Review Chinatown Cafe - Adelaide

We shared a Laksa and it was probably one of the best ones we’ve had. Absolutely delicious and super quick to come out.

Amazing Laksa it’s the best in Adelaide IMO, and their Curry Chicken and Rice is unique and delicious. In fact most of their dishes are great, with efficient and fast service. Love this place…

First time visiting in 2 years. Prices are still very reasonable. The laksa is meant to be the best in Adelaide, though I tried other things today. The curry chicken was tender and well proportioned. The wonton noodles were delicious and flavourful. As usual, their sauce station delivered great flavours to complement the meals. The staff were friendly and smiling, definitely brought value to the experience. Absolutely worth a visit, just note that they close around 4pm.

The Hainanese Chicken with Laksa broth and Asian Greens is a staple in our family. The very best we have found in Adelaide. We have been eating here for decades. The women who runs the restaurant is lovely, it is simple but delicious food served with a smile. Perfect for a Friday night take-away or Saturday lunch.

The Hainanese Chicken Rice (with laksa broth) at Chinatown Cafe is by far the best in Adelaide. At $16.50 it's quite pricey for a casual lunch - but still worth it.

This place has nice service

I'm so glad to see this old haunt is still around. I always find it a great place to eat and value for money. Clean, at tentative and friendly. Excellent prices.

Always come to Chinatown when I visit~

I’ve been coming here for over 20 years. I find it hard to go past the laksa. It’s the only place I have laksa. Others just disappoint. <br/>Have also had curry chicken, Hokkien noodles, Singapore noodles and my kids LOVE the chicken rice. <br/><br/>Cheap and cheerful. Order, sit, eat and get out. This is not a place to have a lazy catch up lunch. <br/><br/>It’s wonderful.

Great place for lunch. Unlicensed<br/>Usually very busy<br/>Can`t beat the Hainanese Chicken with greens for lunch.<br/>Excellent value, spice it up to your own taste with the light or dark chili.<br/>Quick service.<br/>Recommended.

Food itself was very bland, adding chilli oil was needed. <br/>Such a shame as it was recommended to me from a few workmates. From my experience there is much better places around Chinatown.

Horrible service by an elderly woman. I reckon she is the owner. Food is great nonetheless, might only get take away to avoid the lady. Younger staff are much more approachable.

IS WITH THE OPENING HOURS??? I need my chicken rice all the time. You could easily walk past this place 100 times, and never even notice it. But you should. The hianese chicken rice with laksa broth is deadly good. $9.50 for delicious goodness that doesn't do bad things to your waist line!<br/>

$10 for Hainanese chicken rice (remember to order specifically with Laksa broth) is an absolute bargain and fantastically fresh and delicious. An institution.

Great vegetarian laksa! Lots of veggies, made vegan if you have rice noodles instead of hokkein noodles. Friendly staff and cheap food. Can get busy during lunch and they don't except eftpos. Recommend and will return!

Great food, super cheap, friendly and helpful staff. The vegetarian laksa has plenty of greenery and noodles. It's already vegan, too! I love the chilli station - it saves me from asking for extra chilli as I can add as much as I want.

Another scorcher of a day and I wanted something that was quick, fuss free and of course delicious. So we headed to the place that we believe makes the best Chicken Rice in Adelaide. Don’t expect all the bells and whistles at this place, you go in, place your order before you sit down and they allocate you a table, then within a few minutes your food is out. It’s worth coming here for their signature meal, Chicken Rice.

Fast and good value. Fast service and good value for a quick lunchtime bite. One of my work lunch regulars!

YAY FOR CHI-RI. I have been going to chinatown cafe since i was 17 i am now 27!!<br/><br/>I think people who keep talking about a 'rude woman' are being sensitive. Chinatown cafe is a fast paced delicious food hole...FAST PACED. <br/>It means you order, get given a table, sit down, food is on your table sometimes before you even sit down, you eat and you leave. No long winded chats, no waiting for friends. It is so busy there are lineups, so eat and leave, chat elsewhere because everyone else wants the amazing food too!<br/><br/>Delicious chicken and rice (you need to add the ginger and chilli sauce or chilli oil and get laksa broth on the side). Maylasian chicken curry is to die for and their laksa's are amazing but i always add chilli oil.<br/>I ring and grab takeaway on a weekly basis.<br/><br/>I think the reviews are harsh and i don't think people understand the way Chinatown Cafe works.

