Twin Cities Restaurant Blog

Atlantic Buffet ~ Woodbury, MN

Cuisine: Chinese, Mongolian
Restaurant Features: Catering, Lunch Buffet, Dinner Buffet, On-Site Parking. Take-Out
Locations: Woodbury, MN
Address: 8340 City Centre Dr (Woodbury City Centre) Woodbury, MN 55125 (651)730-8668

Hours: Lunch Mon-Sat 11am-3pm     Dinner Mon-Thur 4p-9:30p                 Fri-Sun 4p-10p    Sunday & Holiday Brunch 11:30a-3p
Links: Google Map  Atlantic Buffet Website

Atmosphere:  The Atlantic Buffet is located within a large strip mall called Woodbury City Centre.  When you first walk inside the reception/lobby area, the Atlantic Buffet in Woodbury has a cute little mini-pond set up with Koi swimming around inside, and live plants arranged around it.  The main dining room is arranged into at least two dining areas on half of the large space, the other half of the restaurant has all the Buffet Islands set up.  The dining areas  contain both tables and booths and have a contemporary feel.

Here is a glimpse of the Buffets Islands (I think there were 6-8 of them).

 

In the way back of the Buffet Islands there is an additional area set up for the Mongolian Stir-Fry.  You can choose your own ingredients and then you have the chef ccok it for you on the Mongolian BBQ.

Menu: The items on the buffet change frequently, but there are over 100 items, including a decent selection of Chinese foods, Sushi, American foods, Seafood, and build-your-own Mongolian Stir-Fry.  There is also a dessert and fruits table, and salad bar.

There is also a full Chinese Take-Out menu available.
Price guide: 

• Lunch Buffet  Kids 3-6 $4.25 Kids 7-11 $5.50 Adults $8.25
• Dinner Buffet  Kids 3-6 $5.75  Kids 7-11 $7.25  Adults $12.50

What I ordered: There were many food items at Atlantic Buffet and I was determined to try a little of this and a little of that.  Here is my Chinese/Sushi plate.  The cheesy mushrooms were very good, as were the steamed dumplings and cream cheese wontons.  The few bites I tried of the chicken & Broccoli stir-fry were okay, but I did not care for the other meat entree I tried (not sure what it was but the meat was stringy and chewy).  The sushi was decent although there wasn't a large variety to choose from, mostly California Rolls or Salmon/Avocado Rolls.

 

I made my own Mongolian stir-fry which was my most favorite dish at the Atlantic Buffet.  I chose the ingredients I wanted at the Mongolian BBQ station (Beef, Broccoli, Pineapple, Onions and Noodles) and figured out my own combination of sauces (there was no guide to help!) which included cooking wine, teriyaki, garlic, chile peppers, and sesame seeds.  I have found that the more sauce you put on, the better it tastes because the noodles and vegetables soak it right up.

 

I tried just a few items on my Seafood Plate, including tiny mussels (pretty good, not too chewy or rubbery) that were cooked in a fish sauce.  The salmon was okay and I also tried a bite of Halibut.

 

For the sake of this review I also made a Dessert Plate.  Nothing too exciting here but the rice krispie bar and almond cookies were good.  They also have soft-serve ice cream.

Service: We were greeted upon entering and were shown to a table right away.  Drinks were fast and continuous throughout our visit, as was the clearing of plates.
Overall Impression: Wide variety and selection of foods for the price.  The Mongolian BBQ and Seafood Buffet offered the best choices, but I thought the quality of the the Chinese food was just mediocre.

Tea House ~ St Paul, MN

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese
Restaurant Features: Bar, On-Site Parking
Location: St Paul, MN
Address: 1676 Suburban Ave  St Paul, MN 55106  (651) 771-1790
Hours:  Sun-Thurs  11am-9:30pm       Fri-Sat 11am-10pm
Links: Tea House Website     Google Map
 
Atmosphere: Located within a strip mall on Suburban Ave, Tea House is not just an ordinary Chinese restaurant.  The walls are lined with an intricate paneling of carved wood stained a rich, dark color that is lit from behind so that art within the panels is highlighted creating a beautiful effect.  The Red lanterns that hang from the ceiling and giant arrangements of bamboo stalks complete the Asian Decor. 

Menu: Appetizers at Tea House include Egg Rolls, Cream Cheese Wonton, Chicken Wings, BBQ Pork, BBQ Spare Ribs, Vegetarian Dumplings, Fried Crabmeat Ball, Shrimp Shao Mai, Scallion Pancake, Scechuan Wonton, Szechuan Dan-Dan Noodle, Szechuan Cold Noodle, Szechuan Dumplings in Hot sauce, Shanghai Juicy Buns, Crabmeat Juicy Buns, and Chicken Lettuce Cups.

Cold Szechuan Dishes at Tea House are the Sauteed Cucumber, Bamboo Tips in Spicy Sauce, Stewed Sliced Beef & Stomach, Shredded Pork tomach in Spicy Sauce, Steamed Chicken in Special Taste Sauce, Five Spice Beef, Boiled Sliced Pork with Garlic Sauce, Ma La Beef Tendon and Bon Bon Chicken.

Soups served include Hot and Sour, Egg Drop, Wonton, To Fu Vegetable, Shanghai Wonton, Pickled Mustard and Shredded Pork, Mixed Meat & ToFu, Crabmeat Asparagus, Seafood & Tofu, Pickled Vegetable & Fish, and Sea Cucumber Hot and Sour Soup.

