Renee's Place

First time here and found the food, service and ambience excellent. As others have mentioned it is more expensive than other Chinese restaurants as quality ingredients are more expensive.
We ordered the sweet and sour pork, black bean chicken, orange chicken and kale. The 4 stars is because the dishes seemed a bit cold when served. It was a cold evening but perhaps warm plates would help?
My husband finds most Chinese food too sweet and he loved the black bean chicken (spicy).
When I asked my friend what she thinks made the kale so delicious her answer was, "Magic".

Renee's Place is a hidden gem on Solano Avenue, in Albany (just neighboring Berkeley to the North). Renee's is named after the owner - a beautiful soul whose restaurant is an oasis of delicious food and a beautiful and very tastefully designed atmosphere, and with excellent and kind service. With classical music playing in the background, you will enjoy well-prepared, delectable Chinese dishes. For vegetarians, Renee's offers substitute meat options that are quite nice in texture and flavor. If you're seeking an upscale Chinese food experience, please give Renee's a try and say hello for me. :)

Quiet and spacious place. Waitstaff had a kind demeanor, and we're flexible on making a substitution, but overall weren't effective. The food was only average and seems like many ingredients not organic. We don't plan on returning.
We ordered the wonton soup and were told a small was enough for two. It was only enough for one, and was $17. Ordered the beef iron skillet as it was one of few dishes that come with protein and some veggies. Was supposed to come with three vegetables, came with one. Had to ask a few times to get an answer, told that chef forgot to add one, other was out of stock. They took it back to have chef add the one they forgot, but looked at me like I was crazy when I asked them to please add one of the other veggies that was on their menu. Usually a restaurant would let someone know if they are out of one of the ingredients for a dish.
Menu lacking dishes that combine both veggies and protein. Unless you are sharing multiple dishes with others, it's hard to get a balanced meal.
For another dish asked what sauce it came with (not listed on menu) and also got a strange look.

The food was not good at all. My first complaint came with the spring rolls. I asked for cabbage vegetable egg rolls. They were stuffed with crap, no veggies in there, and yet they told me that they would be. I told manager I did not like and she did not charge me. Next, they brought out main dish I ordered: mix vegetable and shrimp prawns. Shrimp tasted like flour was on them. I did not eat this either. The manager compromised with me for some type of payment. So, I gave them $15 just out of courtesy and left. The service to me on a scale of 5 is 2. Also, I could tell while looking around at other people eating their food that they weren't pleased either. I could tell they wanted to agree with me but were afraid. Condiments like soy sauce, not on tables. I hate to keep asking for things I need to enjoy my meal.

Ambiance was ok.

Delicious Chinese food with very attentive customer service. We had the shrimp chowmein and sweet and sour chicken with rice. 10/10 recommend!

The food at Renee's Place is great and has been for years. She uses organic and local foods when possible which is a bonus. The decor is understated and sophisticated. There are Chinese artifacts on display and the lighting is soft. They also play soothing Chinese or European classical music. Renees's Place is very different from most Chinese Restaurants in the area, which often have televisions going and fluorescent lighting. We always like chatting with Renee when she's there. We've come to know her from being customer for many years.

We love Renee's and so appreciate their attention to sustainable cooking, the ingredients are wonderful, the flavor is spot on, the service and ambience, warm and family oriented. I don't think you can go wrong with anything on the menu. Now our go to for Chinese food!!

Went here for Christmas Day with my 5 year old as it was recommended to us as a good choice of a Chinese restaurant that serves organic food and sustainable meats. It was OK but didn't blow us away. Service was ok but minimal. I mentioned that we had never been at this place and that we weren't very family with Chinese food. They didn't really try to recommend anything. I ordered the beef with brokkoli was OK. The beef had some sort of glaze on it which I didn't like. Ordered a side of noodles (chow mein) for my child without a sauce but it did have soy sauce on it. Mentioned that to the waitress but she didn't offer to bring one without a sauce, as ordered. My 5yo only liked the plain rice and left hungry. It was also a bit pricey for what we got, one main dish and two sides for $50 total.

I ate here years ago and what stuck in my memory was that the fish in the soup stank of chlorine. Chlorinating seafood is illegal (and doesn't help the flavor). We all need to cut way down on seafood consumption since the ocean is being disastrously depleted by overfishing. Large scale Chinese fisheries are particularly destructive as described in a recent NY times article.

Definitely a local favorite. Everything on the menu is tasty and prepared thoughtfully.

Unlike other local places, we also appreciate that every entree is not dripping with oil and grease. Renee's really focuses on quality.

As it's a smaller local place, the menu is not as extensive, but everything is good.