Taste of China

I think I'm going to start rating places to eat by Praise Reports, Or Prayer Requests, and this place is in need of some Prayer. Gave this a chance after my bad experience in James City, having finally recovered, willing to try Chinese Cuisine, I am determined to find some place that's at least 4 stars, well Taste of China looked like it might be it as it had that hidden hole in the wall feel and look, but as soon as I opened the door and was greeted by this dinning room, and order off paper sheets cafeteria style I was having a serious deja vu moment back in James City. I and Agent 113, Ordered: Egg Rolls Steamed Dumplings Beef and Broccoli Chicken Chow Mien Orange Chicken Hot and Sour Soup Teriyaki Beef Skewers Drinks are in caned form only, no alcohol. Sprite, Dr. Pepper, Orange Soda, Mountain Dew, whatever you pick, remember 2 cans per-person, you will be thirsty , and will want another can, this trick will save you from waiting. The room is odd, when we ate there we're order after order going out, but none dined in. Place was dead, I will say it was clean, had a kind of 80s feel to it. Unlike the place in James City, this place was at least clean and organized. Well, we talked to a guy who said he went there at least once a week, he said some times it's good, sometimes it's bad... interesting. Ours was bad. Never had orange chicken that was bread and fried, served with this orange goop, looked like Slimer from Ghostbusters trying to pass a kidney stone. The chicken was hard and dry, more like a chicken nuggie from Gold Arch World than anything I've had in Chinese restaurants before, was bummed out looked forward to a classic titan. Hot and Sour Soup was Hot, like that it, couldn't taste the sour which is usually from the Chinese Black Vinegar, this was like eating a bottle of hot sauce, but you only taste burning. It was so hot, spicy hot, now I can take some hot stuff, but this wasn't classic Hot and Sour. This was just Hot and Hot. Beef Broccoli would have been fine, but the broccoli was raw, hard, too bad, as it was the only thing we had that held that classic flavor, think this was the last places problem too in James City. Egg rolls were dry, tasted like they were old, as was the oil they were cooked it. The Steamed dumplings were so thick and gooey I thought I was eating globs of glue, the insides weren't bad, ate two or three by gutting them. Teriyaki beef skewers were actually the only really good thing though a bit tough. And the Chow Mien was oily. Into the trash bin it went. You bus your own tables here, there is a tip jar so if you have cash hold back from tipping, as this place hits you first then you see what it's like... Been seeing this kind of thing more and more popping up in Asian Cuisine style restaurants, you tip good or big then feel like you got robbed, I tipped fair and good but still felt robbed and disappointed. I saw one baby high chair the classic wood style. The young woman who took my oder from the counter was friendly, had no issues with customer service, yet that's easy there really isn't any. No I'll not be going back, any time soon, maybe in a year and see if some things have changed...also if eating in and it's early evening and sun is going down, sit on the left side, as the Right side gets washed out with blinding sunlight. Bring a jacket too, gets very cold in there. When after a few weeks or months pass and I feel up for Asian Cuisine again, I'm hoping to find, determined in fact to find one good Asian place. I'm amazed places like Taste of China have lasted this long, serving sub-par or low food, no real service, place is drab, food way too spicy, too dry, tastes old, of old oil, or oily...sad. I guess when there isn't any other option but this people just take what they can, but that's the only way, they've stayed up and running. Wasn't even worth what I paid, dropped almost a hundred bucks...never got a free 2 liter soda either as advertised on the menu...I guess tips don't count, my wallet says otherwise.

This is what you want in a Chinese Restaurant. They have the BEST Sesame Chicken! Perfect Sauce! NO ONE has this sesame sauce, I’ve tried every Chinese Restaurant from New Bern to Morehead City. They also have an AMAZING Egg Roll, I ate it so quickly & forgot to take a picture. They are full of meat & carrot with a little cabbage. NO ONE else has them like this, Sooooo Good! I also get their Hot & Sour Soup usually $1 extra tofu, I do add Black Vinegar at home.

Disappointed… I ordered chicken fried rice and got a mix of white rice and yellow rice and 2 tiny pieces of chicken. They usually have pretty good rice but this is the second time they hit me with the okey doke on the rice.

You will order a meat dish and when you excitedly open the box ready to eat it will be 95% vegetables. Sweet&sour chicken was just pre-breaded chicken they took from a freezer bag, threw in the frier, and put in the bag with a container of sauce...very mediocre, but at least for my 10.50 I got a mostly full container of chicken. Far worse, and the reason Im posting this review - I got mongolian beef which was 95% onions. I understand it comes with onions but I had to dig around the box and there were only 5-10 very small slices of beef in a large size. The picture below is after I ate all the beef and a lot of the onions. The box is still full because it was almost all onions. Ridiculous. The box should be half full of beef. For almost 11 dollars spent on a quart of chinese takeout I'm used to having a lot of food, typicaly enough for a big meal or two more reasonably sized ones. Since I didnt want to eat an entire quart of onions in this case, I was still hungry and quite pissed about it. Take your hard-earned dollar elsewhere.

We were disappointed in our dinners 🍽 My husband ordered General Tso's Chicken. It was dried out with no sauce. I ordered Sweet and Sour Chicken, and the sauce was bland. It was a take-out situation, so I wasn't able to speak with the lady behind the counter. We won't be returning 😞