Chef Recommended Dishes include Whole Fish Stewed in Bean Sauce, Sauteed Fillets of Flounder, Prawn and Scallops in Garlic Sauce, Triple Kung Pao, Tea Smoked Duck, Stewed Pork with Chestnuts, Stewed Pork with Crispy Rice and Spicy Brown Sauce, Sauteed Pea Shoots, Chicken with Double Chili Pepper, Gui Chow Chicken and Eggplant in Garlic Sauce.

Poulty Dishes include Chicken with Broccoli, Chicken in Garlic Sauce, Chicken in Black Bean Sauce, Chicken with Peapods, Cashew Chicken, Hunan Chicken, Chicken and Mixed Vegetables, Swet & Sour, Mu Shu, Sizzling Chicken, General Tao, Sesame, Orange, Lemon, Chicken with Bamboo Tips, Chicken with Dry Bean Curd, Sliced Chicken with fresh Asparagus, Kung Pao, Chung King Spicy Chicken and Shredded duck with Ginger.

Pork Dishes include Peking Shredded Pork, Mu Shu, Mongolian, Double Cooked Pork, Hunan Pork, Bean Noodle with Ground Pork, Shredded Pork in Garlic Sauce, Pan Fried Sliced Pork, Shredded Pork with either Dry Bean Curd or Bamboo Tips or Chili Pepper, Boiled Pork in Szechuan Sauce, Szechuan Spicy Pork Intestine, Hot Pot Chitterlings with Pickled Vegetables and Tofu.

Beef and Lamb entrees at Tea House include Beef with Broccoli, Kung Pao, Hunan Beef, Pepper Steak, Mu Shu, Mongolian, Beef in Garlic Sauce, Beef with Peapods, Sesame, Orange, Gui Chopw, Shredded Beef with Chili Pepper, Boiled Beef in Szechuan Hot Sauce, Mogolian Lamb, Szechuan Lamb, Black Pepper Beef Tenderloin, and Chung King Beef Tenderloin.

Seafood dishes include Szechuan Kung Pao Baby Shrimp, Shrimp with Lobster Sauce, Prawn with Broccoli, Prawn in Garlic Sauce, Prawn with Vegetables, Prawn in Black Bean Sauce, Prawn with Peapods, Orange Flavor Prawns, Five Spice Prawns, Crispy Prawns in Fruit Juice, Chengdu Jumbo Shrimp, Chung King Spicy Shrimp, Kung Pao Shrimp, Black Pepper Scallops, Scallops with Vegetables, Five Spice Scallops, Szechuan Seafood Hot Pot, Sweet & Sour Fish Fillets, Family Fish Fillet, Crispy Rice Crust with Shrimp, Chicken and Beef, Boiled Fish in Szechuan Hot Sauce, Three Musketeers and Beautie, Seafood Delight, Sea Ccumber with Green Onion, Steamed Flounder, Family Sea Cucumber, Stewed Whole Fish, Whole Fish with Pickled Vegetables, Whole Fish with Pine Nuts, Crispy Whole Fish and Tea House Boiled Fish.

Vegetarian specialties include Shredded Potato with Green Pepper, Buddha Vegetable Delight, Tofu with Mixed Vegetable, General Tao Tofu, Kung Pao Tofu, Broccoli in Garlic Sauce, Mu Shu Vegetable, Stir-Fried A Choy with Garlic, Szechuan Green Beans, Tofu with Chinese Vegetables, Szechuan Asparagus, and Stir-Fried Asparagus.

Chow Mein, Lo Mein, Fried Rice, Egg Foo Young, Chao Fun and Pan Fried Noodles are also available with choice of Chicken, Pork, Beef, Shrimp, Combo or Vegetable.

The Tea House also has a large selection of lunch specials served M-F from 11am-2pm.  Lunch entrees come with white rice, egg roll and soup.

Price guide: Appetizers $2-9     Soup $ 2-14     Poulty, Pork & Vegetarian $10-13      Beef $11-18  Seafood $14-18     Rice, Noodles, Lomein $7-10   Lunch Specials $4-8.50

What We ordered: My companions and I started with the Scallion Pancakes.  I had no idea what to expect from the name of these appetizers, but they were a wonderful treat and very different from the pancakes one might eat at breakfast. Made with layers of flaky pastry that was fried until it was lightly browned and crispy, these pancakes had scallions cooked within the savory dough.  It was served with a sweet soy-based sauce for dipping.  Excellent choice!

It was also highly recommended that we try the Sticky Buns.  Another huge hit!  I was expecting bread of some sort from the name of these delicious little treats, but was pleasantly surprised to discover they were similar to steamed dumplings.  Inside each little Bun was a delicious seasoned pork sausage ball and savory juices.  Big, deep spoons were given to each of us to hold the Sticky Buns while we ate them which was a good thing because one bite into the bun and steaming juices started spilling out!The buns were also served with a side of some kind of soy-based sauce.

