John B.
Yelp
Yummy House China Bistro's website literally says "Best Chinese Restaurants in Florida". It's not only a clever way to make sure the place pops up when someone Googles that but it also rings true. My wife and I had a short date night here and left impressed with the food.
My wife and I needed a date night. Yummy House China Bistro seemed like a good place and we both are fans of Chinese. The reviews and research I did all said this place off Hillsborough Blvd was the best around. I made a reservation. I do suggest you make one too.
My wife and I arrived to Yummy House for our 5pm reservation a few minutes early. A few cars were parked around but there were plenty of places to park. There was a line at the door. A handful of people were waiting for the clock to strike 5 and be the first in line. When an employee finally opened the door, people started exiting their cars. It was like waiting to get into a theme park or Best Buy on Black Friday. Well, not really, but still, this place had people waiting for them to open. That's a sign of the good food to come.
I'm not sure we needed our reservation, but I let the host know we had one. We were seated and our server was around quick. She offered waters and we looked over the menu.
Based on the website, I felt like this place would have been fancier on the inside. I expected a whole different vibe. Instead, the place is super simple. Concrete floors. Paper tablecloths. Two rows of tables lined a long room. A big window let a lot of natural light in. It wasn't cozy or refined. It was good enough.
We looked over the menu and each picked out what we wanted. We got the crispy egg rolls for an appetizer. We initially were each going to order the chicken we wanted but after talking to the server, we realized the food is served family style. Everything is super large portions. One order of the Sesame Chicken was enough for us each to have two servings at dinner and had lunch for the next day. Same with the rice. One order of pork fried rice to share.
The egg rolls were up quick. These were smaller than I expected them to be and looked more like spring rolls. My idea of an egg roll is bigger, crunchier and deep fried. These were small, slightly crispy with thin wonton wrapping. They were good though. We each got two. They were filled with savory, soft veggies. No meat. The dipping sauce they came with reminded me of duck sauce. It was sweet and made for a perfect balance of crispy egg roll to sweet, thick dipping sauce.
Then came the two plates, one with the chicken and one with fried rice. From there, we spooned the food to our individual plates.
The chicken was really good. Think about the last time you got takeout Chinese food from the place around the corner or tucked in the strip mall between the grocery store and the family dollar. Now think about that chicken being all white meat chicken, large chunks in a fresh, crispy, light fried breading. It was exactly as it should be. It came out piping hot and was well sauced. The honey sesame sauce was sweet and savory. It had the consistency of honey and clung to the meat smothering each bite in flavor. Adorned about was bits of steamed broccoli. There could have been more of those but that's a minor complaint.
The fried rice was the best bbq pork fried rice we've ever had. It had small bits of bqq pork in it, enough to give it a strong flavor and a heartiness of its own. The eggs, green onion and cilantro added depth and consistency that was perfect. They had multiple different fried rice dishes to choose from, from chicken, pork, shrimp, you name it. You need to get the fried rice.
All in all, I'd say check out Yummy House. This Chinese food restaurant does it right. The service was prompt and friendly, the food was fantastic and generously portioned. Well worth it.