Blue Orchid Chinese Restaurant 明厨 — Restaurant in Central Core

i have ordered from here twice. both from skip the dishes, so i can't speak to service and the food was obviously packed up in containers for the 10 minute drive to my house which might have changed how it would taste in restaurant.the first time i ordered lemon chicken, peach shrimp and chicken fried rice. it was all delicious, i liked how they put the sauces separate from the fried items, to keep them crisp. the lemon chicken came in bigger flat pieces, i assume to be cut into strips, which was something new for me but i liked that. a few hours ago i made my second order, of chicken fried rice, some sort of vegetables and shrimp dish and scallop fried rice. the scallop fried rice was i believe the most expensive of all their fried rice options at almost $16 and i expected some small juicy pieces of scallop, but really all it was was their regular fried rice, quite tasteless to me aside from the shredded and tiny tiny bits of scallop which i only noticed because i looked for them. the chicken fried rice priced at almost $13 was decent, i think the first time i ordered it was better but today it was nothing special. good, but not great. still, i would order again but pretty disappointed with the scallop fried rice. the vegetables and shrimp was mainly vegetables and not enough shrimp, and at the price of just about $16 i expected even a few more pieces of shrimp. broccoli was also overcooked, which is very important to me because i prefer cooked broccoli to have a bit of a crunch, this did not. flavour was very underwhelming. the first time i ordered from here i felt i got what i paid for, this time tonight i feel like i could have been happier spending my money somewhere else. overall, i think i might try eating in the restaurant because i do see potential and i do like the fact that they have a regular and authentic menu, aside from that i most likely will not be ordering again. spending almost $70 on skip the dishes for underwhelming food is a bit much. also, probably important to note i have mild food poisoning from something i ate, but my partner is fine as he ate the chicken fried rice. i ate the scallop fried rice and the vegetable shrimp and i have a pretty strong stomach and it is rare for me to ever get even mild food poisoning. this only happened tonight, did not happen the first...

Blue Orchid had became my top three Chinese restaurants, and my go to place whenever I am in downtown Edmonton. My first experience with Blue Orchid was a few years ago when they first opened. My experience was not as pleasant: the food contained a lot of MSG even though the food was very flavourful. However, visiting 6 months ago, the new management have certainly made improvements in every aspect of the restaurant.

Blue Orchid is well renovated, with a touch of ancient Chinese writings on the wall. There are tons of parking in the back, and the food is as authentic as it gets. When I say authentic, it means they serve food that you would eat in Hong Kong, China, or other parts of Asia. However, it doesn't mean they only serve this genre of food. Blue Orchid also sell the likes of "fake Chinese food" ex: ginger beef, garlic ribs, dry ribs...Etc. unfortunately I cannot comment on those as I have never ordered from that menu.

Blue Orchid serves a lunch menu and a separate dinner menu. Lunch includes the Chinese favorite rice and noodle dishes. Alex, the manager at Blue Orchid is extremely personable, and if you are not sure what you want to order or if you want to try one of their signature or feature dishes, all you need to do is ask for Alex and tell him what your taste bud craves. Their dinner menu is full of authentic, unique and mouth watering dishes from many regions of China. There is a special fried ribs that comes in a basket and it is my go-to-dish. There are variety of spicy dishes, south western Chinese dishes that are a rare find in Edmonton, and many of those dishes will make either us homesick, or give local Edmontonian a taste of what it is like to dine in a Szechuan water front diner.

Blue Orchid dinner also comes with complementary Chinese dessert and ice cream. Their prices are fair, and it is a must for anyone looking for some good, quality...

We were optimistic and had high hopes after reading some of the more positive reviews.

Unfortunately to our disappointment, there were several aspects that made our experience an unpleasant one… the following points are the reason for this low review:

Upon entering, I observed the restaurant and be relatively clean and visually pleasant, a traditional Chinese decor which appeared genuine and not overdone. However, when seated I observed one of our soup bowls to have hair inside the bowl and a brown crusty smudge on the lip of the bowl - yuck!

The food… the most positive aspect about the food was the short time it took to bring to our table. Despite that we were only the second table in the whole restaurant the speed of the food was suspiciously fast..

Chicken balls: were extremely doughy and the outside was hard and tough to bite or cut through. It felt as though there was no chicken in them at all. It tasted like a doughy paste, frankly just disgusting.

Ginger beef: was not awful, but very doughy and clearly had only trace amounts of beef. Anyone who is used to better quality will be quickly put off from finishing this dish.

Chicken fried rice: was probably the best part of the meal but carried a frugal sentiment as there was barely any chicken or egg to be found inside. I’m sure things have been tough economically with the COVID shutdowns but to sacrifice dish quality for a 50 cent egg is not an ideal business model.

Service was sub-par. The servers were not personable and made it very apparent that they did not want to be there. Having worked in the service industry, I was thoroughly disappointed. I felt like I was being ushered through a drive through and not sitting down to eat in a restaurant.

I hope this review helps others navigate their next meal and might provide some constructive feedback for the...