Jade Garden has been an establishment in the Ankeny dining scene for decades. Originally on the south side of town (1980s), the restaurant moved to its currently location bringing some of its character, and all of its great flavors, with it. Jade Garden offers a menu full of traditional flavors from the cuisine, and some upscaled, but familiar, Americanized dishes for those who prefer them. This is a food court Chinese food joint. Everyone has their favorites but if you want to try some of of what might be considered signature items from Jade Garden's menu, you can't go wrong with their hot and sour soup, potstickers, and egg rolls (which are uniquely flavored and not over-cabbaged). A meal there would not be complete without a serving of beef with black bean sauce. Or their Sizzling Beef. Tough choice - I'd better order both... Things to know: * It is not a bad idea with all Chinese restaurants to visit with your wait person if you have food allergies. * If you like things spicy, as for some freshly prepared hot oil be brought to your table. Jade Garden has a great lunch service, read more

This used to be a hidden gem years ago. I used to come to jade garden on birthdays for decades. I have been to jade gardens hundreds if not thousands of times and I am now at a point where I will not go back. Food quality has changed significantly. Servers are very nice, but cashier and owner could use some training in customer service. read more

Walking in I thought ohhhh this is going to be good. I asked our waitress if general tsoa had something in it. her reply was, "I wouldn't eat it if it did". We placed our order. There were three of us. We didn't order anything difficult, just off the menu. Two of our meals came out (the wait was a tad long for the two meals). My meal didn't come out until we were ready to leave. I sat there the whole time waiting for my meal. I did have a taste of my husband's meal. His meal was awful. I had one bite of my meal and then asked for a box. (a sweet little old man was treating us I didn't want to be rude). The sweet man didn't notice, I left it on the table. this was The worst food with the worst service. (all fairness to the waitress on my dinner delay I attribute That to the cook). read more

I have been a regular customer of Jade Garden for the last 20 years. The husband and wife who owned the business are very personable and the food is excellent. They have the best eggrolls and sweet and sour sauce that I have ever eaten anywhere. The soups and Mongolian beef are also awesome. read more

We hadn't been to Jade Garden for years. I think it's actually in a different building than when I went before. The place was clean and bright. The only thing was our table for two made me sit with my back to everyone. It was kind of weird facing the wall. I'm not sure I needed to have been seated there because there were many open tables. Thus said, we started with soup & my hot and sour soup was very tasty, as was hubby's egg drop soup. Next came delicious eggrolls. Two for $3.75. Our meals came and I had sesame chicken. I ended up bringing some of it home. It came with fried rice. Hubby's Mongolian beef was tasty and the beef was tender. They immediately give you a pot of hot tea, which is a great gesture. If you're looking for Chinese and want a nice little place to sit down and enjoy your meal, jade Garden is it. read more

Jade Garden - Mongolian beef and fried rice lunch - Chinese Near Me - Ankeny, Iowa

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Just classic American Chinese food. Got take-out. Went well. Nothing fancy, but I'd order again!

This review makes me sad. I do not take reviews like this lightly, especially when is one of a business that I once loved. For the second consecutive visit I have been forced to throw away 1/2 of the order because the taste was gross. Items as simple as sesame chicken and orange beef should never be slimy on the outside and ultra tough in the inside. To me this is the end of an era for my favorite Chinese spot. It's time to find a new spot for my favorite type of food. read more

Jade Garden - Soggy and slimy and taste was nothing like what was ordered. Sad sad day for my once favorite place. - Chinese Near Me - Ankeny, Iowa

We ordered for delivery. Food came fast and hot. Sadly, our food was flavorless. We both ordered spicy dishes Empress chicken and Princess/Kung Pao Chicken and not only did they have no spice, they were bland. We always save and eat our leftovers. These are going in the trash. This was our first and last time ordering from here. read more

Mid. Had to run and go get cash to pay cause their machines wouldn't work. All that running around for mid food. Mid taste. Expensive price.

I have been coming here since the 90s with my parents and grandparents and the food is still on par, the service is incredible, and price is really reasonable. Best egg rolls I've ever had by a mile too. read more

The food was pretty good. I went for a family friends mother's memorial service with my parents. My father's face turned red when he took a taste of red chili sauce they have. I had crab Rangoon, fried chicken wings, beef broccoli and fried rice and with hot mustard to dip read more

Jade Garden is a favorite- we love the potstickers, egg rolls, and Mongolian Beef. Lemon chicken is good if you like sweeter dishes.

