Great Wall — Restaurant in Kirksville

TLDR: Get the steamed dumplings. Really high quality food, especially for the price.

MENU: They offer an extensive variety of Americanized Chinese; you'll be familiar with most of it. All of the online versions of the menu I have seen are out of date. Go inside and pick up a paper take-home copy.

COMPETITION: The closest comparison I can make to Great Wall is Chen's, near the square. Let me give you an example how the two restaurants contrast with each other.

Chen's: The first thing I ever got at Chen's was the cashew chicken. The quantity of chicken (chopped dark meat) and cashews were generous for the price. And the rest was celery. I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but I mean it. The dish was about 50% celery. The fried rice is greasy and over-salted. I always get the combo, with an egg roll, which is a factory-made thin and crispy item filled with cabbage.

Great Wall: I haven't had the cashew chicken at GW in several years and I don't quite recall what was in it, but I recently got the moo goo gai pan combination, so I'll use that as a point of comparison. Thinly sliced white meat, with a variety of vegetables including: snow peas, carrots, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and mushrooms. The fried rice is light and fluffy, not too greasy. The egg rolls here are also factory made, and more like you normally see in Americanized Chinese spots around the country: thicker wanton wrapper, filled mainly with cabbage and few tidbits of pork thrown in.

Which one would you rather have?

FOOD QUALITY: The folks at Great Wall clearly take a lot of pride in what they produce. Everything I have ever gotten was fresh and made to order. The quality of the food here makes them one of the best restaurants in Kirksville, if you ask me.

MENU FAVORITES: Let's talk about the steamed dumplings. I believe they are homemade (if not, they certainly fooled me). The filling (beef, if I'm not mistaken) is flavorful and tender, and comes with a sharp, sweet and tangy dipping sauce. I would say the wrappers are bit too thick and stodgy, but still good overall.

MENU FAILS: The only minor criticism I would offer is with the egg rolls - they always seem to be a little cold in the middle. Go for the crab rangoon instead, if you get a combo meal.

FRONT OF HOUSE SERVICE: They do things fast food style, where you go up to the counter and get your food on a tray. It's always the same lady working the register - she's cordial and efficient. Chances are you'll overhear her and the cook talking together in their native language, which I think is cool.

KITCHEN SERVICE: The kitchen is open, and you can watch the cook work if you want to. From what I've seen, it's always clean.

ATMOSPHERE: The interior is bright and cheerful. Like a lot of restaurants in Kirksville, the building has some history. (Go check out the mural on the east wall of the building Nurhachi was in, if you've never seen it.) Based on the furniture in the dining room, it must have started life as a fast food joint. Next, judging by the saltillo tile around the front counter, it was a Mexican spot. Now it's Chinese. Each phase in the building's life shows through in some of the remaining artifacts. The exterior is noteworthy, too. The gray-green color of the brick is unique and unmistakable at a distance, and I really like all of the vines growing on the face of the north wall. I'd say it's beautiful, in a quaint...

Great food and wonderful atmosphere the building is beyond cool and tells a wonderful story of its history. From the vines growing on the outside to the sturdy wooden and well maintained booths and chairs on the inside from an ancient taco bell, it is a very clean environment. Watching the chef with his fierce intensity while he cooks was an experience in itself and an inspiration. You can tell he is a master of his craft and they love what they do and it shows through in the cuisine hands down best fried dumplings I've ever had you can tell they're home made and that goes a long way. The owners definitely deserve all of the business they get plus some! I hope it is a staple of this town for a long...

I went today and could not get through my meal, this has never happened to me in a restaurant before. The food was truly abysmal to the point of feeling a need to leave a review, also a first for me. One notable example from our meal was the cold gelatinous hot and sour soup, like it had just been pulled from a fridge, we couldn’t stomach any of it, a typical favorite in a Chinese restaurant. We were the only customers at lunch time which should have been a clear indication that others likely share this opinion. I...