Star East — Restaurant in Mableton

I visited Star East on Wednesday (2/13) and it was unusually quiet for lunch hour. I took advantage of this and changed my to-go order to dine-in.

Sure, after some discussion over string beans (and the apparent lack of fresh ones across The South), I pointed to a picture on the interior wall of the establishment and asked for tofu with garlic sauce. This was in addition to an order of a small hot and sour soup and white rice. In total, I thought $18 (including tip) was a little pricey.

Since I am aware that a lot of Chinese Fast Food restaurants don't cook authentic dishes for their customers as they do for themselves, "American-Chinese" food generally caters to either White or Black people's tastes. Part of this is rooted in certain biases, it largely depends on the demographic of the establishment's location. This of course is a two-way street. Hence, the common attitude that what makes Chinese food Chinese is Chinese people. This would be a misnomer, because not every American can cook period. Because of this, these Chinese fast food joints can get away with skimping on the quality of the food they serve.

As one who is aware of this, I generally indulge in American-Chinese from time-to-time, and even then I would do a franchise like Chin-Chin which has a new balance of food quality and authenticity and the flexibility to offer restaurant or fast-food service. This day, stuck in Mableton, Star East trumps New Han's across the street any day.

I was graciously served my food by the hostess, and right off the bat, the white rice didn't look so white. Having been married to a Vietnamese, having learned Mandarin as well as Chinese culture to a certain extent, I know rice. I even know cooked, uneaten rice will yellow if left in the rice cooker for a period of time, which is often repurposed—because in most Asian cultures, rice is never allowed to waste. But the rice I was served was just cheap rice, easy to dress up as "fried rice".

NOTE: Don't except "it's sushi rice" as an explanation for bad rice.

Moreover, the clean look of the tofu and garlic in the picture I pointed to (which the dish appears steam or lightly sauteed) was not what I received. I received fried tofu, because the more inexpensive tofu is too soft to hold up to heating, so it is always fried. (Expect push back if requesting the tofu be steam or unfried.) The veggies in the dish were okay, but obviously the garlic sauce was a miss. Either that, or the picture is misleading or the establishment is misrepresenting its menu.

The hot and sour soup saved the lunch.

Still, while the food was savory and hearty, I should have held on to it, or at least my stomach should have. But it didn't. A few hours later, I was flushing it down the toilet. If I didn't have the social experience of being regarded as a dog or animal and certain people trying to control or manipulate my choices or indoctrinate or associate to created bad experiences, I would have chalked it to "bad Chinese". However, in but some past comments, I am convinced the food was tainted as to cause defecation. But to be fair, Star East isn't the only eatery or food establishment in Mableton, let alone in the metro-Atlanta area, that is harming people's health on behalf of hate and ignorance.

NOTE: I had returned to Star East to get a sense of its atmosphere during evening hours. It was the kind of busy one expects if it was lunch, and based on other reviews, if the food was truly hitting then I could understand it being busy in the evening. However, the food is just "hai hao le". So so. What I witnessed in the evening was an effort to convince me it was just bad Chinese. But such support is routine in trying to manipulate...

I come here every few weeks or so and always have nice service from the young man taking orders. Tonight, I was greeted by a nasty little girl who literally rolled her eyes as the woman in front of me paid and went to wait for her order. I thought they may have had a moment. But then she rolled her eyes again and took a heavy sigh when I walked up to make my order. I said "I'm sorry"...I figured I must have bothered her. She screwed her face and snapped "WHAT??" 😠 I just giggled and started my order. During my order she was curt and dismissive... and was working hard to get me to get me to get nasty, too. Not my style.

I don't know if this is her family's restaurant and she's unhappy about having to work tonight, but she clearly has an attitude about something. If I wasn't in need of my egg drop soup to knock out the last of this cold, I would have canceled and told this nasty little broad off. Next time, I'll check to see if she's here. If she is, I'll remember to pass! If she's the regular, I'll just...

Update: Apparently the old owners are back so I decided to try it again. Definitely leaps and bounds better than the last time. Not as good as I remember but maybe they just gotta get back in their groove. I will be ordering again. Upping my stars.

Been ordering at this place for over a year and it has been some of the best takeout Chinese food I’ve had. But the last few times we’ve ordered, it has been extremely disappointing. Orders have been wrong and quality of food is bad (ingredient use not good, too much cornstarch in soup, fried rice funky, etc.) This breaks my heart as this has always been our standard for a great take out meal. I don’t know if they’ve hired new people or are under new management, but whatever they’re doing, they need to stop and go back to what they used to do. Gonna give them one more chance and will hopefully up my star rating, otherwise, moving on to a new place. Fix...