We tried takeout at Crystal Garden the other day while shopping at the strip mall. A new family took over the restaurant in February, I believe, so I'm not sure how well the ratings stand if they were from the previous owners. We thought everything was very tasty. The egg rolls with dipping sauce and the cream cheese wontons were both great appetizers. We had ordered sweet and sour chicken, which came with tender white rice, and we had ordered a side of fried rice. It had such good flavor that I mixed both rice cartons together to extend our leftovers for the next day. The chicken in the lo mein tasted grilled or it was seasoned well. My husband had commented on how much he liked the chicken. The helpings were generous so we had enough for dinner the next day and it all still tasted really good! read more

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The food is amazing especially the egg roles they are huge and delicious! The service is also great! Super nice and welcoming staff!

Whelp, stopped by today when they opened at 1100 am on Friday. I was greeted at the door and was the first person there. I ordered the Papaya salad and fried dumplings to go. I was then told that the "Cook not in yet". Okay, I asked when the cook will come in Reply: Cook come in at about 1 pm. But you open at 1100... I just turned around and left. Nope. read more

Even in this economic environment, the prices are outrageously expensive! No fried rice on the planet is worth over $10-12.00 dollars.

Great food, great service, and great people. Pad Kra Pow is always the my favorite. Lived in this neighborhood all my life, and it's always been a hidden gem. read more

I placed an order for lo mein and chicken and broccoli, mildly spiced, to be delivered. When I received the order, there was so much red pepper on the food, it was inedible. I tried scraping off as much red pepper as I could, but the food was so spicy, it burned my tongue and lips - bad. My heart started pounding and I got a splitting headache and being poisoned by so much pepper. I sent them a message and asked for a re-do or my money back and they never responded. I had to throw away $50 worth of food. Will never order from there again. read more

Service in the restuarant is always good and I do enjoy dining in. Ambience is simple, clean, and well lit. I'm just perplexed as to why this restuarant is hellbent on putting their sticky rice and and their vermicelli noodles in the containers while they're hot?!?! I just ordered a boat noodle to go and got home 15 minutes later ready to assemble my bowl and my noodles are overcooked and stuck together in a large block. This is also happened with sticky rice I ordered from them over the summer. Quality should not change once I leave the restaurant. A complete waste of my $16... I can't even pick the noodles up with chop sticks, they're literally ALL broken. read more

Crystal Garden - Crystal Boat Noodle (Large) - Chinese Near Me - Minneapolis, Minnesota

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Service and food are not so good. I recommend Burger King over this place to eat and I never eat at Burger King

Worst egg rolls ever. Dried up and tasteless I want to like this family favorite Very little difference in taste of all dishes. read more

This is possibly the worst Chinese food we have ever had. We ordered the chicken lo mein and it was one big ball of sticky spaghetti noodles. It was awful we also ordered pork fried rice which was too salty to eat on top of the poor quality of food there were $8 of taxes and service fees. It was extremely disappointing for me and my family and we will definitely not order from them again read more

Ordered pepper steak to go, portion were small not much steak and weak taste, rice was dried out to. Was my first time there and I think it will be my last. read more

Lived in Minneapolis through a lot of my adult life, raised my family here but we all moved a few years ago. Back this week visiting family and wanted to visit some of our favorite restaurants. We use to order from Crystal Garden often when we lived here but original owners retired and now under new management. Ordered take out tonight and had to wait about 40 minutes. Order was hot, rice was good but that's where the good ends, chicken cashew had no cashews only peanuts, clear Tom Yum was all broth very little mushrooms and only four shrimp in it which I paid $2.00 extra to have shrimp. Garden sizzling okay but very small portion. We ordered medium spice but everything was no spice at all and my Tom Yum was no spice but extremely salty., almost too salty to eat. I cannot recommend this restaurant anymore, extremely disappointing. We will have to search for a new Asian, Thai restaurant to get takeout next visit. read more

They catered an event at my job and it was some of the WORST food I've had in quite a while! I had the orange chicken with white rice and it was little more than salty breaded chicken with an orange wedge on top. There was no orange flavor to the chicken whatsoever. read more

Very disappointing. Cut corners in preparing meals. The second time ordering here since new ownership. Thought I would give them another chance. The egg rolls were obviously not made in house. Prefabricated. Portions were small. Ordered medium spicy. Total lack of spice. Bland thickened sauce. There are other Asian food places out there with similar prices and are much better. Not going back. read more

I'm so sad. This used to be my go to place for Chinese. New ownership and new menu is not for the better unfortunately. I could barely eat the food I ordered it had an off putting taste and it was nothing like what I used to get. Sadly unless things revert I won't be back read more

CG is now more of a Thai restaurant, with new owners. I'm sorry to see a couple of my favorite items no longer being offered. I was going to go this evening, wanting the curry beef wontons and sesame noodles. All of the low ratings now have put me on hold. read more

