When I got there the old lady that greeted me didn’t speak much was very delighted to see my husband and I, she was nice. The man (the cook) was very kind, but the waitress (the woman behind the counter) she was rude. Everything was a “NO,” I asked for chopsticks and waited 5-6 minutes. They didn’t want to give me a dine in lunch combo because they thought my husband was going to eat off my plate. The meal came with soup and they told us we couldn’t have any. I ended up ordering to go, when I got my food I was wondering why it was light normally Chinese food to go especially lunch combos are heavy. Well I ordered, lunch combo #5. It comes with chicken chow mein, pork fried rice (I had to beg to sub for chicken), prawns, and wontons. When I got home to open my box of food, the rice and noodles barely had any chicken in it and I had one prawn! Just absolutely crazy. Normally I would at least get three for that price of a lunch combo. What kind of establishment are you people running? If I could give them zero stars I would, they probably were really good back in the days, but their service sucks and they’re skimpy with their food.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Charlene
Very curious , friendly & I enjoyed talking with both owners. I'm very satisfied & happy to have come acrossed this nice restaurant.Much less on the price & closer to where I live. I enjoyed the food.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Tammy Deville
War wonton
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Cheryl Gerlach
I ordered the sweet-and-sour pork lunch combo. The rice was good, but it only came with four pieces of pork wrenched in sweet-and-sour sauce, and the eggroll that comes with it was fried in tempura. The eggroll and rice was good. When I tried the sweet-and-sour pork it tasted really old.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
Harue Seki
This place is a hidden gem. The food was so so so good. We ordered honey walnut prawns, mandarin sweet and spicy chicken, and mixed vegetables. The honey walnut prawns were perfectly lightly fried and the sauce was excellent. So often other places bread the prawns so thickly which is a mistake. The sauce for the chicken was so well balanced, spicy, tart and just a tad sweet. The mixed vegetables were also perfectly flavored and cooked.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Walnut Shrimp
Mark Jones
Love the food, great flavors, it's hard to explain except to say you can taste the Wok. Great people, the location parking wise is a challenge but inside its reminiscent of a 40's-50's local coffee shop/Cafe, with imagination you can almost see and hear the locals discussing events with coffee at the counter.It is a must try if you love great Chinese food.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Eddie Clarke
I went in and got sweet sour dinner for 2 the appetizers were good but with the main course the chow mein was almost all bean sprouts and their was only enough sweet and sour for me and my partner to only have exactly 4 pieces. This place was so skimpy with their food… nice service though and it was dead hot in their and nobody else came in either
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 5
Valerie L.
Everything was absolutely delicious and the people were so kind. Generous portions. New favorite go-to for Chinese food in Sac.
Miranda Hansen
Formosa Cafe never disappoints! Dinners C and G.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
ARTHUR MORRIS
Great food, Plates A, C, B, was so good. Waitress was very friendly and polite, can't wait to go again!!?
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Shrimp Fried Rice and Chow Mein
I had such high hopes for this place with big cravings for Chinese food and especially after all the good reviews I saw. The one review that clinched it for me was the one from the lady who said she'd been eating there since she was 14 yrs old and she is now 84! So I went in search. I found it. It is a cute little hole in the wall throw back to Chinese food places I knew as a kid, with all the decor, but the food was awful. The waitress/hostess was very nice but I ordered only two items off the menu, pointed them out and she had to ask me 3 times what I just ordered, twice at the table and once after walking away. I ordered the #4 lunch special (chicken chow mein with pork fried rice and egg foo young) and the veggie egg rolls. The egg foo young was the only thing that was barely palatable to eat. The food smelled bad and I have diminished olfactory senses since COVID. It was also flavorless. The pork fried rice was like nothing I've ever had and smelled and tasted almost burnt. The egg roll looked like there were dipped in batter and the sauce was almost too think. I spent $25 including tip. I had given her my credit card to pay and she brought it back to the only other person in the place who had barely placed their order. Maybe this place needs someone to come in and revamp it, maybe someone to just take over but this place killed all my taste for Chinese food for the foreseeable future.
