China Cottage — Restaurant in Kettering

STAY AWAY FROM THIS RESTAURANT.

The ambience is very inviting when you arrive, but thats about all you will get.

1. You will be given overpriced drinks— literally the same bottle drinks you get from a gas station & they don’t even bother to put it in a cup or give refills. Just give you ice in a cup.

2. You will be crammed in with other customers into one seating section while the rest of the restaurant is empty.

3. The utensils are kept uncovered and open. They don’t even look like they were washed 🤢. I asked for the waiter to get another set and she grabbed another one from another table and slammed it onto our table that had green gunk on it. I had to ask FOUR times for some clean utensils, only for them to finally give a set of plastic cutlery. Unhygienic.

I work in the healthcare field and covid and other disease are still very prominent. Those two things should have been handled better.

4. The appetizers & soups are better than the actual meals. The actual meal is DRENCHED In so much soy to where thats all you can taste. Its soo salty to where i couldn’t even eat the meal. My throat was in pain from the amount of salt that was ingested.

5. The older lady waitress is rude. My friend and I were about to pay for our food once the receipts were given to us. The lady stood over and micromanaged us until she saw us tip. We both felt uncomfortable & wanted to pay at the door where the actual register was, but she wouldn’t let us leave our table until she saw what we tipped. She then proceeded to give a disgusted look and reminded us that the tip was for her & asked us for cash tips.

Alot of people don’t carry cash as often & we just found that to be extremely rude, given the type of service that we received from the moment we were seated at a table.

Stay AWAY from this place. It should be rated 2.5 only for the way the restaurant looks like alone. The chef needs to be fired cause they’re out here giving people hypertension. Don’t do it! You have been warned. Its not worth your time to come by, nor is it worth spending your...

China Cottage is a small chain in the Dayton area. Each location varies a little bit in their menu options and atmosphere.

This location has a decent dining area, though the chairs often feel pretty shaky. It can be crowded with local workers during lunchtime, proof that the food and service are good enough to keep people coming back.

My personal favorite dish is Cottage Chicken, similar to General Tso's cooked with orange peels, so you have the orange flavor without it being overpowering. Another good American-type dish is Pineapple Chicken, again a similar idea as General Tso's but the sauce is much sweeter, and instead of broccoli it's made with green bell peppers, white onions, pineapple, and cherries. Mala chicken and Walnut chicken are both amazing, more traditional options, and there's a huge menu of authentic Chinese dishes. The fried rice has no onions, and the crab rangoon is always fresh with a filling that's the perfect balance of sweet and savory.

You have to REALLY emphasize "5 peppers spicy" if you like some heat. You can get a lunch special, which comes with steamed rice and soup, or the larger dinner portion with no free soup, any time of day. Takeout is usually ready in 15 minutes, and is in plastic trays, not styrofoam. Unfortunately they don't deliver, but it's worth the drive.

Here, as opposed to the other locations, they aren't very flexible about selling lunch portions of a dinner item like Cottage Chicken. If you ask for one while eating in, they sometimes just bring (and charge you for) a full dinner anyway...

This wasn't my first visit to China Cottage, but I haven't dined at this location in a while. We were seated immediately and at a lovely spot next to one of the several fish tanks which was pretty cool. The menu is extensive with your typical favorites and they have authentic cuisine as well.

My husband opted for his favorite combination Lo Mein. I chose one of the Chef's Specials, the Triple Delight. I added the "complete dinner" to my meal which added to fried rice, a spring roll and a bowl of hot and sour soup.

My soup came out first, it was delicious. A rich hot and sour soup that actually had some heat to it. The spring roll came out next, it was way too hot to eat so I left it until my food came. The dishes came out and both were very ample servings. My husband was impressed with his LoMein, he's very picky so this was a good thing.

My Triple Delight came out in a beautiful presentation. I had asked for it spicy level 3, and they absolutely "nailed" it. The beef in this dish was melt in your mouth tender. The shrimps were large and plentiful and the chicken was tender and seasoned perfectly. This dish might be one of the best Chinese dishes I have ever had. There was so much food that I ended up taking most of it home. As usual, I have plenty for later!

The service was wonderful and we didn't want for anything. We definitely won't be taking so long to...