formosa chinese

what's happened to this restaurant?. we love the owners, staff, and food at this restaurant. but what is going on? i feel like it's on its last legs and it makes me sad. the crummy chinese buffets have really knocked a lot of b'ham's good chinese restaurants out of business. what a bummer.

r.i.p.. thank you for diligently serving the hoover area for years formosa. i'll miss the kung pao, mongolian beef, eggplant stir fry. you were a great place.

our favorite chinese. my husband and i lived in hoover for two years before moving to decatur. we now travel back several times a year just to eat at formosa. the food is always wonderful and the service can't be beat. where else do you go and sit down only to see hot and sour soup and an egg roll headed your way? we love this restaurant!

the decor is a bit dated - it hasn't changed in the 17 years we've been going there, but the food and the service certainly makes up for it!

enjoy!!

closed?

hidden gem. go often - for years now - for a reason - it's not a buffet - but instead, a well prepared meal served right out of the wok - quality meal, service, atmosphere - excellent hot & sour soup - formosa is worth finding - you will like it!

treats lifetime customers horrible!!. zero stars!!

me and my family have been loyal customers for years and years. last year i told the husband of the restaurant owner that i planned to have my rehearsal dinner for my wedding at their restaurant. they said that would be fine. in april 2011, i went back to birmingham and visited the restaurant again and spoke again face to face with the husband of the owner and told him that oct. 14th would be the date- again he said it would be fine. i called about a month or two ago and made the reservation officially with the husband and told him the number of people we were planning to have. he said that would be fine and all i would need to do would be to call a couple days beforehand about the party. now i was told by my father that they are going on vacation for a month-- no one from the business called me to tell me this. they canceled my reservation without notifying me- if my father had not found out beforehand, it would have been several days before the wedding that i would have heard about this when i would have called and no one would be in the restaurant. i called and spoke with the woman owner, who tried to claim that i didn't speak to her husband, and then claimed that no one wrote down the date. she started talking about how they needed a break and that it's been 28 years. i explained to them the three times i spoke with her husband about making the reservation and that i have been a life long customer. she laughed at me and then said that they would try to make it back by the date, but that there were no guarantees, and continued to laugh. i told her that this was my wedding and it is unacceptable to not be able to keep a previously made reservation, to lie about the communications, and then to treat me this way on top of it. she continued to laugh and i hung up the phone. these people are crooks and treat their loyal customers terrible!!!!

do not go to this restaurant!!!

can't decide. we went to formosa for years but it seems to have gone downhill recently. the food is typically good (i get the beef and broccoli). the service is okay but the owner is a bit rude. the restaurant seems dirty and it has gotten worse over the years.

no thanks. we did take out so i won't comment on the interior, just the food. and there really isn't much to say. the white rice was great ;) american chinese to say the best. i don't want to be mean so i'll just say we won't go back..ever.

owner/waitress rude and could care less about wife's gluten allergies. waiter very impatient with orders for our party of 8. food ok, but we will not be back.

try the coconut butter shrimp.

decent food but bad service. we didn't get our drinks until our main entree came

good chinese. while perhaps not the very most authentic chinese cuisine birmingham has to offer, formosa does a great job at what we americans have come to understand as far-east favorites.

decor on the inside is nice, but the service is even better. everyone in here is incredibly friendly.

as the reviewer below noted, the hot and sour soup is excellent. i had the orange beef for my entree, and the server recommended i have the sauce on the side. great recommendation. the orange beef came out of the kitchen piping hot, lightly fried, and crispy to perfection. the orange sauce on the side insured that the dish never got soggy; it's sweet and tangy taste were the perfect compliment to the saltiness of the beef.

one more note about the service: the bus-boy chased me out to my car holding my camera that i'd forgotten at the table. it is a very expensive camera; one could have easily let me walk out without saying anything and kept the camera for their own use or sale. big thanks for that.

best hot and sour soup you'll find anywhere. best chinese restaurant in birmingham area as far as i'm concerned.