Salem Lowe

To the NEW salem lowe that opened up today, Sunday May 28th 2023 we got chicken fingers and they are in these little bits and pieces and they melt in your mouth, they're oily, and taste nothing like chicken. Even after 6 attempts of biting into different ones, even trying the duck sauce with them. These are NOT chicken fingers.. Bleh! What did you guys do?! Why change what the old owners originally served?! Their chicken fingers were battered just right, had a crunch, and you would get a solid piece of white meat that would spear out from the batter with each bite. Do better New Salem Lowe. I hate to be harsh, but you changed the authenticity.

I Love Salem Lowe! Best chicken chop suey and onion steak. The willows is always beautiful. It's my first choice for mother's day and my birthday when my son takes me out

What a great recommendation from Google. Amazing to think that something like a simple chop suey sandwich could make one long for another after 3 long years. Cannot wait to bring the kids back to Salem Willows and load up again.

So when the new owners first took over I went in as I was told they had the original owner's recipes and not much was going to change. The experience and the food was horrible. Waiting a considerable amount of time, in hopes that things might get better. After reading a few posts saying that it had I dared try for a second time. First of all it's very inconvenient that they shut the phone off with the new ownership. I ordered with a delivery company and wanted to add to the order and wasn't able to do so. After ordering two combination plates at a whopping over $40 I can honestly say I have never had worse food in my life!! I'm not even sure what kind of chicken fingers they were selling but that is certainly not normal. Both combination plates were completely inedible and were thrown in the trash. My son is currently at McDonald's! Please do us all a favor and take the sign down you are not Salem Lowe's 👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎

I was so Happy to find that we could still get our very Favorite Chop Suey Sandwich at Salem Lowe at Salem Willows. I bought two, one for my husband and one for myself. They were Awesome as usual. Yes, the price has gone up from about two dollars to Five but what on this Planet hasn't gone up and I could tell right away that it had more chicken in it then before which is Great. Also the woman that wanted on me was very Sweet and Nice to order from. I'm beyond Happy that This Important part of Salem Willows remains after the people that use to make it Retired. It seriously is one of our Favorite reasons for going to Salem Willows. Thank You Salem Lowe for keeping it going. You are Appreciated. 😁

my husband and I used to come here last year and the food was marvelous. We came back this year and we ordered a beef with broccoli boneless spareribs and chicken fried rice and the food was horrible. The beef and broccoli taste like cat food and the boneless spareribs were three of them and all you could see pieces slab of fat on them and the fried rice was blah. I will not ever come here again the lady she was very nice, but the food was -0.

New owners decided to change everything up. They now put pickles in their chop suey sandwiches. The chicken not so bad but why would you ruin a good thing and add pickles after an astronomically large weight just to get my food. It came out horrible. Stay away from them unless they can go back to the original recipes that have been there for generations new company. Horrible food stay far away

I was brought to Salem Lowe by my grandparents ever since I was a little baby and they were close friends of the previous owners. Decided to go back, and I'm trying my best to compare the food not to my idealized image of what the food used to taste like, but be fair and compare it to other Chinese food in general. With that said, it was just BAD. I ordered a combo consisting of fried rice, chicken wings, and tender steak. My friend with me ordered General Gau's chicken, lo mein, and mozzarella sticks. The fried rice tasted burned and was inedible. My friend tried some and identified it as smoke flavor added to it. The pork in the rice was tiny little cubes that could barely be tasted, and there wasn't any ah-so on them. The tender steak portion was tiny compared to what used to come with the combo plates, and while edible had a strangely sweet flavor to it. I also asked for cheese and rather than bury the cheese to melt inside the pile of tender steak the slice was just lazily tossed on top. I got chicken fingers by accident instead of the wings, and they did replace them when I requested, but rather than receive two entire chicken wings like I used to, I only received two halves, and neither the chicken wings or chicken fingers were anything out of the ordinary. My friend's General Gau's chicken was a very strong red color and had a ton of sauce but was overall flavorless. The lo mein was extremely salty and tasted of nothing but soy sauce. I don't really remember the mozzarella sticks but it only came with two and they couldn't have been anything good. As many other people have mentioned as well, the prices went up considerably as well. I tried going in with an open mind and telling myself it would be unfair to compare it to the old food, but even compared to other Chinese restaurants around the area it was objectively bad and I will not be returning.