I ordered to pick up. Services was good. Foods was good but to salty and portion are to small. Owner, if you see my review, please consider putting less salt or sauces with to much salt in your dishes. I wish you luck and may your resturant only be better. read more

we used to go here all the time before COVID. Now there are new owners we tried the shrimp foo young. first time it was ok. today we ordered take out again and it was bad, like it day old not in a patty but like it was scoped out of a pan. read more

Hadn't ordered from them in a couple of months, new owners and new menu. Food is horrible! I had the Fried Rice, it was mushy with little taste, threw it away. These guys won't last long serving this stuff at the prices they're asking. Really disappointed, it once was a pretty good place under the previous owners. Don't waste your money and time. read more

Update, everyone: Apparently this restaurant is under new ownership. It is HORRIBLE. Ordered two entrees, soup and cream cheese wontons. Everything except one entree was messed up. Even if you say "chicken " four times when ordering, you don't get it. I had to order with a second employee as the first could not complete the order. The wontons tasted as if they were two days old and microwaved. Also, if you order garlic sauce, it doesn't mean that the sauce has garlic in it. What???? An employee actually said this to me. Run. Far away. Don't order food here. Just disgusting in every way. read more

For what it is....a very inexpensive Cantonese style all you want buffet, this place gets 5 stars! I detected no msg headaches after trying a myriad of offerings which gives a big plus one on my buffet check list. Also not overly salty as I found myself adding touches of flavorful soy sauce and a little of the plethora of nice sauces such as sweet hot mustard, chili sauce, pot sticker sauce, sweet and sour...we learned that the sub gum style chow mein is the original famous recipe from the Nankin restaurant which was a Minneapolis historic, yet long since closed, American Chinese place located in downtown Minneapolis since the 1920s or 30s. The egg fu yong is not the paper thin patties some places push off on you, but about a half inch thick. Nice. My sister loves the potstickers and says you must use the accompanying sauce if you wish to become addicted to them. The proprietors are sweet, quick to serve, quick to replenish water as well as the buffet. Super quick, satisfying place to grab lunch for sure! read more

Crystal Garden - Enjoying the buffet. Loves the Nankin style chow mein. Original Nankin recipe, yo! - Chinese Near Me - Minneapolis, Minnesota

When new owners take over a business they should have to change the name. This isn't Crystal Garden. This is Crystal Garbage. Ordered chicken chow mein. There were maybe four pieces of chicken smaller than a quarter, and 5,000 prices of soggy celery. Also, no sauces in the bag. No soy sauce. Ordered wontons. Not too bad. Just not the same place. Won't order here again. Also got a Thai dish that wasn't worth writing home about. Back to Bill's Garden. read more

Obviously not the same Crystal Garden that we have gone to for years. Quality disappointing. Egg rolls so sad.

The food was on the saltier side and the portion is so small for its price. Service was terrible, dude didn't know the menu at all or how to properly be a waiter. Food took really long, drinks and appetizers came after everything else. Very disappointed with the new opening restaurant. read more

Not shabby for American Chinese food although the interior is very blah and they do not offer dining in.

The Pad Thai's noodles were mushy and tasteless. the shrimp were overcooked and tough. The egg rolls were soggy and flavorless. Very disappointing read more

I recently ordered there and noticed totally different menu , I was surprised but I used to like their egg rolls , well they were totally different greasy , no meat despite being pork egg rolls , not crispy and food was awful I threw it away. .i then read another review a lady said under new management so that explained it . I will not be back sadly . read more

I've been getting the Sesame Chicken "not too well done" lately and it's been really really excellent. I really like the new ownership. (The former owners were awesome as well). I need to branch out and try some other dishes to see how they hold up to the Sesame I've been getting. read more

I understand from some of my neighbors that this used to be a pretty good place but it isn't anymore. I've been there twice and won't be back. Food is mediocre at best. My neighbors agree, it's changed for the worst. read more

What can I say...everything I have tried here is excellent. The chicken hot pot is always my favorite go to dish. It comes out sizzling in a nice serving dish.. The Pu pu platter is also great to share for an appetizer. This restaurant is very clean, and the people are very friendly and professional. If you haven't tried it yet, you have to check it out. read more

The service was great! Very friendly and quick service, however, my dish was very bland and meat dry. Ordered N#3. Also, they didn't have chili oil! What Chinese restaurant doesn't have chili oil?! read more

Not very good. Beef and broccoli tasteless. Broccoli looked like it had been cut up a few days ago as it was yellow on the ends. This is the second time I have been disappointed there. It used to be much better. I do not know what has changed. Will not be going bac read more