Great meal everytime. I love this place. Its great value for money, its always quick and I love the consistency of the food.

I was told the laksa was really good here, however while waiting for my friend to join me a horribly rude woman aggressively told me to leave because I had not ordered yet and when I explained that I was waiting for a friend she got even more angry with me and kicked me out!

Rude woman at the front.. Unfortunately all the poor reviews involving the rude woman who insults customers and gives overall shocking service is true. There are so many better options in the area it's not ever worth paying money to put up with her rudeness.

Never go to this rude womens business!. I did not quite believe the stories I had been told by others that had visited this cafe, but after my treatment last Thursday I am now fully aware how rude the Owner is.<br/>If you order and stay, be prepared to eat the last bits of your plate as you escorted away from your table and asked to leave because you have taken more than the allowed 10 minutes to eat your meal.<br/>The under paid OS students get treated just as poorly, but manage to be freindly as possible under this womens nasty gaze.<br/>Do no go therte ever!!!!

Disgustingly Rude. If you like cheap food with a side of rude then you will love it here. The art of "hospitality" was lost when they unleashed the dragon woman on to the public. Don't support businesses that treat their customers like garbage.

Reallly crappy customer service, but food is great, fast to serve and cheap. I like to come here before doing my food shopping in the markets because they are fast!

We love the laksa s especially w vermicelli noodles!

Mixed Feelings. We tried this place out after a recommendation from a fellow foodie, when we saw how busy it was I couldn't believe I'd never been before!<br/><br/>They seemed to be quite strict about their order before you sit down policy, we saw someone being told off... perhaps they need to put a sign on each table to stop people from doing it the wrong way.<br/><br/>The food was somewhat disappointing but after reading the reviews I think we ordered the wrong thing... Everyone around us was eating the Hainan chicken rice so I'm going to go back and try that! Kway Teo was the worst my partner had ever had, and it's usually his favourite dish.

Worst experience of my entire life.. I have been a loyal and satisfied customer of Chinatown Cafe for many years. Today I was unable to get a table as it was busy so ordered take-away and hoped that a table would open up. I managed to get a table outside, one of the younger members of staff cleared the table and I mentioned to her I had takeaway coming and that I was more than happy to eat it from the container if it was too late to dine in. I asked if this was okay, and she said yes.<br/><br/>I went inside, got my food and returned to the table. As I began to eat my meal the older female staff member ran out, yelling at me to stop eating my food, that if I had ordered take-away I had to leave. She yelled 'You speak better English than me, you read the sign, you know better English!'<br/><br/>I told her I hadn't seen the sign and that I had checked with a member of staff but she didn't care. She even went as far to follow us down Moonta St, ensuring we had left.<br/><br/>I have never been spoken to with such agression, this was the worst dining experience of my life. <br/><br/>I WILL NEVER RETURN AND NEITHER SHOULD YOU.

Okay food for what you're paying. Definitely a cheap, and fast eatery. I ordered the hainan chicken and was not as impressed as some others are with it - the chicken is a little chewy/rubbery, flavourless by itself, and not deliciously juicy as a good poached chicken should be. Okay for what standard they're going for though (food court quality)

Best curry chicken. The curry chicken and sauce is amazzzzzing!!!!<br/>Yes the service is not as great as the food but its efficient and there isn't much of a waiting time

Disappointing, very rude cashier woman!. Went here due to reviews, but was confronted by rude woman cashier as my eldery parents were given seats before ordering!! How rude! Younger staff were polite and helpful (well rude woman, you should learn from your younger staff). Food isn't as great as said in reviews... Sorry... melbourne has more nicer hainan chicken rice than this place.. Laksa was pale and tasteless and nothing special about their char kway teow. Will never come back!

