type. Chinese dishes are supposed to have flavorful sauces, right? Both of our dishes were served in a colorless semi thick sauce that had no distinct flavor, but regardless made me rather nauseated. The whole place was kinda skeezy dirty too. I went home feeling sick and unclean and utterly confused about how so many people could have positive things to say about this place. Reading the 5 star reviews leaves me similarly bewildered.
(1)Randy I.
As someone born & raised in SLC; the past days of Kwong Ju, South Seas, Pagoda, Sunrise Cafe makes me crave the chow mein of my youth. Found the Cantonese chow mein of my youth at Kowloon...They have removed Seaweed soup off the menu, but still have ginger beef, sweet & sour shrimp, and Cantonese fried chicken. No one does it like this anymore.
(4)Nick G.
By far the worst food (not just chinese food) I have had in the West Valley area. My chicken lo mein dish was top ramen noodles with old-bad chicken and was bland at that. I should have known better. There is a cutout wooden cowboy out front of the restaurant. What respectable chineese restaurant would have that out front? The fact that you can buy a hamburger at a chinese restaurant should have been tip number two that this was going to be bad. I am not sure how other reviews can say that the food is five star. I am suspect of their reviews personally. They might work there or something because even if they boiled the top ramen in evian it couldn't be five star. I have tried some of the other places around this location and while they are nothing special, I would take them anyday over Kowloon. If you like terrible food and the diarhea that is sure to follow then give Kowloon a try.
(1)h p.
This small business is great. I came here with a few friends recently. The service is friendly and soo much selection on their menu. I really enjoy the fried rice and the sesame chicken is perfect! Something there you wouldn't expect to be here is chicken fried steak.. But it's crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Also the price is great for the portions. Would definitely come back.
(5)Ms. M E.
Kowloon is a total dive restaurant. The service was great but the food was not. It was very greasy and lacked flavor. I was disappointed because I have been looking for a good Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood.
(2)Gene K.
Ok, the food was a bit better than in my last review, and everyone was so freakin polite and friendly! This pl actually made an effort to improve.
(3)Mandy B.
We were visiting in town and read all the great reviews, so we decided to try some takeout. The place was packed, always a good sign....so we thought. I ordered the Kung Pao Chicken, Chicken LoMein, and the Sweet and Sour Soup. First when I was ordering, I asked what she recommended. The cashier replied she had never eaten the soup. Should have been a warning sign, but I thought perhaps she was new. It was actually inedible. Smelled like fermented tofu and tasted like it was 3 days old. The Chicken LoMein had no flavor at all, and the chicken they used was dark meat and fatty. The Kung Pao Chicken was edible, but honestly left a bad taste in your mouth. It also was dark meat and fatty. The fortune cookies were even stale. I dont understand why people are spending money on food that is barely edible. Obviously they have never had great Chinese....so sad and disappointing. One positive note, its an incredible price for the amount of food you get. But considering my dogs wouldn't even touch it, should be an indication of just how bad it was.
(1)tiff t.
I've been eating at Kowloon for years. It's one of the few places I don't get tired of. Their food and service is always great. The menu has a variety of options, and odd as it may be, not all Chinese. I'm seated quickly provided with great service. It's nice that the manager frequently checks in as well to make sure I'm taken care of.
(5)