China Cafe — Restaurant in Bridgman

Times have been difficult for the restaurant trade. I try to support local businesses, especially in these unprecedented times. We decided to go for chinese this time. We ordered ginger beef and ginger shrimp from the Szechuan side of the menu. We also ordered hot and sour soup, vegetable egg roll and Barbecue pork. In all fairness, my review has been made with an open mind in regard to variations of dishes based on regional preference and with a nod to the fact that some ingredients may not be readily available.

Never had ginger shrimp, so no preconceived notions. The vegetables were cut in huge pieces. Not pleasing to my palate. There were maybe 6 to 7 medium shrimp in the large size portion. The rest was huge pieces of vegetables. One mushroom amongst what seemed to be canned water chestnuts and bamboo shoots. What I did enjoy was the pieces of sautéed ginger. While some pieces were huge, many were a little caramelized which made my mouth ask for more.

I tried to be kind in my regard to the hot and sour soup. It was terrible. It was a cornstarch slurry made with all vinegar it seemed. It had a cloying sweetness as if it attempted to be sweet and sour soup. It only had black fungous and slivered bamboo shoots? No umami whatsoever. No mushrooms, no lotus shoots, no tofu etc. After a few mouthfulls, we had to dump that portion of the order.

The vegetable egg roll was very good with a surprising spice note that i enjoyed. The best part of the meal.

The BBQ pork seemed to be pork roast with something like kikomans teriyaki sauce added. It was simply ok. Not worth the price, but I was glad for it considering the lack of shrimp in the entrée.

Of course there was rice. And the whole order was ready in about 30 minutes.

I may be interested to try this place again after the economy is able to re-open, but the price was not equitable to the food...

We stopped in because we were super hungry and wanted something quick. Thought the dining area that had been shut down and never open was odd, but whatever they are take out only now. Ordered beef and broccoli and crab rangoon. It was $21.39 which is about 30% more expensive than our local place and the quantity was about 2/3 as much. Didn't get any napkins, plastic forks, or chopsticks. Was given 1 soy packet, 1 hot mustard, and 1 sweet and sour packet. No dipping sauce for the rangoon.

Never in my life have I had food without flavor at the same level. The food looked and smelled like Chinese take out, but it was completely devoid of flavor. The beef tasted like boiled beef, the broccoli had no flavor and was almost totally uncooked. The rice was seemingly instant, not even rice cooker. The Crab Rangoon didn't even have artificial crab, it was luke warm cream cheese in oily half cooked egg roll wrappers.

Do not go here. Go anywhere else. This place needs to shut down and just stop. They aren't...

I really dont know what all of these bad reviews are about. My partner gets something different every time we go (which is often) and there has only been about 3 times he hasn't enjoyed something, not because the food wasnt good but because it just wasnt for him. LEARN THE DIFFERENCE. If you dont like big cuts of veggies, learn how to cut your food. It is not anyone's job to cut your food for you, Karen.I am absolutely obsessed with the fried rice. I could eat it every day. Their wonton soup is great, I love their egg rolls. My partner is obsessed with the orange peel beef and gets white rice to enjoy with it. Singapore noodles are very very good, if you enjoy curry flavor.

The people who own the place are wonderful. They work very hard, especially after the pandemic and the demise of small businesses, they still worked as hard as they could to thrive. This is my favorite restaurant in Bridgman. Inside is beautiful and very open floor plan, so everyone has room to fill...