Tim C.
Yelp
I ordered food to go for lunch on a weekday, and it was a fairly seamless process. I called with my order, and it was ready within 15 minutes of my call, which I was impressed with. When I arrived to pick it up, I had to wait about 5 minutes before anyone came to greet me, but I guess they were busy or understaffed at the moment - it wasn't too long of a wait, though.
Here is what I ordered, listed in order of what I liked most to what I liked least:
-Szechuan Spice Chicken - This was roughly half-inch cubes of chicken with spicy chilis, onions, peppers, and scallions. It was definitely spicy, which I appreciated. The spice didn't overpower the overall flavor of the dish, though - so it was the right amount for me. The chicken was tender and fried, so I enjoyed the contrast in texture. This was my favorite dish of the ones I tried, mainly because of the spice level.
-Shanghai Soup Buns - I got 4 steamed buns that were pan-seared on the bottom. Each bun was filled with pork, and the pork was moist and flavorful. I thought they did a good job with the quality and flavoring of the pork, and I just like buns in general, so they didn't mess this up.
-Shacha Short Rib Hot Pot - This was short rib with a shacha sauce, along with red and green peppers, broccoli, and onions. Shacha sauce is a savory and sweet sauce made with oil, shallots, garlic, and usually some kind of dried seafood (fish or shrimp). I'm not 100% sure if they used any seafood in their sauce, but the shacha was still tasty and didn't overpower the dish. The sauce had more tomato base than I anticipated, which I guess added to the sweetness of the dish, but I kind of wish it was less tomato-y. The meat was still very tender in spite of being served in larger 2-inch strips.
-Black Pepper Beef - This dish was skirt steak with black pepper sauce and bell peppers. Honestly, the flavors were fairly standard - just black pepper with beef. Nothing really stood out except that the beef quality was good - it was pretty tender and cut to the right thickness.
-Peking Duck Soup - This was a creamy soup made from duck bones and included cabbage, small dried shrimp, tofu, ginger, and green onions. I wouldn't recommend it. I didn't appreciate the creaminess of the soup, and the meat was too chewy to eat. The soup had depth of flavor, and the duck came through in the soup well, but I just wasn't a fan of the consistency of the soup.
-Duck Spring Rolls - These were spring rolls with duck, cabbage, mushroom, carrots, onions, and sweet chili sauce on side. I'm not sure why I decided to order this, but I wouldn't recommend it. There was nothing special about this spring roll in terms of flavor, texture, or ingredients, in my opinion.
Overall, it was a good meal - I appreciated the different takes on dishes and the quality of the ingredients. The lunch menu seems more reasonable from a price standpoint compared to the dinner menu, even though I expect you get less food during lunch. I'm just not sure I would personally want to spend dinner prices. Lunch is doable, though. I was glad to have tried a variety of dishes, some of which I really enjoyed. I didn't have any issues with the service, either.