It's a shame that they took a business that has been around for decades and made it lousy. They seem arrogant and determined to change the recipes, saying over and over again "change" is good. Not true! Positive change is good. Messing with something that wasn't broken does not work! They should probably just change the name. There is very little actual Chinese food. The new menu has a lot of mozzarella sticks, hamburgers,and the like. The worst part though is the arrogance of the owners. On a Facebook post, someone asked them if they were going to adhere to their posted opening hours. Apparently, this was a problem last year. The response they gave was rude and condescending something to the effect of sometimes "we are tardy, take it or leave it." Unbelievable. And apparently they don't even care enough to post on social media when they will not be opening. All this happened right around the same time that they posted about acknowledging last year's errors and trying to do better. What a joke! I love supporting local businesses, but it's the attitude that will keep me away .

Good food with friendly service! Even though it might not look like much from the outside I was really happy with the food here. You order at the walk up window and then can take your food to enjoy at home or at the willows. I got the combination plate and was impressed by the portion sizes. My boyfriend got one of the burgers and said it was good as well. It's not traditional Chinese food but still was very good.

Chop suey sandwiches! What more can I say. Enjoyed overlooking the water in the sunshine.

Salem Lowe was a local legend that spanned generations and the original family that owned it were loved locally for the food and how they treated the people that came there. Once they retired and sold the place things went off the rails. The new Owners have the building, the name, the recipes, and decided to keep the name then change the menu. What's the point? This is like going to Pizza Hut after someone bought it and they decided to only sell tacos. You have the building and you have your own vision, just change the name and move forward, this whole approach is dumb. How do you make it worse? Well take a look at a real response they gave to a real customer below. What makes this worse is these owners own at least one other restaurant in Salem so they are not new to owning and operating a business, owning and operating a restaurant, owning and operating a restaurant in Salem MA or well anything that Salem Lowe requires. There is no excuse for any of this and they are alienating the entire built in customer base.

Today I tried the New LOWES Chinese/American food at Salem Willows. Nothing Like the Original place. Food tasted Blah No flavor. Did Not have that Chinese Food Taste. If they want to stay open I suggest they get a cook that knows how to cook Chinese style. I was very disappointed! But I was also not expecting a favorable result...

This is not Salem Lowe. The new ownership totally destroyed a Salem staple. Food tastes like a burnt grill, avoid and save your money if you think you are getting what you were used to from this establishment.

If you're from Salem, then you know this is a classic, a staple of Salem. or at least it was there are new owners and the food and quality isn't What It was, just be prepared after reading the reviews, that most of the reviews are from a different owner and a different time. Food is now very mediocre and not even worth the time

The food is 3 star and 1 more for the friendly service. I had the pepper steak was good. I think needs a little less vinegar and more salt and white pepper would make it a 4. It will never be the same or better than it was those days are over. But I appreciate the effort. And it's still a good value. Thank you. JK

I'm giving them three stars based on what happened tonight only. Usually they're pretty good in my opinion. I was craving their pepper steak tonight after 13 hour shift, I got off the sofa 30 minutes away and went there to get it.8 usually get the sandwiches. So I ordered the container, large. I applied for 5 buns. To make the sandwiches At home. Drive thirty minutes home, took my shoes off again, sat down to eat. Opened the bag and it was chicken chow mein! If you'd call it that, there were 4 pieces of chicken the size of a dime in it!!! Hate the stuff any how!! Not very happy. To top it off it was past 8 and they were closed. Couldn't even call! Angry isn't the word for it! That should not happen!!!! Wasn't fast paced tonight, in fact I was the only one at the window at that point. No excuse for this!!!! Check your bags before you go home! Shouldn't have to, I know!

Located at Salem Willows Drive up only. Food is good try the rice and pork with hot sauce

Sad to see a place come to an end. Heard great things about this spot but never tried it until now. I don't know why I've waiting this long. Luckily I got the chance to finally get a bite of the famous sandwich and I must say, Delicious!!! The 11 I got was also great! Salem Lowe is heard to close in September so if you haven't tried it, you have time!

Ruined the local legend raised prices food was not close to being edible. Ask for and follow the original recipes or change the name !

Thanks to the owners of Salem's beloved Spitfire Tacos, the historic "Salem Lowe" name has been resurrected at The Willows. Fresh food from a Chinese takeout restaurant isn't really the norm these days, so doing takeout from the new Salem Lowe is a total treat! Try the Veggie LoMein or the Chicken Fried Rice if you want to finally understand what these menu items should look and taste like. Chicken Fingers, Orange Chicken, Eggrolls...nothing disappoints. Three Cheers for Kathleen and Ryan for this great new/old spot!!!

