China Garden Restaurant — Restaurant in Missoula

Really having a hard time giving two stars but the polite staff counts for at least one star and the cleanliness warrants another. I dont know if all the amazing reviews are from other cooks in the kitchen, or we just came on an off day, or Montana has different expectations for good chinese food...but...

Our dumplings came out cold in the center and very raw dough gummy-(and i LOVE steamed dumplings and buns! I make them often) I ate one because we were so very hungry but by the time the server came to check and we tried saying they came out cold he responded that they were cold because they were sitting there for a while... 🤔 husband ate some despite being cold but I was afraid of eating undercooked chicken.

After that we were worried to order certain entrees and tried going safe routes. My Lo Mein Noodles were mostly spaghetti noodles and barely any veggies/sprouts/meat. The meat it did have was tough and dry, and the noodles did not seem pan fried. Little flavor, mostly an oily taste.

Husband's Hot Beef Noodles was slightly more flavorful. But the noodles and veggies were not prepared with care.

If the pricing had reflected the quality better we would have not been surprised. But we are glad we didnt order the $20+ entrees.

Food came out fast, but more attention to detail would have been better. Felt more like fast food than fine cuisine advertised. I would have been much happier with a third of the noodle portion with double the veggies, and meat that tasted fresh, not from a buffet line.

If a friend wanted to go here we might try again. But I wont be craving this place any time soon. If you want fast food, and big portions but aren't used to fresh or flavorful food, this might be the place for you, but we are going to have to pass...

The good: Great staff. Huge menu selections. Clean restaurant. egg drop soup was excellent. The bad: ordered the egg rolls for appetizer. The is 2 large egg rolls. They were very oily. When I cut it open in half to see what what in it, there’s fresh cabbage and ground chicken. They were cold in the middle. Refrigerator cold. When egg rolls are oily like this, the frying oil is not hot enough. Ordered the combo plate with chicken chow mein, fried almond chicken, fried rice, and sweet sour pork. The chow mein looked like it had been boiled and was totally loaded with celery, causing a huge puddle of water all over the plate. Very unappetizing to even look at. The fried rice had no flavor. The fried almond chicken was soggy with a yellow colored gravy, that was awful. Totally flavorless, as was the soggy sweet sour pork that was covered with a orange colored vinegar flavored sauce. Partner ordered a combo plate that was chicken chow mein with 2 small pieces of chicken in it, and the rest was a huge pile of celery, along with fried flavorless rice, and 3 soggy shrimp. The ugly: The total of the bill was $44. We only had water. I would never pay this amount for a meal like this again. For all the reviews that state how great the food is, I question if you’ve ever been to a “good” Chinese restaurant? Save your money and find another place that actually cares about what they’re...

China Garden used to be one of my top favs. Last time we ordered family style they forgot the pork chow mein and there was also a six inch HAIR entwined in the egg foo young. I took it back and because it was so bad I even forgot to mention the chow mein and that’s my favorite. The hair had a knot in it and I’m not certain how many inches of it were still literally cooked into our food. The boss called and said she would credit our account for the dish and so I decided I wasn’t going to leave a review regarding the hair. We thought that seemed reasonable. However, the charge remains for that portion of our large order. They seem to forget something in our order every time lately, and that was something I was willing to accept, but not hair, and a line of bull to top it off. With so many choices these days, I’m sure there are options that don’t serve a side of hair. And no, I didn’t want a replacement egg foo young. That was enough to tide me over on China Garden for a really long time and possibly egg foo young forever. I’ll never not look for a hair again. Nobody wants to find that cooked into their food, not even their own hair in their own cooking. When that happens, Jeeze, give the poor people who had to endure that their money back. That shouldn’t even...