China Canteen

2 Reviews on “China Canteen”

• Haz-Matt

  Great Authentic Chinese Restaurant. The restaurant is very non-descript with no signage other than the shopping center’s placards. The entrance is a breezeway with doors facing sideways, away from the parking lot which makes the location virtually hidden in plain sight. Because we expected 8 for dinner, we were seated in a private dining room that held 2 large tables which was nice. One nice touch was the lazy susan on the table that made serving and distributing food much easier than having to continually pass serving dishes across other diners. We ordered 7 dishes for 8 diners plus a few appetizers for sharing. The kitchen is smallish so the dishes arrived in waves which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, just something to know for diners who prefer to eat American-style (each person orders a dish solely for themselves). We tend to dine family style so this wasn’t a problem and worked out well so that we could enjoy each dish as it was fresh and hot before the next dish arrived. We ordered Cumin Lamb, Beef w/Cognac & Vegetables, Cumin Chicken, Crispy Beef, Fish Filet Soup, Lemon Chicken and Beef Noodle Soup. The portion sizes were very generous especially for the Cumin Chicken, Beef w/Cognac and Fish Filet Soup. One of the preferred spices here are dried red chili peppers – the Beef had a small mountain piled atop the serving bowl, the Cumin Chicken had a roughly 50/50 mix of chicken and peppers. The Fish Filet Soup even had slices of jalapeno pepper in the soup for both heat and flavor. The dishes were all very good – the Cumin Lamb was packed full of cumin which gave it an excellent flavor. The Beef w/Cognac & Vegetables, while covered with dried red chili peppers, was certainly numbing (as forewarned on the menu) but also very tasty. The Cumin Chicken was very good as well – the chicken had a nice spicy flavor even without the red peppers. The Fish Filet Soup arrived with a generous serving of fish which was nice. Even after sharing it amoungst 5 diners, there was quite a bit left to take home. The Crispy Beef was a good rendition and the Lemon Chicken, a more Western staple, was crispy although the batter was a bit thick around the chicken.All told – very nice restaurant that, as we noticed, was patronized almost exclusively by Asians. We’ll be back to try other menu items!

  September 18, 2013, 3:46 pm

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• Angela Pan

  Nice Cantonese Dishes. I really like the spicy whole fish at this place but I haven’t been back in awhile. From what I hear, it hasn’t had too much luck with bringing back old customers with its static menu items. I recommend stopping by if you’re in the mood for spicy foods or just miss the taste (and aroma) of Cantonese food.

  January 20, 2010, 11:14 pm

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