Family Garden Chinese Restaurant

Over priced and food was not very good. Was also charged extra for soy sauce and duck sauce. Will not go back.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 2

First time trying this place today. The restaurant is operated as a walk-up/call-in only right now. The doorway is barricaded from the outside with a table and there are many things taped to the windows. You will need to call the restaurant to order and call the restaurant when you are there to pick up your order.

I ordered the Black Pepper Chicken combo plate which came with generous portions and included an egg roll. My total was $10.84. This black pepper chicken has no sauce. It is just diced, seasoned, and fried. The fried rice here is pork fried rice by default. The fried rice was very yellow and had ample veggies and definitely not greasy. The egg roll was crunchy and delicious with a fresh cabbage flavor but I am unsure if it had meat.

Overall, my food was good; I would eat here again but I wouldn't drive out of my way. This reminds me of the typical American Chinese buffet food. I do plan to try other dishes from here.

UPDATE: Added a star to make 4 instead of three because after 3 different dishes, this place is better than just 'average'.

September 29 I ordered general Tso's chicken, extra spicy and I asked to substitute shrimp fried rice instead of pork fried rice. My total was $14.14. It came with an egg roll. Everything was fresh and hot. There were five shrimp in my rice. Not as spicy as I had hoped but I understand that I have a high heat tolerance.

October 13 I ordered sesame chicken lunch special. I asked for shrimp fried rice. My total was $11.61. It did not come with an egg roll. My food was hot and fresh and there were 4 shrimp on top my fried rice. The sesame chicken was definitely not one dimensional and I appreciated the fact that it didn't have a weird artificial red color. No strange ketchup taste and the right amount of sauce to make it not dry. Tasty.

In all visits the fried rice has been freshly cooked, not dried out reheated mess and it has not been greasy. They do good here. I just have to figure out the pricing bit.

August 29, 2025
Decided to order a repeat here for comparison. So it has been 2 years since my first review of this place's Black Pepper Chicken Combo Plate. The economy has done some crazy things in the last two years. This is exact same dish as first review and it does look pretty similar in the photo. What the photo cannot tell you is how chewy today's chicken pieces were 😳. Idk if they were cooked previously then cooked again to make it hot or if they were cooked waaay too long but the chicken was dry and salty. The portions and the quality of the egg roll were identical to 2 years ago. Still cant say for sure if there is meat in the egg roll but if there is then I'd guess pork. The price went up approximately 3 dollars total over the 2 years. I did not take a photo of the receipt the first time so I cannot compare tax accurately but estimations look like $10.84 assuming 10% sales tax (same charged today) means pre tax dish cost $9.85 two years ago and $12.55 pre tax today--- that is an increase of 2.70 or near 28%.

Also, there is NO DINE-IN. This establishment is take out only.

There food is delicious an fast they sell things like ring an earrings an nicknackes kinda expensive but im not surprised if an chineses place isnt

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The food was terrible. I was shocked because it never has been before.

I came here to say what it looks like everyone is already saying. Lady who is answering the phone has an attitude problem. She answered the phone didn’t say nothing but I can hear the background so I said hello. She said yeah family garden what you want. I was so taken back by her attitude bc she is usually kind that I asked her what’s the problem? She said people keep calling… in my mind I’m like ok and, isn’t that good for business though? So I asked can I place an order or no? She said yeah what do you want. I told her then I asked her the difference between a large and a combo as far as pricing and wanted whatever is cheaper. She asked so which one do you want. I said whatever is cheaper than she hung up on me. Lol cool I don’t want that energy over my food and I’ll spend my money elsewhere.

Service: 1

Food was so nasty I’ll never go back my baby gagged the chicken and egg rolls up and it left a bad taste in my mouth . The lady that took my order had a nasty attitude and she was rushing me. I also overheard her taking a customer order over the phone telling him he need to get a menu since he doesn’t know what he wanted. Bad for business and shouldn’t be open at all. No good 0/10

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Recommended dishes: Egg Roll, Honey Chicken

Lady at the front is very rude, like if you don’t like people don’t take orders! To much clutter in the store! I was not happy with my vegetable fried rice. When is vegetable fried rice yellow. If you truly want vegetable fried rice go to King House on stadium Drive.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 2

Service: 1

Best Chinese around

Food: 5

Service: 5

For my first experience with this business, I would say I had no issues with anything or anyone. Did was good and I got exactly what I ordered. The lady stopped eating her dinner to ring me up and I thought that was nice. She's not rude, just short and to the point. I will definitely eat here again.

Great food, great price, and service. My family and I move to another city and can not find another restaurant as good as Family Garden. Every time I go back to Phenix City I make sure to stop by.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

This is the only restaurant in the area that I've been to that gives me exactly what I order, every time.
The quality of the food is always better than satisfactory.

Also, this is the only Chinese restaurant that I've ever seen with a clean kitchen.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Good food, close to the house

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I love this place and I love the people that run it. We eat there every couple of weeks and the quality is great especially for the price. I hope these folks stay in business for many years to come.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I had a disappointing experience with Family Garden Chinese Restaurant. When I called to place an order, the staff was surprisingly rude and unhelpful. I asked for my total over the phone, but they outright refused to provide it. To make matters worse, they wouldn't let me use my tap pay when I arrived. This lack of basic customer service made me feel undervalued, they are overpriced and I won’t be returning.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

I’m totally disgusted with how rude the lady was over the phone ! I will not be coming here anymore

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 5

Service: 1