Pagoda Restaurant

Pagoda and I go WAY back into my childhood. I remembered the first time I tried sizzling rice soup– I’ll never forget how much In awe I was watching that rice sizzle like crazy. Flash forward to 2016, I’m still in awe of that sizzling rice soup.
Location:
I have to give minus one star for being in one of the most sketchiest place in Fairfield. Nevertheless, it’s a hole in a wall, and it feels like I’m walking into a Rush Hour movie scene.
Ambiance:
Is silent dining your thing? Then this would be the place for you to dine-​in if a moment of solitude is what you need. I love the traditional Chinese decorations and listening to the mini pond as I enter into the restaurant. Pagoda is also old school with their décor with the red and golden walls. Nevertheless, if you can’t stand sitting in silence, I suggest ordering to-​go.
Food:
The food here is pretty good! My go to orders would consist of combination chow mein, combination fried rice, broccoli beef, Mongolian beef, fried chicken, and of course the sizzling rice soup. Food is oily but if you like it, then this is the way to go!
Customer Service:
I love, love, LOVE Jamie. She’s one of the most polite and kindest people I ever met. Every time I come in with either my family or friends she always treats me like an old friend. She has wonderful hospitality, and one of the coolest ladies so far!
Overall:
Yeah, I know I’m a bit biased because I grew up with this restaurant, but what can I say? I love this restaurant as much as I love my family!

Great food, friendly staff. The portions sizes are more then fair. Take out is always ready to go on time and if you dine there you’ll enjoy the personal and intimate environment. I’d recommend this place to anyone. It would be great if they delivered though.

Just moved from Sacramento and haven’t found a good Chinese restaurant till now! It was truly a great experience and the husband and wife are a great team the food was fantastic definitely recommend it to anybody in Fairfield

The only reason I give it 4 stars is because of the location, but it has been here since we moved up in 76, being the first Chinese Restaurant we went to up here, after going to Oakland’s China town weekly, when living there, and at first back in 76, we didn’t really care for it compared to, «The Lantern,» now closed, in Oakland’s China town. But the food now, from this owner (5 or 6 years now) is absolute fantastic. To That, the food is FIVE STAR, and the absolute BEST EGG FOO OLD (Young, LOL) since Kim & Ned’s closed in Dixon. And then there is the Waitress, the owner and cooks Wife, who is one of the friendliest waitresses in the area, and very nice to look at also, LOL. Go here, despite the location, and you will just LOVE the food, not to mention seeing that eye candy waitress, LOL LOL :-)

Not a great location. The place was empty the entire time we were there.
When we got there, we were informed that they had run out of several key ingredients, most notably including tofu. Which is a huge bummer when you’re pescatarian (so yes, there was still shrimp). The rice we were given was quite undercooked; she had told us it would take a little longer to cook all the way, when our other food started coming out first (but then the white steamed rice still wasn’t done when we finally got it).
The shrimp dishes were adequately tastey (although the shrimp was not de-​veined), and it was convenient that the bok choi was cut into manageable sized pieces. The serving sizes were large.
The chairs at the central table we were seated at were quite odd, and maybe are the reason for why each time she brought out a dish, I felt an intrusion of my personal space.

Wow do not. Repeat do not go here. When you walk in your slapped in the face with a smell of rotten water from their fish pond that’s probably never been cleaned. The place is small musty. Sticky.smelly. we should have left then. but we ordered water and iced tea. Asked for sugar packets I don’t know what was growing in the sugar jar. We ordered egg rolls and shrimp to start. No taste at all. Grease ran down our arms. Then the shrimp was deep fried not deviened freezer burned taste like rubber. We couldn’t eat them. We looked at the menu. Everything is alacarte rice was extra everything was considered a side 10.00 for each. We desided not to order. The lady asked if the shrimp and egg rolls were okay. we said no the shrimp had veins and was like rubber the rolls were grease. I think she got mad but oh well. If I wanna pay for each item separately I’d be in a high class joint. This my friends is a hole in the wall dump.

Good food and ambience. Not the best of location but food makes up for it. Must try!

With old school charm and outdated styling, you’d expect it to look run-​down but this place looks fairly new.
Delicious sweet and sour chicken with a great chicken to sauce to vegetable ratio, nice moist steamed rice and breading that stays with the chicken, some of the best Chinese food I’ve had!
The service is quick and the staff is friendly, wonderful surprise in an unexpected package!

