Chia Sen

The food is rly bad. Do not spend ur money here. The shrimp was inedible it was so fishy tasting and the rice and lo mein were greasy and totally flavorless. Even the the dumplings were off the meat tasted like something that was going to give me food poisoning. Orange chicken was super dry and over cooked. Don’t spend ur money here!

2 of us had dinner here tonight. I had been here some years ago but it’s been about 5 years. Tonight I ordered Sesame Chicken. On the positive side the chicken was nice cuts of white meat, with thin breading. The bad part was the sauce, it was covered in what I can best describe as red buffalo chicken wing sauce with sesame seeds tossed on. I ate a small amount and did not take the rest home. At $17 it should have been amazing it was disappointing.

Chia Sen has raised prices and seemed to have lowered their quality significantly. We were always a supporter but their cheapness has finally turned us away. Everything was bland, even the hot and sour soup. The teriyaki steak now tastes more Indian (curry) than Asian. The egg rolls smell like spoiled shrimp and are just bland and gross. The dumplings are clearly no longer house made but now frozen out of a box from a food distributor. The young man taking our order on the phone gave us (lousy) Szechuan shredded beef instead of the crispy beef that we ordered. And as always they charge $2+ for a tiny thing of hot mustard, none is given even with a $95+ order. I guess we all have to pay for the glossy Chia Sen stickers on every container? Chia Sen had it's day but now seems to be coasting on their past reputation. Heartbreaking but excited to find a new "go-to" place.

Clean, tasty, Americanized Chinese food. One way to tell how authentic a Chinese restaurant is by trying hot & sour soup. The soup was good, but it lacked a little punch. Everything was good but it lacked a little bit of authentic Chinese flavor. Often, audience determines the taste and that's exactly what it's happening. This restaurant is for the Westernized suburban mild and boring palate! Nothing wrong with that. Mongolian beef was good, but it didn't have much flavor. They could have added a bit more oyster sauce and ginger. The triple crown was probably the best dish we ordered, with chicken, beef and shrimp, but leaned on the boeing side. The beef chow fun was good, but also a bit bland and lacked more beef. The curse of having traveled all over Southeast Asia and tried all kinds of Chinese food from the best, made us crave something more authentic which it doesn't exist in Portland, ME. This restaurant definitely caters to mild Western palate. All the customers were locals. My daughter would love this food. The portion could have been a bit more for the money. Order from the regular menu instead of smaller portion lunch. Overall, clean, healthy, good food with very little MSG which resulted clean taste without any after taste. A good place to visit if you're looking for a mild Western Chinese food.

Was not impressed, the wife and I ordered a scorpion bowl for two and a pupu platter for two. The scorpion bowl barely had any booze in it ($17) for that kinda money you should at least get a buzz lol. The pupu platter didn't even come with wings, unheard of. All in all the staff was friendly and fast but a waste of $60 if you ask me.