Bill C.
Yelp
Congrats to China Mama for being glossed as the eighth best Chinese restaurant in all of America by Yelp. Holy Pot Stickers, there are about 50,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S. so that's quite the honor! (though I don't necessarily agree)
Of the four entrees tasted:
Mongolian beef - generous portion of nice tasting steak pieces with most of the fat and gristle trimmed off.
Crispy beef - a mound of beef slivers that are battered, fried, then coated with sweet and sticky spices. Comes with rice and tastes almost dessert-like.
Beef roll - looks like a wrap rolled up with paper-thin slices of spiced beef and then fried. Nice taste (hoisin flavor, as in Mu Shu dishes?) but could have used some dipping sauce like their website photo shows.
Chicken fried rice - drab tasting with pre-frozen peas, carrot cubes, and under-spiced chicken pieces...the dish is prepared with little or no soy and a packet or two of imitation soy sauce added after the fact does not rescue it. Pass on such a weak attempt at this 'non-gourmet' version of fried rice.
But aside from the traditional, there's also a nice option to order lesser known dishes which is always tempting to do. I was all set to try the 'Husband and Wife Lung Slices' for $15.99, but collapsed under pressure because a visual of Hannibal Lector saying, "Bon appetit!" appeared inside my head and wouldn't go away.
In the end, I like most of the food at China Mama Express although they could class things up a bit. It's in a tight space and upon entering, there was one customer waiting for a takeout order while a staff member chowed down on a mini-feast in front of us at one of only three tables. After I ordered she disappeared into the kitchen, presumably to help cook it, while her half eaten meal sat there. She emerged a couple times, went back in, never wore gloves, her late lunch sitting there interrupted. An employee stuffing her face is never a good look for the diner to see when entering any small restaurant. C'mon, do better!
But despite the weird vibe, the food mostly does taste good. Maybe they can improve on a few things to make it more worthy of the high ranking.