Kung Pao China Bistro

My update is that they have shut down. I wonder why. Los Angeles cuisine is better for it, let me tell you.

These people are horrible. The food is well below average. They tell you they will deliver in 30 minutes. An hour later they do not show up. We call a number of times and they hang up. Then they tell us the driver is coming. The driver never showed up period. We went to the restaurant to get our food or find out what was going on and they told us they voided our check because we were not home yet we sat by the door and waited. These people are rude. Their food is average and they lie about delivery times and whether the driver actually went. I asked the dumb manager how can we sort this out and straighten it out after two hours of no food and she said «you go some where else». They suck period. I opened a Unilocal account just so I could make it known How bad they are.
On top of it you go in there, there are is like 6 tables and no one is ever there. Weird. Look elsewhere for average or better Chinese delivery.

I’ve only ordered from delivery, but their food is consistently good, though not very exciting. Their chow fun noodles and hot crispy beef are excellent. The food comes fast and still hot. This restaurant has down-​sized considerably to its present site, but the food is still good and for some reason it gives you the feeling it’s healthy.

We ordered takeout from the online Kung Pao China Bistro menu (Sherman Oaks location) via Unilocal.The «order online» Unilocal link sent us to their official website. The online order never asked or specified location. The confirmation email does not contain any information about location either. At the time, we didn’t know that another Kung Pao restaurant (in Studio City) existed.
We went to pick it up at the Sherman Oaks location. There was no record of our order. Employees never mentioned a Studio City location. Confused but hungry, we placed an order at the Sherman Oaks Kung Pao & waited for it.
On the way home, we received a phone call from the Kung Pao restaurant in Studio City. They said our order is ready to be picked up. We explained our situation, but the woman insisted that she has already charged our credit card & we needed to come get our food now.
We exchanged several phone calls with the Studio City location. Meanwhile, we arrived home and discovered that the Sherman Oaks order was wrong (vegetarian menu items have meat, wrong size orders). During the final phone call, we learned that the Studio City employee made an executive decision to send the order via delivery to our house without confirming with us. They were rude, wouldn’t listen, and refused to accept responsibility whatsoever for the situation.
Moral of the story? There are 2 Kung Pao China Bistro locations in the valley. Be careful when ordering (especially with the online BeyondMenu service) or you may be stuck with a doubly charged credit card & surplus of unwanted (and incorrect) food. This review is posted to both locations.

This place is really good and the service was great. The combination fried rice is amazing. And the broccoli chicken is very good.

Floppy and watery Kung pao chicken that wasn’t even remotely spicy despite my specifying that it be very spicy.
Bland and tasteless beef lo mein with too little sauce. The only thing that was good was the steamed rice but that doesn’t count.

My boyfriend and I have been looking for good chinese food in the Valley and were extremely dissapointed when we ordered from here. I don’t think i have ever thrown out all of my food before. I was quite upset after spending $ 42 on dinner and having to throw it all away. I can’t belive I am saying this, but I would rather eat at Panda Express!

With my girlfriend and I being vegan and having a tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas day… Kung Pao China Bistro had the best options available so we decided to give it a shot and had them deliver. First off… DO NOT pay attention to all of the negative reviews you see here regarding unfriendly service and a rude delivery person demanding tip money.
The receptionist that took the order was professional and cordial and there were no issues placing the order… even gave an approximate delivery time which was actually spot on. The food arrived and the driver could not have been friendlier… not only did he not mention anything about a tip but he didn’t even look at the cash that we handed to him and was beyond thankful.
Now onto the food… which was definitely freshly cooked and steaming hot. Being a vegan there is often very few options outside of tofu at an Asian restaurant but we took a shot and ordered the Firecracker veggie chicken and the veggie Cashew chicken… both were amazing… even the steamed brown rice was incredible!
We will definitely order from this restaurant again… and I highly recommend giving them a shot and ignoring so many of the negative comments that I saw prior to ordering here.

The food was not good. Bland, greasy and over priced. The to-​go portions were way smaller than the sit-​down portions.

The ONLY good thing about this place it’s the waitress’s service.
I ordered the lunch special, Kung pao three musketeers, with an extra side of green salad. The combo comes with hot and sour soup. Let’s break it down.
Soup came first. Taste and smell of dishwashing soap overwhelmed my taste buds and my nose. I don’t know why, but I tried a sip anyways. And now five minutes later I am felling funny…
Then the salad and the actual combo came together. The salad, please see my picture. It smells and looks like yesterday. I can still smell the fridge that it came out of… :s don’t want to be brave again and taste it.
The combo came with rice, a spring roll and the dish. Rice is slimy, while the springroll tasted like Chinese medicine. If you ever tasted Chinese medicine before… Believe me it’s not pleasant.
The actual dish is ok. Although I only had a couple of bites because I am scared of what heavy soy sauce and Kung pao sauce is covering up. My stomach is not feeling too well at this moment.
The service though, it’s very good. That alone I believe deserves a two star.
Will let you know if I go to the hospital.

