Cha Chan Tang
“They serve each order of milk tea in a champagne-esque bottle that is kept cool in a bed of ice.”
“I have been searching for a place to get Baked Pork chop with fried rice and I have finally found it!”
“In HK, every diner would ask you to share tables if you are just one person (or even two if they are full).”
Cha Chan Tang
Take-out: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
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This place looked pretty good for food. I only came for the bubble tea to go, so that's the premise for the review. I ordered a regular boba with decreased ice. My friend got the almond boba with decreased ice too.
The tea itself I think maybe tasted too "tea-like" so not exactly creamy enough. There was a lot of almond powder on top of my friend's drink. Surprisingly they don't use the machines either so it's not completely sealed on top. In terms of the boba, I think it's too soft. Should be chewier.
Pretty decent place. Drinks are super sweet, so be sure to ask for the low side. Food is okay, pretty much your typical HK style dishes. Think noodles or rice with tomato/cream sauce with a fried pork chop/chicken. Plenty of dishes but nothing to rave over.
It's a shame that Cha Chan Tang's food and service is on a decline, particularly the service is just horrible. I stopped by for a late lunch today as I was starving. When I walked in, one of the server barely made eye contact with me and seemingly walked off towards one of the booths and put down a menu on the table. I then realize that was my table. Okay, that was odd, but I'm willing to overlook it.
So I then looked over the menu and you know how in school when your teacher tells you to read something and when you're done to look up so she knows the class is done reading? Well, I did that, but no one came over to take my order. I then tried to flag down one of the male staff TWICE who looked like he's working with blinders and earplugs on. Either that or I'm so starved that I have withered away into the air and he just can't see me. The other guy who was casually making drinks at the bar also looked like he's working in an invisible room with a one-way mirror — I can see him, but he can't see me. How off-putting.
Finally another guy who seems to have just came to work briefly made eye contact with me and finally I put my order in. Up until this point, I didn't even get a glass of water.
I ordered a chicken in tomato (ketchup) sauce with rice. I mean, that's literally was that on the plate. Nothing special; totally effortless, and that was over $6. Rip off.
While I was eating, I see sulking staff walking around. Yes, they are working, but they look like 3 years olds who were told they were grounded and had to chores around the restaurant. They work like they don't get paid and the world owes them.
A couple that just sat down for 5 minutes spotted their friends at another table and asked to switch to the table empty next to them. When the couple asked one of the guy (the one who just walked off putting the menu on my table earlier) just turned around and didn't even answer the couple. So the couple moved. Another waitress then sees the couple moved and made a face that they moved. Really? What's wrong with the staff's attitude?
After finishing up, I went up to the counter to pay. There was a lady standing right by the cross road of the alley way and the entrance to the bar. One of the guys had a bag of cans to throw out. Instead of saying "excuse me" to the lady so that she would know to move out of the way, he made a stink face. You know, the can't-you-see-that-I'm-holding-a-big-bag-of-garbage-and-you-should-be-moving-out-my-way-without-me-telling-you-even-if-you're-a-customer kind of face. And when the lady did move, he just took up his bag again and walked right past her without even saying thank you. I couldn't believe my eyes.
For the $6.48 bill, I paid $7. The guy didn't even bother to ask if I wanted change and just kept everything. Not that I mind a few coins, but the principal of giving your customers change back is normal and expected. The restaurant does not get to decide to keep people's change. At the very least, you should be asking to see if your customer wanted change back. You also can't assume that the change is the "tip" because usually diners leave tips on the table in which I did. Even if someone didn't tip on the table, you still don't get to decide to keep people's change as tips. Tips are OPTIONAL and given based on service.
Cha Chan Tang owners, please shape up your staff. Everyone has bad days but A) your staff can't let his/her bad day affect their work, B) I can't imagine every single one of your staff had a bad day on the SAME day. Also, clean your utensils. They are filthy.
I think the name of this restaurant is bad for business. Me and a buddy came here last weekend on a trip to NYC and I couldn't, for the life of me, remember what the name was. Chow Ching Ting? Chin Cao Tao? Beef Chow Mein? I don't fuckin' know. How are you gonna get customers to find you online?
But it was a solid choice. We were in Chinatown and decided to pass on Joe's Shanghai, their 4000 reviews, and 20 person wait. Forget that. That's too damn long. I'm a millennial. I have a low attention span. I want food. I see pictures. I want it. In my belly. Right now.
We decided to get a $45 foot massage to whet our appetite prior (by the way, foot massages are $20 in Houston, yo…) and we were preeetty hungreeee when we got to CCT, so we ordered family style. And by family style, I mean enough food to feed a family:
-Minced beef with egg over rice
-Yang Chow fried rice
-Shark fin soup
-BBQ pork fried noodles
-Sirloin steak sizzler
-Baked pork chop with tomato sauce
Everything was pretty good. The pork chop was probably my favorite – it's breaded and baked so that the outer layer of rice gets kinda crunchy, which was fantastic. The sizzler came with piping fresh fries and was pretty good as well, but make sure to move the steak over to a plate before it gets well done.
And aside from the steak, the prices were hella cheap. If the massages here are double the price of the ones in Houston, I would expect the dishes here to all be above $10, but most of them were around $7. They don't take credit card though, so I had to use that sketchy ATM outside to pay for all that food. :/
For a fast lunch, this place hits the spot. The best thing that comes out from is here is the cute bottled HK milk tea. The dishes are yummy and cheap, like fast food. Don't expect a 5 star meal. I've been here multiple times and it doesn't disappoint. I recommend the curry with rice.
Cha Chan Tang is pretty similar to M Star Cafe nearby in terms of style of food and price, but the restaurant is overall much less grungy and has a younger waiting staff. I love Hong Kong style diner food as the selection of comfort food is very extensive (dim sum, noodle soups, spaghetti, rice, fried noodles, etc.) for an extremely low price.
My friend and I each ordered our own bottle of Hong Kong style milk teas, and shared a pineapple bun with butter, curry fish balls, cola chicken wings, veggies with oyster sauce, and pork chop over spaghetti Macau style (all for less than $30!). This was definitely more food than what the typical table of 2 seemed to order…but we were hungry, and every item was just so cheap, so we couldn't help but splurge!
I particularly enjoyed the spaghetti, veggies with oyster sauce, and the curry fish balls. The spaghetti was pretty simply cooked with tomato sauce but somehow just tasted so comforting. The pork chop was also very tender and well flavored. The veggies were your generic Chinese veggies (so generic that I don't even know what they were called), but they were very refreshing to nibble on in the midst of all this other more sauce-heavy food. And lastly, I thought the curry fishballs had a nice texture with the perfect level of curry spice.
Service, like that at most Chinatown restaurants, is not super attentive, but is very quick!
Overall, I enjoyed my meal, and if you like this type of Western influenced Chinese diner food, you definitely can't miss Cha Chan Tang!
The black pepper sauced baked spaghetti was really spicy that made it a bit overwhelming. The curry fishballs were terrible. You can definitely tell they just put the curry sauce on top of the fishballs when we order it and that it wasn't cooked together. The only thing decent was the milk tea.
This place offers typical HK diner food. Friendly service, and okay food. Nothing special, but sometimes no surprises is a good thing. I would go again if I need a quick bite.