| Chinese restaurant at the corner of Milpitas Square |
Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 738
Reviewed: 8/25/2005
Rating: 8.5
My photo gallery
|
I was driving around with my family looking for a place to grab a bite to eat in Milpitas. We were going to hit up Mils Diner (a wishlist request) but alas they were closed. So we headed over to the asian side of McCarthy Ranch and scoped out the places. We parked in front of Won Kee and started walking around the complex. We finally made our way back to Won Kee and walked in.
Oh man, this place is a Hall of Shame waiting to happen. I am not as sophisticated with the camera as Jason, or else I would have got some good kitchen shots. Oh well. Just don't go to this place expecting clean.
We sat down and ordered and then I was looking around. Sure it was dirty, but damned if it wasn't filling up with people for dinner. I think I might have been the only white guy in the place too. I was beginning to think that this place was legit.
The food arrived and looked fairly standard fast food chinese fare. Here's the rundown:
That first picture - the beef patty thing. Sadly I don't even remember what it is. My wife ordered it and said it was very good. I even overheard an asian guy at the next table asking the waiter what it was and taking note to order it again. It did look appetizing - if you're into the whole meat thing.
The fried eggrolls (only served veggie filled here - which is great by me) were quite tasty. Greasy, but thats how they are supposed to be.
Seafood Pan Fried Noodles - there's a bit of crunch there, but plenty of 'water' as my son likes to call it. They are wet and of course thats the best part so we were all pleased with this dish. The amount of funky seafood was reduced in this dish which is always a plus for me. I hate it when they put in 85% octopus and 2 shrimp. Blech.
Shrimp Fried Rice - wow, we have a winner here. I'm still thinking about this dish. It was VERY eggy and first-rate in my book. There are few places that jatbar has reviewed that had fried rice this fluffy, and flavorful without resorting to grease-pit status. Not to say it wasn't greasy, but not overly so, in my opinion.
So I had a very satisfying meal. Perhaps Won Kee is a guilty pleasure for me now. I just know that it delivered the goods. Perhaps not the cleanest place, but the food was fresh and good quality. Very unpretentious. Just sit down, eat your food, and go. It doesn't try to be overly fancy. The menu isn't filled with stuff that I don't recognize. Just basic chinese food, done very well. I was going to give Won Kee an 8, but after writing this, I gotta bump it up.
|
| |
|
|
Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 178
Reviewed: 8/27/2005
Rating: 7
My photo gallery |
Café Won Kee is known within my group of friends as “the Milpitas hole in the wall.” Its not really a hole in the wall but they stay open late (could be up to 3am) and they always serve up good rice plates late at night (or early on the morning).
Ive been here several times with friends, either after a late movie showing at the Great Mall or just looking for a casual and affordable late night snack. Typically Won Kee offers several specials written on their white boards placed next to the doorway. I personally find their menu items to be a bit on the high side, but they have several fried rice, rice plates, and noodle dishes with generous portions for a reasonable price.
Service is typically erratic. It seem as the Chinese wait staff tend to serve the Chinese customers more where as the non-Chinese customers receive less service. The later you eat here the slower the service is. Ive been here several late nights, typically ranging from 10pm to 1am and the wait staff is slow to fill up on water, slow to bring the check, slow to waive over for any service needs, slow to the point that you feel like they ignore you on purpose.
Food comes out quickly and its typically while its still hot. Its best to get everything you need before all your dishes are served. Ive had both the ala cart style and the rice plates. Ala cart menu items are a bit on the high side depending what is being ordered. I would stay away from the seafood dishes unless its on special and focus more on the spareribs, pork, or chicken. The dishes taste average as its nothing mind blowing. If youre looking to fill up on a low budget get the Hong Kong style chow mien (crispy on both sides with gravy) or the fried rice.
There is usually a good flow of customers than come in during all hours. During the late night, its easy to tell people come to Café Won Kee because they know its open late. Even for those that eat late, ala cart style dishes are typically ordered vs. the rice plates.
Pluses: Open very late, accepts credit cards, good value and large portions on rice plates, large selection of the cheap stuff.
Minuses: Lack of parking when the square is busy, a little dirty, average service, no soda refills, tea is served warm rather than hot.
**Update 3/30/2006**
I have been back to Café Won Kee several times since I have received this restaurant. Although I only rate this restaurant a seven, that does not stop me from coming here. This place offers many varieties at a very good value. As previously stated, the rice plates here are the best value. They are prepared quickly, they taste average, but they fill you up and are cheap.
The last time I came back was 2 weeks ago after a dance concert. I ordered the minced beef vermicelli. Although cheap, it was just average for me, as they did not even use the correct noodles to make this. Instead of getting vermicelli noodles, I got some thin noodles. My friend ordered egg with prawns over rice. He insisted they prepare it "well done". Usually when people order this dish they do not request it to be well done and it comes out with the eggs barely scrambled and runny, almost under cooked. What ends up happening is the heat will finish cooking if given a little time. Requesting it to be cooked well done is the way to go.