We did not order a lot of food on this visit, but we truly enjoyed what we did get.
The GFF and stopped in on a whim because we were both craving hole-​in-​the-​wall Chinese food after having wine and cheese at Raphaels down the street late Saturday night.
The owner, a lovely Chinese Lady, greeted us with a big smile and sat us down. The place is tiny but the tables are clean and well placed, and we were the only one’s there.
After reading through the menu and spotting many items that sounded delicious we settled on an order of veggie egg rolls, vegetables fried rice and one of the Chef’s specials, the Aromatic Shrimp.
Rating each individually I would give the egg rolls a 3 out 5 stars as the filling was a little too purée’d, but the shell was tasty.
The Veggie fried rice I give a 4 out 5 stars as I found myself having to add Soy Sauce to give it a little more flavor… I don’t do that with perfect Fried Rice. I did like the generous mix of fresh vegetables added to the rice and it deffinetely was good.
On the the House Special Aromatic Shrimp, it was both fresh, yummy, aromatic and satisfying so I give it a High 5 out of 5 stars.
What I liked most about the shrimp was the perfectly seasoned sauce, the crucnch of the fried shrimp and the zesty semi sweet glaze. Yumm.
All in all this place gets 4 out of 5 stars. Not the fanciest place in town and certainly you can find busier places, but for great take out or casual sit down Chinese, this place does it all. Good to excellent food, fast service, great menu options and decent strip mall parking makes this Kung Pao Café… Which by the way gets it’s name from the world famous Kung Pao sauce it serves… Deserves a second visit from us and a visit from you when you are craving quick, tasty Chinese.
Two hoots!
Hoo Hoo!

Kung Pao China Bistro is a small restaurant in a strip mall at the end of Tujunga Ave. The location isn’t the greatest, but parking is usually pretty easy, but they deliver themselves and via
.
I’ve never experienced any rudeness from anyone who works here, but perhaps it’s a cultural thing? Who knows.
I always get the same thing, crispy salt and pepper shrimp, but it’s always delicious and delivered hot. I’ve never eaten in the restaurant before. Delivery people are always nice and wait for me when I forget that my purse is in the car in the garage and have to run and go get it.
The one bummer is that they don’t have the coconut shrimp they have at the one on the other side of the hill!

Is the mean bitchy Dragon Lady still there? I moved to the beach so she’ll have to huff and puff and blow REALLY hard to reach me here. Hey Dragon Lady, been reading a few reviews as I was watching Restaurant Stakeout and it reminded me of Gunk Poo China Bullshit…

I have been eating at this restaurant for 15 years. When it was at the ORIGINAL location. it was a treat. The food was different. It was gourmet Chinese food. The lady at the counter ALWAYS had a bad demeanor… even though I’ve eaten there 4 times a month for years… I never saw that lady smile… or give an inch to a customer. The waiters made the difference.
Even though this restaurant bought wine from the 99 cents store and sold it for 5 dollars a glass… no matter, as the food was GOOD! Now they moved down the street and the business has become mostly take out and delivery. The quality has gone way down… so far down, that the lady’s bad attitude is really hard to get past.
The other night I ordered their once famous Chinese chicken salad. They had removed the walnuts in the salad… as it was expensive. Even though I said I would gladly pay more for the salad with the nuts… they continued to say they don’t have any nuts… YET, if you buy walnut chicken… they OBVIOUSLY have nuts. POOR SERVICE. ALSO… if you are ordering delivery… they don’t and won’t put so much as a napkin or a plastic fork in the bag. EVEN UPON REQUEST. I am done with this place. They were the tops… now they are below average. SO SAD.