The huge buffet sign on the front windows got my attention. I came for the Saturday lunch buffet, $8.50. Limited selection compared to the the mega buffets. Not a single item ran out or was replenished when I was there. It wasn't busy. I had sweet n sour chicken, fried chicken wings, curry wonton puffs, chicken lo mein, beef and broccoli, egg rolls, and meatballs. They didn't have general tso or any sushi. The meatballs and curry beef wontons were pretty awesome. That might be the first time I've seen meatballs at a Chinese buffet but they were good. *the waiters give good service and dress in white shirts and black bow ties. read more

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I've been going to Crystal Garden for decades albeit we don't eat out all that much. So when we do have dinner out, it is a treat. My most recent experience that I had was very mediocre to bad. I wonder if they've changed ownership. The crispy items, like wontons, egg rolls and crab rangoon were soggy. The chicken had an odd taste to it. The noodles were like store bought ramen noodles that cost around a dollar a packet with a little cheap soy sauces added. The noodles were clumped together because they over cooked the ramen. The spicy food had zero spice to it even though there were blacked peppers in the dish. We didn't aske for specialty items. They were basic dishes that every Chinese restaurant services. After tax, the meal ran around $50 for three of us. Normally, this would be acceptable. Yet the food was so mediocre that no one wanted seconds, no one wanted to take it for lunch the next day and it ended up in the garbage. Maybe if one goes for the lunch buffet, it will be worth it. We're not going to risk it. After being a customer since 1997, I'm now never going into that establishment again. It's definitely not worth it. Find another Chinese restaurant. read more

4star food for a regular chinese resturant Food is excellent the "hot pots" are the greatest they come out sizzling still cooking any meat or seafood or veggie nummy read more

Crystal Garden - Pupu platter nummy - Chinese Near Me - Minneapolis, Minnesota

My chow mein smelled like wet dog. It was just sauce, chicken, and a lot of celery. This was the worst Chinese food I ever had. I luckily was right by Burger King and got decent food from there. read more

Crystal Garden - Chicken chow mein for one - Chinese Near Me - Minneapolis, Minnesota

We all know that Minnesotan Chinese food is far from authentic but, if you are like me, you eat it anyway. I'm definitely a creature of habit but I never, ever eat out somewhere on a consistent basis. I've been to Crystal Garden twice this week, so something must be pretty awesome there. Oh, there is so much awesomeness! The employees are incredibly friendly and attentive AND the food comes out quickly. Their menu is super long and everything I've had has been really, really good. Some highlights? The shrimp toast (it's a large piece of breaded shrimp as opposed to those greasy pillows of filth most places serve,) sesame chicken, Crystal chicken, cream cheese wontons and chicken with walnuts (sugary goodness!) I tried the Bon Bon Chicken and I loved it, but it's basically the leftovers bits of chicken covered in peanut butter. It sounds completely unappealing but, believe me, it's awesome. There are a lot of spicy options but they can alter that to your taste. The one thing that really stands out to me is their impressive section of vegetarian dishes. I don't know if any of them can be made vegan, but I haven't seen so many mock duck and tofu options since I was last at Evergreen. I definitely want to try the lychee tofu the next time I am there. They have a buffet during lunch but you can only eat in or take food to go all day. Definitely don't hesistate to sit down and have dinner there because it's a headache-free experience with good food. If this place can get my super picky parents to stop eating at that nasty Star Dragon on Lake Street, they are doing something right. read more

This is my go-to place for a quick sit down lunch. They have a nice buffet for around 8 bucks. None of the dishes really blow me away, but they are all consistently good. My guess is that this is MSG free zone. Or they use it very sparingly. Most MSG restaurants dishes taste very salty and you end up thirsty all afternoon. This is not the case here. The two waiters are great as well. They both wear white shirts with black bow ties and are two of the most polite and attentive waiters I've come across. My only complaint is that they do not deliver. But then again, that's just my lazy ass talking. read more

Didn't realize our regular place, Star Moon, was closed on Mondays, so we decided to try Crystal Garden since it's been on the to-try list forever. Between this and Bill's I think we have a couple new regular places. I really liked the food here. The chicken fried rice had a nice smoky flavor. Cream cheese wontons were good, always a plus. I don't even remember what else we ordered but it was all good. I look forward to trying to lunch buffet. I realize the decor is not trendy or up to to date, but I don't care about that as long as the food is good. read more

Finding good, reliable, and cheap Chinese take out in Minneapolis that's on the way from the airport to our pad is not easy. In fact we resorted to pizza because we weren't aware of this little gem. The owners are accommodating of those "5-minutes before they close" calls that we have been making. We tend to stick with the classics, pork/chicken low mein, kung poa chicken (and yes they do pile on the peanuts so it's not going to be easy picking them out), and the cream cheese rangoon. Next time we'll actually pick up a menu and order something different, I expect it'll be just as good if not better. The restaurant itself is pretty simple, our dining experience has always been take out. So pick up th phone and call if you are in the neighborhood and wondering what you could dine on to get you till that fun filled day called tomorrow. read more