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| - I met a group of "Spa Girlfriends" here for dinner before we had a big meeting at the Doubletree. We needed something fast, yummy and close to 44th and Van Buren.
Bingo!
I preface this review by stating that since i was in a group of 7, I didn't necessarily order the items that I would order (does that make sense?).
We had one great specialty dish (had the word Phoenix in it) with chicken and large shrimp and veggies in a spicy brown sauce - delicious! Other entrees included house special chow mein, beef & broccoli and sweet & sour pork. Again, not items that I would have picked, but for the group, it worked.
The main reason I give Lao Ching Hing 4 stars is it totally passed my "sauce test." I am big on sauces. Specifically, the consistency of the sauce (and, of course, taste). I hate runny sauces ... I hate when there is not enough sauce .... And it's harder than you might imagine to get it right.
All of the sauces were great. Perfect consistency and very flavorful. I'm not a huge fan of sweet & sour anything, mostly because I survived college working at a fabulous restaurant in Tucson called The Mandarin Grill and quickly learned the difference between real Chinese cuisine and Americanized Chinese cuisine. Sweet & Sour is the quintessential Americanized Chinese dish.
The chow mein was fair - not spectacular, but not greasy (the way it often is at restaurants).
The service was great. I never got close to emptying my water glass, and our group had a nice big table in the back where we could be as chatty and spunky as we wanted. The food arrived quickly, and everyone managed to clean her plates.
I will return!!
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