My favorite for this style of food in Ankeny. Fast and Fresh and the owner always makes sure you are good

Having a bad day and really need Chinese food to uplift your spirits!?! Well Jade Garden is the place for you! They're so great they'll having you swinging from your ceiling fan by a belt in no time! They specialize in not getting orders right, losing orders completely, and food that taste like you wouldn't feed it to your cat. Excellent spot to take your boss for lunch; right before you get fired. read more

Best Chinese in Ankeny!!! This is one of my very favorite restaurants. Jade Garden has been in business for over 35 years and their food is fantastic. They have a large menu, including an excellent lunch menu, and they are always happy to tweak a dish for you. For example, I love their chicken and vegetables which is not a spicy dish, but if I ask them to make it spicy they do it in a heartbeat and do it well. The dinner for two is amazing and their shrimp with lobster sauce is wonderful. Actually, I have truly enjoyed every meal I have ever had there. They offer pick up and delivery and when I have ordered delivery they have popped up on my doorstep in under the estimated time with piping hot food. Hooray!!! I strongly encourage you to order your next Chinese meal with Jade Garden. read more

We had an amazing time at Jade Gsrden. This is our go to Chinese restaurant when visiting the Des Moines area. We had a group of 12 and they have a wonderful side room. We started off with apps of crab Rangoon, egg rolls, pot stickers and sizzling rice soup. They have family style platters and we enjoyed mandarin beef, sweet and sour chicken, lemon chicken, a seafood medley. All were wonderful. We have great service and enjoy our meals everytime we are in town. read more

This place has the best beef meals. So tender. Our favorites are broccoli beef we like it spicy, beef with black bean sauce, kung pao beef, veggie or beef fried rice. You don't always like everything from a place and we usually skip appetizers here but the beef satay is great. read more

I'd like to say I won't ever be going here again because the food is bad. But if this business makes a mistake they will belittle you, and call the police before even considering making it right. Just don't do it, ordering here is a mistake to your wallet, taste buds, and integrity. read more

The meal was hot! Pretty fast delivery, however the delivery guy got lost. I also think when you order for delivery spend $50 bucks you would think they would provide some silverware. I would probably order from someone else next time read more

This was my first time eating here and it was absolutely fabulous! I had the sweet and sour chicken it was all white meat crispy and delicious with veggies and pineapple. The egg rolls were so tasty as well we will be making this our new restaurant read more

They moved to a better location! They just recently moved to this newer and more visible to the public building! The old location was kinda tucked away in the back of a plaza, but now it is on a main street! This is still one of the most authenic Chinese restaurants I have been to in the Greater Des Moines area! The only thing that you can get more authenic is in Ames! The decor is very classic Chinese style, you can tell they put a lot of effort and investment into making the place look good. Everything is clean and gives a very high-end Chinese eating experience here. Many of the staff members are American, which gives it that modern eatery experience for Chinese food. We went for dinner this time and really enjoyed our meal! Not only was the atmosphere good, but the food was great! We started with the eggrolls which was very flavorful! I got the Ming's Beef dish with fried rice and my friend got the Hot braised fish which was better than we expected! It's like lightly battered fried fish nuggets in a great sauce! I highly recommend this place! There are mainly customers here and you can tell why, because it's a great place to get Chinese food! read more

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I ended up ordering delivery to see how their food was. I had never had their food before so I was eager to try based on reviews. It was $25 for a ton if food including delivery and tip, soup, a few appetizers, main dish, and rice. They were quick to deliver within 30 minutes during dinner rush. The fried rice could use some help it was dry and bland. Potstickers were very good. Crabrangoon was pretty good but no crab to be seen or anything other than cream cheese. Wonton soup was very good! Tons of veggies and wonderful wonton dumplings. The sesame chicken was a little dry and over cooked but had good flavor. Overall good experience I will try and dine in next time. Just glad to have delivery that is not pizza. read more

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Placed order online... when delivered was missing the Eggrolls I ordered and paid for, instead it had a bag of what looked like styrofoam. I called to complain and the guy argued with me even though my confirmation email showed what I ordered. I'll NEVER order from this place again and will tell EVERYONE I know to avoid them! read more

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I thought the food was good, and the service was good, and I would go there again; however, there were three people in our party and we were there for dinner so we each had a big plate of food. They brought us two servings of rice for three people and when we asked for more they wouldn't provide it and wanted to charge us for it. I wasn't happy about that. read more

The food at Jade Garden is closer to traditional Chinese food and is amazing! It is so much better than the Chinese fast food chains! It's fresh and made to order. The egg drop soup is natural colored and contains vegetables (which I love). The egg rolls are large and full of meat and veggies, and delicious. Today I had the Mongolian beef and my husband had General Tso's chicken. Both were cooked to perfection. The chicken was spicy as expected but it was a flavorful spice, not just the kind that burns your tastebuds. The Mongolian beef was tender and flavorful, not overly sweet. The only reason I gave 4 instead of 5 stars is because the staff is rather cold and distant, and not attentive enough. It took quite a while to be helped and to get refills. But as far as food quality, quantity and flavor, 5 stars! read more

