Yen Yen Chinese Restaurant - Cocoa Beach, FL

Brian LeGros | November 13th, 2007 | food  

The adventure to find really great Chinese food in Brevard has come to an end for my wife and me. Yen Yen Chinese Restaurant uses some of the best ingredients and has one of most diverse menus we’ve found yet. We always try to find other Chinese places that compare but we never can. Whenever we find our way back, we always remember why we drive 30 minutes for good Chinese food. During the week Yen Yen’s offers lunch specials and on the weekend they offer early bird, so no matter what time during the week, you can find price breaks on their menu. Unfortunately their dinner menu is a little steeper than what my wife and I are used to paying for Chinese food. That being said, it’s definitely worth it and if you order during the right time the pricing isn’t bad.

This time around we went on a weekend and got the early bird special. We started with the Crab and Corn soup (~$4) and a couple egg rolls (~$3 each). The soup is an egg drop soup with tender chunks of fresh crab meat and sweet corn. The egg rolls had huge chunks of shrimp and pork and were fried perfectly, not burnt or dry like you’ll get sometimes at other places. For our meals, we ordered the Shelly Chicken (~$9) and the Hunan Lamb (~$9); both came with a choice of fried or white rice. The Shelly Chicken is thin strips of chicken fried and then stir-fried with an extremely sweet ginger-like sauce, broccoli, and celery strips. In fact, the chicken is so sweet it’s almost like eating dessert without getting a sugar overload. Definitely an amazing alternative to a sweet and sour or honey garlic chicken. The Hunan Lamb was just spicy enough (and I like spicy food) and came with peppers, onions, and jalapeños in a brown pepper sauce. One of the nicest things about Yen Yen’s is their tea selection. They charge per the pot ($2.50) and only have a few choices, but one of those choices is Chrysanthemum tea (they also have green and jasmine). I rarely find Chrysanthemum tea when I go out so it was nice to finally enjoy a pot. To finish the meal with something sweet, we ordered some Almond cookies (~$2).

I can’t emphasize enough the great quality of the food served at Yen Yen’s. The atmosphere is great, the staff is very attentive, and the food is always hot (virtually steaming right from the pan). I’d recommend Yen Yen Chinese Restaurant as the best Chinese food in Brevard. If anyone knows a better place, please let me know, so I can try it out and prove you wrong.

Yen Yen Chinese Restaurant is located in Cocoa Beach at 2 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach, FL.



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Discussion

  1. Michele Says:
    February 16th, 2008 at 9:47 am

    Hi, I recently moved to Melbourne from South Florida and am always looking for good restaurants up here. I enjoy reading your reviews!

  2. Brian LeGros Says:
    February 16th, 2008 at 9:53 pm

    @Michele - Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you’re enjoying the reviews. I don’t put as much work into them as food critics and evangelists do, but I figure ever now and then it’s nice to have a regular guy’s perspective. If you ever have any suggestions of your own, I encourage you to email me about them; my wife and I are always looking for new places to try. Hope you enjoy the Brevard area.

  3. audra Says:
    April 28th, 2008 at 6:49 pm

    howdo i get a gift cert for yenyens in cocobeach?

  4. Brian LeGros Says:
    April 28th, 2008 at 7:59 pm

    @audra - Thanks for stopping by. I’m not sure if Yen Yen’s offers gift certificates, but you can probably find out by giving them a call. Trip Advisor had their phone number listed as (321) 783-9512. Good luck!

  5. Aain Says:
    May 9th, 2008 at 6:47 pm

    We went to Yen Yen based-upon your review. It was great. The Snow Prawns and the Pineapple Rice are highly recommended. We found the serving size of the Chicken Soong (lettuce wraps) a little small.

    Thanks for providing this. If it wasn’t for this page showing up on Google (”cocoa beach’s best chinese food”), we would never have gone.

    It’s a bonus that it’s ½ block from the ocean, too.

  6. Brian LeGros Says:
    May 11th, 2008 at 9:22 pm

    @Aain - Thanks for stopping by. I’m really happy to hear my post led you to this great spot. Going forward, if you order the chicken soong is a good size as a meal even though it’s an appetizer. Early bird is always a great time to stop by as well. Hope you enjoyed the ocean!

  7. chinese food Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 6:01 am

    The price is not bad at all! I live in UK, the Chinese food is a lot expensive than that there. I wish I could live there and try that restaurant~

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