TELY'S Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Florida

Tely's Chinese Restaurant 6450 N. Wickham Rd., Melbourne, FL 32940

4.5 Stars

Feeling a tad esurient, I steeled my nerves and proceeded OTB for a visit to Tely's Chinese Restaurant in Suntree (Melbourne). The people who respect food and dining are the ones I respect. The ones who, through the art of practiced ereption, steal from the general dining public by wiping their feet on the industry are the ones I write nasty things about. Thankfully, Tely Tse, the owner of Tely's Chinese Restaurant and the owner of former Brevard giant Yen Yen is one of those restaurateurs I highly respect. After 18 years at Yen Yen and 8 more here, Tely is doing many things right.

Danielle is our wait staff today, and while this fine example of a lady has a pulse of zero, do not let that fool you or put you off, as she does not suffer in the least from ergasiophobia. She performed her duties with outstanding professionalism.

I asked Danielle for an order of the whole fried fish, scallops in their XO sauce, Snow White Prawns and a bowl of Hot and Sour Soup. Relaxing with the place's vibe, I sat back, snapped some pictures and eagerly awaited Danielle's return.

My wait was within an acceptable time frame. I soon found myself basking in the delectable aromas that assaulted my olfactory senses as Danielle set my order on the table. I have to direct your eyes to the pictures at this point. If that is not an artistic culinary presentation, I don't know what is. Everything is screaming freshness and was made on-site. I assure you, everything smelled as good as it looked. Anticipatorily, I grabbed my tools of dietary obliteration and got to work.

I had asked for my whole fried fish to be served in their Chinese Black Bean Sauce. Traditionally, this sauce is made from douchi (fermented black soybeans), garlic, and soy sauce. It is then simmered down to a delectable slightly thick sauce. Tely's nailed it. The fish was fried to a deliciousness not often experienced and the sauce was amazingly flavorful.

Forcing myself to move on, I turned my attention to the Scallops in XO sauce. XO sauce is considered one of the most expensive, prestigious and luxurious sauces in Hong Kong Cuisine. It is customarily made from dried scallops, dried shrimp, fine smoked ham, chili, garlic, lemongrass and other seasonings. The menu clearly states “No refund and return on any dishes that are cooked with the XO sauce,” which, of course, made me want to try it. I mean, how can something touted as having such luxurious taste be made in such a way that someone would return it? After one bite, I wasn't sure. The second one allowed me to begin to form an opinion and the third one had me on the bandwagon. This has to be one of the most exotic and flavorful sauces I have ever had the pleasure of scarfing down. Wow is about all I can say.

Moving on, albeit regretfully, I forked a prawn and popped it in my cake hole. These are Tely's take on the traditional Chinese creamy-style shrimp. Once again, Tely proclaims his sovereignty over Middle Kingdom cuisine in Brevard County with this outstanding dish. Suffice it to say everything was marvelously prepared and obviously done so with love. Least I forget, the Hot and Sour soup here is the real deal. This is not something Panda Express made to suit what some corporate suit thinks Americans want or expect in ethnic food.

The Big Boy says, “Anytime you want to experience the best Brevard has to offer in Hong Kong cuisine, go to Tely's Chinese...

Went here on the advice of my wife's co-worker. We made a reservation as this place books up fast. The waiter staff and owner are super friendly. There are more items available if you ask, so don't be concerned if your favorite dish is not listed on the menu. They will easily accommodate special requests if they can. We started with a very refreshing seaweed salad and a plate of the muscles in black bean sauce. The muscles tasted fine, but several of mine were not hot in the middle. The muscles were large which can be a bit chewey as compared to the smaller variety, but the toppings and sauce brought it together. We ordered the specialty Snow White Prawns. This was 4 large prawns batter dipped and covered with a creamy sweet mayonnaise based sauce. It was crisp and tender but the mayo was a bit much in our opinion. It tasted good, but we took off some of the sauce and enjoyed it more that way. The second dish we ordered was the Hunan Lamb. This came with some fresh peppers and a tasty dark sauce. The lamb was tender and delicious. Possibly the best lamb I have ever eaten. The spiciness was just right and balanced nicely with the provided white rice. This was by far the best dish and will get us coming back for more. We finished with their deep fried, batter dipped apples covered in a rum sauce that is lit on fire at the table. Crisp and tart apple with with a kick of 151 rum. Very nice and a very adult dessert. We also ordered a few dishes to go for our son at home. The beef with broccoli (very tasty and tender beef) and shrimp fried rice which had large tender shrimp and lightly fried rice. A very nice dish too. Overall, this is a great Chinese restaurant with excellent service in the Suntree section of Melbourne. We will be back to try some of their other...

So disappointing. Had really liked Tely's, but tonight has caused us to never want to order from them again. They have lost our business. We have been regulars, ordering takeout almost every week, sometimes more than once a week. Many times our order is incorrect, but last night we ordered 2 large wonton soups - which we order all the time so that we have extra left over for the next day. We only received 2 small, but paid for 2 large. We tried calling that night, but they were already closed so we called to explain the error today and they apologized and told us to come and pick up the other 2 wonton soups. We picked them up and were told that they gave us 2 large wonton soups because of the error. When we got home we took them out and there was just 2 large containers of broth, NO WONTONS, NO ONION, NO PORK, NOTHING... JUST BROTH? So I called them back and was told that they didn't know we wanted wontons, etc... REALLY?? WHO ORDERS WONTON SOUP AND ONLY GETS BROTH?? I explained to her we will not be coming back to their restaurant. So disheartening. We really loved going there, but I am sure that you will agree that when you order something and get home and it is not what you ordered and that it happens many times that enough is enough. It doesn't matter how good the food is, when you are treated like this. I mean really, just broth! Who would order just broth. If you ever order from Telys, ALWAYS check your order before you leave. Again, so sad that we have been forced to go elsewhere for our...