I returned with another group of friends just a few days ago. This time we ordered our dinner family style. We ordered the salt and pepper crab, beef with scallions, some stir fried greens, and a tofu with veggies dish. The crab was a 12.99 special, and even at that it is not cheap as now days you can find live crab for 2.99 a pound.
I was impressed with our tofu dish as the tofu was soft and was light in taste. I have noticed many tables order this dish and I can see why. The beef with scallions was a bit on the salty side. I was able to tolerate it but my friend commented that it was too salty for her taste. The stir-fried greens was light, a bit bland but very healthy until we noticed the oil at the very bottom of the dish. The crab was disappointing. First off, the body is still attached to the crag leg. We only got three pieces of bodies. Typically, there would be at least 4 to 5 pieces for a medium sized crab. There was only 1.5 claws, meaning one of the claws was freaking tiny it was not even considered a claw. We suspect our crab was not complete as pieces were probably snatched before plating.
The service was especially attentive, mush more so than when my other group of friends and I ordered the plate dishes. The server swapped our plates with us three times, which is unusual and unexpected service for this caliber of a restaurant. Our rice was refilled steaming hot when we requested a refill. Our tea came out hot this time as well. Some how I get the feeling different people or tending on what is ordered get different treatment of service. |
| |
Reviewer: Stevetacular
Total Reviews: 25
Reviewed: 8/21/2006
Rating: 7
My photo gallery |
Looking back...I'm still bitter about the whole coke-lemonade thing. I'm also bitter that the waiter wouldn't describe it to me...
It was getting pretty late for dinner, and my friends and I hadn't had dinner yet. We were debating where to go for dinner, and one of my friends suggested Won Kee because he knew the restaurants around the Asian part of McCarthy pretty well (so it seemed...)
Anyways we get there and it was your typical Chinese restaurant. It wasn't extremely dirty, but I can't say that it was Mr. Clean clean either. In the fish tanks that had several crabs and other delicious forms of seafood, but the fish that caught our eyes was the small shark. At first the shark seemed to be dead, so we were a bit concerned. However, I suppose it woke up and then it started flailing all about. It was kind of sad to see a shark that size in such a small tank, but hey I guess you could call this dinner and a show.
Instead of ordering individual plates we decided to do this family style. My friend chose the Ying-Yang Friend Rice (I honestly don't know what it was called that's what he said it translated to though). My other friends ordered the Chicken in Blackbean Sauce, and I ordered the Beef in XO Sauce. I also made the mistake of ordering 'Coke Lemonade'. It was 50 cents more than extra Coke and I thought, 'What the hell it can't disappoint.' It DID disappoint. It was lemon juice and a couple slices of lemon floating in a cup of Coke! I could've asked for Coke and a few slices of lemon if I wanted this!
Anyways, while waiting for our food, I noticed that the barbecue section had a microwave next to it. What's that microwave used for? You guessed it, re-heating old food for people to eat. Finally our food came, and I had very mixed reviews about the food.
The first item to come out was the 'Ying Yang Fried Rice' one side was covered in a creamy looking sauce, and the other was covered in what looked to be a red sweet & sour sauce. I could taste very little difference, but I can tell you the white side was sweeter and the red side was tangier. I loved the fried rice, it had fluffy eggs and nice big pieces of shrimp in it. The only problem was that the rice was covered in the sauces. If I ever got this again I would try to find just regular old fried rice (or maybe their salty fried rice). I didn't want to ingest more of those sickly sauces, so I requested some plain white rice. I accidentally didn't tell him to bring a rice pot, so he brought only one bowl, but then I told him afterwards so it's all good.
Second to come out was the Chicken in Blackbean Sauce. Boy this was the winner of the meal. I always thought that Blackbean Sauce only went well with clams, but this is a situation in which I'm glad I was wrong. They gave us lots of chicken to boot, so if I ever come here again this is a must order for me.
Lastly was the dish I ordered, the Beef in XO Sauce. I don't want to say this was the loser dish because I picked it, but it ranks just a little lower than the fried rice. The problem with this dish was that the number of vegetables were more than the pieces of beef in it. It would have been tastier if they got rid of the bell peppers, and only had onions.
Now here's the kicker of the dinner. After watching the shark flop around, after ordering an overpriced beverage here's a great story, are you ready for it? As I was eating I bit into what I thought was a chicken bone, but I was so wrong. I pulled it out and it was a piece of metal! Dear lord I'm guessing what happened was one of the staples holding up the orders near the kitchen fell into our food, but man did that suck to find out that I had an unknown piece of metal in my food.
Overall besides the bad decisions and the piece of metal in the meal I would say...make wiser decisions then I did. Order better versions of fried rice, get Chicken in Blackbean Sauce, and find a dish besides the Beef in XO Sauce. However, most importantly...DON'T ORDER THE COKE LEMONADE!
|
| |
|
|
| Disclaimer |
|
|
