Lee's Stir Fry — Restaurant in Columbia

This is not your run-of-the-mill Chinese takeout. Lee's is an institution. A paragon of takeout excellence. Don't let the humble storefront fool you, there is nothing humble about it.

After moving to Columbia a year ago, I hunted for consistently good Chinese, wanting the full package of service, menu options, and taste. There are plenty of options in the surrounding towns, but each one missed the mark, especially when it came to the consistency of yumminess. I'd name names, but I figure the mantra of Bambi's friend Thumper is appropriate.

After having ordered from Lee's around a dozen times, they have only mistaken my order once. (No one's perfect.) It was the right dish, but the wrong protein. To be fair, when I called, I had a cold.

Ordering details: They have no website, but the menu pictures online from 5 years ago are still accurate. Bless these folks and their knowledge of comfort! You must call ahead or order in person. As a millennial, I get it, but it's soooo worth it. They don't take your name, but give you an order number between 1 and 25-ish. They have a magical manual order numbering system.

Pickup: Get there about 10-15 minutes after ordering, walk in, give your order number, and pay the very kind staff (they DO take cards). Condiment packets, chopsticks, and napkins are to the left of the register.

Food: All around fantastic. From crab rangoons, to lo mein, to chow mein, to fried rice, to General Tsao's (with some actual heat!), to beef and broccoli, to egg drop soup, they nail it. Just spot on every time. At this point, we've had a quarter of the menu and nothing has been a miss.

Price: Y'all, they are such a good value. Like, seriously. I don't know how they keep their costs so low as to still have mid-2010s type pricing.

I'd have pictures, but I can't wait that long to dig in. :)

Lee's is the Chinese Takeout Highlander: there can be only one of...

I recently moved to Eastern Connecticut from Northern Virginia, where there are dozens of very good Chinese takeout places. There are also plenty of them in Eastern Connecticut, but most of them are not very good.

Lee's Stir-Fry is very good. Better than all of the others in Eastern Connecticut. Better than nearly all of the ones in Northern Virginia, and as good as the best ones there.

I rarely write online reviews unless I believe very strongly in what I am writing. I believe very strongly in the following:

If you are in Eastern Connecticut and want Chinese food, go here. More importantly, do not go to other Chinese food places in the area that are not very good unless you want not very good Chinese food.

Also, since I am required to give separate ratings to Service and Atmosphere, I will comment about those as I do not believe in blindly leaving unexplained review scores.

The service is what it needs to be. I purchase Chinese food. I pay for Chinese food. I am given Chinese food. Good work, Lee's.

The atmosphere is among the best for inexpensive Chinese takeout. That is to say, it is clean, and there is no atmosphere beyond that because your food would cost more to pay for decorations you will not really notice. I suppose I could say the floor is very sturdy, and I like that the door offers both "in" and...

This is an exceptional Chinese takeout! I moved to the area last year and like most of us, I’ve tried many Chinese takeout places, both here and in previous towns I’ve lived. I hadn’t seen this one until recently when shopping at the antique store next door and the yummy smell was wafting over. The antique shop owner recommended them and mentioned they took pride in their business and cared a great deal about their food. The high ratings are unusual too, you don’t often see restaurants with a rating this high, so we knew we needed to try it. We definitely see why — the family that runs it is so friendly and the food was wonderful and tasted so fresh! They’ve definitely won us as permanent customers, I doubt I’ll even want to bother going to the other local Chinese...