Great chicken and rice. I can't go past the chicken breast with asian greens and rice with laksa broth. If you want really quick, simple and tasty, then this is the place to go.

Unprofessionals. I love to eat out and love the experience of eating out. So when we came across Chinatown Cafe, it appeared enticing as it was busy and full of customers, giving us the impression that it was a popular eatery. We had to line up first to order our food then go find a table. Choosing to sit outside, my partner and I found ourselves a nice spot and waited for our meals to arrive. I was disappointed with the size of my soup thinking this was entree size and for the price I paid for it I was expecting it to be bigger. My disappointment built to total displeasure and dissatisfaction when tasting the broth, there's no other words to describe it but other than it tasted like dishwater. No flavour. Very bland. My partner ordered rice and hokkein noodles with chicken and vegies. Steamed rice appeared sticky and gluggy to texture and the hokkein noodles had little taste to not satisfy anybody's taste buds. Mentioning it to one of the older staff and their reply was, "You don't like it? Don't come back!" Very unprofessional customer service and the food did not impress me much either.

We are from Malaysia. I would have to say the experience was the worse one I could have ever had. I have never seen a bunch of children run a resturant. The staff were very annoying and also very rude. <br/><br/>We sat down to place two tables together because we was a party of 5 people requiring more than 4 chairs. We then ordered our food to be only given one table... When our other parties arrived we stated to staff we need another table, they brought one over from the other side and the staff stated we would have to buy more food to have the other table... That was the intention but if what we ordered was good enough for 5 people excuse me we wouldnt be ordering more food.... Time comes by and our representatives from the Philippines were making a business presentation to us, the staff were constantly coming up to us asking us if we finished out food, we finally got to a stage of giving them our food to piss them off.... We hadnt really finished our food. <br/><br/>Around 20 minutes later the lady comes to us and says are we finished with the table now they have customers waiting to sit outside. The inside is like half empty but there was two other tables free outside. The lady then continues to argue with us because my cousin makes a comment saying there are lots of tables inside, she says they want to sit outside he then says bring a table from inside outside (little cheeky hehehe) The lady says I dont know where you guys come from but here in Australia we follow council regulations. I dont know what they do in Malaysia...... I said to her that this is the worse customer service I have ever seen my life, you will regret this online she said she doesnt care, I said havent you heard of Face book, the responded walking away I dont care if you dont come back here again..... <br/><br/>Out of 10 score NEGATIVE 10<br/><br/>The sad thing is the food was ok for the price. mind you In said ok I would prefer going to Mac Donalds the customer service is better there oh and we are not approached every 5 minutes.....<br/><br/>FYI we are Filipino not Malaysian

Best chicken rice hands down!. I've been coming here for years. I won't bother to order chicken rice anywhere else..EVEN when i go to singapore. (as i've always been disappointed).<br/>The chicken breast, the lovely lashings of 2 chillis and the added greens! Pure perfection and a weekly must!

I don't live in Adelaide so on the rare occasions that I do visit the city my first point of call is the Chinatown Cafe. I love all their food but especially the Hainanese chicken rice. I prefer the thigh with skin on but they do give you a choice of skinless chicken breast. Asian greens are extra and make this a more complete meal. For those who don't live in Adelaide. Make this a must do on your list. No regrets.

Cheap and tasty food. try the chicken rice - mash everything u get given together for a great fast food dish. yum.

The seating system is different - place your order and then wait for a table. The food was great though - the hainan chicken rice with bok Choy was delicious as was the hot fun and the prawn dumpling soup. Quick lunchtime service.

Love it. In terms of sheer value for money, this place is unbeatable. The Hainan chicken rice is great, they serve chicken breast, always tender and good sized servings. It's consistent, quick and very satisfying. For $10 you can eat very well.

The Singapore place does the best Hainanese Chicken Rice , I have been eating it for over 20 years , cost $5 in 1990 and $8 in 2012 great value!