Don't judge a book by its cover! This place is actually really, really good! Cheap too. Long line of local returning customers. Friendly service! We had the scallion pancake ($3.64) and medium shrimp lo mein ($5.19). Soooooo good! Doesn't get any cheaper than that! Will definitely go back!

If you want to succeed an established, wildly successful Chinese restaurant, you don't just keep the name and change everything so that the food is neither Chinese nor anything resembling Asian or 'fusion.' The cooks working the woks speak Spanish, flavor the dishes as though they were making tacos, and the food is either over seasoned or so bland it's unidentifiable. It doesn't even resemble Chinese food. I recently spent $12 on some lo mein that literally was inedible. I threw it out. They don't make dumplings at all. The chow mein is chicken only, and so variable that ordering it is like betting blind. C'mon folks. We really want you to succeed, but for heaven's sake, hire a Chinese cook or send your Hispanic guys to a Chinese cooking class. Go buy some lo mein or chow mein at Mei Lee Express if you want to know what the old Chinese (American Chinese, anyway) food tastes like. Then sell your food as Chinese. Otherwise, you're gonna lose your other disappointed customers the way you've lost me. I've given you 6 chances now....every time a disappointment.

Disgusting, I liked the old one! They put whole onions in it and the pork was spicy, Do not recommend

What can you say about Salem Lowe ??? I consider the Salem Lowe a historic landmark. They are famous for their Chop Suey sandwich. Yes you heard me right Chop Suey sandwich :). And it's fantastic!!! This place has been serving up Chop Suey sandwiches for 30-40 years. The current price is only $2.24 yes it's may 24, 2017. Nothing about this place has changed since The 70s If you head over to Salem Willows it's mandatory that you try a chopsaw we sandwich trust me you'll love it

Ruined the chop suey sandwich, tender steak sandwich is a disgusting mess, where is the soy sauce???? I know none of this stuff is gourmet cuisine but come on you're telling me you can't make it better than before you had to make it horrible? How about just trying to make it the same it seems that making something that was famous for what it was is impossible for you guys this is a terrible travesty people came here for this food for a very long time it wasn't the best but it certainly wasn't this nastiness!!

Closing for good at the end of August. Get their sandwiches while you can. Salem staple will be gone for good.

Id give this place a solid 3. I have been coming here for years, Dont get me wrong the Chop suey and Pepper steak are to die for! Since it opened up, I got the Chop Suey and Peppersteak and it seems like they dont give you as much as they used to. I remember the sandwiches were overflowing, Now your crossing your fingers to get a little extra. Prices have went up as well, and I would give it a higher rating but now they just charge you more and give less. Also, I could of sworn the Sandwiches were bigger.

Good food, great prices, and quick service. Try the chop suey, it doesnt look amazing but it does taste really good. I have not myself tried the chop suey sandwich, but it is good as a side with your food. Good customer service. Indoor seating area which is not offered at all the food places in The Willows. Portions are always good, a plate can be shared between 2 people unless you are absolutely starving.

You really can't beat this place. My family has been coming since I was a kid, and absolutely nothing has changed -- except maybe the prices ever so slightly. It's old school, cheap and delicious. Best in the summer when you can take your food outside and enjoy it on a picnic table, but there is a small amount of seating indoors for less ideal weather.

This is our second time visiting Salem Lowe. It's not much to look at and obviously not fine dining but if you are looking for decent Chinese cuisine with generous portions for a reasonable price, you should definitely check this place out.

This definitely isn't like a fancy Chinese restaurant by any means. It is what it is and it's nostalgic. I do really like this place especially because my family's been going here for many years. I always get the tender steak and it's good I do think it comes with a little too much meat and I like the hamburger bun on it. The chicken fingers are pretty good they're definitely taste different than most places. It's definitely somewhere you should go but it's definitely more of a hole in the wall but the people who run it are so nice and great family

the food is bad. the quality of the ingredients is so poor. I would not recommend this place when there are so many more dining options downtown.

So, after hearing for a while now how delicious the chop suey sandwiches are I had one. Have to be honest, it was okay. I don't think I'd get it again. There was no shortage of chop suey and worth the price. My friend got a combo plate and everything looked scrumptious. Fair prices and good food. I will be going again this summer. I want to try the pepper steak.

My family members went here last night august 6 and got food poisoning last night beware it has been very hot and they are closing this week. I am not sure if they are trying to use up what they have in stock and if they are leaving things out in the heat but I would not eat there sorry sad to see them close been going for years but they are so sick right now from eating there.