I had the General Tao's Chicken lunch special, which came with my entree, eggroll, rice and soup.  I started with the Hot and Sour soup, which had wonderful taste and texture.  It had a nice spicy flavor with plenty of ingredients in the hot broth.  The General Tao's Chicken was also very good and was a bigger portion than I expected for lunch.  The large pieces of white-meat chicken were fried so that the breading was still crunchy after it was tossed in sauce.  The sauce had a little zing to it yet a hint of sweetness. The chicken was dressed with semi-cooked broccoli and fried rice (which I upgraded from the white rice it came with).  The fried rice was decent, but seemed a little boring to me.


One of my companions had the Wonton Soup, which looked very good.  Basic chicken broth with wontons and scallions.

Another companion had the Hunan Chicken lunch special.  This was another big lunch portion, with pieces of chicken mixed with broccoli, mini corn-cobs, green and red peppers, whole Asian mushrooms and other Asian vegetables, and then tossed in a spicy Hunan sauce. Served with white rice, egg roll and soup.

Service: Lunch on a Friday was extremely busy and my party of three had to wait a few minutes for an open table.  Our waiter was helpful with ordering from the menu and also demonstrated for us how to serve the sticky buns.  Our appetizers and food were staggered so the process took longer than you might expect at lunch, but overall the food was prepared in a reasonable amount of time considering how busy it was.
Overall Impression: I wish I had discovered Tea House sooner! I worked nearby for three years and never knew it existed until my companions suggested it the day of our visit.  The food was excellent and the lunch special prices were extremely good for the amount of food we got.  I will definitely be back!

Great Moon Buffet ~ Maplewood & West St Paul, MN

Cuisine: Chinese
Restaurant Features: Lunch Buffet, Dinner Buffet, On-Site Parking

Locations: Maplewood & West St Paul, MN
Addresses & Maps:

Maplewood- 2950 White Bear Ave Maplewood, MN 55109 (651) 704-9801

West St Paul- 1200 South Robert St.  West St. Paul, MN 55118 (651) 554-0558

Hours: Sun-Thur 11am-9pm  Fri-Sat 11am-10pm

Atmosphere:  Both the Maplewood and West St Paul locations are located within strip malls.  Each restaurant has a large, open space for the dining areas.  Silk Kimonos adorn the walls and here and there you will see silk plants as well.  Rectangular-shaped wooden tables are placed close together throughout the space, easy to accommodate larger groups.

There are four large buffet islands, with additional tables for dessert and also a separate stir-fry section at the West St Paul location.  Each buffet island has about 10-12 food items.

The West St Paul location also has a custom stir-fry area.  Similar to Khan's, choose your frozen sliced meats, Vegetables and sauces and the chef will cook it up in front of you on the Mongolian BBQ.

Menu: Appetizers include Egg Rolls, Cream Cheese Wonton, Cheesey Potatoes, Sweet Biscuits, Sesame Cakes, Pork Sausages, Egg Foo Young, Roast Duck, BBQ Ribs, and Steamed Dumplings.

Soups include Hot & Sour and Wonton.  There is also Lo Mein, Fried Rice, White Rice, Rice Noodle and String Beans.

Chicken dishes include Black Pepper Chicken, Roast Chicken, Sesame Chicken, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Chicken with Broccoli, Chicken Chow Suey, General Tao's Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Chicken Wings, Chicken Sticks, and Chicken with Cashew.

Pork dishes include Mopo ToFu, Hunan Pork, Butter Potato, Double Cooked Pork, Hunan Triple Delight, Pork with Mushrooms, and Boneless Ribs.

Beef dishes include Beef with Broccoli, Mongolian Beef, Beef with Mushrooms, Peppered Beef, and Beef Ribs.

Seafood (most items served at dinner only) items include Mussels, Fried Codfish, Salmon, Popcorn Shrimp, Butterfly Shrimp, Salted Shrimp, Coconut Shrimp, Shrimp with Lobster Sauce.

Desserts include Soft-Serve Ice Cream, Cake, Fresh Fruit

Price guide: Lunch Buffet $8-9  Dinner Buffet $11-12
What I Ate: My visit was at lunch time with a group of colleagues, but I still wanted to try a selection of foods.  I had Cream Cheese Wontons, Boneless BBQ Ribs, Steamed Dumpling, General Tao's Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Fried Rice, and a Rice Noodle dish with veggies.  The cream cheese wontons were the biggest I have ever had! They were stuffed full of a cream-cheese mixture that was slightly sweet.  The steamed dumplings were very good, with a flavorful pork/onion mixture.  The meats that I tried were okay, but I would not say these use high quality meat.  The Sweet and Sour as well as the General Tao's Chicken was kind of fatty and gristly and the batter was soggy. 

I wasn't quite satisfied with what I actually ate from my first plate, so I opted to wait in line for my own custom stir-fry.  I chose beef, broccoli, pineapple, onions, pepper and mushrooms with noodles and several scoops of all the different cooking sauces.  There is only one cook making stir-fry and he only cooks one dish at a time, so I had to wait at least 10 minutes for my plate.  I was only able to get a few good bites in before it was time to head back to work, but I was very happy with my stir-fry dish.

Service:  At Great Moon you must pay for your meal before you enter the dining room but from that point forward, there are many servers available to take drink orders, clear plates, etc.
Overall Impression:  Huge buffet with many options, but I would say food is just slightly better than mediocre in taste and quality.  Make-it-yourself Stir-Fry option at West St Paul is a big bonus.

