China One — Restaurant in Belfast

I want to preface this by saying I'm not a picky eater. I have literally eaten a cows stomach sandwich, snails, etc. and not complained. But this was honestly the worst Chinese food I have ever ordered. We spent $30.00 and it would have been better and cheaper to drive the half mile to Hannafords and get frozen P.F. Changs.

Let's start out with the service: this was the only redeeming quality. The girl at the front desk was friendly, prompt, attentive, and knowledgeable. From there this review goes downhill. The food was terrible. I legitimately don't know how you mess up pork fried rice, but there was no flavor. The rice had about 3 tiny pieces of pork per serving, no veggies, no eggs, none of the regular accouterments you would expect from pork fried rice. Furthermore, it was flavorless. No salt, no pepper, no soy sauce, no garlic, no oil, nothing. It was bland and monotone. The general Tso's chicken ordered by my boyfriend was over-sauced, overcooked, and over-dry. The chicken itself was tough and stringy and the sauce was overly sweet. The fried outer portion was simultaneously overcooked, soggy, and spongy. I don't know how this was achieved. 10/10 for creativity, 0/10 for flavor. The Hunan Chicken wasn't bad per-say, the protein wasn't overcooked and the veggies had a good bite, but it was overly salty and overly sauced and again there were no spices. This item, on the menu, has a "spicy" pepper next to it. I taste no spice, no chilli, no garlic, no ginger. All I tasted was salt. I have low expectations for "Chinese" food in Maine, but dang did this disappoint. And don't get me started on the crab rangoons which I honestly don't think had any crab in them. They were cream cheese fried in won ton wrappers. And when I say fried I mean they were maybe in the frier for a minute, they were anemic and under-fried.

And for the final note, don't bother with the fried dumplings. The dough is about 1/4- 1/3 inch thick and resembles more of a pierogi. The stuffing itself is an under-seasoned meatball shoved into a spongy ball of dough that was then fried and taken to a new realm of overcooked. The "duck sauce" was literally apple sauce. That's it. I mean I've had apple sauce mixed wit something else (rice wine vinegar, dark soy sauce, etc.) at other establishments as a dipping sauce... but straight apple sauce?

I think the best part of the meal was the fortune cookie, and that wasn't even cooked in house. I would say this meal is for the dogs, but even the dogs wouldn't eat the General Tso's chicken ( She'd only eat the rice, see...

Overpriced, Rude, and Just Plain Bad

My wife and I were looking forward to a nice date night this past Saturday, but it turned into a nightmare thanks to China One in Belfast. I picked up an order expecting to pay around $45 based on their menu prices, but I was shocked when I was charged $57.82—no delivery, no tip, no itemized receipt. I didn’t even question it in the moment because I was so thrown off, but looking at the charge now, I realize I got completely ripped off. This was for the food and a small bottle of Barq’s root beer, which doesn’t come close to justifying the massive price jump.

The food was a disaster. The pork fried rice was dry with almost no pork in it. The spicy Szechuan chicken wasn’t spicy at all—it was just a sticky, syrupy mess with red pepper flakes thrown on as an afterthought. My wife hated it. The teriyaki beef and teriyaki chicken were overly sweet and bland, and the potstickers were doughy and undercooked.

On top of all that, their online menu is a joke—every time you try to check it, it sends you to Yelp or Google, making it impossible to get any useful information.

I wish I could give them zero stars—but since they force you to give at least one star, here’s my review. Between the overcharge, rude service, disappointing food, and broken online system, this place is a total waste of time and money. I won’t be going back, and I wouldn’t recommend...

Hey Fellow Googlers!

Have you ever searched for that "hole-in-the-wall" or "mom & pop" Chinese spot? This is worth the try.

I'm a well traveled person. I've lived in Hong Kong, Thailand, Korea, and Japan. Lived all over Europe and the continental US. That experience leads me to believe I have a foodie's heart and taste. It's why I rate restaurants and China One caught me off guard as I didn't expect anything worth while.

China One has your standard Chinese/American menu affair. I ordered the beef Chow Mei Fun and the beef lomein. What surprised me is that it's more Singapore style over Cantonese as it has angel hair rice noodles. However, that doesn't make it bad. In fact, this is the way I'll get it from now on. It was delicious!!

Though I can only speak to those two dishes, the ingredients were very fresh and crunchy. Nothing was soggy, or over/under cooked, and everything seemed to have care placed in its creation. I definitely suggest the Beef...