Should’ve known when I entered the restaurant and the koi pond is hella dirty. I ordered five dishes: chicken egg fu young, beef fried rice, beef and broccoli, beef pan fried noodles and won ton noodle soup. The food had water chestnut in all of them. Me, being chinese, experience certain dishes with water chestnuts but I guess this restaurant buys them by the ton. The egg fu young looked like alien balls swimming in oyster sauce with water chestnuts. The beef/​broccoli was okay with water chestnuts. The pan fried noodle was okay and had water chestnuts. The beef fried rice was the best of them. The won ton noodle soup was a joke. $ 9 for a cup of udon noodles in flavored water with won ton that’s barely bigger than peanuts.
Next time, I’m going to save myself some aggravation and go to the Green Bamboo.
Now I know why this restaurant was empty.

I’m giving two stars since the service was quick and the fried rice wasn’t terrible. The food wasn’t anything special. The chicken in both dishes was pretty gross and greasy. The spring rolls tasted old and reheated. We will not be back.

The food was so good. I have no reason not to give them five stars. The lady was really kind and you can hear the food being made.
Definitely going back for more.

This is a diamond in the rough. The place looks like a converted tavern. But the food here is pretty good. I’m a pretty big fan of the chow mein here. I can’t give it more stars because it isn’t that pleasant to be in but the food from here is not what you would expect.

Wow i cant tell u how bad this place is! Food is awful and the whole place reeks like cigarette. I will definitely not be coming back.

Dear owners of the Pagoda Restaurant:
NEVER, EVER, REMODEL!
I am a HUGE fan of all things vintage/​retro/​ridiculous so the interior of this place (for me) is to die for! Having lived in Fairfield, for 20 years I somehow never knew about this place until recently. Eating here is like going back in time 40 years. I kept thinking the characters from Goodfellas would walk in at any moment.
I was admittedly a bit skeptical about trying this place after reading the other not so great Unilocal reviews.
The food was good. We ordered shrimp fried rice and honey fried shrimp. Both had good flavor. The service was friendly too and the portions are right for the price.
I do have a few gripes: the tables were a little sticky and the air conditioning was either not on or not working. The place does have a slight stale cigarette smell which on a hot day, was not so great.
All in all. I would go back.

Great food and great service! Very fast and friendly

Love the Broccoli beef and the Beef with tomato and egg! Order here every Chinese New Year and am always happy!
It’s a deal and it has been around forever!
Pagoda has been our our go-​to for years!

Whenever I visit Pagoda, I always feel like I’m walking into a Quentin Tarantino film. The cheaply ornate store front mixed with the retro interior (you’re greeted with the entrance to their cocktail lounge as you enter the main door) make for an experience reminiscent of something I’d expect in a B-​grade movie from the 70’s. Personally, the décor is why I choose to get take-​out only, but I’m sure there are others who will appreciate the setting more than me.
I had their House Special Chow Mein and Beef Chow Mein — both dishes adequately served the palette and the stomach, although not to an outstanding degree. The ingredients seemed to be proportioned nicely (i.e. meat to noodle to vegetable ratio) and our overall portion was standard of most Asian take-​out restaurants.
In sum, a good place to get take-​out, but not sure if I’d linger here for more than 30 minutes, especially at night.

I love this place! Great lunch specials and sometimes dinner specials. When I first came here, I thought there was a «buffet» type arrangement in the back, but no… you can hear the pan sizzle when they make your food to order — even if it’s under $ 10. No burnt beef here! I will continue to eat here.
I love the art deco of this place… it’s old and stylish.
Come by and check this place out. I think it’s the very BEST Chinese place in town!
Cheers!

Had lunch here today.
The inside is very retro looking. I don’t really care what the place looks like as long as the food and service are decent.
I had the beef with tomato in egg sauce. WOW, it was really good. It was a surprise and glad that I tried it.
This is my first time here but will definitely be coming back.

I heard good reviews on this place, and checked it out on Unilocal as well. So I decided to WASTE my money here.
We ordered, Chow Mein, Crispy Chow Mein, Walnut prawns, fried rice and Broccoli beef. After $ 50 we took the food home and ripped open the bag and boxes.
Filled our plates full of food, only to be disappointed. Everything was salty, and full of gooey sauce. Never again will I spend my money here.
I would have been better off at Panda Express.
Save your money, and go else where!