King's City Chinese~ White Bear Lake, MN

Cuisine: Chinese,

Restaurant Features: Lunch Buffet, Dinner Buffet, On-Site Parking
Location: White Bear Lake, MN
Address: 3959 Linden Street  White Bear lake, MN 55110 (651) 426-4565

Hours: M-F 11am-8pm  Lunch Buffet 11am-2pm Dinner Buffet 4-8pm
Links: Google Map

Atmosphere: King's City is located on a frontage road that runs along Hwy 61 and has been open since 1982.  The restaurant itself is in a stand-alone building, with one big open space for the dining room.  There isn't anything fancy about the decor, just several square wooden tables arranged throughout the dining room, making it easy to pull them together for larger parties.

The buffet is one of the more popular features of King's City for the dine-in crowd (available 11am-2pm and 4-8pm)

Menu: Appetizers at King's City include Egg Rolls, Fried Wontons, Chicken Wings, Paper-Wrapped Chicken, Barbeque Pork, Fried Shrimp, and Cream Cheese Wontons.

Soups include Wonton, Egg Drop, Chicken Rice and Chicken with Chinese Greens.

Egg Foo Young options are the Vegetable, Pork, Chicken or Shrimp.

Chow Mein options include Regular, Meatless, Subgum, Mushroom, Chicken, Chicken Subgum, Chicken Mushroom, and King's City Special Chow Mein.  Lomein, Chop Suey and Fried Rice options include Vegetable, Pork, Chicken, Shrimp, Beef and Special.

Beef Entrees include Beef with Snow Peapods, Beef Tomato and Green Pepper, Beef and Green Pepper, Beef with Broccoli, Curried Beef, Kung Pao Beef, Mongolian Beef, Beef with Red Sauce and Beef with Cashew.

Chicken Entrees include Sweet and Sour, Chicken with Snow Peapods, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Pineapple Chicken, Chicken Almond Ding, Curried Chicken, Chicken with Broccoli, Twice Cooked Chicken, Chicken with Red Sauce, Kung Pao Chicken, Mongolian Chicken and Chicken with Cashew.

Pork Entrees include Sweet and Sour, Pork with Snow Peapods, Pork with Broccoli, Curried Pork, Twice Cooked Pork, Mongolian Pork, and Pork with Red Sauce.

Shrimp Entrees include Sweet and Sour, Almond Ding, Shrimp with Snow Peapods, Shrimp with Lobster Sauce, Shrimp with Broccoli, Curried Shrimp, Kung Pao Shrimp, Twice Cooked, Mongolian, Shrimp with Cashew, and Shrimp with Red Sauce.

There are also a number of Combination Dinners for either one or two people.

Buffet Includes Regular Chow Mein, Fried Wontons, Egg Rolls, Chicken Wings, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Chicken Lomein, and two Entrees (Changes Daily). *An order of 10 Cream Cheese Wontons can be purchased with Buffet for an additional $2.95*

Price guide: 'Lunch Buffet $6.95 Kids Under 12 $5.25  Dinner Buffet $9.75  ($1 off for Seniors 55+)

Appetizers $4-7  Soups $3-4  Egg Foo Young $5-6 Chow Mein $4-18  Lomein/Chop Suey $7-9  Beef Entrees $8  Chicken/Pork Entrees $7-8  Shrimp Entrees $9 

What I ordered: I had the dinner buffet, as I always do when I eat-in at King's City.  I had Chow Mein, Twice Cooked Pork, Chicken Lomein, Sweet and Sour Chicken, an Eggroll and Fried Wontons.  The chow mein is very basic, celery with a small amount of ground pork (the best chow mein at King's City is the Chicken Subgum which is not offered on the buffet).  The Chicken Lomein was very good, tons of vegetables mixed in with tender pieces of white-meat chicken, and thin.  The Twice Cooked Pork has a nice zing to it, and also has a nice mix of Asian veggies.  The Sweet and Sour Chicken was also good, with bite-sized pieces of chicken breaded and deep fried to a crispy golden brown.  The batter is slightly thick on the chicken, and sweet and sour sauce is served on the side to maintain crispiness of chicken.  The Fried Wontons are very crispy, filled with a mixture of ground pork and spices (green onion?).

Service:  King's City prides itself on excellent service.  The servers are all very attentive so used plates are taken away immediately and drinks refilled with a quickness.  The owner, Sam, is a very friendly guy and is very personable with his customers (many of whom are long-term).
Overall Impression: Fast and friendly; very good Chinese food.  The buffet is somewhat limited, but the quality of food is above average and reasonably priced.  Can't go wrong to order off menu.  Awesome customer service.

House of Wong- Roseville, MN

Cuisine: American, Chinese,

Restaurant Features: On-Site Parking, Counter-Service for Take Out

Location: Roseville, MN

Address: 1163 Larpenteur Ave W St Paul, MN 55113-6382 (651) 488-6687

Links: Google map

Atmosphere: House of Wong is a large restaurant located within a large strip-mall in Roseville.  The restaurant is long and narrow shaped, with several high-backed booths that run all the way to the back of the restaurant. The taller booths give you a sense of privacy and the way they are placed might make you forget the restaurant is as big as it is. The decor of the House of Wong is more casual and homey than sophisticated Asian, but the hand-carved wooden doors and  handful of Asian vases serve to remind you this is indeed, a Chinese Restaurant.

