All day I was craving Chinese food. I’m not 100% sure why but I believe it had something to do with smelling someone else’s lunch in the cube farm and deciding that it would have tasted a whole lot better than the Mac and Cheese with Spam alongside a salad that I had leftover from dinner the night before. On my way home from work I shared this little tidbit with Kim and she mentioned that we still had a few bucks leftover in the budget so if we could keep it to $22 or under, we’d be in the clear. I pondered this for a moment and decided that we’d try out a recommendation for Americanized Chinese from reader Matt at Lai Wah in Apple Valley.
Based on the e-mail I got from Matt, I knew where it would be but I checked the place out online first and found that like many other local restaurants they have absolutely no web presence outside of links from the trashy ad-filled websites like City Search. Well, after verifying that it was indeed at the corner of 140th and Pilot Knob behind a Walgreens (why there is no CVS on the next corner, I’ll never know — “choice” brings “competition” you know) we were off.
When I pulled into the parking lot I noticed that this place is located very close to a local pizza chain that is so very dear to my heart, Linwood Pizza. I also thought it would be interesting to note that I passed another Asian restaurant, Mei Fun, along the way. Has anyone tried Mei Fun and Lai Wah? If so, please give a comparison below! Anyway, not knowing if they had dine-in seating, I half expected to pull up, grab a menu and wait for takeout but I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had a large and very empty dining room available for our use.
Kim and I were offered the opportunity to seat ourselves and we chose a booth right near the front windows. The woman who had been busy working the counter and phone came over and provided us a menu rife with the standard spelling mistakes and crossed out words. The menu options were very straight forward and there were absolutely no dishes that you couldn’t find at any one of 1000 other Americanized Chinese places around town. The menu prices seemed reasonable and were, from my quick glance through, generally under $10 with the majority in the $8.50 range. Because Kim and I were on a tight budget for the evening we both chose from their dinner menu items (ordered by number) which included cream puffs, fried rice, and an entree. Kim ordered their sesame chicken and I grabbed their orange chicken. Not exactly what I was looking for tonight, but it would have to do.
While we waited I watched as numerous people came and went with their pickup orders. The restaurant says that they have been around since 1982 and while I don’t know if they mean at the current location or not, it sure did seem to have some good business tonight. While the take-out side was running smoothly, we remained the only two on the dining room side to which Kim said she felt like they could do without the entire dining room side of the restaurant. I have no idea what it’s like on other nights, but tonight I couldn’t have agreed more.
Our meals were out in fairly short order and came served on vintage plates like I have never seen before. These would probably be a better fit over at Osaka Japanese Steakhouse with their party atmosphere than they are at Lai Wah. After I snapped a few photos we dug in.
The food is really nothing to write home about. It was exactly what I would have expected your ordinary Americanized Chinese food to taste like. In fact, it reminded me of just about every other single Americanized Chinese restaurant in Apple Valley including World Buffet, Egg Roll King, Jade Island, etc, etc. Kim said that she thought it was fine and while she has absolutely no desire to return anywhere other than Leeann Chin, she would go back to Lai Wah.
Me? Well, my cream cheese puffs looked nice but had almost no cream cheese and were over-fried. What cheese was inside had become a tough mess that had the consistency of bubble-gum that had been chewed too long. The orange chicken was meaty and plentiful but was just ok — certainly not something I’d recommend anyone else try and certainly not something that I’d order again. The pork fried rice was fine but fell apart too easily to eat with chopsticks. This plate was meant for eating with a fork and I suppose that if you’re into that, then it would have been fine. Kim’s sesame chicken reminded me more of teriyaki than anything. She also had the same sides as I did so I didn’t bother to try those. While we both finished them and Kim thought it was good enough, I have no desire to return.
No matter how you take what I wrote above I’d like to state that the food wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great. If you live in the immediate area surrounding Lai Wah and you don’t like Mei Fun, I suppose you should go there. If you live closer to any number of other Americanized Chinese restaurants around town, there is no reason to go out of your way to eat here instead.
Have you eaten at Lai Wah? If so, let us know what you thought. Perhaps they have a dish you’d personally recommend? If so, comment on, we’d love to hear about your experience(s)!
Address:
Lai Wah
14050 Pilot Knob Rd
Apple Valley, MN 55124
Phone:
(952) 322-1688
Check out all the pictures from Lai Wah in Apple Valley, MN on Flickr here.
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November 12th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Dude. Seriously. “Mac and Cheese with Spam.” I felt ill just reading that. I’m not sure I trust your judgement 100% anymore. Maybe Kim could start a site…we share a love of LeeAnn Chin’s…she’s brilliant.
November 12th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
It’s cool you tried it! I’m with you, most Chinese places just suck in the area but you brought to light one I have seen, just never tried. Mei Fun. Are you recommending them? If yes, I’ll definitely give them a shot. I can’t agree with you though that the sesame chicken tastes like teriyaki chicken… LOL.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Matt, nope haven’t tried it but I’d like to know how it is.
November 12th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
God, I would kill for a crab rangoon right about now.
November 13th, 2008 at 7:45 am
I have had Mei Fun, its fine. Personally I liked Egg Roll king, but with Satay 2 Go and Ronin in the area, I really never go anywhere else for asian food anymore. Those two are just so much better than everything else that I dont see any reason to spend money at the other places.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Chad, that’s the only thing I can think of as a reason why I just don’t really care for Americanized Chinese restaurants anymore. Why bother to eat the same old thing when I can get really good Asian nearby?
I’ll be at Ronin tonight for dinner while Kim is bouncing around with her cousin in the SW Metro.
