Ciao Mein in Lethbridge
680 Columbia Blvd W, Lethbridge, AB T1K 5J9, Canada
About
We are a Small Family business that takes great pride in our food. This is not fast food. The items you choose are "Made to Order". This means we do not start cooking your order until....you order. No Large batch cooking here! We try very hard to accommodate everyone. We do not look at our emails for orders. We wish we could, but we are too busy cooking and packing orders. Phone only. If you get a response " This customer is not available now" this means you are on a Bell Cell phone. It is their way of telling you, we are busy. Our phone lines are Not down. We are just doing our best.
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We only order our Chinese food from Ciao Mein. The food is always delicious, we get large portions, and they make the best salt and pepper squid! Highly recommend this establishment!
Foods good! Place is nice, but that girl Madison with the black hair, my goodness she is attractive. I’m going to have to start becoming a regular just to see her!
After receiving many positive reviews from a number of my friends, I finally decided to try the Chinese food at Ciao Mein. I am sure glad that I did as the food is delicious! Not only is the food delicious but you get alot for your money! I will definitely be ordering from Ciao Mein many more times in the future months & years to come. Keep up the great work as it is much appreciated. Thanks. Joyce
My family and I love the food from Ciao Mein! It tastes good, always hot and just as ordered. One star lost due to the fact that twice now I have ordered the Curried Chicken with peppers and onions - the dish I got is not the same as it use to be, carrots and other vegetables have been added and the lovely hot spicy curry flavour has disappeared, such a lovely dish now turned into a chicken stir fry.
Fresh quality Chinese food. It's hard to get through to place an order and that's because they are busy. They are busy for a reason; the food is damn good! Called at 4:15 was eating by 5:05. One star loss because I do think the pricing is slightly high and should be a free delivery on a minimum order. Everything was hot and freshly cooked, order was correct even though I make multiple special request. And anytime you go his kitchen is spotless. Staff is always efficient.
This is the absolute best place in town for Chinese food! Their portions sizes are excellent, we order the dinner for 6 plus the fried rice stick (my favorite) and it feeds our family of 11, that's 2 adults, 3 teenage boys and 6 younger kids. On top of portion size the flavors are amazing, so good that even when I'm stuffed full I'm still craving more! It is true that you have to call right as they open to get through as they are sooo busy, but I believe that speaks to the excellence of their food and yes we are super disappointed when we can't get through would absolutely love it if they would open a second location just to increase my chances ;) . Highly recommended!
The food at Caio Mein is good. Hours are 4 to 8pm daily (closed Monday & Tuesday.) Ordering can be challenging. In our experiences if you don't call for delivery right at 4pm when they open you will get a busy signal, (sometimes they pick up and you are disconnected before anyone speaks) so if you start calling at 4:05pm and keep trying you might get through at 4:35pm, from there the earliest delivery we can get is usually at 6:30 or 7:00pm. When we have called for pick up, same deal call right away and keep trying, usually pick up orders are ready in 20 to 30 minutes. This seems to be normal, no matter what day, or time of year. They are pleasant on the phone and in the restaurant, the food is good, I'm not sure it's worth a two and a half hour wait for delivery. We've ordered may times over the years and the food and service have been consistent, good and okay are the best descriptions I can give. Not sure it's worth the hassle of ordering either, there's similar options in the city with faster service. I guess pickup is worth it, if you can get through on the phone.
Ordered here recently, and was a little disappointed. Took an hour to make, and wasn't ready on time. I took it home, only a few blocks away, and both the Ginger Beef and Beef & Broccoli were cold (despite hot tins). Also found the amount of Beef and Broccolli to be disappointing, there was only 2/3 as much as Ginger Beef, and it's mostly Broccolli. Very expensive Broccolli. Chow Mein was great, got lots of it, and nice and warm. They really packed the tin on it. Chicken Balls were also good. But when you spend $60 on take out, you expect that ALL the tins are full and ALL the food is warm. The Beef and Broccolli was good after I reheated it, but the Ginger Beef was one of my least favorite I've had. Also, very disappointed that we got no fortune cookies or chopsticks. Isn't that a Chinese restaurant staple? Being so close, I'd love to try these guys more, but can't justify paying $60 for half cold food when Pizza is next door, cheaper, and always near scalding.
Highly recommend this place. Amazing food with reasonable prices. The staff is super friendly.
Had a absolutely delishishes meal and we ordered our Easter dinner for 15 people had so much to spare and a great price the customer service was awesome will 100% be our place to get our Chinese everything was fresh and made in house
Chow mein is the best Chinese in Lethbridge, freshly made and always awesome! Deep fried wontons are my favourite as the meat amount in each wonton is 3x any restaurant in town. Food
extremely fast and efficient service, great portions, fair prices and exceptionally delicious food
Food os always Hot, fresh and tasty with hand made food that is consistent, and generous portions. And delivery and front staff are always polite.
