Chinese in Tampa/St Pete?

[Bob Smith]

Looking for some good chinese. I've recently moved from the San Francisco area to Tampa. Been to a couple forgettable places in Tampa. Their major sins: sweet, syrupy sauces with way too much sugar and cornstarch, and not nearly spicy enough. Little or no sugar and cornstarch with flamethrower heat is best. Less heat is ok if the flavor's real good.

[Mickey boy]

Traditional Cantnese Chinese....
"Lucky star" St, Pete ( US19 N, 15th Ave )
but,They will be moving soon.
" ABC chinese " St, Pete ( 54th Ave & 28th street )

Dim sum.......
" TC Choy's Asian Bistro" Tampa
( South Howard & Platt street )

[John Cammack]

Strongly recommend TC Choy's Asian Bistro. 301 S. Howard Ave. in Tampa. Regarding the "heat", just mention your preferences to your server. You'll love the atmosphere too. Enjoy!

[Wineman]

Try China Yuan. Very authentic.
CHINA YUAN RESTAURANT. 8502 N Armenia Ave., Tampa. [phone].

[RibDog]

Ditto, love China Yuan.

John

[BECCH]

China Yuan is Absolutely the Best in Tampa. Tc Choys is good, the rest Tampa Bay area have been Mall Style.

[andy huse]

Had some bad experiences at TC Choy's and it is expensive for dinner--- someone has to pay for all the decor. Cold dim sum rolled about on carts. I remember the duck was good there, but the specials were overpriced.

China Yuan is quite good and very reasonable. Dim sum made to order. I ate there over the weekend and fell in love with the shrimp wonton soup with beef stew and noodles. Great flavors. Pete Chen, the owner, has hioos own farm in Plant City and trucks in lots of fresh chinese vegetables. Just ask what's available. Have posted about this place several other times. Use the search engine or finding aid under edit tab.

[T girl]

Well, last time I went to China Yuan, I was disappointed. I find that you have to know what's good because some items (like sweet & sour soup) are made (according to the owners) for the Americans. Awful soup, just awful. Seems there was something else that was mediocre but their wonton soup is always delightful, as is their eggplant with pork. I guess it's hard to find a perfect restaurant

And I've had excellent dim sum at TC Choys. Sundays has the best selection, weekdays there doesn't seem to be the variety but I thought it was good.

[andy huse]

Good to know, T girl. I guess i've been lucky with the menu thus far. and i'll have to try Choy's again for Sunday lunch.

[Barbara]

I only went to China Yuan once and had the ginger beef...was horrified. Flavorless. Hesitant to return though I trust everyone's judgment on this.

However, that asian grocery in that strip mall is the only place I've been able to find szechuan peppercorns in Tampa Bay.

[andy huse]

I almost always order the beef with ginger and scallion, and i find the sauce very flavorful, the beef tender, and the generous pieces of ginger explosive in flavor. I must have eaten this dish at least 20 or 30 times, and flavorless is not a word i would use to describe it.

I admit that there are a couple off items on the menu, but in my experience, that dish is not one of them.

[714Buckeye]

Upon tons of recommendation since I am from out of town, I had to try out TC Choy. And when I read expensive Chinese food, I thought $10 - $12 for chicken dishes and $13 to $15 for beef... but its $15 for chicken and $20 for beef. I was already skeptical on the quality of food based on the menu, decor, and staff. After asking about several dished, I settled for my default dish that I test the chef's skills, Beef Rice Noodles or Beef Ho Fun despite the $16 price tag where most places charge $5.50 to $9.00. Were the noodles "fresh" noodles? Nope... (if you are in the Chinese restaurant business, you know what I am referring to.) Was the beef high quality? Nope... typical flank steak. Was the portion big? Nope... typical portion for other places' $7 portion. In Chinese, literally translated, this dish is called dry cooked beef noodle but it was not really dry... This dish also showed that the chef doesn't have the skills of a master chef to properly sautee/stir fry this dish.

Don't get me wrong, the dish was not bad for the average palette... but it's at best a $6 dish (cause it cost them roughly $2 to make). For someone that is accustom to good (Chinese) food, this place is unacceptable for the quality of the kitchen and the price of the food.

As for the price of the Dim Sum and Sushi, its also excessive. From the quality of the food I did try, i highly doubt that the dim sum is of decent quality. If I feel like I want to throw away some money, I might give this place another chance.

I was given recommendation to China Yuan and ABC Seafood so I'm going to give those two a try. If they are not at least decent in taste and price, I'm going to abandon a key staple of my diet while I'm in Tampa.

FYI, my experience is from being in the restaurant business for 20+ years and dining in Chinese cuisines from places like NYC, Toronto, LA, Chicago, Cleveland, DC, Boston, and Hong Kong.

And as far as Vietnamese food, the Pho in town is substandard as well. Pho Quyen and this other place by the closed down Pho Quyen were my random experiences.

If I find good food in town, I'll report it... until then, I'll be reading to find some good recommendations so I hope I find credible sources.

[rhnault]

Did you go to the relocated Pho Quyen? It's at Hillsborough and Memorial. I was at China Yuan again Friday night and as usual it was great. We had shrimp dumplings, snow pea tips, squid with black bean sauce and shrimp with vegetables. I think it was $25.00

[andy huse]

like I said, someone has to pay for all the fish tanks and waterfalls. I had some bad experiences, but they weren't awful. after a friend had a very regrettable experience, I wrote them off.

[proboscidian]

Pho Quyen is mediocre at best. In Tampa, try Saigon Deli or in Pinellas Park, Thang Long.

[Bergerman]

I agree that China Yuan is tops, but if you are on the southside of Tampa it might not be that convenient and the atmosphere is modest, at best (no beer or wine, either, but you can bring your own and they'll happily serve you without an extra charge). Just went to T.C. Choy's today for lunch and thought the dim sum was excellent, though the selection is not as great as it is on weekends. But the prices - $3.25 to $3.75 - were reasonable. It's as close as you're going to get to a San Francisco experience in this bay area. (Spent a week in that wonderful city over Christmas and have to say it's got to be the best food city in the country, even better than NYC, so you're going to have a big adjustment here. Good luck. Hope you like Cuban food!)

[Bob Smith]

I'll have to try TC out. I'm really more of a Szechuan fan than anything else, so if you have any pointers on that score...

[Barbara]

I feel your pain. I've been looking for szechuan for years. I'm still looking. In the meantime, you may have to pick up "The Good Food of Szechuan" and cook it yourself, like I do...

Ivory Mandarin Buffet in Dunedin has very good chinese food. For Szechuan you seem to need to go to Gainesville :(

[Coyote]

Welcome! We look forward to your posts!

I've lived in cities with Chinatown areas, including San Francisco and LA, and there isn't anything like that variety and quality here. I am a fan of TC Choy's, nearly always good for dim sum, occasionally items are not as hot/fresh during the week, but the restaurant is pretty reliable on Sundays. I much prefer their dim sum to evening dining.

Am going to make an odd suggestion; consider Thai. There are many better choices for that in this area than Chinese, and it is easier to get the heat levels to acceptable. Also, consider Vietnamese.

[Bob Smith]

I do like Thai, especially chicken or pork with sweet-hot red Thai chili. I went to a place called Rouen Thai, but no yummy chili.

[petec]

Since we ended up talking Thai, the best I have found (though hardly convenient to most) is a fairly new place called Little Thai Cafe. It's in Palm Harbor on Alt. 19 and Klosterman and it's awesome! The best I've had and inexpensive, too. Only 6 tables in the whole place! Go early 'cuz they close at 8.

[Manderley]

i have heard lots of good things about this little place.