China House

We spent $100 here ordering to our heart's content a couple of days ago. A rare treat. I wouldn't recommend ordering this way though. If you are ordering for more than one person, consider choosing from the Dinner A, B, or C menus. Save money (and a smidge of disappointment). I was looking for an alternative to the panda express honey walnut shrimp, so I ordered shrimp with almonds and was thoroughly confused. I did not know people liked shrimp with almonds, and bell peppers, and mini corn, together in oyster sauce. But if it's on the menu, someone must like it. My husband was not impressed with the quality of the beef in the broccoli and beef dish. We also get the feeling that people do not order large amounts from this establishment, because they seemed to be in disbelief at the amount of food we were getting for just us two. (But perked up for the American Express payment. lol) Still, I will try this place at least one more time. We did LOVE the wonton soup after all.

I love this kind of place.But everyone only has one.It is like a wife in the days you got married and stayed married.There may be hundreds and thousands of women or men with whom you could have paired up .But this one is yours and it is a good match* * *I am referring to the lunch joint everyone goes to next to the office.Often it is a Chinese place. In Boston, it was usually a pizza and subs place. In Texas, it is often a Mexican place.The hallmark of the lunch joint is thata) It is in the industrial location near where you work. There are not a lot of other eating choices around it.b) People use it because it is fast and convenient. They keep using it because the food is cheap and good.c) Over time, getting lunch from your lunch joint becomes the high point of your day. You spend all morning thinking about what you ordered, and checking on the time to see if it is lunchtime yet.In the afternoon, you still have happy memories of lunch. Now however, now most of what you are thinking about is going home.Lunch joints form a key part of the psychology of what you like most about your job.Your day peaks at noon, and it doesn't peak again until 5 pm.* * *China House is your basic lunch place.It is right in the middle of the industrial district on Burnet North of 183.It is in a restaurant desert. Restaurants restart near Q2 Stadium, Restaurants exist on 183 near Burnet. Most of these are too expensive, too far or too lousy to be the reliable lunch place. China House is in the sweet spot of having the three key prerequisites.* * *The menu is strictly American Chinese standards.My wife had tofu and vegetables.I had sweet and sour shrimp.My wife loved her tofu and vegetables.(And she is demanding about her vegetarian dishes.)I was initially disappointed when my dish consisted of the standard red syrup glop being served in a bowl to be dumped on my fried shrimp and vegetables.Sweet and sour has degenerated since the golden sweet and sour sauces of my youth.But I was pleasantly surprised and delighted when I had the shrimp.There is a difference between a Chinese Butterflied Shrimp (which happens to be fried) and plain old fried shrimp.These shrimp were not butterflied - but they were fried with the classic techniques used by the American Cantonese restaurants of the 1950s and 1960s.I could not tell you exactly what the frying technique is in question - but those old style restaurants produced a lighter puffier tastier fried shrimp than any fried shrimp you get under normal circumstances.China House was using the classic 1950's technique.It was like coming home again.The onions and peppers that came with the dish were cut coarse and served more or less raw - just heated up in the wok.This is standard for sweet and sour nowadays. The onion DOES cut the cloyingness of the sauce.Altogether, I was highly impressed.* * *The basic rule of a lunch joint is that the servings have to be large and the price has to be cheap.Thumbs up on both fundamental counts.If you are eating on premises (most lunch joints are delivery propositions), the food was nice.* * *If you read the other Yelp reviews, they are bipolar.People either really love or really really hate this place.I went a little bipolar trying to figure out the logic of what differentiated the good experiences from the bad experiences.The good and the bad people seems to have ordered similar dishes.(There are many complaints about the sesame chicken - but the dish has its fans too).There are complaints about meat quality.Meat quality can be an issue in cheap chinese places - notably if the question is chicken quality.But other people order beef or chicken and do fine.There are complaints about crab rangoon.However, crab rangoon nearly always comes from commercial suppliers pre-made.Restaurants don't make their own crab rangoon.They pull it out of the industrial freezer bag and heat it up for you.So the crab rangoon people didn't like could have been served to them anywhere.Many of the complaints concern delivered food.The wife and I ate in.If you were to be super cautious - you could make a point to eat in.You could also make a point as my wife and I did - of confining our orders to vegetables, tofu and shrimp.Vegetables and tofu are generally the safest thing you can order in a Chinese restaurant. Chicken is the highest risk item.* * *However, I suspect this is a solid place.I suspect the food is better at lunch than at dinner - because a lot of their customers would be ordering workday lunch.At night, the kitchen might be more thinly staffed - as might be the case for deliveries. Food quality can suffer under these circumstances.When we were there midafternoon, there were at least three family members working with good service and rapid delivery of food.I would eat in house rather than asking for delivery.Do that and you can do ok.

I used to love this place. I had been in years. The place is the same as it was 20 years ago. The food is still plentiful, but they will serve cold rice which I dislike. The service is just standard. The place has not been updated in years. The AC was not working when I went there. Lots of food for the price.

This is without a doubt the worst Chinese food I have ever had in my life. Food was delivered via GrubHub.I had ordered the sesame chicken and sweet and sour chicken dinner special, both of which came with Soup, Egg Roll, Cheese Puff and Fried Rice. Sounds like a good deal if it was actually edible. The moment I saw the food I knew it was old and stale but I couldn't fathom how old it was until I actually tasted it. The "fried rice" was just white rice mixed with soy sauce. Had to be at least a day old. The color and quality of the sesame chicken was off putting but it was clear after a few bites that it was old and probably microwaved. There was a weird bitter taste to it. The sweet and sour chicken and cheese puffs were both stale as well. After that, we decided this food wasn't worth risking getting food poisoning so w didn't even try the soup, we just threw the food away. Cannot remember the last time we threw food away like this. This was really really bad. I would urge ya'll not to ever order from here. Truly one of the worst foods I have had in Austin. The owners should be ashamed to serve food like this. Thank you GrubHub for refunding this literal garbage.

Found myself in North Austin hungry for inexpensive Chinese food. I remembered this restaurant that I would meet a friend at about 15 yrs ago.Couldn't decide on the protein I wanted so I opted for the Happy Family on the lunch menu. Super tender slices of beef, chicken and large shrimp in a savory sauce with mushrooms, carrots, bell peppers, water chestnuts, and onion. Offered with an egg roll, soup and choice of rice at lunch.I always opt for hot and sour soup (my gauge for judging Chinese restaurants). The soup was perfectly seasoned with a spicy kick and tartness. Excellent!Took my meal to go and everything was still hot and tasty 15 minutes later. I will definitely be heading back to this place I had forgotten over the years whenever I can.

This is a great Chinese Restaurant The Inside of the restaurant is very nice The Food My Dad ordered the Chicken and Vegetables with Fried Rice & Wonton Soup his lunch was very good I ordered the Kung Pao Chicken with Fried Rice and Wonton Soup and my lunch was also good The Lunch Specials is starting out at 7.99 and the Employees are very nice we will for sure be back

Food is delicious! Best won ton soup anywhere. Have lunch several times a week tgeee.

I should've listened to the reviews, no offense to the restaurant buts it's just not good, the egg drop soup is flavor-less, everything else just could've been better for 58$

I would come here it goodThe service was very fast Food was good If you like Chinese food come here

Worst Chinese food I ever tasted!!!! I bought the Kung Pao combination, and there was only one shrimp, couple of chicken and beef pieces...most of it was a nasty sauce and peanuts..... the "fried" rice that came with it was a mixture of pure soy sauce and 2 small pieces of eggs..... DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE!