Say you’re paying a visit to Syracuse, NY, and you’re craving some great Chinese food that tastes authentic and fresh. Which Chinese restaurant in Syracuse would you call? None.
As a third year college student at Syracuse University who loves to order out with friends almost every weekend, I have tried different Chinese restaurants: Mr. Stirfry, Panda West, and No. 1 Kitchen.
Students at Syracuse University have limited choices when ordering take-out, and employees from the restaurants usually go door to door at dorms to drop off menus.
I’ve never had the chance to go inside these restaurants because they aren’t anywhere near campus. The delivery people usually look like they’ve had very long days. They deliver, and they leave. The workers in Chinese restaurants in Queens, NY, where I grew up, are usually very welcoming and attentive. They did the best they could to make the customers happy.
At the restaurant in Syracuse, none of the food tastes fresh; it all tastes like prepackaged frozen food. If you order a wonton soup from Mr. Stirfry, you will regret it. The wonton looks like a big brown ball with hard skin placed in chicken broth. Wontons are supposed to be light yellow and taste soft and silky.
In Flushing, Queens, there is a small restaurant that sells wonton soups that taste heavenly because they make the wontons that same day. Freshness is the key. The only thing decent at Mr. Stirfry is the Hot and Sour Soup, but then again it’s the same everywhere.
I once ordered a Young Tso Chow Fan, a dish you can find in every Cantonese restaurant, from No. 1 Kitchen, expecting it to taste authentically Cantonese, but after one bite I wanted to throw it out. The typical dish consists of fried rice with onions, chicken, peas, crabs, and baby shrimps. Although this dish did consist of all of the above, it tasted like mush. You might as well just pass me a bowl of porridge and call it a day. The rice is supposed to be drier and stiffer because it is being fried, this however was rice that was cooked with way too much water.
The food that tops the worst list is Egg Foo Young, another Cantonese dish. I had never tried Egg Foo Young before, and I never will again. It is an omelet with chicken, scallions, and water crest. The ingredients may not sound too harmful, but don’t let that fool you. Just mix it with the soy sauce and voila! You now have yourself a catastrophe from which no amount of rice can save you.
The only Chinese restaurant I can commend for tasting fairly decent is Panda West, however did I mention it is over priced and they’re cheap with the amount of rice they give? It’s a miracle for anyone to be full with the small bowls of rice they give.
Despite the small amount of rice, I must say the winner for the most decent food in Syracuse is Panda West because the food is pretty good compared to the other Chinese restaurants. The meat tastes fresh, and they come in various different sauces other than the generic General Tso’s such as sauces with hints of pineapple.
Mr. Stirfry
214 Tecumseh Road
Syracuse, NY 13224
(315) 446-3968
No. 1 Kitchen
317 Nottingham Road
Syracuse, NY 13210
(315) 682-6868
Panda West
135 Marshall St
Syracuse, NY 13210
(315) 474-7777
Adrian:
November 25th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
This article is so true. I go to college in Baltimore, MD, and it is impossible to find good Chinese food. I see Chinese food delivery guys bringing menus to the dorms all the time. Whenever one of them brings menus, they throw their competitors menu in the garbage. Its hilarious and sad.