Taste Place Asian Cuisine and HOTPOT

My husband and I were traveling across Missouri and happened to be in Columbia around the dinner…read morehour on a Sunday evening. Google maps provided their location as one of few Chinese places open on Sunday. We found a parking spot in front but there is a free public garage about a block away. Once inside the door, a ramp takes one to an open seating area with booths along the far wall. A husband-wife team own the second iteration of this restaurant. I wish I had asked her name since the wife speaks English very well and has a wonderful easy manner. I ordered one of the dinner specials, chicken with prawns and asparagus, while my husband had the Szechuan chicken (special order of broccoli added). Both were excellent. My husband commented the Szechuan was a tad spicier than his usual experience but he really enjoyed it. I don't normally eat the rice, but it was so flavorful and fluffy just plain I was happy to add it to our leftovers to-go container. Plenty of food for tomorrow lunch!! They moved into this location in June and are still renovating so the decor is lacking. But I hope they have everything ready for the students coming back to school this fall. We'll be back for sure when we attend Mizzou football games!!Curry Seafood Rangoon appetizer to go!!

Cute little restaurant in downtown Columbia! We didn't expect much going in since the decor was…read moresimple and there wasn't much of a crowd but the food was amazing!! This has been the best Chinese I've had while living in Columbia. I got the Curry Crab Rangoon and the Szechwan Chicken both exceeded my expectations.

H1. Sanbei Chicken Hot Pot 三杯鸡煲 ($14.95) - pretty salty. Different from usual three cup chicken.

V6. Spicy green cabbage 麻辣包心菜 ($11.95)

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V3. Stir-fried Shanghai Bok Choy 清炒上海青 ($11.95)

Szechuan House

3.9(37 reviews)

2.2 mi

TLDR: Horrible experience. Do NOT go here unless you want to be treated extremely rudely, spoken to…read morelike you are dumb, be charged for to go boxes, and be forced a 15% tip that is NOT disclosed anywhere on the receipt, menu, or inside the restaurant. Hotpot was the most expensive thing on the menu being $60 which is already a very high price as is. The menu was confusing because it said you got 4 meats and 4 other toppings and then the section under had two types of soups for $6 extra. My friend and I were confused because we figured the steep $60 cost would include a soup and the two soups that were an upcharge were special. The server came to take our order we think is also the owner or the manager because she was giving instructions to the other workers. When the server came to take our order we asked the server about what the broth would be if we didn't want the upcharge broths and she immediately already had an attitude and talked to us like we were dumb. She said that we HAD to pick from the upcharge broths and basically insinuated that if we just paid $60 we'd be getting raw meat and no broth which doesn't make sense to me because why not just include the cost in the price ?? Before we could even place our order she just huffed and stormed away and left us confused. We tried waving her over several times and she'd just make eye contact and walk the other direction. Eventually she came back and we just sucked it up and ordered w the upcharge broths. When she took the menus from us she slammed them down on the pile of menus in the front which was off putting. She brought us our food but gave us a plate and chopsticks. We had to attempt to wave her over several times before she finally came over so we can ask for bowls and spoons. She brought over bowls and no spoons. And we had to attempt several more times before we could get spoons. Every time we called her over she had an attitude like we were bothering her and she borderline rolled her eyes at us every time we asked for something. She also never brought a ladle for the soup either but we didn't wanna deal with her attitude again so we sucked it up and used our small soup spoons to grab soup into our bowls. Our server never checked on us while we were eating and eventually dropped off the check. We asked for to go boxes and she again seemed annoyed. She originally brought one large soup cup and one box for the meats and toppings when did NOT fit at all. We asked for a second soup cup so we can separate the broths and a second box so we can separate the meat and veggies. she again had an attitude and sighed. Then grabbed our original large soup cup and brought back two tiny ones that barely held half the soup on either side of the hotpot. We had to call her over again to ask for a bigger soup cup or a larger one and she brought over another tiny one. When we asked for a bigger one she said "if you want more boxes it's an upcharge" which is crazy to me bc we already paid a steep price for the food and now you wanna charge us for to go when you purposefully gave us smaller boxes so our food won't fit?? My friend went up to the counter to pay and the lady auto charged him a $10 tip. He was confused because no where on the receipt, menu, or in the store did it say tip was auto gratuity. On the reciept it self it also only said "suggest tips" with the price of 15%, 20%, and 25% tips. He tried to ask her why there was an auto tip and she completely ignored him and started talking to another customer. When she was done with that customer he asked her about it and she was SUPER rude and said "if you wanna eat here you have to tip." He was not planning on not tipping he wanted to change the tip lower due to the horrible service and get clarification on where the tip was an auto tip. We would've been fine paying the tip if it was disclosed beforehand but nowhere did it say that. He again asked if he can change it and she had a major attitude so we decided to just leave. In terms of the food itself. It was not worth the $66 price. The meat was not even the right type of meat for hotpot. It was thick slices like you would use for chow fun which does not go well with hotpot at all. The broth itself was fine and standard hotpot broth. The food was not worth the price and you can make it much cheaper at home with bigger portions. Overall, horrible experience and I would never go back here and never recommend anyone to eat there due to the extremely rude service and condescending tone of the server/owner.

