Jon R.
Yelp
My wife and I just dined at the Blue Bamboo Canton Bistro after reading numerous positive reviews. Many reviews proclaimed it as the most authentic delicious Cantonese food in the area. Our expectations were high and we were excited to visit the restaurant under award winning Chef Dennis Chan.
The restaurant, located on San Jose Boulevard, is modern decor, spacious dining room and has plenty of parking. Our server was personable, enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the menu items.
We started our meal with the Fried Pork Potstickers. The dumplings were not crispy enough and the accompanying dipping sauce was not good. We prefer the traditional sauce with soy, ginger, garlic, scallions with chili or sriracha.
My wife opted for the Curry Salmon and Shrimp. The seafood was fresh and cooked well but nothing to write home about. The dish was served on a bed of vegetables ... broccoli, carrots, celery, bok choy and possibly some onions. My wife is British, she is very familiar with cooking with curry. We understand that curry dishes are also very subjective. The curry in this Salmon and Shrimp dish was bland, nothing special especially at $ 33.00.
I ordered the General's Chicken. It is their spin on traditional General Tso's chicken, a dish I have had hundreds of times in my life living in the metropolitan areas of NY City and Boston. The menu describes the dish as crispy fried chicken breast meat tossed in chilies with peppers and onions with steamed rice. My chicken was dry, overcooked and served in a tasteless sauce. Extremely disappointing considering all the great reviews of the Blue Bamboo.
The best item we sampled was the Mandarin Orange Cake. It is their award winning signature dessert. It was absolutely delicious! The highpoint of the meal.
We had great expectations visiting the Blue Bamboo as many reviews proclaimed it as the most authentic Cantonese restaurant in the JAX area ( No yellow fried rice). Maybe it was an off day, but we found the Blue Bamboo to be disappointing and highly overrated.