Chopstix Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Lake Mary

Ordered food from Chopstix when looking for Chinese food while back in town staying in Lake Mary. Decided to give Chopstix a try since it has new owners.

During the course of my visit I met the owner and interacted with the cashier. I do not disclose whether I will write a review about a place not to influence the actions of the staff beforehand. I may disclose it afterwards. In this case, the owner and the additional staff (3 others) I interacted with were kind and generous. They were friendly and courteous. As any great salesperson will tell you, build rapport with clients, and the lady at the counter even complimented my wife on her nicely manicured nails.

As a rule of thumb, I always order Crab Rangoon, or Cheese Wontons to some, when I buy Chinese food. The slight variations in the faux Asian cuisine are better left for the palates of connoisseurs and the Michelin people. However, for my taste buds the flowery folded, lowly and deep fried cheese and flour concoctions are enough to differentiate one restaurant who is cutting ingredients with one who is ran by a true chef and master of the arts. Needless to say, the Krab Rangoon on the menu at Chopstix were not only cooked to a golden color and crisp consistency, they were made with crab meat* and cream cheese filling. This is rather unusual at strip-mall eateries.

The rest of the order was just as amazing. The pepper steak was served as peppers and steak strips with fried rice. It was not served as too much pepper drenched in sauce with some hidden steak strips and too much rice. It was just the correct amounts of everything. As I finished my meal I felt a sense of satisfaction and satiation not usually felt with mass comfort foods. Chopstix wins in that category, on taste as well as food quality, and quality of service, hands down.

About the appearance and ambiance, the restaurant itself was clean and tables were quickly turned over. The floor was spotless. But what really got my attention was the visibly clean preparation and cooking areas in the kitchen. You don’t ever see a relatively clean kitchen unless you have some total dedication to the craft. I dabble a little in my kitchen and I clean as I cook and I cook as I prep. I know how dedicated I am to presentation and I can tell when someone else is as well.

To the owner at Chopstix, you will not remember me, as I come and go as a shadow in the night, but rest assured that your restaurant is hands down the best Chinese cuisine restaurant I’ve experienced.

*crab meat is usually labeled and sold as imitation crab meat containing surimi, a paste made mainly from pollock, starches, other ingredients, and seasoning. When imitation crab meat is on the menu, crab is spelled Krab to denote the difference.

At Chopstix the crab meat flavor could be distinctly tasted in the Krab Rangoon, which is unusual at other small eateries where the filling is mostly flavor oils, sweetener and...

Disappointing and very frustrating.

I submitted an order for delivery online, but I was not prompted for a payment. Instead, my order was sent in and the order confirmation said “cash on delivery”. I did not expect this at all, and didn’t have any cash on hand, so I sent my boyfriend out to pick up cash before they showed up. After he left, the restaurant called me and said I could pay with a card over the phone. This was upsetting because I had all ready adjusted to using cash, but I decided to do it anyway. I figured the cash run wasn’t a complete waste though because we could use some to tip the driver, but they were so fast, they beat my boyfriend back to our house. When the driver arrived, she gave me a tipout receipt I could use to tip instead, so the cash run was pointless after all.

As for the food, the egg drop soup was very bland, the general tso’s chicken was extremely underwhelming and not spicy whatsoever, and I didn’t even receive the chicken chow mein I ordered (instead there was some sort of flavorless chicken and vegetables dish in a mushroom sauce). I was charged a credit card fee of $2.15 without any warning, a higher delivery fee ($5 instead of $3 for being out of their unstated delivery range), and a $1 “service fee” for who even knows what.

The positive parts were that the delivery speed was extremely fast (not even 30 minutes of waiting on a Wednesday at dinner time) and both employees I spoke to were very friendly. Everything else was so disappointing that I would have rather gone to Panda Express.

Not worth the...

I’ve ordered take out here once before, under the old management and the food was not good, so I’ve ordered at Chengs across the street for some time but the past few times the food was just mediocre and food was not worth the price, so this time I decided to order ChopStix again.

Order was placed around 3PM.. Decided to try the Sesame Seed Chix everyone has recommended and I will say the reviews did not miss. I’m located about 15 minutes from here and upon coming home the order was still fresh, steamy and delicious.

Sesame Chix was made of real white meat chunks, no slimy fat pieces whatsoever, and they made it well done just as I requested. The fried egg rice that came with the order was flavorful especially after dripping some of the honey from the sesame chicken on it. 🤤

Was impressed that a side of plain lo mein was only $5 and it was a pretty decent size. Flavor was all there, the best noodles I’ve had, nice and tender not all watered down like some other places in the area.

Only let down was they forgot my egg roll, but I called in; Sam immediately apologized and comped me a few on my next visit, which I appreciate of course. What I like is that he asked if everything else was fine with my order- I was like absolutely. The best Chinese food I’ve had in a while! Would recommend and will...