J.W. Chens in South Bend

I remember at the end of the meal I felt sad because this restaurant isn't in our town. We googled 'chinese food' while staying the weekend in South Bend for the Notre Dame vs Navy game. It had great reviews so we went. It's very unassuming from the outside and even when you walk in. But it was DELICIOUS!! And we loved our server (so funny) and found out he was actually the owner! Would HIGHLY recommend!

Authentic food and the best service I've ever experienced combine to make a can't miss restaurant.

This place is fantastic! Idk if it’s the owner or who she is, but there’s this sweet Asian lady that is so nice and helpful. Every time I go there such a great and enjoyable experience.

Great food, great service. Parking lot needs more lighting.

Not much selection and the food was barely warm

Wonderful little place, I've been going here with colleagues from Notre Dame for years. Jean is a great lady and really takes care of her guests, especially regulars like us. Always fresh and hot, and she will make custom dishes if you ask. Wide range of spice choices, I personally prefer mild spicing, but some of my friends like roiling surface of the sun kind of heat, and they can provide either one. Give it a try for lunch when the prices are low and the food is just as good. She also does catering, we've had them do a few meetings and they did a great job.

+ Fast service - E.g., rice came out as soon as we ordered+ Honey Chicken+ Sizzling rice soup+ All dishes came with a good amount of food- Restroom needs improvement - it seems that carry-out is more popular than dine-in for locals

Best asian food I have had to date! Jean will personally help you with your order and make your decision that much better!

First time visit. Came highly recommended. Great, homemade, fresh food. Inexpensive. Jean sat us and gave us personal attention, helping us with our order. We had the spicy chicken special, green beans, almond shrimp, and hot and sour soup. It was all excellent.

Great local place for an amazing chinese food!

Have yet to try a dish that wasn't amazing. Even things that I've classically disliked have been delightful. Jean is great and will chat with you to make sure your tastes are met and will often suggest things you may not have thought of trying. And to date she has never let is down. Get the hot hot chicken. It's amazing.

Best Chinese food in Michiana! Good natured owner (Jean) will sit down at or near your table and help you with your menu selection. Food comes out fast and hot and the preparation and the flavors will leave no doubt in your mind why you are willing to pay a little bit more than you would at one of the cookie cutter joints. I hope Jean never retires...- The Weston Family

I had no idea what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised by the assortment of vegetables including snow peas, water chestnuts, carrots, green bell peppers, onions, cabbage, and mushrooms. The carrots, which are always a toss up when it comes to Chinese food, were perfect, and the rest of the vegetables were also cooked to their best forms.

I have eaten egg foo young all over the country. This was the first time i saw carrots in it. They looked like the frozen food bag of mixed veggies you get for a $1 at Kroger. WE paid $3 extra for the soup, wonton and egg roll. The egg roll was the size of my finger. and the sauce i must admit was tasty. But, overall, it was ok. Nothing to brag about. Some rave about this restaurant. Sorry, i just can't. I won't be going back, to many other places to choose from.

I have always loved this place and always will. Gene (the owner) is wonderful and loves to sit with you briefly while you order. The environment is nothing to write home about, but the food is always worth coming to enjoy! This restaurant has the friendliest staff of any restaurant I have ever been to. They act like your family who just stopped by their house. The food is great as well and not over priced. A very friendly place to enjoy delicious food cooked to your specification. We enjoy being welcomed by the owner and advised as to what would be special today. Try anything on the menu. It will be a real treat.

This was the best thing in town at one point. This time, service was OK and the food, while not bad, wasn't what I was expecting. I'm not sure if we will be going back. the quality has been slowly dropping off. But still the best pot stickers in town.

1/3 with a friend and the food was very good but the tables were sticky like they need a good scrubbing and the bathroom well let's not talk about the bathroom

Food was fine. First time I went there I got scolded by Jean for eating my food wrong. Second time someone in our party waited 20 minutes after everyone else got their food before asking where their food was. Jean's response was "next time tell the server you want all of your did at the same time" waited 10 more minutes for the missing meal before leaving. Surprised it's still open.

Food was GREAT! And the service was really fast. We got one of the duck options are it was some of the best I've ever had. Would go back for sure!

Very good food. They have a variation of generals tsos chicken, much better than Tso’s. Owner creates me as I walked in, invited me to sit at her table and explained menu to me for my take out order. Got home and was blown away about how good it was. Governor’s chicken I think it’s called. Will visit again very soon. Very small place but larger tables, bring your friends.

JW Chen's has the best Chinese food in Michiana, and is one of my personal all time favorites. The atmosphere is inviting. You would be comfortable in jeans and a tshirt, even though the people at the next table over might be wearing suits. The proprietor, Jean, is very friendly and will help guide you towards new dishes and flavors that you may otherwise overlook. Overall, JW Chen's is not a place you want to miss when visiting South Bend.

My favorite Chinese restaurant! We drive almost an hour just to eat here. Everything they offer is delicious!!!?

Clean, friendly service, good food at a good price.

Fresh, flavorful Asian cuisine in a casual atmosphere. A one of a kind personal experience where the owner sits at your table to take your order and if you're fortunate she'll suggest a special dish just for you. We've never had a bad experience or a so-so dish. The food always seems as if it just came out of the wok.

