Critic's Review
Review 7/26/17
I hadn't been in this part of town for a while; I didn't really have a plan and then came upon this place; a restaurant I hadn't even bothered to give a listing. I was parked outside; I figured I'd call in an order, head next door for another picture, and then pick up on my way home.
Their website is so focused on online ordering that I had trouble finding the phone number. Coding has really gone to the birds. I ordered more than I wanted, mainly because 1) it was after 3p and I'd missed the lunch special and 2) I wanted to get chicken with black bean; still chasing the crazy good stuff I used to get once a week in downtown Manhattan when I worked on Wall Street a lifetime ago.
I went in a bit early so I could get a couple of pictures. I'm totally glad I didn't eat in; this is a restaurant badly in need of remodeling. It looks like it was last decorated in 1983. They have a big screen TV however. Notice that the TV is positioned for the benefit of the employees and not the dining room.
The food wasn't ready yet, but I had to pay anyway. Over $23. He said it was almost ready, but it took another 10 minutes.
When I got home 20 minutes later I could still feel that the bag was piping hot. The bag wasn't strong enough for the contents. I ripped off the bag to see what was inside.
White rice, fried rice, good leakproof containers. fortune cookies and extra mustard and duck sauce as ordered. The fried rice looked pretty good, although there was no egg in it. Good fried rice has egg.
On the other hand, the chicken with black bean didn't look promising. Black Bean sauce is a garlicky, spicy paste made with fermented black beans and usually served with bell peppers; this looked like chicken with vegetables with all sorts of filler; bamboo shoots, carrots, those horrifying miniature corn things.
And it fact the chicken was terrible. No taste at all; certainly a fail as Chicken with Black Bean sauce. Some of the chicken was gristly, which is always a big negative with Chinese food.
The dumplings, which they call "meat dumplings", were too thick and doughy, with a tasteless ball of "meat" in the middle.
Perhaps the worst dumplings I've had outside of a buffet.
Even the fortune cookie wasn't particularly inspirational.
A disappointing meal indeed; another reason that I don't order Chinese food very often here in South Florida.
Conclusion
While they certainly weren't cheap with the portions, the food wasn't very good. The fried rice was decent (although the char siu pork wasn't very tasty), the chicken was a fraudulent representation of what I wanted, and the dumplings were tasteless masses of dough and mystery meat. With a completely unappealing dining room, there's nothing here to recommend.
I won't call it a complete waste of money as I'll make potstickers out of the dumplings and break out my jarred black bean sauce and a red bell pepper and get a couple of fantastic Chinese meals. If you've never had scrambled eggs and fried rice for breakfast you're missing out.
Of course the point of Chinese take out is that you don't have to cook. .
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