Amazing food! Best in town!
Im giving 5 stars for atmosphere even tho its just take out because I would give it 6 stars for food and service. People mostly complain about noone answering the phone but if you know the restaurant you know that they have the BEST Chinese food in Lethbridge and theyre probanly on the phone with other customers so be patient or drive over and oder at the restaurant. With that said some things are just worth waiting for, we ordered lastnight and waiting 2.5 because of the celebration of the Chinese New year and it was worth every minute
Awesome service, also great food
Excellent hot fresh made to order Chinese food with no msg. Friendly staff and the chicken balls have big pieces of chicken with light batter. If you are looking for really good Chinese food check this place out
Ordered from this place last Friday seeing the great reviews but was so disappointed. We ordered dinner for two and not a single item was good. Food
Hands down best Chinese in town
Boy, sure wish I could try their food. Took 24 calls and over 30 mins just to get through....24 CALLS!!!! Finally find a human on the other end, order my pickup and told itll be over an hour. Thanks for wasting my time. Wow!
Aparently a smaller order is $60, so that will be a 2 1/2 hour wait. Place is already overpriced with most of the good stuff missing from the menu any other Chinese restaurant has. I live a couple blocks down the road on Columbia. Would have been easy to drop it along their way. No I am not picking up. Whatever. They dont answer the phone half the time. Place is ran like it is about to close down. Trying to support the neighborehood. Truth is it is just a lazy ran company that makes up their ours as they please..
Well I would love to have an experience to share but I have probably called 50 times over last few months between(4-8). Nobody had picked up the phone ever . Like not even once.
I Used to love ordering Chinese food from Ciao Mein, my last 2 orders where honestly disappointing, the chicken chow mein has to much bok choi, and lacking flavor. The vegetables where to crunchy
I m from out of town and ordered because of the reviews. There was a lot of food with zero taste. Expensive and disappointing
Amazing food! Just wish it was easier to get through by phone
Ordered beef and broccoli salt and pepper squid, chicken chow mein, chicken balls and chicken fried rice. All dishes tasted good except the chicken fried rice. The rice had this horible chemical taste and I had to throw the entire dish out. This put me off on all of the other dishes and basically ruined it for me. Not sure if this was a one off but I wont be ordering again. For $90 all dishes should taste excellent.
This is the first time we ve ever ordered from Ciao Mein and we were super impressed. The food quality was fantastic and the ingredients were fresh and tasty. We will definitely be ordering from here again!
Fantastic service. Best Chinese food in Lethbridge, hands down. We don t go anywhere else!
For all the people complaining about not being able to get through.... does anyone realize this is a small, locally owned takeout place that can only take so many orders? After you call a few times and cant get through, try a different restaurant. Clearly they do ok and can only take so many orders in a night. They are fully booked for Christmas Eve, for example. Also, stop putting 2 stars for one disappointing dish out of the 5 you got one time and maybe stop in and mention it and see if they do something for you? Tonight was the first time I ordered from here and everything was excellent!
Awesome, very tasty food!
I tried to call in an order for pickup but nobody answered so I drove to and ordered at the resturant,when I arrived I noticed the front staff seamed to be playing on their phone I m guessing thats why they were not able to take a phone in order. I thought the place would specialize in chow mein but had to throw the chow mein out that I ordered, on a bright note the garlic ribs were great, just stay away from the chow mein
Food was hot and fresh and decent quality- should really give fortune cookies though
Good service. Food is hot at time of pickup.
Ordered from Ciao Mein for the first time tonight. It won t be the last! Great food, great portions, and tasty!
Order the dinner for four and changed out the pineapple chicken for deep friend lemon chicken. Our pick-up order was ready on time and every dish was delicious!
Service is terrible!! Call after call to place an order, only to be told after 6+ attempts that they are no longer taking any more orders! Then call the night before at 7.30 PM to place a next day order, they dont answer the phone, playing a recorded message stating they close at 8.00 PM! They need to stay open more than 4 hours of the day. Apart from that, the food is okay if you can get it.
Food is always good and fresh, service was good even though we in pandemic follow safety precautions
Best in town! Worth the effort in getting an order in.
Just called yo place an order for pickup. The location closes in 1hr. I was told that they reached there maximum for taking orders.... Talk about bad customer service. I wish I could post a zero star.
I dont recommend here, I cant say anything about the food, as whenever i call in , i am told thier kitchen is too busy, i have called in at 6 before. Ive called in at 7.. the hour of operations is tell 8pm.. yet for some reason they cant accept dine-out after 6??.. i dont think thats a smart move in our world today. This is why my review is as it is.. when you change you actions . Let me know, Ill try again.. Good luck for anyone else trying to eat here. If this is how they treat customers who wanna dine out. I couldnt imagine how their food would be. Just my own opinion.happens when youve been a chef, And travelled many restaurants
Great stop
Excellent take-out! The food is especially fresh and tasty. I dont think they use MSG which is a bonus IMHO. I appreciate their Wor Mein Won Ton soup, they pack the juice separately so you get to pick your own ingredients.
