Best Taiwanese Place in Ames, IA. I had been frequenting this place since they were open. The…read moreowner(s) are the same as Little Taipei and Cocost which were the best Taiwanese place when I was still a poor student at Iowa State. I remember $3.17 was the price of a meal in 1994 and that kept me fed for one day. Good old days. Stopped by today on my trip to another city and to my surprise, Ah May herself was cooking the meals.

Always good food. Fast service and friendly. Best sesame chicken in Ames. I hope May continues to…read moreprovide yummy Chinese food.

Literally the best Chinese in Ames. Hot, fresh, flavorful and very reasonably priced. There's…read morelimited seating inside but that's not really a huge concern for me.

4/16/26 6:00 p.m…read more Online Order for Pick Up Food: Everything was absolutely delicious! We ordered orange chicken, sesame chicken, chicken with green beans, 8pc crab rangoon, 4pc teriyaki chicken, bar-b-q spare ribs, chicken lo mein, and a side of sweet and sour sauce. For starters, the teriyaki chicken is my new favorite lol. It's not dry or overcooked and it's cooked thoroughly. The bar-b-q spare ribs are super tender and smothered in sauce; so good! We were pleasantly surprised with the orange chicken as well. It's not overly in your face orange flavored nor is it too sweet. The sesame chicken is also really well flavored. The noodles in the lo mein were firm and soft at the same time with great flavor. The chicken in it was tender and thankfully, the noodles weren't overloaded with veggies. Honestly, I'm not big on crab rangoon, but these are good! They're filled to the brim and really creamy. Chicken with green beans exceeded my expectations and it will definitely be on my "always order" list lol. Portion sizes were more than I expected as well. They really pack the to-go containers and the meat itself is good, large chunks. I can't wait to try more of the menu! Service: We were promptly greeted when we walked in and the wait time was minimal. The staff was pleasant and greeted us with a smile as well. While ordering online, it was a bit of a pain and it tells you to add a tip before checkout, which was almost not an option to opt out if you wanted to. Our order was correct and done quickly, even though they were busy. Ambiance: It's not the biggest inside, but that didn't stop others from dining in. It was packed for dinner rush and smelled amazing. Overall, it was kept clean, no debris or old food on the floor or tables. The menu is large and easy to navigate. While it was full, it wasn't uncomfortable; not elbow to elbow.

The BEST crab rangoons in the Midwest! Now that is a huge title to live up to, but the Mandarin…read moreCafe truly earned it. I could sit and eat those fried crabmeat rangoons for hours! Some of my family's favorite dishes include their Mongolian Beef, Combination Lo Mein, Orange Chicken, and their (not-so-secret) menu item: Honey Walnut Shrimp! The owners of this local restaurant are the SWEETEST family and I highly recommend supporting them if you find yourself in the Perry area. No one makes Chinese food better than they do! Definitely worth the drive from Des Moines.

Excellent place to eat. The food is always great and the staff is always friendly. Nice quiet…read moreChinese restaurant.

When I was in college, I waited tables at this restaurant. Well, at a previous incarnation of this…read morerestaurant. The eponymous Mr. Chen was my boss back then...and did most of the cooking. This would have been the first half of the 1980s. Since then, the restaurant is under new management. It also was moved from the original North Grand mall location to the light warehouse district on Lincoln Way east of Duff Ave. My father, my son and I had dinner at the Lincoln Way location at the end of April 2026. We were the only customers dining in. Two of the dishes we ordered (shrimp in black bean sauce and General Tso's chicken) tasted very familiar...i recognized them as Mr. Chen's recipes. While we were there, there was was a nearly constant stream of people coming in to collect takeout orders. So...the current management are obviously pursuing a different business model, which is fine. But I felt a little bummed by the shabby physical space and industrial location. I missed the vigorous energy that Mr. and Mrs. Chen imparted when they were running the place.

Always loved going to this place, even since I was a kid. I enjoy coming here and glad they're…read morestill around

Quiet little spot to just satisfy the hunger for amazing food!! Will be visiting again. Service…read morewas swift ! Thanks for serving joy , Joy !!