Not what it used to be. Food came before appetizer, never asked if wanted drinks. Good did not come together--one plate came then after about ten minutes the other plate came out. After done appetizers showed up.

Great tasting foodMissed Jean helping us decide what to order.

The staff was friendly. The Food was fantastic. I highly recommend this place if you're in South Bend looking for Chinese Food. 👍

Jean, the owner, takes your order. Every meal is made fresh to order. She works with allergies, gluten, salt, etc special diets. No msg. No bottles of soy sauce on the table-- not needed!

The owner is amazing and will order for you if you can't decide. Take her recommendations. Very reasonably priced and higher quality than your traditional Chinese take out.

Little chinese woman will sit down at the table to take orders and make suggestions. Generous portions and affordable prices.

Very nice waitress. Great crab ragoon. That's all I can say positive.

Great service

Great place. I am incredibly impressed at the service here! The staff and owners are always so accommodating to my grandparents and their dietary needs (substitutions for sodium, etc.) Never give us trouble over the special requests. The food always comes hot. Nice restaurant to take the family for a personable sit-down Chinese meal with affordable prices.

This place is run by Chinese people, but I question its authenticity. I got the beef noodles soup and it wasn't very good. It had vegetables it wasn't supposed to be in there. When I came in, there were no Chinese people, which should've been a warning sign. So come here if you prefer non-authentic Chinese. I would say the service was pretty good.

Very good service and food. The owner Jen came and sat with us and was very hospitable. The food was great.

Awesome place! A little small and crowded but great food and friendly staff. The owner is so lovely and will sit down with you and chat a little. I would highly recommend! You will not be disappointed

Best Chinese food I've EVER had. The owner, Chen, visited our table and genuinely cared about our wants and needs. She suggested lo mein for my daughter who's 2 and she slurped to her hearts content and told us it was a really good dinner! We had orange chicken, sweet n sour chicken, honey chicken, chicken lo mein and pork fried rice...we ate til we were stuffed and still took home enough for dinner tomorrow. We will definitely be back to our new favorite restaurant :) I'd rate a 10 if I could.

Really good Taiwanese food! No MSG!

Good Chinese food. The best part is the owner, who takes every order. For a vegan like me, the menu wasn't very helpful, but she was very willing to suggest substitutes and off-menu items that were very tasty. Hint: tofu is available to substitute for meat in just about any dish.

We don't ever pick anything out of the menu ourselves. Tell Jean what you like and don't like and have them make you something authentic, you won't regret it.

Refused to swap my fried rice for lo mein. I offered to pay more. They refused. I said “that doesn’t make sense.” The employee replied “it’s not about the sense.” I feel like this was a simple, routine request.

Excellent little place. The owner, Jen, is a very sweet gentle woman. If you ask for her she will come to your table, ask what you like and will prepare something special off menu. I've never eaten twice the same thing. You gotta try this and ask for Jen. It will be a unique experience. We are lucky to have Jen.

I love this place... Jean is great! She is very accommodating with my food allergies. If you're like me and hate having to choose, as her to surprise you. It's especially great with a big group. She finds out what you like and brings out all these awesome dishes that you can share family style.

Best Chinese food I've ever had. We had the four cup chicken, the chili fish, something with eggplant and something with pork. It was all off the Chinese menu so I am not sure what was in it beyond that. We also had bubble smoothies. Everything that wasn't spicy, our toddler devoured, so it's good for kids. All dishes were well made, not too greasy and veggies were cooked just right. Will come here again!

Went here due to it being one of the few Chinese restaurants still open during the shut down and was not disappointed. This is hands down the best Chinese I've had in the area, or a long time anywhere for that matter. Went here due to my place being closed, but I am now going to be a permanent customer here.

Good food but not super clean! Try the lunch special 11am to 3pm.

Had he Chen take up no better then any other restaurant. Heard great reviews, didn’t live up to the hip. Hopefully better eat in. next time will try that

Flavor of food is awesome BUTTT the quality of the chicken is very poor. We had three orders of their governor’s chicken (their general Tsos) and one of the honey chicken. All the chicken had weird breading substitute mixed in with the chicken to plump it up and many of the pieces were very dark meat and chewy....not sure which parts of the chicken were used for this dish😬🤔. As for the honey chicken, it again had the breading issue but was more white meat....very squishy though when it was supposed to be fried (limp like it soaked in water...)

The owner and staff are incredibly nice, they certainly go out of their way to make sure you have a great time. The food was great and if it's your first time visiting it is certainly a great idea to ask for meal suggestions.

BEST Chinese food in town! Jean is the owner and she's the sweetest little old Chinese lady you'll ever meet. She normally sits down at the table to take your order and the best thing to do is ask her help to order. She'll say something along the lines of "do you was chicken or beef? Spicy or no spicy? Deep fried or no? Lots of veggies? Okay. I know what you like. I make for you!" ha it's truly the best. My favorite is the black vinegar fish (melts in your mouth) and the honey chicken. Both are do light and I feel so happily full when I leave. Her lunch specials are great too. Normally around $7 and you get soup, rice, egg roll and meat.