Menu: Appetizers include Egg Rolls, Cantonese Chicken Wings, Fried Potstickers, Szechuan Wings, Chinese Barbeque Pork, Crispy Chicken Fingers, Jumbo Golf Shrimp, Meat Wontons, Cream Cheese Wontons, Shrimp Toast, Fried Chicken Livers, and Onion Rings.

The House of Wong has several variations of Chow Mein including Meat, Diced Chicken, Sliced Mushroom, Subgum, Chicken Mushroom, Chicken Subgum, Shrimp, and Barbeque Pork.  Lomein entrees are made with either Chicken, Barbeque Pork, Beef, Shrimp, or the House of Wong Special Lomein.

Fried Rice specials include Chicken, BBQ Pork, Beef, Fresh Shrimp, Special Fried Rice, and Meatless.  

Chinese Chicken dishes include Sweet & Sour, Sesame, Orange, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Chicken and Broccoli, Chicken Almond Ding, Kung Pao,  Szechuan, Chicken in Garlic Sauce, General Tsao's, and Curry Chicken.

Beef Dishes include Beef & Broccoli, Beef & Snow Peapods, Beef Pepper Steak, Mongolian, Kung Pao, Szechuan, and Mandarin Beef.  Pork entrees include Sweet & Sour and Sesame.

Vegetarian and Seafood plates include Gulf Shrimp & peapods or Broccoli, Szechuan Shrimp, Kung Pao Shrimp, Triple Kung Pao, Hunan Triple Crown, Szechuan Vegetarian Tofu Stir Fry.

You can also get a  Noodle or Rice Bowls topped with either Mandarin beef, Teriyaki Chicken, Szechuan Garlic Chicken, Pepper Steak, Chicken Almond Ding, Kung Pao Chicken, Beef and Broccoli, and Szechuan Vegetarian Tofu.

There are a number of combination plates as well.

Besides the large amount of Chinese dishes, House of Wong also has several American Items on their menu with Entrees such as Hamburgers, Fresh Roasted Turkey, Grilled or Breaded Pork Chops, Leg of Pork, Pork tenderloin, Frilled Round Steak, Cod Filet, Baby Beef Liver, Sauteed Chicken Breast, Breaded Pork Cutlet, Jumbo Golf Shrimp,  Hawaiian Ham Steak and Fried Chicken.

Sandwiches include Triple Decker Club, Grilled Cheese, Cold Turkey, Hot Turkey, Grilled Chicken, Grilled Ham and Cheese, Chicken or Tuna Salad, and Fish & Chips Basket.

You can even order Italian entrees like Spaghetti, Meat Lasagna, Mostaccioli, Chicken Parmigiana, and Fettuccine with Chicken and Broccoli.

The homemade pies at House of Wong include Banana Cream, Coconut Cream, Chocolate Silk, Apple, Custard, Pumpkin, and on Sundays there is also Carrot Cake.

Price guide: Prices vary depending on whether you dine-in or order take-out.  Take out prices seem to be a couple $$ less.  Appetizers $5-10  Chinese Entrees $8-14 American Entrees $10-16

What we ordered: We started with the Shrimp Toast, which was fabulous! The bottom was made with a piece of cocktail-sized bread and then large pieces of shrimp were butterflied, seasoned, and then placed on top and then battered and deep-fried.  What a delightful combination of textures! The toast was crispy yet the top was light, fluffy and crunchy.  Served with hot mustard and a mild sweet and sour sauce.  I have only had shrimp toast at a handful of restaurants and I think House of Wong has the best :)

We also ordered the Barbeque Pork appetizer.  Unbelievably good!  The pork was so tender you could cut it with a fork and the outside was glazed with a sweet sauce, complimenting the natural flavor of the pork.  This is a must-have every time I visit the House of Wong!

 

We also had the Pork Fried Rice, which had large pieces of the Barbeque Pork that I like so much.  The  rice was so hot it was steaming and my photo ended up turning out blurry.  Sorry I didn't take a better one! The rice was deliciously flavorful with green onions, scrambled egg, mushrooms and bean sprouts and the portion was  very generous. 

 

We also tried the Egg Foo Young with shrimp and mushrooms.  I am not typically a big fan of egg foo young, but this was really good! There was a nice mix of both vegetables and shrimp.  The sauce was on the mild side.

 

We also ordered the Beef Tenderloin Lomein.  This was a generous portion of thin, pan-fried noodles with stir-fried pea pods, onions, carrots, bean sprouts, and thin slices of beef tenderloin.  This is a mild dish that compliments each of the individual flavors of the ingredients.

 

We also had the Orange Chicken.  The portion was pretty large with several pieces of crispy, batter-fried chicken.  The sauce was very thick and tasted very strongly of orange.

Service:  Our visit was right at the beginning of the dinner rush and we were lucky enough to get a table immediately- (You can almost always expect a short wait during the dinner rush because the House of Wong is very popular! ). Our server was very nice and very busy attending to us as well as her other tables, she was very attentive to getting refills

Overall Impression: House of Wong has been one of my all-time favorite Chinese restaurants since I was just a toddler.  You get large portions for the money the food is consistent and the quality of the meat is always very good.

