I have never eaten here before and have seen the place before but it always looked empty or closed. My goto Chinese places are in Livonia and Canton, but as I am frequently driving around Walled Lake and Commerce, I chose to give Boon Kai a try. The indoor decor is, well to be nice, plain and date and dimly lit. There were no customers. Only a young asian guy talking on a phone next to the cash register and an old asian lady sitting at a booth in the very back. Sometimes places like this - what I call a 'dive' - end up being decent places to eat. But I was actually unsure if I should sit down and eat or choose takeout. They seemed to be doing a brisk takeout business, every few mins someone would walk in and pick up or place and order and the young man seemed to be answering the phone at a dizzying pace. At first glance the menu seemed peculiar - because the prices all seemed way to cheap for a Chinese diner in 2017. I don't know, I wasn't sure if I could trust it. I opted for some general tso dinner combo which was only $6.95, I asked if it was white or dark meat, the kid didn't seem to understand at first, I had to ask again, two more times before he said white. So ok that would be ok. I personally prefer dark meat for my general tso chicken, but i know my wife prefers the white. I also ordered a pint of vegetable egg foo young, another dinner combo which was some sort of szechuan beef & sweet/sour chicken, and then a small egg drop soup. In all the total bill was barely $26 with tax. Again I thought I might of been in the twilight zone or some greasy spoon 5yrs ago. I haven't bought chinese takeout dinner - 3 meals and soup for less than $30 in ages. I sat waiting and I looked around the restaurant, there was a faint smell of pine, which made me cringe, and I swear the old lady in the back kept staring at me. I was happy when the food was ready so I go home.
Well the food is well, weird... The combo szechuan beef and s&s chicken was both in the same styrofoam container - strangely sweet beef stir fry that had almost no heat and was disappointing. the s&s chicken was fresh, crunchy, and plentiful - lots of chicken and not too much breading, the s&s sauce a nice tang. the fried rice looked like it had been cooked a few times too many and had too much soy sauce flavor. the egg roll was a bit soggy and had almost no flavor on its own. my wife's food - her egg foo young was drowning in an orange goo that resembled baby food - we were both grossed out. After cleaning the egg foo young of the nasty day glo orange goop, they tasted decent. Her general tso's wasn't bad - there was almost no heat and the sauce was sweeter than either of us would of liked. However it had nice meaty white chicken chunks, which were not overly breaded. She liked it. Not the best, but not the worst. Lastly the egg drop soup - I was fearful when I saw how orange it looked, but thankfully, it wasn't a thick gloop, and it actually had some of its own flavor. The rolls they give are a bit overkill. Reminds me of a few other Chinese dives I've been too. oversized soggy chewy white dinner rolls do not speak to me as authentic Chinese cuisine.
I will give this place another go. Not sure if I will be brave enough to actually sit down there to eat. But if the prices don't change too much in 2018, it might not be too shabby for me to get basic americanized chinese food from there again some day. read more