Ava Prado
Ordered for lunch take out. Had the number 3 lunch special which is S&S chicken, chicken chow mien and pork friend rice. I literally only got 4 pieces of sweet & sour chicken with it. A co worker of mine had mentioned this to me in the past but I thought maybe they just gave him a couple pieces and it was a 1 off occurrence. I'm not making this review so that customers don't go there to eat but more so that ownership can look at this and maybe fix this. I love Chinese food and was hungry and 4 pieces of sweet and sour chicken did not fill me up.
Nancy L.
I am 82 years old. I have been eating at the Formosa since I was 14 years old. It was never a posh place. It was a place you always felt welcomed. The atmosphere was quite, peaceful. The food was always enjoyable no matter what it was. In the old days, they had tables inside a curtained off area so it was private. If they are still in business then you know it has to be clean, good food, good service, and a great place to bring the family, go alone, or like me went with my fiance who later became my husband and loved going to the Formosa.
Brittany P.
Food was delicious! We ordered the salt baked fish, honey walnut prawns and egg fried rice. Everything was exceptionally flavorful. They even sell lottery tickets which is a big plus for my boyfriend We will be returning. I'll update on other items when I do
Ashley Rowe
I'm the third generation of daughters that come here. Been eating their food since in the belly still and I'm 27 now. This place used to be my mother and grandmother's favorite restaurant in all of Sacramento. Feeling nostalgic and really missing my momma's, I decided to come in and get our favorite. Two plates of tempura fried shrimp. The wait was fine, the lady in front very kind and sweet. Although, husband in the back who does the cooking was kind of being mean to her. I saw that sir, and I better not ever see that again. Ever. I'm used to the mom and daughter duo that used to Cook and work at this place, I'm not sure if it's under new management or maybe it's been so long the mom and daughter aren't around anymore. Either way, my daughter is 2 now and it feels so good to pass down the tempura tradition to her. 4 generations of daughters eating here, keep up the great work Formosa. You will see more of us ✨
When I got there the old lady that greeted me didn’t speak much was very delighted to see my husband and I, she was nice. The man (the cook) was very kind, but the waitress (the woman behind the counter) she was rude. Everything was a “NO,” I asked for chopsticks and waited 5-6 minutes. They didn’t want to give me a dine in lunch combo because they thought my husband was going to eat off my plate. The meal came with soup and they told us we couldn’t have any. I ended up ordering to go, when I got my food I was wondering why it was light normally Chinese food to go especially lunch combos are heavy. Well I ordered, lunch combo #5. It comes with chicken chow mein, pork fried rice (I had to beg to sub for chicken), prawns, and wontons. When I got home to open my box of food, the rice and noodles barely had any chicken in it and I had one prawn! Just absolutely crazy. Normally I would at least get three for that price of a lunch combo. What kind of establishment are you people running? If I could give them zero stars I would, they probably were really good back in the days, but their service sucks and they’re skimpy with their food.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Very curious , friendly & I enjoyed talking with both owners. I'm very satisfied & happy to have come acrossed this nice restaurant.Much less on the price & closer to where I live. I enjoyed the food.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
War wonton
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I ordered the sweet-and-sour pork lunch combo. The rice was good, but it only came with four pieces of pork wrenched in sweet-and-sour sauce, and the eggroll that comes with it was fried in tempura. The eggroll and rice was good. When I tried the sweet-and-sour pork it tasted really old.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
This place is a hidden gem. The food was so so so good. We ordered honey walnut prawns, mandarin sweet and spicy chicken, and mixed vegetables. The honey walnut prawns were perfectly lightly fried and the sauce was excellent. So often other places bread the prawns so thickly which is a mistake. The sauce for the chicken was so well balanced, spicy, tart and just a tad sweet. The mixed vegetables were also perfectly flavored and cooked.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Walnut Shrimp
Love the food, great flavors, it's hard to explain except to say you can taste the Wok. Great people, the location parking wise is a challenge but inside its reminiscent of a 40's-50's local coffee shop/Cafe, with imagination you can almost see and hear the locals discussing events with coffee at the counter.It is a must try if you love great Chinese food.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I went in and got sweet sour dinner for 2 the appetizers were good but with the main course the chow mein was almost all bean sprouts and their was only enough sweet and sour for me and my partner to only have exactly 4 pieces. This place was so skimpy with their food… nice service though and it was dead hot in their and nobody else came in either
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 5
Everything was absolutely delicious and the people were so kind. Generous portions. New favorite go-to for Chinese food in Sac.
