China Gardens — Restaurant in Delray Beach

Came upon China Gardens by accident. Planned to take out food from Birds Nest, but they are closed on Tuesdays (that was a surprise all in itself). Anyway did a quick Google search :-) for the closest place to take out food, and diagonally across the road in another shopping strip was China Gardens.

I placed a large order, so it took a while to get it. During my wait I had time to observe things...cleanliness of place, presentation of food and size of portions, quickness of sit-down service, friendliness of staff to walk-in customers and to customers on the phone. And later that evening I tasted their food first hand.

Food - food was fresh, tasty and hot. Not the best Chinese food I ever ate, but far from the worst. Their egg rolls, and lobster rolls were small, soggy and somewhat bland. I would not order them again. Their soups were hot and tasty (I did not have soup, but those that did liked their soup a lot). One soup was Egg Drop, but rather than just a thickened broth with egg swirls, it had cut up tomato in it, which was a problem for my 92 father-In-Law who is not allowed to eat tomato, but the Won Ton soup was traditional. We had a slew of other dishes, Beef Lo Mein, Bourbon Pork, Egg Foo Yong (did not come with enough gravy) to name a few. Most of the dishes were decent, but I did not like the Lo Mein. It was tasty, but the noodles were thin like Angle Hair pasta, rather than the traditional thick noodles you get at most places. Food Summary - Hit And Miss - I am sure if you find the right dishes you will like this place. BTW they have pretty good soup/chowmein noodles.

Atmosphere - Old, small place. Carpet old, worn and dirty. Place could use a refresh, but sit-down customers did not seem to mind.

Staff - Hit and miss. Saw the same woman be super nice and friendly on phone, and a minute later, aloof and surly on phone. She smiled to some people walking in, and frowned at others. Very strange--no rhyme or reason--not gender or racial bias-perhaps bipolar disorder-who knows? On the other hand, there was a young man, and he was consistently friendly, chatty and personable to everyone he interacted with--in person and on phone.

Bottom Line - I will check out other places the next time I am in the area. Maybe Birds Nest will be open (never ate there either). But in a pinch, I would order from here again...Won Ton soup, Cashew Chicken, and Egg Foo Yong with...

Lady at the front was EXTREMELY rude and pushy! The menu on Christmas was cash only but we didn’t know until we went inside. They claim that their computer is down. But we said we didn’t have enough cash. They said we can use a card and the card system worked just fine and wasn’t down like they claimed. They just wanted to pocket the cash and get you out as fast as possible. We had to keep asking for more cups and stuff like that. Way too small for all these people. Menu says no sharing than says 12 dollars to share. Than say 13 and under CAN share but they still charge them to share. Dessert was just canned pineapple in small plastic cups.

Update: sitting people at dirty tables. Shoving people’s food before they are done with the spring roll and soup. Customers having to clear the table they are seated at. Wait to crowed for this small space. Table isn’t cleared from soup dishes before the main dishes come out. You only get water. Nothing else.

Update: the food is tasteless. The only good thing was the tea. The menu stated egg roll but you get a spring roll. They keep seating people without wiping the table down. Food. was not hot. They also was rushing us to finish to turn over the table for more people. Seemed like they pre-cooked everything with how fast the main dishes was coming out right after the soup. The meat in the beef and broccoli tasted like frozen old meat. The broccoli was ok. But again tasteless

Overall. This place is not good. Will not be back. Would not recommend. I’m Jewish so I did what a lot of Jews do. Eat Chinese on Christmas!! Save your money go to P.F. Chang’s or...

I don’t like leaving negative reviews, but this truly deserved it. I work at a facility in the area that frequently does take out orders for the residents. Our usual Chinese take out restaurant (Bird Nest Tree) was closed for vacation, so we looked for the next closest restaurant. We had a large number of orders and placed them at the counter at this location. The younger gentleman that was originally assisting us was extremely polite and accommodating; however, an older woman stepped in and rushed us into placing the order, despite our warning that we needed to slow down to make sure it was accurate. Upon returning and dispersing the orders we found that 3 items (all Sweet and Sour Shrimp) were missing and there were 3 other entrees in their place. We immediately called back to see what could be done to rectify the situation and again the gentleman on the phone asked us to come right back and we would work it out. Once we arrived back, the older woman stepped in and refused to replace the incorrect parts of the order. We offered to pay a price difference if the new entrees were more expensive however she stated that she "can't make money if she gives us both entrees" and said that the error fell on us, so it was “not her responsibility to make it right”. Beyond the awful experience, the food just simply was not good. Bird Nest Tree is right up the street and has fantastic customer service and excellent...