China Cafe — Restaurant in Moline

We've eaten here several times for lunch-- usually getting the lunch specials, which include a good-sized portion of the entree along with fried rice, and either a crab Rangoon or an egg roll. The lunch specials are under $6. For an additional charge of about 85 cents you can substitute Lo Mein noodles for the fried rice ( this is not on the menu, but their affiliated restaurant in Davenport does this and the Moline store will do it if you ask). We usually get Kung Pao chicken or Mongolian Beef with the Lo Mein substitution, and have never been disappointed.

They have a large and diverse menu. Today we had the somewhat larger combination meal for about $7.89. That meal comes with more of the entree, along with fried rice and an egg roll ( again we substituted the Lo Mein for an additional 85 cents). This mid-sized option was perfect because we each ate our fill and took about 1/3 of our meal home. An even larger portion (1 quart of entree along with white rice and no egg roll) is available for about $2.00 more.

We are always happy with the taste of the food and the generous portions. The diced vegetables in my Kung Pao Chicken included peanuts, onion, mushroom, green pepper, celery, zucchini, and carrots. There was plenty of thinly sliced chicken in a moderately spicy brown sauce. My wife's Cashew Chicken was similar, but without the extra spiciness and with cashews instead of peanuts.

Although the food is good at both, we prefer the Moline restaurant over the Davenport one because the portions are larger, the sauce is thicker so it clings to the food better, and the vegetables are much more finely diced -- integrating them better into the dish. I think different members of the same family own the two restaurants.

The Moline restaurant is also more spacious, and the stand-alone building offers lots more seating by a window than the strip mall location...

The food was pretty bland. I got an order of Chicken Yakiudon and I received the most flavorless noodles I've ever had. I don't even think there was any seasoning added. It tastes like they just threw chicken, onion, and egg in with the noodles and called it a day The chicken was super bland as well, and very fatty. The amount of onion in the dish was excessive in my opinion. It was like for each noodle there was an equal amount of onion. I couldn't bring myself to eat more than a couple bites.

The fried rice is well cooked but really lacking flavor for my taste, though not as objectively bad as the yakiudon. Still, it wasn't worth the calories, so I didn't eat much of it either. It's very similar to the kind you'd get at Panda Express, maybe a bit more bland, so do with that as you will.

The wonton soup was fine, not amazing but definitely not bland as the broth was tasty enough. Same for the chicken eggrolls, they were pretty run of the mill.

Overall, this was a disappointing experience. I believe the yakiudon is not worth the price. I think this restaurant is better off removing it from the menu because it really is not good. I'm pretty bummed out since I wasted 20 bucks...

I ordered shrimp with Chinese vegetables. Most all the vegetables were carrots and celery. I think less shrimp than before. Sizzling rice soup, the rice was so mushy it looked like oatmeal. The evening I got this I had just been in hospital getting blood infusion for 8 hours, so I did not call that night. When I called back the said I had the wrong restaurant, then that is what they cook for Chinese vegetables. There was some Chinese cabbage and slivers of zucchini. She said I should tell them the vegetables I want in it. She finally looked at the soup and gave me back the cost of a pint of the soup. I used to drive out of my way to go there. Now I will never go back!!! I told her they are using the carrots and celery to cut cost. The manager is also married to the owner. She just kept yelling, talking over me, and changing what I would say. Love is too short to put up with this attitude. There are plenty of restaurants out needing our...