A Reader's Tip Takes Us to Chen

This week, I followed the advice from Dori, a Patch reader, who commented on my , and dined at .

Chen is located in the old Bakers Square building at 270 North Randall Road in Lake in the Hills, in the Costco parking lot.

When I was pregnant with my son, Logan, I craved Chinese food. I craved it often. During the last two months of my pregnancy, on average, I ate Chinese food every other week, or so.

After Logan was born, I suddenly had an aversion to Chinese food. I could not look at it, smell it or even think about it without feeling icky. It took me several years to want to eat it again, and I am glad I did because I would not want to miss out on Chen.

We arrived at Chen on around 7:15 on Saturday night. Even though the parking lot was full, we did not have to wait for a table.

We started out with hot tea for the adults and pop for the little kids. We also ordered two appetizers: Crab Rangoon and Steamed Pot Stickers.

The Crab Rangoon was delicious – creamy cheese and crab cooked in a won ton wrapper. They were perfectly cooked. The Steamed Pot Stickers were also very good.

For our main dishes, we ordered Sweet and Sour Chicken, Crispy Honey Chicken and Kung Pao Chicken, extra spicy.

The Sweet and Sour Chicken was very good, even though the sauce was a little runnier than what we are used to. The chicken-to-breading ratio was perfect and the chicken was juicy.

I thought the Crispy Honey Chicken was very good, however, McKenzie, my 14-year-old daughter, thought it was too sweet and tasted like marshmallows. I did not catch a marshmallow taste at all. Again, the breading-to-chicken ratio was perfect for this dish, too.

The little kids loved both chicken dishes and they thought the rice was "awesome!" I usually stay away from menu items that have a picture of a hot pepper next to the description, so I did not try the Spicy Kung Pao Chicken. What I can tell you is that it smelled spicy. Spicy enough to clear my sinuses from across the table.

Chen offers a kid’s meal area on their menu which I cannot remember seeing before at a Chinese restaurant.  The service at Chen was fantastic. Our waitress was great – very personable and she had a great smile.

Four out of five stars for Chen Chinese Cuisine!