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| - We chanced across the Imperial Wok while looking for another Chinese buffet in the neighborhood. As you've no doubt noted, the reviews are on this place are pretty mixed, as are my feelings about the place.
Firstly, it was clean and attractive inside. No need to fear that the chef is dissecting cats in the back or anything like that. I liked one of my fellow reviewer's description of it looking like something out of Star Trek's DS9, although I thought that the reviewer who described it as a PF Chang's wannabe was more on the nose. It definitely has a modern "Chinesy" flair, without being tacky.
When we arrived at about 1:45 p.m. on a Saturday, there were still about 10 lunch tables occupied.
We decided to try a few of our usual "test dishes" that we rely on at American Chinese restaurants. My partner had the hot and sour soup, which he found quite good, and that's a real compliment coming from him. I had the vegetarian spring rolls, which weren't quite as good as I'd hoped. They appeared to be freshly made, not a box of frozen pieces from La Choy or something like that. What I didn't like about them was that they were terribly bland; it was a tightly bound bunch of blanched cabbage and carrots, with a few mushroom bits. It was lacking the usual binders of vermicelli or egg that help add texture and flavor. Even the dipping sauce was bland - sort of a runny peach or apricot sauce, with no acidity or kick.
We also ordered the 'General Taos' chicken; most places call this General Tso's chicken, but given that it's not a real Chinese dish, I don't think it matters. While it was good, it was not made similarly to what one usually finds. This was not battered and fried with a sauce, rather it appeared to be lightly breaded white meat, with a lighter, completely non-spicy sauce over it, along with baby corn, green bell pepper & mushrooms. It was tasty, but not what was expected.
We also ordered the 'Szeschwan eggplant" which was supposed to be spicy and garlicky, but was neither. It's served in the usual brownish colored sauce, but this version included a good portion of snow pea pods. The pea pods were nice and crunchy, but overall the dish failed to be at all Schezwan style, which usually indicates spicy and peppery.
Perhaps the best dish of lunch was the 'Hong Kong style beef chow fun.' I don't know what kind of noodles they used for this, but they were very wide, and the beef was really tasty too. It was pretty much just flavored with soy sauce, and could have used a few more nuanced flavors, but if I were to ever return here (not likely) I would definitely order it again.
In all frankness, this is a Chinese restaurant for the suburban, White, Midwestern set, and I think the owner (who I saw was Chinese) is playing to his base. Service was just okay, but I noticed at least one table of regulars who were very friendly with the staff. Also, it seems to be a place that does a pretty good bar-service, becayse there were a lot of tiki glasses and red drinks with umbrellas being consumed. The atmosphere, with the nifty decor and a sound track of jazz standards, was very pleasant and the booth we sat at was comfortable.
You probably won't have a bad meal here, but if you think the food is great, then you'll probably think that Applebee's is a great neighborhood bistro as well. I would like to give this place three stars out of five because I think it merits a solid 70 out of 100, but because three stars = "A Okay" I can't do that in good conscious.
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