Bambu Asian Cuisine- Maplewood, MN

Cuisine: Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese
Restaurant Features: Bar, Happy Hour, On-Site Parking

Location: Maplewood
Address: 1715-A Beam Avenue  Maplewood, MN 55109   651-747-1000  ***Located at the end of a large strip mall (next to Marshall's)
Links: Bambu Website   Google Map

Atmosphere: Very romantic with dim lighting, candles atop white table-cloths, and richly colored walls.  There are both circular and square tables, which can easily be combined for larger parties.

Bambu also has a lovely bar area and boasts wonderful drink specials.

Menu: Appetizers include Chicken Wings, Egg Rolls, Pot Stickers, Fried Tofu, Calamari, Spring Rolls, Wontons, Shrimp, Fresh Mussels, and Pan-Seared Scallops.  Salad/soups include Bambu Asian Salad, Thai pineapple Chicken Salad, Spicy Thai Beef Salad, Vietnamese Noodle Salad, Egg Drop Soup, Hot & Sour Soup, Wonton Soup, Vietnamese Chicken Noodle. 

Chinese Entrees include General Tso's Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Sesame Chicken, Beef or Shrimp, Kung Pao Chicken, Orange Chicken, Mandarin Chicken, Lemon Chicken, Cashew Chicken.  The following entrees can be served with either chicken, pork, tofu, mock duck, beef, shrimp or scallops: Broccoli Stir-Fry, Hunan Chicken, Sizzling Duck, Tiger Pork, Sizling Black Bean Sauce, Coconut Curry, Ginger or Oyster Stir-fry, Garlic Baby Bok Choy, Egg Fu Young, Chinese Chow Mein, Vietnamese Chow Mein, Singapore Noodles, Pineapple Stir fry, Hong Kong Wontons, Lomein, Fried Rice, Mu Shu Wrap and Chicken Almond Ding.

Thai Entrees include Thai Hot Curry Fried Rice, Pineapple Fried Rice, Yellow Chicken Curry, Pad Thai, Penang Red, Thair Stir-Fried Rice Noodles, Red Salmon Pineapple Curry, Green Mahi-Mahi Curry, Spicy & Sweet Blast Curry, Massaman Chicken Stir-Fry, Spicy Chicken, Basil Stir-Fry and Spicy Thai Basil Fried Rice.

Vietnamese Entrees include Salted Shrimp, Fried Rice, Garlic Catfish, Vietnamese Rice Platter, Fried Potato with Beef, Lemon Frog legs, Tamarind Shrimp, Grilled Beef and Shrimp & Beef.

Bambu also serves a large variety of Pho, an authentic Vietnamese beef broth served over rice noodles and Asian vegetables.

Seafood Entrees include Waleye, Seafood in Black Bean Sauce, Sea Bass, Triple Delight, Thai Seafood Linguine Curry.

Price guide: Appetizers $4.50-8  Salads/soups $3-11  Seafood $12-17  Chinese Entrees $9-13  Thai Entrees $9-17  Vietnamese Entrees $ 8-17  Pho $7-9
What we ordered: To start, we tried the calamari.  It was lightly breaded and served with stir-fried green and white onions.  I had never had calamari prepared this way, but I really enjoyed the blend of flavors.  I thought the serving was quite generous.

We ordered the Masaman Chicken Stir-Fry, a sweet green curry with chicken, onions, avocado and cashews.  I have never had a curry like this before, but I loved the flavor and texture of the dish.  This was also a very large portion of food.

We also ordered the Fried Potatoes with Beef.  The potatoes were crispy and the beef was tender and plentiful.

Fried Rice.  I cannot remember which fried rice we ordered, but it was pretty good.

My companion also ordered  lemonade and it was not only homemade, but hand-squeezed to order; both sugary and tart at the same time!

Service: Our service was exceptional! The server was very friendly and offered several suggestions from the menu.  Food was prepared in a timely manner and after compliments to the chef, the chef came out to talk with us.  By chance the owner was visiting the restaurant and also stopped to talk with me and my companion.  Everyone was really nice and talkative.
Overall Impression: Bambu is the total package and is my new favorite restaurant in the Northeast suburbs! The food, atmosphere and service were all superior.  A must-try!

Wild Ginger ~ White Bear Lake, MN

Cuisine: Thai, Chinese, Asian Variety,
Restaurant Features:Lunch Buffet, On-Site Parking

Location: White Bear Lake, MN
Address: 4440 Highway 61 North  White Bear Lake, MN 55110  651-653-9781

Lunch Buffet M-F 11-2pm  Take out  Mon-Sat 11am-8pm

Links: Google Map
Atmosphere: Located within a strip mall, Wild Ginger has just 10-12 tables available in the dining room (seats 24).  It is decorated with a variety of Thai art and sculptures.

Menu: Thai appetizers include  Beef Jerky, Chicken wings, cream cheese wonton, dumplings, egg rolls, spring rolls, chicken satay.  Thai salads include Laab, Som Tum, Yum Nua, and Yum Woon Sen.  Thai curries are Gang Dang (red),  Gang Keow Wan (sweet green), Gang Pah (country curry),and Panang.  Thai noodles offered are Pad Thai, Rad Na, and Pad See Yew.  Thai entrees include Rama Long Srong, Pad Him Ma Pam, Pad Hoo Raa Pha, Pad Khing, Pad Priew Wan, Pad Prig, Pla Rad Prig.