November 13th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Ahh.. a subject dear to my heart. Relocating here after spending the first 33 years of my life in San Francisco, I’ve been looking for good Chinese food for 15 years. The search continues, but some of the signs are getting better.
Jade Island gets my vote for the worst resturant in Apple Valley. The folks are nice, but the food is terrible. That being said all of my neighbors rave about it so I give them credit for knowing their market. As far as authentic chinese, or even good chinese, to find it in Minnesota, especially south of the river you have to sort of look between the lines.
Stay away from the cheesey puffs, Chinese cooking has no dairy, and until I moved here I hadn’t heard of these as a “Chinese” delight.
I also stay away from the deep fried nuggets, soaked in some sauce, be it sweet and sour or orange or what ever. Fried rice is a debate, as all my Chinese friends back home would tell me when ever we went out to eat, Asians avoid fried rice since it’s actually stale rice. You have to let it sit in the the refridge over night ot make it.. Whitey rice, as they call it..
So.. what that leaves you with are:
Noodles dishes, especially if you can find Chow Fun.. the thick rice noodles or the Mai Fan, the super thin noodles. BTW, those “crunchy” noodles they use here for Chow Mein.. will cause me to walk out of resturant altogether. They’re a sign of shitty food.
Any resturant that has Singapore Style noodles of some sort, I give a heads up to.. noodles with a curry base suace, w/some heat and chicken/eggs/veggies chopped up. Golden Wok in Burnsvilles on 42 at 11 does a decent version surprisingly.
I look for black bean sauce dishes as well, they’re a bit off the beaten path of Americanized and get close to what I could find back home.
All decent Chinese resturants have a bottle of chili oil on the table, that’s a sign of a decent place. Seafood is another place were you can get some better authenticity in your food. The “happy family” dishes, where several meats and seafoods are mixed together are good choices.
For my money, I’ve found “Eat Street”, Nicollet at about the 20s in Mpls is the place to go for good, reasonable Asian food. The street is dominated with Vietnamese foods, but they’re pretty good and cater to Asians.. not suburbanites who like their food mild or extra mild.
There is one place, Evergreen on Nicollet. it’s in the basement of a building downthere that’s outstanding for Chinese. The owners are Taiwanese, and the food is pretty darn good, and pretty authentic. No deepfried stuff with shitty suaces from a spigot.
I like to find Mu Shu of some kind.. tpically they haven’t used
November 13th, 2008 at 10:54 am
If anyone is interested…
http://www.evergreen-chinese.com/
November 13th, 2008 at 11:09 am
sank,
Curious what you think about Mandarin Kitchen (Bloomington), Little Szechuan (St. Paul), China Jen in Roseville, Tea House in St. Paul, Pagoda (Dinkytown) and the Keefer Court (Cedar Riverside).
If you’re looking for good, authentic Chinese, each one of these is a must-try for one reason or another.
November 13th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
mmm that nuclear chicken looks fucking tasty.
and if you can tell the difference between orange, sesame, and general tso’s chicken, you’re a better person that I am.
General Tso, you were a ruthless warlord, but your chicken is quite tasty.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Bill.
I’m still going to weigh in with my vote for Vietnam Restaurant in Woodbury. They have a mix-mash of a host of asian cuisine, from Pho to Sesame Chicken and Spring Rolls (with damn tasty cream cheese puffs). – I don’t recall that you reviewed that place when we went, so I’ll be sure to hit it up sometime in the next month or two.
You are right on the ‘run of the mill’ generalization. It’s hard to carve out a niche for a take out place, unless you wipe the slate clean and come up with a concept like your Satay2Go place you love so much.
For now, back to my pizza, not from a national chain.
November 13th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
If we’re on the subject of woodbury, you cannot leave out Yangs. I will 100% gaurantee this is the best sesame chicken in the state. Make sure to order level 5 spicy. This stuff is epic!
http://www.yangswoodbury.com/
November 14th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Yangs is good, I eat there regularly, and I may try the Vietnam Restaurant today, as I have never been. (I work in Woodbury). As a followup to above, I got takeout from Ronin last night, and the Ancient Chicken is my new favorite dish, just barely edging past the drunken noodles with chicken.
Seriously, its a crime that Ronin is not packed every night.
November 14th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Chad, I was in there last night from 5:45 to 6:15 (or so) and saw one person come in for takeout. During that time I saw that they had no less than four people working. I’m not quite sure why they felt that they needed four people to do the job that would have easily been handled by two (or even three) but perhaps that’s what Nona mentioned as an attempt to streamline their operation. I tried their miso soup and while not the best I’ve ever had it was a happy hour special at $1.95 and worth the money.
November 14th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Question: Does Ronin deliver?
If not, they should.
November 14th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Not that I’m aware of.
November 14th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I was there just before you, there was a couple people having sushi, but it was pretty quiet. I am not a fan of the Miso Soup at all, but I saw that some of the happy hour sushi specials look like a great deal.
November 14th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Lai Wah is AWFUL!!! Mei Fun is consistently pretty good! Mei Fun has a tiny dining area as well.
November 14th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Got confirmation myself when I was in tonight — Ronin’s menu says “delivery when driver is available”.
February 8th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Satay 2 Go delivers too (10 mile radius).
February 14th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Sorry to post news about Mei Fun here, but I didn’t see a separate post. I don’t have any details, but the Mei Fun spot is now East China with a big sign saying “now open.”
March 25th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
I find irony in the fact that you were venturing for authentic cuisine and you ordered cream cheese puffs and fried chicken…Personally I enjoy both authentic and Americanized Chinese food and when I am searching for the Americanized, Lai Wah wins hands down.
March 25th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
Glad you like it David, thankfully there are many places out there as not everyone shares your enthusiasm for less than mediocre Americanized Chinese.