East China Kitchen

Critic's Review

This place is supposedly under new ownership, but you'd never know it. No mention of it on their website, Facebook is dormant, and the menu seems about the same. I thought I'd dip my toes in and just order some fried rice; if they can't do fried rice they can't do anything.

I think they downsized; it used to be bigger inside than this. Nobody wants to eat in at a place they this, so they've gone full takeout.

Eastchina inside

I ordered online before I left, but the food still wasn't ready when I got there. How long does it take to heat up some rice?

East China Fried Rice

Not a lot of stuff in the rice. It didn't have that shine that freshly fried rice has. Note that they gave me soy sauce and duck sauce but no mustard. Who puts duck sauce on fried rice? It's like they can't even think.

I put some in a bowl, because I need to use these bowls when I have Asian food.

East Chain Fried Rice

I didn't like the rice. It just didn't taste that good. I had to fire up my wok to re-fry it with some additionally veggies. I really didn't want to have to cook.

Conclustion

I really don't see much difference here. Maybe the fried rice alone isn't a fair test, but they didn't convince me I want to spend $20+ on a full meal.

Review 12/28/10

East china

The first time I went into this place I was so creeped out that I just walked out. Now that I've been around I don't get spooked so easily, so I thought I'd try their food. I ordered over the phone so I wouldn't have to wait too long in the place; I just wanted some chicken with black bean sauce. They don't sell this as a "small" for some reason, so I had to pay for a large.

When I got there, I noticed that they haven't done much with the place in the 2+ years since I was there last.

Eastchina inside

The food wasn't ready when I got there even though it had been at least 20 minutes. It almost seemed as if they didn't start on it until I got there. I picked up a menu and saw that they had raised the prices a bit; $9.50 for a large container. Still not nearly what Christina Rip-off down the road gets.

When I opened it up I saw a lot of chicken, but it didn't look much like the chicken with black bean I had hoped for. There were no peppers; it was made with carrots and brocolli. The sauce was loose, as if they didn't use a fermented pasted. It was just some sort of weak brown sauce with some black beans thrown in.

Eastchina chicken

My eyes didn't deceive me; it was more like eating chicken with vegetables than chinese food. It just didn't taste like anything. The portion was good, they give the resealable containers, and there was plenty of chicken. I only ate half, and I'll cut up some red peppers, onions and toss the leftover chicken in black bean paste and it will be 10 times better than this. I might as well just make it myself next time.