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Chef Liu (Chinese cuisine)  $

 8
JaT Rating

236 Castro Street, Mountain View, 94041  (Directions)


650-938-2968


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Clean, speedy, and cheap Chinese sitdown restaurant


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1020
Reviewed: 6/12/2006
Rating: 8
My photo gallery 		A fellow user suggested we'd try Chef Liu because the food is cheap and served fast. Sitting on the Castro street in Mountain View, it's easy to find and there's parking behind it. We noticed they have a lounge in the back and according to my friend, it's a dive bar serving cheap drinks, he said it was pretty cool. Here's how the whole lunch went down.

We walk in, host spots us, sits us down, tea is delivered, menus dropped, waiter asks us if we are ready to order. The whole sequence took like 2 minutes. These guys are fast! The menu was a 2 sided menu with most lunch items at $4.95. One side was your standard americanized menu and other side was hand pulled noodles section. I haven't a clue if there's a difference in taste with machine and hand pulled noodles so I ordered the seafood chow mein (picture #6).

We must have waited 3-5 minutes and the waitress dropped off 2 large plates of food, a la carte style. It's a lot of food for the price. My plate was steaming and an aroma bearing sesame oil. Noodles were fairly thick, had a chewy texture to them, slight charring, and glistened with oil. High heat, short cooking time, with a seasoned wok taste, these noodles were pretty good. Vegetables were just sprouts, green onions, lettuce, and maybe a sliver of carrots somewhere. The seafood count was 4 large shrimp, 4 calamari, and 3-4 pieces of cod.

I initially wanted to give a solid 7.5 but when I thought about how much we paid, the speed of service, portion size, and cleanliness of Chef Liu, I was impressed. I don't think we were the only ones who enjoyed it, the restaurant was completely packed. With numerous eating decisions to make on Castro, why not give Chef Liu a try, it won't cost you a lot of money or time, you might even get hooked on this flavorful deal.
 


Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 738
Reviewed: 6/12/2006
Rating: 8
My photo gallery 		I was rather impressed with Chef Liu. I am on the border of 7.5 or 8. The place was clean. Service was friendly and fast. Food quality was good. I could find little to fault as a standard lunch destination. It was not the fanciest of places, but what do you expect with such cheap, quality dishes? The food did not inspire as much as entertain. It nearly filled me up, excited the taste buds (tho the flavors were not unique really), and put a very small dent in the wallet. I look forward to visiting more and trying other dishes here.

Today I paid for Jason and myself, and I spent a little over $12. What a deal!
 
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aquagrl800 ate...

five-spice beef noodle soup $6.50

“Hot, cheap, speedy and tasty! Just what I needed on a cold, overcast day. Beef slices were similar to the type one gets in pho. Came with a generous portion of chewy noodles & several spears of bok-choy. Also very cheap, would definitely return!”

12/5/2007 8:44:23 PM

Bozz1991 ate...

Lunch Specials

“This is my favorite chinese place in Mt View. Nothing spectacular mind you; but they do everything right. The Lemon Chicken is good, Soups are good, the Kung Pao. Fast friendly service, cheap prices and a clean place. Who can ask for more?”

6/7/2007 7:57:40 AM