I'm covering for my friend's receptionist for a couple of weeks while I find some full-time work, so I get to explore and discover new lunch places in the Memorial area for the time being. I wanted to find a close, quick, delicious and affordable lunch option. And since I was eating alone (which is pretty rare), I wanted something unhealthy :)
I Googled a few places close by and saw that this place was not only Americanized Chinese (I love!), but fit the criteria that I wanted. So off I went! 3 minutes later, I arrive at a strange place with pictures of their food posted everywhere.
I walked in and immediately saw a To-Go window for quick pick-up for customers who called in. I sat down at one of the 8 tables inside and waited for someone to take my order. BTW, their lunch special runs all day, every day! Just pay a little more if it's after 4:00 pm.
So, the lady who took my order (who was also running the cash register, answering the phones and giving the pick-up customers their food) was pretty busy, so I had to wait a few minutes before being able to place an order. I decided to go with the lemon chicken, to which the waitress said, "You mean sweet and sour?" (they're actually next to each other on the same line in the menu) "No... lemon chicken?" "Oh okay... we can do that for you." I was kinda confused because she made it seem like an off-menu item when it was right there. She quickly left and attended to other things.
When I got my food, my jaw dropped. A HUGE platter of freshly-fried chicken. I literally only ate half and took the rest to go. I was kinda disappointed about the fried rice... rice, soy sauce, and maybe one bit of egg? But it wasn't the worst I've had. The chicken was freshly fried, juicy with a perfectly thin layer of batter that stayed crunchy throughout the entire meal. I could've done without the artificially-sweet lemony sauce. Maybe I should've ordered the sweet and sour after all. The lunch special also came with a fried spring roll, which was delicious and also fresh. All of that food, plus a soda for $6.49. Really, not a bad deal at all. And I didn't realize this until after the menu was taken away, but if you add $.50, I guess you can also get soup and/or a wonton? Something like that.
Since there was only one lady doing everything, she was pretty busy and distracted, and was short on a few occasions. But I don't really expect to be treated like a queen at a hole in the wall, especially one owned by Asians. All the criteria I wanted was, for the most part, fulfilled, and I will happily come back before my couple of weeks working in the area is over. read more