Since moving away from San Francisco my husband and I have kind of given up on getting good Chinese food, unless we are in NYC. We don't particularly mind though, and when one of us gets a craving we'll ask the other "want to get some bad Chinese food?". Sort of like how the movie Blue Lagoon is so awful it's loops around again and becomes enjoyable.
Baoding is not bad. It doesn't make your heart race either. Prices are pretty spendy for what you get. We had soup for appetizers: Hot & Sour and Velvet Corn. Both were very ordinary but fine. For entrees we had Tangerine Beef, which could have been spicier. Also had Sauteed String Beans, which were nothing to write home about, just a big 'ole plate of beans.
The service is where they set themselves apart. We were seated immediately on a busy Friday night. The atmosphere is comfy and dark with lots of booths for some privacy. Drink and food orders were taken promptly and food arrived swiftly.
We had our normally darling toddler daughter with us who became An. Absolute. Nightmare. When she became too distracting to the other diners we asked for our food to be wrapped and the staff quickly got us sorted -- but not before our daughter smeared food on the wall mirror by our booth. Great, just great.
Husband removed the kid from the premises as I tried to settle the bill and clean up the mess. The staff were gracious and complimentary of our kid, despite her behavior, and brushed it off when we tried to apologize. If we eat here again it will be as take-out!