Their vegetarian options are amazing, BUT… beware if you order deliver from these people. I placed an order online through their website for the basil vegetable noodles with extra tofu.
After the delivery arrived, I opened my food and found that it had meat in it. I’ve worked in the food industry before — I know mistakes happen so I wasn’t too angry.
I called them to tell them, and they kindly said, «Okay… we’ll have the right one over in 30 minutes.»
After I hung up with them they called back to double check what we wanted, «Vegetable only? No egg?» … «Yes.»
Over an hour later, no food had arrived. We called back, and a man told us that when they called us back after my complaint that we said everything was okay, and that we didn’t need a replacement. No… We had responded the to the lady calling with yes, with her questions of «Vegetable only? No egg?» assuming that she was making sure the NEW order being sent over was what we wanted.
Anyway. It’s 9 12 pm. I haven’t eaten all day, and I’ve been waiting for over two hours for this delivery. Their food IS good, but sheesh… communication can be an issue.

I live too far away to visit, but am planning to come here indefinitely! Why? Because this happens to be a location that was used in my favorite tv show– The Office!!!
Remember when Michael Scott gets left behind at the gas station by Jim when Pam goes into labor? Michael ends up walking through Scranton without his wallet and ends up eating at Mr. Choo’s, but it is actually Kung Pao China Bistro! Creed’s photo is on the wall as a thief, along with Michael as folks who have dined and dashed.
Yes, I’m an Office fanatic! I can’t wait to visit Kung Pao China Bistro!

I am so glad that I’ve only enjoyed their food via delivery… Apparently the dining experience is nothing compared to their food!
I’m not a big Chinese food person. But when I’ve worked a 12+ hour day and I want to have food delivered, it’s pretty much that or pizza. The first time I ordered from Kung Pao I was so happy with my dinner. I order their friend rice every time and it’s amazing. They let me order extra egg without a charge. Their egg drop soup is awesome (although horrible when reheated). Because of them my boyfriend and I order from here about 1 – 2 times a month.
It’s kind of sad when you see a good restaurant with bad reviews, but my opinion has not been tainted (probably because I haven’t had to deal with the mean old lady). I will continue to have them deliver (for free by the way) their yummy Chinese food to my home :)

Wow. This restaurant just moved down the street from it’s previous much bigger and cleaner location and it seems they left behind their manners and quality control.
I WAS a customer for the past 6 years, until today. I went during lunch time and ordered the Walnut Shrimp. As I waited, Kitty the owner walked in and I said hello. To my dismay she turned dismissively and forced a smile. I chalked it up to a bad day… Once my food arrived, I put an entire shrimp in my mouth, only to be throughly disgusted as the shrimp was obviously spoiled. When I pointed out the fact, Kitty looked at me and did not say a word. Instead the server came over, took my plate and then brought me the check! They asked me to pay for the soup that was included in the lunch, $ 2.00. I was insulted & disappointed that I did not receive an apology or that some type of effort was made for the near poisoning. There is no excuse for serving spoiled shrimp and there is no reason a warm smile & apology could not be provided.

As noted, but not yet updated on Unilocal,Kung Pao is no longer at 11 838 Ventura Blvd, but now a few blocks east. How do I know? I live within earshot of what was once KP China Bistro but is now the world’s loudest construction site. I gather the new site will be some sort of steamed bun outfit, and quite frankly I haven’t slept in past 7am for months from all the jack-​hammering that starts up Mon-​Sat to build the new place. These had better be the best damned steamed buns known to man or woman!
Why the single star for Kung Pao? Well, shortly after I moved to my aforementioned abode within earshot of the old KP Bistro I had my balcony door open and heard what I later discovered was the owner/​manager chasing some no doubt dissatisfied customers out into the parking lot and berating them at the top of her lungs with language «that wouldn’t be tolerated in the fo’c’s’le of a whaler.»
I quickly slammed the door shut before my then 6 year-​old could expand his vocabulary too much and vowed to never set foot in the place.

Ventured here again around 4PM or so, late lunch, and they were completely empty. Very friendly like the last, but I found out 2 things… 1) Their Fried cod in black bean sauce, D-​lish! So much flavour and the aroma was sooo good, all the people in my office were jealous. and 2) Rice doesn’t come with a take out order, boo, I mean it’s rice… I want it for my delicious sauces that accompany my tasty cod. m’eh. Cause when the lady asked me brown or white rice I asked jokingly, «does it cost extra? (smile)», «no» she replied… well guess I’m skippin the starch and goin straight for the protein. Good thing I got a small hot and sour soup (which can serve 3 bowls) as the small serving. It’s not bad, but I can use a little more hot in it, they got the sour well, but needs more heat!
Still I have to give it a 4 star, cause it is really good, but I haven’t seen a posting for no MSG (which usually is a biggy for asian cuisine) and I want to go around dinner to see if they actually fill their 49 seat building… soon enough, I got 2 weeks to check it out.
Enjoy!