Ming's Garden — Restaurant in Marengo

This is not good Chinese food. It's not traditionally prepared and the recipes don't taste authentic. The Shrimp with Lobster Sauce has the consistency of Chicken soup, the Hot and Sour soup tastes, like most of their dishes, Americanized. Their Pepper Beef Tomato has very little tomato and the beef, although described on the menu as tender and flavorful, is tough, chewy, and devoid of flavor. Most other selections that I've tried taste like a couple of American guys cooked up American versions of Chinese food. The fried rice is unlike any good fried rice that I've ever had and the white rice is low quality tasting rice, overcooked and much like the generic rice you would buy at a cheap grocery store. Years ago, this place had excellent, authentic Chinese food, but not anymore. I feel sorry for the folks that live in Marengo as this is their only choice for Chinese food and a poor example of tradionally excellent Asian recipes. Steer clear of this place if you have high expectations. Don't waste...

For years we have been regulars at another area Chinese restaurant, but their quality has gone downhill so we decided to give Ming's a try. All four of us immediately saw the difference in quality when we opened our food. The pork fried rice and crab rangoon actually look homemade vs. the other place we went to. The portions are very generous- not a single one of us was able to finish it all. The sauce was thick and tasty. Most notable of all, the quality of meat. The chicken here was wonderful- soft and juicy with no hard crunchy bits hidden in the batter like the other joint we regularly went to. The prices are a little higher than I'd like to see- but who's aren't these days? And honestly for the quality it's worth the slightly higher bill. The only "complaint" one of us had was that the General Tso's wasn't hot enough (but nothing is hot enough for him) so if you like spice maybe ask for a little extra heat when ordering. All in all, 10/10 in our book. Can't believe we've put off going here...

Food was just ok honestly, BUT..... the service was incredible. We live in woodstock and they dont deliver here normally, but one of the delivery drivers lived near us so he dropped it off on his way home, like i said service was grand. Now on to the food, the won ton soup was tasteless and needed salt desperately, the pork fried rice tasted sweet which was unpleasant and seemed to deviate from the traditional taste. Rice was ight and the lo mien was not too great but its edible, orange chicken tasted as you would expect orange-ish. Its ok food but i wouldnt show it off...