I should have written a review for all the times I've come and enjoyed their yummy food at such crazy low prices. I've tried a number of menu items and you cannot go wrong. Old fashioned Chinese-American food. I hope the workers make a living wage as they work hard for their money. They are opening April 6, 2021! Go and support them. I know I will.

I love the Egg Foo Yung Sandwich and Pork Lo Mein Everything on the menu is GREAT! The prices are very reasonable too.

Best on the North Shore! Pork Lo Mein, Tendersteak, and crab rangoon. Generous portions of awesome food and it's under $10! My only wish is that they were open year round! Also highly recommend the chop suey sandwich and tender steak sandwich with cheese. Whatever you get you can't go wrong!

I love this place. The tender steak with cheese is amazing. Been coming for years, except the last 2, when I moved to Seattle. Been searching for the recipe and experimenting with my own but nothing compares!

I am now 73 and have been coming here since pre-birth; my parents loved this place as do I. On June 14th, 2018, the heavens will smile upon us! It's that time again and my love and I (she for the first time) will visit David Lowe, the MAESTRO of Fried Rice, Duck Sauce and, as my brother, Barry, and sister-in-law, Gayle, would say, makes the very best onion steak on the planet. If you read this and are from Everett, Malden, Melrose, or Wakefield ---- will see you at SALEM LOWE'S! No one on the planet makes better Fried Rice or Egg Rolls with the best Duck Sauce. My brother Barry loves the Onion Steak Sandwich and Fried Rice; my sister-in-law Gayle loves the Crab Rangoon and Pepper Steak Sandwich. This October 8th, 2017, I will visit from California, though a native of Everett and Melrose; I cannot and will not visit New England without a stop at Salem Lowe, say hello to David, and then, for dessert, next door to Hobb's for Coconut Brittle Popcorn. Foliage is beautiful in the autumn, CERTAINLY; but spring at Salem Lowe is equally FFFFFFANTASTIC. Chaplain DOV and the Pink Lady

I was surprised to know that this place is famous for their chopsuey on bread. It didn't look appetizing to me in the photos so I decided to get the pepper steak instead. It's your typical chinese pepper steak that you can get in any chinese restaurant and they just put it on a bread. The bread seeps the sauce of the pepper steak so bread eventually becomes very soggy.

Salem Lowe is the greasiest, most Americanized Chinese food I have ever had, and I love it. Maybe it is the childhood memories associated with it, maybe it is the Jew in me. If you take it for exactly what it is, you will be happy. I mean, come on, what Chinese place do you know that sells chop suey sandwiches or pepper steak? I get the same thing every time - #14. For $4.65, that is a heaping portion of pork lo mein, chop suey, and chicken fingers. It tastes the same, summer after summer, and prices do not change much either. And this is why I need to walk to the Willows.

It's low cost Chinese food that never disappoints. It is a staple part of the SALEM Willows - part of the fabric of SALEM and the broader North Shore as a whole! I would say it is your best bet for Chinese food from Lynn through Gloucester! But cash only! So leave your credit card at home!

The food here is very good, it's fresh and very tasty. I enjoy the chop Suey sandwich as well as the pepper steak. One day I got the number 14. Chop Suey with lo mein and chicken fingers. Chicken fingers are never my first choice but I have to say, they are the best chicken fingers I've ever had. The Lo Mein is great too, they use a wider flat noodle instead of the thin round noodle. It's a must try place

The people at Salem Lowe are the nicest people you ever want to meet. It is a little outdoor stand at the Salem Willows well known for its chop suey sandwich. I didn't try that but the place has many options and what appears to be a very clean kitchen. It was a respite amongst the rest of the craziness of Salem in October.

Don't look like much, the food is awsome and it in willow park and its Beautiful hear the pepper stake sandwich bean sprout Sandwich to die for try it.............

There's a lot on this menu to explore, and the prices are all about as good as they can get, but the one thing that draws me and friends here every year (other than the obvious attractions) are the chicken chop suey sandwiches served on a simple white bread bun. They're still only a buck eighty-five!! And they're awesome! Not enough to fill you up but two, plus a drink should do the trick. What more do you want? If you want fine Chinese cuisine, or a place that's all plush inside, PLEASE, there's like a million other places...