Chinese dishes include fried rice, chow mein, egg fo young, lomein, chop suey.  Entrees include (chicken, beef, pork, or shrimp)  Sweet & sour, Almond ding, Cashew, Lemon grass, Broccoli, Kung pao, Szechuan, Mongolian

Price guide: Lunch Buffet $7.50  Thai entrees $8-10
What we ordered:

Chicken satay I especially loved the peanut sauce and the cucumber garnish that came with the satay.

Thai Beef Jerky

Green Curry (Gang Keow Wan ) A combination of coconut milk, Thai green curry paste, herbs, bamboo shoots, vegetables, and chicken.  This is one of my favorite  Thai dishes! It has a ton of kick and the vegetables soak up the flavor of the coconut milk just perfectly. 

Rama Long Srong- Mixed of gold peanut curry sauce with coconut milk on the bed of steamed young spinach. I love the sweetness of this dish, the peanut sauce is wonderful. 

Chicken Panang-  Chicken in a zesty blend of herbs, kaffir lime leave and coconut milk.

Sweet and Sour Chicken (Thai style)- Mix of pineapple, tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, scallions and onions stir fried in Thai sweet and sour sauce.

Service: The owner of Wild Ginger, Sam, is a very nice man and provides 100% of the service at Wild Ginger.  Refills are do-it-yourself.
Overall Impression: Awesome Thai cuisine, decent Chinese. Excellent lunch buffet with a variety of both Thai and Chinese dishes, at a very reasonable price. The small space of the restaurant often is completely filled during lunch buffet hours (11-2pm).

Tai Pan Chinese Restaurant- Vadnais Heights, MN

Cuisine: Chinese

Restaurant Features: Counter Service, On-Site Parking

Location: Vadnais Heights

Address: **After a 2 1/2 year hiatus, Tai Pan is back in a new location!**

Vadnais Heights Shopping Center

925 East County Road E, Suite 140 Vadnais Heights, MN 55127  651-426-7737

Hours Mon-Fri 11am-9pm, Sat-Sun Noon to 9pm

Links: Google map

Atmosphere: Located in the corner of a large strip-mall, the new location of Tai Pan is more geared to the take-out crowd, but does offer a couple of tables in the brightly-painted restaurant. 

Menu: Appetizers include egg rolls, fried pork or cream cheese wontons, fried or steamed dumplings, BBQ pork, chicken wings, butterfly shrimp and shrimp toast.  Soups include hot and sour, egg drop, wonton soup, Chinese vegetable soup and beef noodle.  Chow mein selections include plain, subgum, mushroom, chicken, chicken subgum, chicken or beef with mushrooms, beef, beef subgum, shrimp, shrimp subgum, and chicken, beef or shrimp chop suey.

Main dishes include pork, chicken, vegetable or shrimp egg foo yung,  Sweet & Sour (pork, chicken, shrimp or combo).  Fried Rice (pork, chicken, vegetable, shrimp).  Lo mein (chicekn, beef, pork, vegetable, shrimp, Pad Thai, beef or chicken Chow fun, Singapore Chow fun with curry flavor.  cantonese pan-fried noodles (shrimp, chicken, beef or pork).

Beef dishes include Mongolian, sesame, Szechuan, beef in garlic sauce, mandarin beef, Hunan beef, beef in oyster sauce, kung pao, beef with broccolo, beef with black bean sauce.  Poultry dishes include orange chicken, Mongolian, Hon Sue, Lemon, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Chicken almond ding, chicken with snow pea pods, chicken cashew, eight treasure mandarin chicken, spicy sesame chicken, chicken in garlic sauce, Kung pao, Moo Shu chicken, chicken with pineapple, chicken with broccoli, Szechuan chicken, hunan chicken, Thai yellow curry chicken mandarin cashew, chicken bean curd Malaysian style.

Pork dishes include Moo shu pork, pork in garlic sauce, Mandarin cashew, Hunan Pork, Ma Po bean curd with pork, pork with string beans.  Seafood dishes include shrimp with lobster sauce, shrimp in garlic sauce, mandarin cashew shrimp, shrimp with cashew, Kung pao shrimp, scallops sauteed in garlic sauce, pan fried scallops, kung po delight, Szechuan shrimp.

There are a number of healthy choice specials, chef specials, and daily combination specials as well.

Price guide: Appetizers $3.25-6.25  Soup $2.95-4.75  Chowmein  Pint $3.50-8.50  Quart $6.25-8.50 Egg Foo Young $5.75-6.50, Fried Rice $3.50-3.75/pint  $6.50-6.75/quart.  Beef dishes $8.75  Poultry dishes $8.75  Pork dishes $8.25-8.75  Seafood dishes $9.25 

What We ordered:  Sesame Chicken.  Spicy, but absolutely delicious! Best sesame chicken I've had anywhere!! Large chunks of white meat chicken, plenty of sauce and garnished with peppers and carrots.

Pork fried rice.  Amazing! Loaded with chunks of meat, fried egg, and other veggies. Excellent flavor and texture.

Cream Cheese wontons.  Crispy, hot.  Excellent flavor!

Service: Fast and friendly.  Order and pay at the counter.  Tai Pan now accepts major credit cards.

Overall Impression: Best sesame chicken and hot and sour soup that you will find! I very much missed my favorite chinese restaurant and thankful they have reopened after sucha  long time.  The food was just as excellent as it always was!