Really wanted to love this place but it was just ok…read more Overall food was average but good Chinese in my opinion but the service was where it was more disappointing. Did an order ahead that said it would be ready in 30 min. Showed up 40 minutes later wasn't ready. They were decently busy so I was fine waiting longer. Then they forgot I was waiting for a pickup and tried to serve us in house. Seemed like very nice people just didn't have a good set up for when it's busier. Got our food after about an hour and 15 min after ordering. Other people were there for close to 2. pepper chicken was the best- rice that it came with was cooked perfectly. Wontons were decent. The spring roll was soggy and the gyoza was a little dry. The reviews kept showing a dumpling sauce that people used for the gyoza which I asked for but they didn't give me any and I think the sauce would've made it better

Food and service have been wonderful both times we've gone. We've gotten good recommendations and…read moretried something new each time. This has been the best Indian food I've ever had! There are also huge portions. I recommend getting a few things for the table and splitting. The cilantro naan was amazing! I also loved the Chicken Tikka Masala, the Biryani, and the 65 appetizer. Highly recommend! Plus they have a few good cocktails and the happy hour special is buy a cocktail, get a glass of wine free! It's an odd special but also... I got it both times I've been, so I clearly am on board. Highly recommend!

This is a soft four star review. Closer to 3.5-3.75. They have a few minor kinks to work out to…read moreget them up to a 4 or a five. As someone who hates their food touching, I thought their attempt at thali plates was humorous. They are the exact same lunch trays you found in your elementary school cafeteria, complete with a specific square for your carton of milk. I loved it, but I could see how some people think this could be tacky. When you enter and say you want the buffet, you're offered the choice of butter naan or plain naan. This comes to the table fresh; there were two of us and we got four pieces to share. I do not know if it was refillable or if you get more if your party is bigger. They also give you a large container of water for your table. They had a setup with about 12 different dishes; it looks like they might plan to expand the buffet at some point as the back row was all empty trays. The vegan/vegetarian dishes were segregated on their buffet line; the dishes with meat were on their own line. My vegetarian friend really enjoyed the dal and said it was some of the best he'd had. I had the karampodi chicken (a dry dish; its kinda like the gobi 65 appetizer), a chicken dish, some "kebas" that were pretty much plain chicken, rice, and the veggie fritters. Huge plus for having chai on the buffet along with galub juman! I had far too many of these. Minuses: They had raita which I love, along with a chutney. These were in bowls out in the open. These should either be kept over ice or in a chilled cooler, especially the raita. It looked like they didn't do a great job of refilling some of the dishes, I was disappointed they never refilled the fritters while we were there. It looked like they were trying very hard to keep up there. The lunch buffet I believe was $18.99+tax; I didn't pay for the meal this time. Again, soft four stars; will be back to try again shortly as well as add some exterior photos. Was surprised that no one else got to this yet.

12/13/25 9:00 p.m…read more Dine-in Food: 10/10!!! Everything we ordered was phenomenal! All of the fish was fresh and delicious. The sushi rice was perfectly cooked as well. We tried a couple of appetizers and they were really good! The Komodo Sticks are a newfound favorite lol. Also, we decided to give some sake a try; two different flavors. The Hana Fuji Apple is definitely preferred over the Moonstone Plum. The Hana Fuji Apple sake tastes similar to an Apple Jolly Rancher, but the Moonstone Plum sake tastes almost as if you're drinking a perfume; not in a bad way, just unexpected. A Teppanyaki Steak Hibachi Bento Box was also ordered to share, and it was great! The steak was savory and delicate without being overcooked. Service: Our waitress was awesome! She greeted us with a smile as well as a great, upbeat attitude. All of our questions were answered with knowledge instead of guesses and she even made great recommendations. She was quick and non-intrusive. All of the kitchen staff were fantastic as well; working quickly and efficiently. Ambiance: Inside is small, quaint, almost intimate, and pretty quiet. You're able to see the chefs work as they prepare the food, without being overwhelmed by kitchen noises or smells. Speaking of, it smelled great in there! It hit us before we even entered the restaurant and it smelled like perfection!

We stopped by rather late one evening during the week. My daughter, an ISU student and…read moreself-proclaimed sushi connoisseur, brought us there. Not surprisingly, it was pretty quiet but we were glad to find a decent place to eat at that hour. We ordered 4 rolls that were recommended by the server. Portions and prices were reasonable. I can't say it was the best sushi I've ever had, but I was impressed. Maybe I had low expectations for sushi in a college town in the middle (literally) of farm country, but I thought our food was really good. I liked the Asian bar vibe. Save for a few ISU pennants and other memorabilia, it was pretty easy to imagine we were in a small sushi bar in rural Japan. Having never been to Japan, I am probably way off on that, but the atmosphere was way better than most of the strip mall sushi places we usually go to. All in all, pretty good! I'd definitely go again.

I'm so glad Waterfront is here. The food is always good, the staff is attentive without being…read moreintrusive and the prices are fair for seafood in the Midwest.

Thankful for a friend's recommendation, as a recent lunch visit was solid good…read more Plenty of parking, spacious interior, and good customer service. Loved my Jerk Tilapia and veggies. Delicious meal, well priced. They have daily specials also. I'll be back.