I'll be honest the service can be abrupt but moving here from NYC I'm used to restaurants where the…read morefood is fantastic and service is not. BUT the FOOD!! The food is so incredible! Everything I've had has always been perfectly seasoned. I don't really mind the service and I just hope they never move away. This is not a fancy restaurant but the location is convenient and the food is phenomenal. I've personally been to this restaurant over 10 times and I try to order 1-2 new dishes I haven't tried each visit. I haven't tried the more Chinese American style dishes. I don't read Chinese and just try the authentic dishes with sometimes confusing English names. So hopefully these recommendations can help someone who wants to try really high quality, authentic Chinese food. Top two dishes for me: The spicy and crispy chicken are bits of golden crisp fried goodness sautéed with fermented black beans (dou si), chili peppers and Szechuan peppercorns. Tongue numbing and very pleasant spice level (I don't eat super spicy foods). Umami is through the roof. Sliced fish with salted mustard cabbage (generous chunks of boneless fish in a savory and tangy broth with pickled mustard greens, pickled garlic and pickled peppers -perfect for cold day but I can eat this all year round). Additional favorites: Fish slices and tofu in spicy sauce (deep fried fish chunks and silken tofu in mildly spicy Szechuan peppercorn 'mala' -numbing spicy sauce). Fatty beef in pickled sauce (it's actually a soup with thinly sliced tender beef, pickled mustard greens lightly tomato flavored broth) Cumin lamb/beef -both are super tender and flavorful Sliced Pork in garlic sauce (thin strips of stir fried pork w wood ear mushrooms in a very tasty and fragrant sauce) Sichuan style cucumbers (refreshing pickled cucumbers) Spicy green beans -perfectly cooked

D9. Mixed Vegetables

17. Lo Mein (ckn)

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30. Spicy and Crispy Chicken 5. Crab Rangoon 8. Egg Rolls

House of Chow

3.3(141 reviews)

0.3 mi

New owners and still consistently my "go to" Chinese restaurant in Columbia. The food is well…read moreprepared and the legacy of a friendly service established by Amy in the late 1970s continues until today. Yes, I have enjoyed it for nearly 50 years. Moreover, the cleanliness and ambience of the restaurant always puts a smile on my face and a feeling of quality combined with healthy practices in the kitchen apparent. If you're looking for the Americanized versions of Chinese food, you will find it here, accompanied by traditional dishes prepared fresh and well by their attentive staff.

I ordered here for takeout and the food is overall quite good! The servers were nice and patient…read moreand gave recommendations. The inside was super clean and there was a big waiting area. The food itself was a bit pricy for what it was but was very tasty and authentic Chinese food. I got the broccoli beef lunch special and calamari. The sauce for the calamari was good and the portion sizes were decent. I would come back to try other dishes!

Inside

This is $130 worth of food

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CRISPY CALAMARI

China Kitchen

3.0(30 reviews)

4.0 mi

$65 order and szechuan chicken is 90% onion. WTH??? How about a refund? An awful rip off. Do not…read morerecommend at all.

This was the pork meal. Clearly, we are missing half of the name "pork and rice". This meal is ALL…read morebroccoli lol Shameful. Won't go back.

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Close-up of hot & spicy beef

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Deidre P.

8 years ago

If you're looking for a place that has delicious authentic Chinese food as well as all the well known favorites, Taste Place is it! The hot and sour soup is the best in town - hands down! I ordered the Hot and Spicy Chicken today off the Chinese menu and it was amazing. It was spicy, crunchy and full of flavor. I've also had the chicken with broccoli, the Mongolian beef, the hot and spicy squid, and chicken lo mein. Never had a dish I didn't like and I like to try something different Everytime. The people there are incredibly nice and helpful. I had a couple questions about the menu and the guy was happy to explain everything and even pulled up a picture of what I was asking about on his phone. The food is priced fair considering the huge portions! And I have never had to wait long for my food. If you haven't tried this place yet, go today! Well, worth it! read more

Jesse P.

8 years ago

If you are looking for authentic and delicious Chinese food, you should go to Taste Place. I can't speak for their "American Chinese food" menu, but if you ask for their authentic 'Taste Place' menu, you will be off to a good start. So far, I've had various fish dishes, the wontons in chili sauce, and beef tendons with potatoes. All were excellent. The restaurant is small but very clean. The service was really good as well. Go to Taste Place and get a good introduction to delicious Sichuan food. read more

Yao W.

8 years ago

Taste Place is inside He Cheng. It's basically the same restaurant but w/ a new menu. And it's AWESOME! W/ the taste place menu you get all kinds of authentic Chinese dishes. We usually order take out, but today went in to dine. It was small but VERY clean. The service was great. The food was sooo good and we were really happy w/ everything we ordered. If you're into authentic Chinese food, definitely give them a try! read more

Jenny Z.

8 years ago

Taste Place is the best Chinese restaurant I've ever been to. They r located in Hecheng and right next to the mall. I just LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!! Especially their hot pots, I usually only eat them when I go back to China, but now I can eat them anytime!!!! Also their hot and spicy chicken r the best lunch/dinner for me!!!!!!!! read more

Yan H.

8 years ago

This is a literally the best Chinese restaurant I've ever been to! I am not kidding guys! I have been there for over 50 times!!!!!! I am serious!!! And I promise you,the food is insane !!!!! U guys need to try it because it's INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! read more

Annie Y.

8 years ago

This is probably my favorite restaurant in Columbia MO. Their food is really traditional and they also got hot pot ( personal little hot pot) I think is amazing that they can do that!! read more

Darnell W.

8 years ago

The Best! My food was hot when they delivered it to the house. the order was correct. and the people are friendly. thank you for the good food! THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE SPOT! read more

Johnny B.

7 years ago

This is the best Chinese food in Columbia I eat here everyday if you don't like it your lying. I suggest everyone to try it so good.

Robert G.

7 years ago

Thank you sir..................... ............ ........ ........ ....... .... ...................... ...... read more

Ebony H.

3 years ago

Great food, Horrible Horrible Horrible Service

Taste Place Asian Cuisine and HOTPOT - hotpot - Updated October 2026

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