King’s Chinese Food

The first time I ordered take-​out food here I was quite impressed at how tasty the hot & sour soup was. It’s safe to say it was the best hot & sour soup I’ve EVER had. This was on a Saturday night. The second time I went to King’s was for lunch take-​out. I think they have different cooks because the soup was just mediocre.
It’s a Chinese take-​away place. It’s a safe bet you’ll get full and somewhat satisfied.

This place used to be so good but it’s just gotten bad over the last couple of years. Very disappointing. The food tastes okay but the texture isn’t great. I wish they had consistency with the cooks. I think that would help.

Kings Chinese Food Take Out and Delivery — 17 Ave S W Calgary — went online to look at their menu and was rather shocked/disappointed…to see… it was just pics of their paper take out menu… so just dish name and price… no description available. I love both chop suey and chow mein but get mixed up which is which… duh to me! I used google to check out what i wanted to order before i called in our delivery order at least. Gal on phone was able to understand me and me her… yay…o yay o yay! I asked if they took debit cards… yes…and asked how long delivery time would be… its close enough to walk home from with take out when its not pouring rain and thundering and lightning outside! I was told 30 minutes and the delivery man was at our front entrance buzzing almost to the minute! The 3 dishes smelled delish and were… and even a free egg roll with the two fortune cookies! Lots of left overs unless he gets the munchies later tonite! Order was a combo of chow mein and ginger beef and fried rice… and huge styrofoam container of the singapore chop suey with plenty of not overcooked shrimp etc… and pot stickers with the two mini cups of hot sauce and the vinegar sauce, yum and yum and yum! first time we ordered and wont be the last!

My favourite food:
ginger beef, orange chicken, chicken balls, dry ribs, and the awesome giant wonton soup (it’s very tasty and good for hung over or when u caught cold).

It has its charms and its surly moments, but it always takes 10 mins. King’s is great if you know what is good. Don’t get any of their vegetable dishes.
You will be winning at life if you order a large won ton soup, and a ginger beef and chicken fried rice combo. Plenty of food for two people. Their ginger beef isn’t as saucy as I would like, but it is decent.
This place is take out only, they have a few bar seats so you can read the Calgary Sun while you wait for your order to be ready in 10 mins. Don’t bring your family of 5 here hoping for table service.

I hate writing this review as I was hoping it would have been better. I came here because I was staying close by on a trip from Vancouver. Comparing chinese food made in Calgary vs. Vancouver is somewhat unfair as many good chinese cooks just stay in Vancouver if they are not making their way to Toronto.
With that in mind, here was what gave this place 1 star instead of the 4 – 5 stars.
When I walked in, the girl at the front looked at me like I was a nuisance, and she didn’t want to serve me. The next two people that walked in she was all smiles and chatty with, but with me, it was like GTFO. I don’t know why, but I felt like a second class citizen.
When I received my order, my chicken balls were missing the sweet and sour sauce. (Try eating anything deep friend like Sweet and Sour pork or chicken balls without sauce… it’s really dry.)
The ginger beef was nothing special in my opinion. It was kind of dry.
If I didn’t check my order before I left (as it was for take out) I would not have caught their mistake.
The noodles were ok in my opinion.
This is one of the few times I didn’t finish my food in an establishment and actually ended up throwing out half of it. Because of the service I received, and the mistakes to my order, I won’t be back. I’ve never been treated so bad in an establishment ever. I may not be a regular, but that’s no excuse to treat someone like crap. Since I was reading all these great reviews about the ginger beef, I was hoping it would be better. But it was a little dry for my taste. If they didn’t screw up my order so bad, I probably would have gave this place another star or two, but the service was so bad that I’m giving this place one star.

Very small space but they make really big food. Yum! I generally don’t like Chinese restaurants that specialize in Western food, but most of them can’t get by without some ginger beef or sweet and sour pork since they seem to be a big hit. In general I will boycott any Asian establishment that serves chicken balls period *shudder*… However I found they did a really good job of the more traditional Chinese foods like their rice and noodle dishes. I definitely like their Shanghai and Singapore noodles more than a lot of Chinese restaurants. Their vegetables are fresh, they don’t skimp on the meat, their food is always hot, they do delivery in a 5 km radius, their prices are very, VERY reasonable especially for a restaurant down 17^th ave.
Definitely recommend it if you’re ordering in lunch for work (their set menus actually have a good selection of foods), or just want a late night bite. They are quick too!

Unfortunately for me, western style Chinese food does not quite do it. My friend at dinner enjoyed it thoroughly at would give this place a 4 or 5 star rating. I can only give it a 2 star and mostly because of the more than attentive service.
Sweet and sour chicken balls, ginger beef, chow mein made with bean sprouts instead of soft noodles etc. are all the type of fare I dread — sugar laden, starchy and deep fried. To me this is not what Chinese food is about. In fact, that is not even Chinese food at all.
However, there are many who enjoy this faux Chinese food and I should not judge them because dining out or take away is a subjective experience. If you are in this category you will not be the least bit disappointed. Sadly, I was.

It seems I’m on a Chinese take-​out kick. Actually it’s a ginger beef kick. King’s drew me with the «fantastic ginger beef» sign on the window. It’s in really large letters, you can’t miss it.
I’m not done sampling all of the ginger beef in the city yet, and since fantastic is reserved for The Best ginger beef in the city in my books, I can’t agree with King’s yet. But it was pretty darn good. The beef had a good amount of batter on it, it was cooked the right amount and it wasn’t swimming in sauce.
For the sizable lunch portion, the decently quick service and some tasty ginger beef, King’s gets four yums up.

King’s Chinese is exactly what I’m looking for in a Chinese take-​out: it’s convenient (on 17^th Ave SW), it’s fast (no order has ever taken longer than 15 minutes to prepare) & it’s tasty.
The portions are large, the vegetables are fresh and prices are reasonable. There are discounts & free items available if you place a large order however you have to specifically ask otherwise it will not be given.
The highest praise I can offer is this, when I was last sick w/​a cold & wanted soup, it was Hot and Sour from King’s that I was craving.