The hainan chicken rice is the best in Adelaide and really worth the $8. The service is quick and the place is always crowded and the staff arent very friendly but the food always has me coming back!

Hawker Food Bliss. This Adelaide institution has the best Hainanese Chicken and Singapore Noodles in Adelaide (if not th world!!).<br/><br/>No frills, no fuss, share a table, help yourself to chilli and condiments. Unlicensed.<br/><br/>Above all CHEAP - nothing over $9 - Simply great for brunch/lunch.

The undisputed king for fast, cheap, excellent quality food - an essential visit if you're at the market. Favourites include hainanese chicken rice, fried kway teow and combo laksa.

Brilliance. This place is amazing. The food is consistently good (alot better than you'd expect for the $7-10 you pay).<br/><br/>Sure it is rushed over lunch. Who cares?<br/><br/>Get in, order your chicken rice, find a seat, eat, back to work.<br/><br/>Perfect.

Disappointing chicken rice. What has happened here? Used to be so good. The chicken rice rice was ok but not that flavoursome, same with the chicken and the chilli sauce...WHAT? It was more like sugar syrup with garlic floaties, oh dear. Will not order that next time.

Rude boss. We happened to come across CTC on google, seeing good rating there. Overall food was good value for money and less oily/salty than expected for chinese food. Service was fast and polite. However, we were deeply disappointed by the older chinese looking staff's (presumably the owner) attitude towards us on two verbal encounters in the one visit. Clearly there is a preference to australian customers. Never again will we come back!

Fast, cheap and yummy. This place is always busy, so the food is always fresh. I love the Hainan Chicken rice with asian greens. My pals swear by the laksa. The chilli sambal there is pretty delish.<br/><br/>The kwey teow is not quite as good because the noodles don't have that charred quality you get from a hot wok from great Malaysian hawker stalls. It's more stewed than fried.<br/><br/>But if you want a quick cheap lunch for under $10 this is the place - just know you can't linger too long. Once your plate is empty an efficient staff member will clear it away from you in the blink of an eye.

CTC's menu has something for everyone. It is the perfect place for a quick meet and eat for those with short breaks during peak hour lunch even if the line up is out the door. The food is consistantly top quality and has been known to arrive before you find your pre-allocated table. They do takeaway too. The chicken broth is to die for and free if you are eating in. Chili oil is recommended with most dishes but is not for every one. 12/10 rating.

Don't forget to order first!. I have been coming here since I was a child specifically for the Laksa. Hainan Chicken Rice is good too, but how can you go wrong with such simple flavours?<br/><br/>Don't forget to order your meal before you sit down! Like many chinese hawkers, the cafe runs on a tight ship trying to get as many customers in and out at the peak times. The wait is never long but if you like to linger over your food this is not the place for you.

Chinatown Cafe is located close to the centre of the Grote Street and Gouger Street entrances on Moonta Street.  This place has two things going for it, it’s location and it’s cheap prices.

You may not get the friendliest service or the best quality but If you want quick and cheap eats then this is the place to go.  This cafe is located in the centre of Chinatown, with only a few tables indoors and outdoors.  You are not allowed to sit down at a table, because if you do you will get told off by the angry boss.  

Chinatown Cafe in the heart of Moonta St is an Adelaide institution and is on most occasions bustling with patrons seeking a cheap and cheerful feed. This dining occasions was on a Saturday afternoon, usually a peak time but Chinatown Cafe's "order first, we'll find you a table" process is effective and within a few minutes we were seated. What literally felt like another few minutes later we received our food. 

If you haven’t been to Chinatown Café then you either a) don’t live in Adelaide or b) you’re currently in a coma. Everyone raves about this place and I can certainly see why! Located just on Moonta Street (stroll past the golden lions and you’re on your way) this place is super-fast, super easy and super-duper delish. And for that, this fantastic little café has earned itself some serious die hard regulars. I’m talking people who would divide their diet into: meat, vegetables, carbohydrates and Chinatown Café meals. I have literally had this conversation more than once...