Salem Lowe is what it is. Fast, WICKED cheap, a bit greasy, tasty Chinese-American food. Zero stars for amibience ... the place is a dive! But three stars for the tasty, though uninspired, fare. And laid-back owner, Dave Yee, gets the fourth star for just being his pleasant, laid-back self! One of our traditional ceremonial rites of spring, is to dash over to Salem Lowe for boneless spareribs and chop suey when Dave re-opens at the end of March after the long winter hibernation.

The first annual visit to "ghetto Chinese" is an absolute rite of spring. Sometime around early April I get the hankering for willows Chinese food. That's where Salem Lowe comes in. Everyone raves about the chop suey sandwiches and pepper steak sandwiches. I've tried the chop suey and it's not bad. I usually go for the chicken fingers and boneless spareribs instead. The chicken fingers are almost sweet, as if some of the coating is actually powdered sugar instead of flour. It may not sound good, but it is.

Salem Willows is many things. Old time arcades where you play skee ball. Hobbs popcorn. Pigeons all over the place. Gross bathrooms. Amazing views of the harbor. And the Chop Suey sandwich. No it's not pasta with red sauce and beef. This item is bean sprouts, a little bit of chicken, gooey sauce all shoved inside a hamburger bun served in a Styrofoam container for $1.80. Yeah you can fill your belly for the whole day for less than 2 bucks. After you eat this thing you become like a beached whale. It's not that it looks like it is going to sit in your stomache like a pile of lead, but it does. But it's a right of passage to the Willows- to summer. It's a Salem-thang. We all know what chop suey sandwhiches are. 4 stars for the value and expierence. Good luck if your stomach can handle this more than on an annual basis.

So just walking around the Willows and we were getting hungry. For a place this far out man they can cook. The prices are really reasonable and affordable. This is also the only place that a small rice is priced and sized right, so your definitely not stuck with to much leftovers although that's never a bad thing. Best Chinese food in a long time.

Food is good and not outrageously expensive. Egg Rolls and Tender Steak sandwich are *chefs kiss*

Although the food was delicious the portions where terrible. I ordered the pepper steak combination with pork fried rice and chicken fingers. What I received was a very small portion of pepper steak, 3 not 4 or 5 tiny burnt chicken fingers stuck to the foam container, and most of the meal was pork fried rice. I would say 80% of it was just rice too with very little pork. For the money I don't think it was worth it and it left me feeling hungry so I went somewhere else to satisfy myself and I really didn't eat much of it since the unbalanced portions made it bland and somewhat unpalatable to eat. I mean how much rice do you want with your meal? Yes please! I could get the same right in my town for even more balanced portions and less money. After all it's just fast Chinese food like any other and not some gourmet restaurant. I suggests go elsewhere or unless its convenient and you are already there and not very hungry anyway. The surroundings and people there in the park where kind of undesirable with killer attacking seagulls! Watch out for the killer seagulls! They will take food right out of your hands and maybe a finger or two!

If there were a Nobel Prize for food stuffs, one would surely have been awarded to the culinary genius at Salem Lowe that created the chop suey sandwich. Forget radiology, penicillin and world peace: this deliciously salty sandwich has done more for humanity than those things combined. The rest of the items on the menu are your typical chinese take out fare, though generally cheaper than most other places. There's a few thing on the menu that don't fit, like the grilled cheese sandwich, but I have no problem with it as it's tasty and only $1.65 or so. And for those of you that think the chop suey sandwich was created at Coney Island: go ride your little Cyclone and get back to me when you've read up on your early 20th Century culinary history.

If you're from these parts or you just happen to go to the willows, make it a point to go here and try the CHOP SUEY SANDWICH. It's $2... get one, if you like it, buy another. The tender meat sandwich with cheese is another amazing and cheap item you can get here. My wife HATES the buns here, but you can order the Chop Suey as just a box instead... it's just as good and it costs a few cents less. You can come here and get a meal for a family of 3 for under $10 Service is surprisingly fast Don't miss this staple of the North Shore. You can't call yourself a real native of the North Shore if you haven't had the chop suey sandwich.

Okay, I only had the grilled cheese (WOW!!! $1.40 !!!!) and the egg roll, so take it for what it's worth, but this place is quick, cheap and tasty...do you know how rare that is? Amazing Grilled Cheese!!! Lots of cheese, some sort of roll for bread, but they come out awesome on their grill! The egg roll is amazing, and $2 is pretty reasonable for this delectable app. I will be back...

Chop Suey = Goodness The lo-mein is pretty damn good too. Been going to this place since I was a kid. My Dad's been going to this place since he was a kid. It's good shit.