Chyn King Chinese
My first foray into Miracle Mile Chinese Food was passable, but not great. I decided to skip the next five places on my Citysearch map and go straight to the one with the highest rating: Chyn King.
Chyn King is what you could call Fresh Americanized Chinese. Which was fine, because while I consider myself an adventurous eater, I'm not really into "parts," which seem to be part and parcel at the more traditional Chinese restaurants. You know what I mean by parts, right? Feet. Gizzards. Tendons. Intestines. Hearts. Noses. Not really my thing.
So when we sat down at Chyn King, I was happy to see a pretty broad and fresh-looking menu that had some healthy entrees as well. Not that I would actually order any of the healthy items, but nice to know they're there.
Before we got to eating, the owners thought it would be a good idea for us to take a nice, long look at our relationship. See, Chinese restaurants not only serve you food, they also provide relationship counseling. Take the "birth year/animal" diagram, for example: I'm a Sheep, Brian's an Ox... Chyn King tells me we're the least compatible set on the placemat.
B: So, you're trouble, for me huh... You'd rather be with a Boar than me, wouldn't you?
CC: Honey, you know that's not true... but perhaps your SNAKE girlfriend might have something to say about it, hmmmm?
B: This is really about the BOAR isn't it? You're secretly seeing a Boar behind my back, aren't you?!?
CC: What?
B: Ribbit.
Hey look, crispies! A good distraction from all these Ox/Sheep/Boar/Rabbit worries...
We were feeling hungry, so we ordered quite a bit of food: 3 appetizers and 3 main dishes. Here's the procession...
Chicken Egg Rolls ($1.99 for 2), which had real white meat chicken breast! Is this common? I think this may have been my first white meat egg roll.
Vegetable Potstickers ($4.95 for 6):
These were made fresh, not frozen - check out the tiny cubes of sauteed tofu.
Hot and Sour Soup ($3.25): rich, thick, and just spicy enough
Beef on Sizzling Plate ($8.50): this was the highlight of the meal. Really good, hot beef in a delicious sauce. Just for clarification, the beef is the one doing the sizzling, not the plate.
General Tsao's Chicken ($7.95): this was OK. Kinda bland. Sauce a bit too sweet. PSA: do not eat the red peppers... even if you think it would be a funny joke... it's not a funny joke.
Vegetable Chow Fun ($6.50): fresh tasting, filling-but-not-heavy, lots of veggies. This is the only dish we didn't actually finish, so I'll be having this for lunch today.
And finally, a few backhanded "fortunes" to close off the meal.
Total bill: $38. Not bad.
Overall, I thought Chyn King was pretty good. And, THEY DELIVER, which makes them even better. There were a couple things on the "King's Specialties" menu that sounded awesome: Crispy Duck (Duck marinated with Chinese herbs and spices, fried to a crisp, served with 4 Chinese buns on the side); Fish Steamed with Scallion & Ginger (steamed boneless filet of fish in scallion and ginger sauce); Corn with Asparagus Crab Soup (creamed corn and asparagus cooked with luscious crab meat and egg drop). I'll be trying those next time...
Chyn King
5770 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA
323-939-0011
Mon-Thurs: 11AM-10PM
Fri-Sat: 11AM-10:30PM
Sun: 11:30AM-10:30PM
3 comments:
i always eat those red peppers... mmm
you are much more brave than I, much more brave...
Check Your Check!!! ---- 9.25% SALES TAX ???? What???
After being a loyal customer now for the past 4 years, last night my total seemed a bit higher than normal. So not to jump to conclusions that I have been over charged I got out the menu and added up what I had ordered. Kind of to my surprise, I was right! I had been overcharged. So I called up the restaurant and told them. They looked it up, it was a charge, and agreed with me. I thought all was good... until his new total wasn't the same as mine. I asked him to go over the numbers he was adding up and every item was exactly as much as what I had thought it was, but still he was coming up with a total twenty-five cents more than mine. I told him my total and he asked me if I was adding the tax... the "9.25% sales tax."
That's right. He was charging me 9.25% sales tax and was doing so as if it were something he had been doing for some time. When I told him that the sales tax in LA was 8.25%, he tells me, no, sales tax is 9.25%. He was emphatic about this number and as many times as I tried to tell him that he was wrong, he told me 9.25 is what the government tells him he has to charge and it's been that way since Oct 1, and that if I don't want to pay this then I shouldn't order their food.
Now I want you to know that I am by no means a rich man by Los Angeles standards, but 25 cents is not going to kill me financially. What does sicken me is this flagrant dishonesty, people unknowingly being taken advantage of just so these crooks can put a bit more coin in their own pockets at a time when money is a hot commodity.
So please if you do go there. Check the sales tax on your check, and make sure this isn't happening to you.
Happy Dining.
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