Had their dinner for five twice now in the last month and every time was amazing. There is enough for 5 adults, which means a high likelihood of leftovers the next day, which were still superb. I am glad my friends introduced me to this place. Highly recommend.
Great food. Order early because they get booked out quick sometimes.
Very good, we did take out and picked It up and the food was packaged well and wasn t missing anything which is a great start. Food was great wasn t greasy or over cooked.
The best Chinese food in Lethbridge. Nice fresh vegetables and excellent flavours. The ginger beef does tend to be overdone and chewy. Overall, still a great choice.
Absolutely amazing food!! I ve had Chinese food from all over North America and NONE have served better food! The wait time is sometimes longer then I want (since I want food ASAP all the time) but this is not fast food. Good food takes time to make especially when it s fresh! When I go in store to pick it up they are always so kind and welcoming! If you are in such a rush for Chinese food maybe you should go to the mall it s ready for you all day under a heat lamp! I would give 6/5 stars if I could!!
Chow mien was obviously heated up in the takeout container because it was burned on the bottom. Nothing tasted fresh or good and the honey garlic ribs didnt have a trace of honey. Dried out meat.
Had food from here a while ago since new management and it was better than before, but ordered food from here on Sunday and 3 out of 5 of us who did eat the food were all sick. My wife ended up with diarrhea Sunday night, my 10 yr old son ended up sick at school Monday only making it not even halfway into the school day and I ended up with violent diarrhea and vomiting that still has not subsided now two days after ordering. Either cross contamination from food handling or poor hygiene somewhere in the kitchen. This is an honest review of our most recent experience here and we can all agree no more food from ciao mein, I m glad my 5 and 2 yr olds chose to eat something else Sunday night , $70 wasted.
Staff is pretty amazing and friendly! I always get the same thing as a person definitely gets their moneys worth. I may have a Chinese addiction, so I am thankful for the hours they are open as the location is near my residence. Best part, I can call in a pick-up when Im leaving work on the Southside and by the time I get there its all ready!! Gotta love me some Chinese food.
We ordered for the first time yesterday and we loved everything! We will definitely be ordering again and will recommend to all our friends and family.
Wow was worth the 2 hour wait. Really good food. Defenity worth the wait. Will go back
The food is 4 stars, its not the best in town but I do enjoy it. Minus one star because they need to update their phone system. Good luck calling in an order at peak hours, because they only have a single line with no queue or anything. If the line is in use you just get the busy signal and have to call repeatedly for half an hour or just give up. For a restaurant thats take-out and delivery only this is kind of frustrating.
Tiny hole in the wall with delicious food.
So good selection is amazing
Tried calling several times and when they did finally answer the phone at 6:00 pm. They inform me they cant do anymore orders for the night. Very disappointed!!
Food is great, definitely recommend it.
Freshly made, family owned, tasty Western style Chinese food. Beware, this place gets BUSY, the second they open the phone lines are jammed with calls. If you want food by 6 PM, I suggest going in to order right at 4 PM, or it will be three hours plus. That said, there is a reason this place is that busy, the stuff is tasty.
Good food.. fresh. Better then most. Only problem with this place are the hours. They have terrible hours of operation.
Excellent food overall, the chicken balls actually have more chicken than dough! Great portion sizes, fresh and hot even with delivery! Ginger beef isn t the best, rest is great! Don t have lots of phone lines, so you have to call early or be patient while you wait. Once you get ahold of them, they are very helpful!
Had some of the best prices in town, the garlic ribs were amazing.
Better now than it was. Prices are good and the chicken balls have actual giant chicken chunks. Sad to lower the original five stars I gave this place but the last few times the food has been subpar. The wontons were small and the noodly bits were crushed together. The beef and broccoli had almost no beef and batter for the chicken balls was super salty.
My wife loves shopping local, and these guys didn t disappoint. Picked up an order 15 minutes before they closed, and was impressed by how good and fresh it was. We will definetely be eating here again.
Never eaten here, but just delivering with Uber Ive normally had good service here.
First time ordering and couldnt complain! Really good flavor, not soggy or greasy. Awesome dry ribs and chicken balls! Would recommend to anyone looking for good chinese take out on the west side. Time and price very reasonable.
Really really great food! Highly reccomend trying these guys out!
Sad disappointment. Over priced for what you get and the quality was not what the other reviewers claimed.
Im new to Lethbridge, my wife came down to visit me from Calgary so we gave this place a shot based on the reviews I read. I ordered shrimp fried rice, chicken balls, ginger beef ( medium), and sweet & sour pork. The rice and chicken balls were cooked perfectly and tasted fantastic, but was utterly disappointed with the ginger beef and sweet & sour pork. Both were very dry, flavorless, and extremely chewy and at $60 for 4 items its overpriced. I try to be fair by giving places a second chance before reviewing but that wont be happening. The search continues for good Chinese food in Lethbridge.
Great Chinese food. My only regret is we didnt order years ago. Its always fresh and super tasty!! Best in town hands down.
Always tasty. Always hot. Great service. Great delivery person.
Dry garlic ribs were super dry and way over seasoned. Found a bone in the chicken fried rice. When we went in to pick up the order we saw a lady in the kitchen holding a baby. Not impressed and won t be ordering again.
Great food and decent prices
Best Chinese food in Lethbridge!
Food is good if you can get thru. They never answer the damn phone. When they do they usually say hour and half wait, Def not worth waiting that long for sum damn chicken balls. Most these awesome reviews most definitely from friends and family of theirs dont waste your time
Best Chinese food in Lethbridge, by far. New owner answers the phone right away and the food is unreal. Very accommodating to substitutes also!
Expensive
It is so nice to finally see a Chinese restaurant in Lethbridge worth going to. Believe me when I say that I have a literally eaten (North Americanized) Chinese food all over North America and this place is one of the better ones. Nobody else in Lethbridge holds a candle to the depth of flavor, freshness, portion size, and service of this place. I have tried a vast array of the dishes from their menu, and each has a very distinct flavour profile, and not one tasting bland or common to the next, as sometimes dishes from these restaurants do. The vegetables in the chow meins and chop sueys are not overcooked and as such still have crunch. And one big thing for me, the dry ribs are not over battered, or even battered at all with the same batter that many other places batter their chicken balls with. All in all, you will not be disappointed from ordering here.
Decent prices and big portions. Food is tasty
We took out a combo A. The service was friendly and the order was ready in 10 minutes. The order was huge with a generous portion of spare ribs . Between me and my girlfriend we couldnt finish it (then again we dont have a big appetite) . Id recommend giving them a try to see if its for you
Great portions great tasting food will order from there again best Chinese and Lethbridge
We have ordered from here 5 times in the last year. All previous 4 times were excellent. This time however was HORRIBLE the ginger beef was more like ginger carrots/onions/peppers. The owner has reached out and went above and beyond to make things right. A+ service.
I use to order from here all the time then they sold the business. It wasnt the same for quite a while so I stopped going. Tonight they were the only one open so we took a gamble.. Truly happy we did because its amazing. Cant believe how much they improved. Really happy with everything we order.
Horrible service... no loyalty to regular customers. Staff rude as a compliment.
How can a place that is only open 5 hours a day be this good
Excellent quality and taste.
We ordered a dinner for 6 tonight for the first time and it was excellent. One of the best Chinese food dinners we have ever ordered. Highly recommend this restaurant, great customer service!
I counted; there were a total of 3 tiny pieces of chicken in a whole chicken fried rice and ciaomein take out. What kind of a restaurant does that? You charge me 24 dollars for plain noodles and rice? Hell no!
Good service, good food, good place to order take out!
Best Chinese food I have ever had. Great portion sizes and great prices. The best ginger beef this city has for sure!!!
Everything tasted the same. Far cry from the previous year. Just not the same anymore.
The food is okay but they never pick up the phone. Delivery is basically impossible to get.
Good food, good price.
It s definitely Chinese food but that s about it. Ginger beer extremely over cooked and chewy. And everything needs salt
The best Chinese Food I have ever tasted and the staff and owner are most amazing. :) Will never order Chinese food anywhere else.
Ive been a customer for years and the food has always been outstanding and reasonably priced. Its hard to get through on the phone, so I suggest stopping in to place your order. Fanny is one of the hardest working people I know and she always delivers the best.
Great food but very poor customer service and they often do not answer the phone. No debit at the door machine. I think this place could be great if they updated the interior and spoke to customers as though their business is appreciated.
Greasy food
Fast
is it just me or is the phone line always busy?
I love the chinese food here, always delicious. They are so busy all the time.
Great food need to hire someone to answer the phone
Horrible customer service!!! Wouldnt even answer the phone! Are you f#%king kidding me! Customers are your only way to survive!!!
We live just around the corner from this place and we were pleasantly surprised by the good quality of the food. It seems nearly impossible to get someone on the phone so we always go in person to place the order.
I spent $12 for an order of beef and broccoli. It was a small container and had hardly any beef.
Kept trying to phone over 50 times, and the line was either busy or off the hook. This is the 3rd time Ive run into this.The foods not that great, and maybe if they ARE that busy, they should hire some more employees. What a bush league way to run a restaurant. Ill order pizza... itll be faster and more than likely better quality.
Dont stay just take it an go. Small place!