Big Bowl Fresh Chinese & Thai ~ Roseville, Edina, & Wayzata, MN

Cuisine: Chinese and Thai

Restaurant Features: Bar

Locations: Roseville (site of this review), Edina, Wayzata

Addresses:

Roseville (Rosedale Center)  1705 Highway 36 West  Roseville, MN 55113 (651) 636-7173

Edina  3669 Galleria Edina, MN 55435 (952) 928-7888

Minnetonka (Ridgedale Center)  12649 Wayzata Blvd Minnetonka, MN 55305 (952) 797-9888

Links: Big Bowl Website  Google Map

Atmosphere: Located inside Rosedale Mall, Big Bowl is a large restaurant with a trendy Asian flair.  There are several booths around the edges of the dining area and in the bar area, with many smaller tables within the middle.  At the back of the restaurant near the kitchen is an area for make-your-own stir-fry.

Menu: Appetizers include steamed Chinese dumplings, veggie or chicken pot stickers, hot buns filled with pork, chicken satay, egg rolls, Thai-beef lettuce wraps, shrimp summer roll, teriyaki spare ribs, calamari, and a few soups and salads.  Thai curry dishes include yellow curry with chicken or veggies, panang curry chicken, scallop and shrimp citrus curry, thai green vegetable curry.  Chicken dishes include kung pao, orange peel, lemon chicken, chicken with vegetables, and Thai hot pepper chicken.  Beef dishes include Mongolian, Kung pao, and beef with broccoli.  Seafood dishes include crunchy sichuan cashew shrimp, Thai hot pepper shrimp with basil and peanuts,  crunchy sichuan scallops, sweet ginger sea scallops and shrimp, and teriyaki glazed fresh salmon.  Pad Thai is Big Bowl's signature dish, try it with vegetables/tofu, chicken, shrimp or salmon.  Big Bowl also has a make-it-yourself stirfry bar option.  You choose your vegetables, meat, sauce, and noodles and they will cook it for you.

Price guide: Appetizers $6-9  Entrees $8-15

What I ordered: My companion and I started with an order of the veggie pot stickers (Classic pan fried northern Chinese dumplings stuffed with cilantro, green onions, crushed peanuts)  It was also served with three dipping sauces, sweet and sour, plum and sesame mustard.  Excellent choice! These pot stickers had a ton of flavor and excellent texture.

I wanted to try a curry dish and decided to go with the Panang Curry Chicken
(chicken, light peanut-coconut curry, peas, snow peas served over jasmine rice).  This dish was packed with flavor! The sauce was indeed "light" if they mean "thin".  It was delicious, but I think would prefer it with a little more peanut flavor and if it were a tad bit thicker.  The vegetables were very good, but the texture of the chicken was kind of slimy.  I enjoyed the first ten bites or so and then got kind of bored with it.

My companion ordered pad Thai with vegetables.  This seemed to be a hit! I tried a little bit of it and thought the noodles had good flavor.  As you can see, there were a lot of veggies in the dish.

Service: The host staff was very friendly, as was our server.  I think the server may have been new though, as he was not as knowledgeable about the menu as he could've been.

Overall Impression: Great ambiance and decent food.

PF Chang's China Bistro ~ Edina, MN

Cuisine: Chinese

Restaurant Features: Bar

Location: Edina

Address: Southdale Center 2700 Southdale Center Edina, MN 55435 (952) 926-1713

Links: PF Chang's Website  Google Map

Atmosphere: PF Chang's considers themselves  a "stylish, high-energy bistro" and I would have to agree; swanky and dimly-lit, this is not your typical Chinese restaurant!  The tables are all set within this massive space (nice for accommodating larger parties), with large booths lined around the outside of the room.  Large bar spaning thew back of the restaurant, with Chinese murals painted on the wall.

Menu: Appetizers include include Chang's chicken lettuce wraps, crab wontons, peking dumplings, spring rolls, seared tuna, and fried calamari.  Hot & sour soup, wonton soup, shrimp salad, and salmon salad are the popular soup & salad choices.  Entrees include almond cashew chicken, lomein, shrimp with lobster sauce, Cantonese roasted duck, Chang's Spicy chicken, ginger chicken and broccoli, black bean chicken, orange peel, lemon or sweet and sour chicken.  There is a large variety of scallop and shrimp dishes (kung pao shrimp, Chang's lemon scallops, etc).

Price guide: Appetizers $9-14 Entrees $14-24

What We ordered:

Black Bean Chicken (Slices of chicken, stir-fried in a black bean sauce).

Salt and Pepper Prawns (Stir-fried in a salt and pepper mix of chili peppers, black beans, ginger and green onions. Served with a sweet mustard sauce. ) Nice texture to the shrimp and I loved the sweet mustard sauce for dipping.

Spicy Chang's Chicken (Lightly dusted and stir-fried in a sweet Sichuan sauce).  I loved this dish! The chicken had just the right combination of sweet and spicy.

Chow mein (Egg noodles stir-fried with chicken).

Combination fried Rice (Mixed with egg, soy and sliced scallions, beef, chicken, pork and shrimp.)

We were celebrating a birthday and got this complimentary chocolate cake (Six layers of rich chocolate cake frosted with semi-sweet chocolate chips and served with raspberry sauce. ).  Delish!

Service:Pretty good, considering our server had a big section and was very busy.

Overall Impression: Food is excellent, but expensive!