YAO Sushi Bar & Asian Cuisine — Restaurant in Exeter

Chinese American restaurant located over the border of Exeter in Stratham in a small mall area. The owner is Johnny and runs the restaurant with his wife, both of whom are very nice. It was their first anniversary as they bought out the place from the previous owner and refurbished the place and updated the menu .

The menu is geared for locals but if you want some 'authentic' dishes, you'll have to tell management at least 3 days in advance so they can order then prepare the dishes for you. A Chinese menu is available but it's really no different than the English menu since the selection of items are still limited, primarily since there's a small Asian population in the surrounding area. Almost every Chinese American restaurant in the NH area has a Japanese sushi section for whatever reason. The sushi dishes are delicious and prices are comparable and relatively reasonable to a Japanese restaurant. The portion sizes are good, dishes can be accommodated as in 'less salt, less soy sauce, no msg' but Tell the waiters! Sometimes the owner makes up some new dishes and have it available for customers to try since he needs to test the food and the customers' reception. Don't expect 'authentic' Chinese food in NH! There's not enough Asians in NH to warrant that much less in the Stratham/Exeter area. The food is good and reasonably priced and it does carry the typical Chinese American fare that many Americans eat. Try the tempura plates as it's...

Ordered takeout: spring roll, seaweed salad, ma po tofu, moo shu vegetable. the items in the bag were as ordered. Pickup service was good, and quick, even with the front desk being busy. Although I was ravenous, I found the food very disappointing. Moo shu was the best dish that we had: veggies were cooked well, but not a lot of color (carrot, peppers) mostly cabbage, and the flavor was bland; the pancakes were ok, but stuck together and tore, which was messy to eat. Ma po tofu: flavor was somewhat unpleasant, but bland enough to cover with hoisin sauce. Seaweed salad was less crunchy than I am used to, and lacking in flavor. It probably didn’t help that we ate at a great restaurant in Boston’s Chinatown last night; by comparison, NPG was a major letdown. Stars are for good customer service and presentation of food; the food itself was...

My boyfriend and I are regulars here. We come at least once or twice a week and have never had a bad meal. Everything here is fantastic, but I especially recommend the traditional Chinese menu, where you can find items not common at a lot of other Chinese restaurants.

The service is phenomenal; we are treated like family, our orders and preferences are always remembered - sometimes Sarah knows what we want before we even do and often makes recommendations based on things we've ordered in the past. I've never had this level of service anywhere else which is why I spend so much time here.

The restaurant is clean and open, and never so crowded that it slows down service. There are many Asian restaurants in the area to choose from but we always end up at Pine Garden because we love the food and our friends Johnny, Debbie,...