Formosa Cafe never disappoints! Dinners C and G.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Great food, Plates A, C, B, was so good. Waitress was very friendly and polite, can't wait to go again!!?
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Shrimp Fried Rice and Chow Mein
Restaurantji Recommends
I had such high hopes for this place with big cravings for Chinese food and especially after all the good reviews I saw. The one review that clinched it for me was the one from the lady who said she'd been eating there since she was 14 yrs old and she is now 84! So I went in search. I found it. It is a cute little hole in the wall throw back to Chinese food places I knew as a kid, with all the decor, but the food was awful. The waitress/hostess was very nice but I ordered only two items off the menu, pointed them out and she had to ask me 3 times what I just ordered, twice at the table and once after walking away. I ordered the #4 lunch special (chicken chow mein with pork fried rice and egg foo young) and the veggie egg rolls. The egg foo young was the only thing that was barely palatable to eat. The food smelled bad and I have diminished olfactory senses since COVID. It was also flavorless. The pork fried rice was like nothing I've ever had and smelled and tasted almost burnt. The egg roll looked like there were dipped in batter and the sauce was almost too think. I spent $25 including tip. I had given her my credit card to pay and she brought it back to the only other person in the place who had barely placed their order. Maybe this place needs someone to come in and revamp it, maybe someone to just take over but this place killed all my taste for Chinese food for the foreseeable future.
Ordered for lunch take out. Had the number 3 lunch special which is S&S chicken, chicken chow mien and pork friend rice. I literally only got 4 pieces of sweet & sour chicken with it. A co worker of mine had mentioned this to me in the past but I thought maybe they just gave him a couple pieces and it was a 1 off occurrence. I'm not making this review so that customers don't go there to eat but more so that ownership can look at this and maybe fix this. I love Chinese food and was hungry and 4 pieces of sweet and sour chicken did not fill me up.
I am 82 years old. I have been eating at the Formosa since I was 14 years old. It was never a posh place. It was a place you always felt welcomed. The atmosphere was quite, peaceful. The food was always enjoyable no matter what it was. In the old days, they had tables inside a curtained off area so it was private. If they are still in business then you know it has to be clean, good food, good service, and a great place to bring the family, go alone, or like me went with my fiance who later became my husband and loved going to the Formosa.
Food was delicious! We ordered the salt baked fish, honey walnut prawns and egg fried rice. Everything was exceptionally flavorful. They even sell lottery tickets which is a big plus for my boyfriend We will be returning. I'll update on other items when I do
I'm the third generation of daughters that come here. Been eating their food since in the belly still and I'm 27 now. This place used to be my mother and grandmother's favorite restaurant in all of Sacramento. Feeling nostalgic and really missing my momma's, I decided to come in and get our favorite. Two plates of tempura fried shrimp. The wait was fine, the lady in front very kind and sweet. Although, husband in the back who does the cooking was kind of being mean to her. I saw that sir, and I better not ever see that again. Ever. I'm used to the mom and daughter duo that used to Cook and work at this place, I'm not sure if it's under new management or maybe it's been so long the mom and daughter aren't around anymore. Either way, my daughter is 2 now and it feels so good to pass down the tempura tradition to her. 4 generations of daughters eating here, keep up the great work Formosa. You will see more of us ✨