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Okay I gave this place 4 stars, but one star is for hometown nostalgia, and because like many Ankeny teenagers, I worked there in high school and knew the family who owned it. The decor has been pretty static since 1988. Let me say, despite being the average fare for a mid-western Chinese food place, it knocks the socks off of most other Chinese food joints I've been to after moving out of Iowa. Yes, their food was better back in the 90s. The hot and sour soup could make you cry with joy back in the day. My family has been saying that for years. But, given the fact that the lunch is so cheap and they treat their customers right with free tea and generous portions not matter what meal you are eating there, I would stop yer whinin'. Wait till you pay more for worse food and no freebees in places where you would expect better. It is your standard Americanized Chinese food. You will not be blown away, but you will be satisfied. That being said, their fried chicken in dishes could be better. Meh, that's why really they should only get 3 stars. But most of their dishes includes good sauces and a good portion of veggies. If you want it spicy-er ask the waiter for hot oil from the kitchen. She'll bring it to ya. Any time I come home, Jade Garden is a must. If you want better Chinese, drive a half hour to Ames. read more

New location is cleaner but besides the owner, the staff was incredibly rude. We watched two families walk out and overheard a waitress say "I just got my ass bitched at by that lady" that should've been our clue to leave. The waitress, an older Asian lady, came to take our order and when i started ordering she complains "well I am busy, I'm not waiting" and just walks off. Ok. That just happened. Our food came in waves and when the last dish finally came i simply asked if it was correct since it looked different to me, I never have had spicy general chicken that was white chicken with peas in a white sauce and she looks at me and throws her hands up and said "this is how we make it here. Maybe other places make it different" My spouse spoke up and said "you don't need to be so rude" and she said "well if you have a problem you can talk to me or the man at the register" to which my spouse responded "I am talking to you. You can be nicer." My 6 year old has better manners. We were very disappointed. We paid. Tipped her. And left. We won't be back. read more

Food we get from here is always fresh and hot and tasty. We have tried several items except seafood. All very tasty. Only downside to them is they love the use of garlic. However that's not a negative for our family! Lol read more

Staying at Best Western and filled up rental car at Hy Vee.. Noticed the Jade Palace sign in the dark glowing. Looked up yelp pix and it looked good. We ordered Family dinner for two. We did notice as we were driving there was a chinese place but was closed next to tattoo parlor. Haha it happened to be the same place! They moved here two weeks ago from other location. Anyway wonton soup was fabulous and they served it to us family style ( big bowl) with two cups. Appetizer egg roll ok and crab Rangoon was super delish with some sweet n sour sauce on it. Mongolian beef was very tasty ( my favorite) just had enuf sweet with the bite of the green onion together. Garlic chicken was good but not very garlicky. Lots of mushrooms and water chestnuts inside. All this was served with white rice. We did have chicken to go as left overs and they brought us out a to go container with fresh rice in the bottom for our leftovers ! Awesome! Hubby's got left overs for the microwave in room. Worth trying. They really wanted to know how the food was and if we were locals. read more

Jade Garden - New inside - Chinese Near Me - Ankeny, Iowa

Jade Garden in Ankeny. I consider myself somewhat of an expert when it comes to Chinese cuisine, having traveled in China extensively and cooking Chinese dishes for over 40 years at home. While I have never found any Chinese restaurant in Iowa that can compare to the Chinese restaurants in Asia and the big cities in America, Jade Garden, is IMHO, the best in Ankeny. Not that there is a large selection of Chinese restaurants in town, Lucky Bamboo, China Buffet, and China Moon all suck. Panda Express and HyVee are also in town but less than acceptable. If you want Chinese food in Ankeny, go to Jade Garden. For starters the Hot & Sour soup is good, and their egg rolls (2 for $3.50) are above average. For main dishes I would also suggest the Kung Pao chicken, Yu Shaing pork or shrimp if you like spicy and Moo Shu pork. The Shrimp with Lobster sauce is also very good. All dishes come with white rice, fried rice or noodles are also available at an extra charge. Nice selection of lunch specials ($7-9.00), smaller portions of the main dishes that includes soup, egg roll and rice. Dinner entries run from $8.50-$13 and their carryout is easy using the on-line website. read more

I ordered because a neighbor raves about this place. I opened the entree and it was 75% full, so I wasn't impressed to start. The egg rolls were way over done, and the sesame chicken tasted like old oil. Won't be back. read more

Back in the early nineties this was a good Chinese restaurant for Iowa. Used to come here all the time. Unfortunately time and new owners have not been kind to this restaurant. The menu hasn't changed much in the last 20 years but the quality of the food has declined drastically. Besides the quality of the food, the restaurant needs a deep cleaning and perhaps a little remodeling to make it feel less dated. For now though, I would prefer the owner to spend some money on higher quality ingredients and a quality control person. It is a real shame how this fixture of Ankeny has fallen on hard times. read more

