St. Louis/U. City: Recs. re Chinese Noodle Cafe

[p.j.]

Hello! Searched the Board and found no mention for this Chinese restaurant on Delmar, east of Skinker, and west of Rosebury.

On Sauce, it came in 2nd place in the Reader's Choice awards this year. However, no website and no written reviews. I just called and they are open until after 9:00 tonight.

Anyone have any thoughts, especially recs. for veggie dishes here?

Thanks, p.j.

[rothdan]

Mai Lee a fan favorite and the king of vietnamese in St. Louis most likely is staying at its current location. Things can change but that is the latest

[esseelig]

Pretty good, and pretty inexpensive. I haven't gotten anything there in awhile (this is a side effect of my dad owning a store directly in de-facto-Chinatown on Olive), but I recall their dishes generally being rather healthy and flavorful. In my experience, they might have the best hot and sour soup in town, and at least as of a year or two ago, they had a tendency to sporadically give people bowls of it for free (your luck may vary).

[p.j.]

Thanks for your thoughts, esseelig! We didn't get there last month, but hope to this month.

What are your current favorite restaurants on Olive? We tend to go to Wonton King, after 2 bad service experiences at LuLu a few years ago, and a disappointing meal at Royal Chinese Barbeque (which had been great about 15 years ago.).

I called Jade Garden last month, but got no answer. Are they closed?
Thanks--since I've been commuting by Metrolink, I don't get out at noon as much as I used to. p.j.

[alan]

My understanding is that the Jade Garden had been purchased by the owners of Mai Lee and that they intended to relocate there. I haven't heard anything further since I read that some time ago.

[esseelig]

Yep, the people from Mai Lee bought Jade Garden, and it's closed at this point. The plan was to move Mai Lee there, but I think they're still in the process of heavily renovating the building.

Well, ironically, I'd probably list LuLu and Royal Chinese, and we've always been pretty chummy with Liling from Shu Feng. LuLu is definitely slow, but the food's usually satisfying. I've yet to have a particularly bad meal from Royal Chinese - the seafood eggplant pots and BBQ pork are really good. Shu Feng makes some great lighter dishes, and fantastic pot stickers. I'm a fan of their House Special Chicken.

I've actually never really liked Wonton King the times that I've tried it, so go figure. I've heard mixed things about Wei Hong (still haven't been to the full restaurant), and Asiana Garden seemed like they had a lot of authentic items, but I the time I went, I found the duck dish that I got kind of fatty and bland.

[p.j.]

esseelig,
I am sad to hear Mai Lee might move further west. It will be out of range for lunch from Clayton, and a long ride from our home. I have enjoyed the restaurant since it was a "walk up to the window and order" place. Actually it is the restaurant we go to the most.

I think the difference in what restaurants we like is that, for the last 7 years, we eat vegetarian & fish (not shellfish) dishes when we eat out. We found that Royal Chinese had hardly anything we could eat, and what we did order was not very good. I remember my favorite dish there was an eggplant and chicken hot pot with a black bean sauce.
I enjoy the preserved egg and fish congee at Wonton King, especially with a drop or two of the pepper sauce added. Great comfort food.
My husband and I had a nice lunch at Wei Hong for our anniversary a couple of years ago, but we've not been back.
Thanks, p.j.

[bobzemuda]

I love that House Special Chicken at Shu Feng. I love spicy food and Liling always seems to get a kick out of making me pay for that. There are times they've made it so spicy I started sweating from the first bite on.