China Way Restaurant — Restaurant in Birmingham

Don't let the "dive" appearance in the old KFC deceive you! The owners are awesome & personable, and the youthful staff paradoxically give the place an "old-timer's down home" feel that one normally finds at the iconic meat-and-threes around here, you know, the kind of place where waitresses call you "sugar" & "honey". However, it also has a strong urban neighborhood vibe which I find attractive & compelling. This is my 2nd favorite fast casual Chinese restaurant after Chop Suey Inn, and as for fresh ingredients and from-scratch preparation, ranks with Great Wall, Red Pearl, Black Pearl, Mr. Chen's, & New China (although these fancier establishments serve exotic cuisine that ranks with those in our Chinatowns of LA, NYC, SF, Canton Province, Beijing, or Shanghai). If you live in the eastern area of Birmingham, China Way is an inexpensive fix for authentic "old country" comfort food that will have you coming back for more. Stop in for the egg rolls and the hot & sour soup and you'll leave a fan. Of particular interest is the Roast Pork Egg Foo Young. Be prepared to wait awhile as this is being prepared, but you will NOT be disappointed. China Way is yet another hidden gem in Birmingham's...

Current(Aug, 2021): This place has sadly dropped in quality massively since my original review. It used to be one of my all-time favorite takeout places, but now I am not sure if I'll be back again.

The shrimp lo mein is my go to. It used to be light and the shrimp were large and fresh. The lo mein itself wasn't oil soaked, it was very flavorful but not overwhelming. I've had it probably 30 times. In the last 6 months it has changed. It's now extremely oily, inconsistent, dark, and even nasty some times. The color alone has changed to dark brown from a nice light brown. It is just soaked in a dark oily sauce.

All of the other items I regularly get like Sesame Chicken has also gotten substantially worse. It's not as fresh, more inconsistent, and the favors have changed.

I ended up tossing half of my last large order because it was really that bad.

Hopefully they change and get better but I can't say I'm holding out hope.

Original: Great prices and huge serving sizes. Food tastes great! One of the best cheap chinese restaurants...

I've tried this place 3 times in the last 8 months and have been extremely disappointed in 2 of the 3 times. The first time, the egg roll was so greasy that the grease literally ran down my chin when I bit into it. I wrapped it in a paper towel to try to soak the grease out and the paper towel was completely soaked and the egg roll was still greasy. This happened again on my third, and FINAL, trip to this restaurant. The first time I ordered cashew chicken and it was horrible. The second time I went, the food was great - egg roll wasn't greasy and the entree was wonderful. The third time, I ordered mongolian beef - quite possibly the worst mongolian beef I've ever had. The stuff in the box in the freezer section of the grocery store was better than this. The staff is really very friendly and I'd like to patronize this place because it's so close to where I live - which is why I gave it 3 shots - but I can't keep wasting my money...