First off, the decor is from any bad '80s movie that has a scene in a Chinese restaurant. It's very dated and somewhat dusty. My table was sticky and so was the water glass. I asked for a recommendation from the waitress and she couldn't recommend anything. Another waitress stepped in and recommend the Spicy Szechaun Pork which I ordered with plain rice. The lunch meal also came with soup, which I had the Hot and Sour which was standard and satisfying. My main meal came out and looked fine but was very bland and lacked any flavor. The plain white rice had more flavor than the pork. I probably wouldn't ever go back. The place needs a good cleaning and a makeover. The menu and food needs a lot of help. read more

We have ordered Jade Garden "to go" many times with delivery. Our food was always hot and fresh with super speedy delivery. Today we chose to dine in and were so impressed with the quality of service, cleanliness of dining areas and of course the delicious food. The egg rolls and crab Rangoon are full of filling and flavorful with a crisp crust. The empress chicken is best I've ever had with tender, yet crisp veggies in a special sauce with real breaded chicken chunks. Way to go Jade Garden you have landed some customers for life! read more

Another of my favorite restaurants in Ankeny. Every time I go I see my favorite most friendly waitress Mercedes. She goes out of her way to make guests feel appreciated & taken care of. The drinks are very good & nicely priced. The menu has a great variety so you can try new things. The service is very good & speedy. The food has always been very delicious & you'll have some left for a snack later :) read more

I'll keep this short. Good: the new location is nice. The owner and staff are courteous and friendly. Bad: sent my meal back twice as it was cold. Reopened two weeks ago and they weren't busy. No excuse for cold food. Upgraded restaurant does not equal better food... read more

Don't come to this place. Me and my gf was having dinner at this place and guess what we found in our food! A candy wrapper. If you are insistent to come to this place, please have a closer look at you food, and make sure it is safe to eat. read more

Jade Garden - Don't come to here! This is me and my gf first time having dinner at this place. A candy wrapper has been found in our food. - Chinese Near Me - Ankeny, Iowa

This pains me to write as I enjoy the food here so much, but after a few odd experiences I'm not sure how often I'll be back. Lunch service is slow, so, so slow. I have to wonder if the main server holds the orders or of this kitchen operates unlike any other restaurant, because the only times food comes out when I have one particular server it is multiple orders at once. For example, a Saturday lunch there was another table near me who was there before me, and another table was seated a good twenty minutes after I ordered. In a small room you can hear everyone order, we all had quick fried apps like crab rangoons and egg rolls and the appetizers for all three tables came out together despite ordering at very different times. Same with our entrees. Dining alone it took an hour to get my meal. No, it was not especially busy. Any time you see the server bringing anything out, she has items for multiple tables. I'm all for efficiency but this doesn't work when customers are coming in at different times. Also, how does a Chinese restaurant that serves hot tea not have iced tea except in bottles? This is so bizarre. And bottled tea is just terrible. I've always thought Jade had really good food, but it's getting difficult to want to go there no matter how much I might be craving it because the service is so frustrating. read more

Jade Garden - How do you serve hot tea but not have iced tea? - Chinese Near Me - Ankeny, Iowa

We ordered carry out. Ordered sweet and sour chicken. Asked for sweet and sour sauce for the egg rolls and crab Rangoons. We received NO sweet and sour sauce not even for the sweet and sour chicken. Egg rolls were burnt as were the crab rangoons. Whose is going to check your order in the car. We live too far to go back. When I called they asked if we ordered the sweet and sour sauce, I said yes but didn't think I had to order for sweet and sour chicken. We have eaten there before and thought was very good food. We will think twice about going back. read more

Used to love eating here in high school (10+ years ago), so went with the family for a Sunday lunch recently. I was surprised that they were not crowded, but that may have been due to the holidays. Considering how empty the place was, our service could have been a bit better. We were waiting on 2 more people to arrive and were not asked for a drink or appetizer order, even after waiting more than 15 minutes for the rest of our party. We ordered some pot stickers to stave off my sister's hunger-induced grumpiness. They were quite disappointing. The filling was a tough chewy ball of meat, making it nearly impossible to eat in less than one enormous bite. The hot and sour soup was better, though it could have been a little more spicy. The best part was my Mongolian Beef. The meat was tender and I liked the puffed rice noodle things. They soak up the sauce nicely. The portion size was just right for lunch. Oh, and I was chilly. I'd go back for the Mongolian Beef and I'd try the sizzling rice soup to see if it's as I remember from way back when. If it's good and they have good egg rolls, I'd bump it up to a 3. read more