Liyuen — Restaurant in Phoenix

When I got there, there were so many people getting food from this place that the small parking lot was full, the driveways were blocked and cars were parked up and down both sides of the street. There were even cars parked up on the sidewalk. It took about 30 minutes for food to be ready.

I judge Chinese restaurants by their Hot and Sour soup. Most of the time, I end up taking it home and adding Chinese Red vinegar and white pepper to make it hotter and sourer. This soup was delicious and perfect.

The egg roll was different from any I've had before. It wasn't the usual fried wrapper around mixed up diced stuff. The inside was a creamy cabbage and it was delicious.

I'm not a huge fan of fried rice. It's okay, but I can take it or leave it. I'd order this on purpose.

Sadly, the Orange Chicken was just okay. Not that orangey or spicy. I hate to say it, but even Panda Express might be better. The best Orange Chicken is at China Chili. Do yourself a favor and get yourself some Orange Chicken at China Chili.

But the wings. Let's talk wings. They make jalapeno, garlic and several other flavors and they're magic. At least the garlic ones are. The smell of those wings was amazing and the taste was even better. If you were on I-17 about 3 pm today, you might have seen me stuffing a wing in my face while I drove North. It's okay, I'm getting the car detailed next week.

The neighborhood wasn't as sketch as some reviews would have you believe. It's just a lower socioeconomic area. No crack addicts or hookers on the corner. People drive there from all over the valley so maybe it's people from Paradise Valley who are freaked out. The folks I waited with were just average, friendly, hungry people. I don't know what the area's like after dark though.

I'll go back for sure and I'll be eating wings in the car on...

WASTE OF TIME & MONEY! The reviews DO NOT match the quality of the food! I’m not sure why people are giving this place 5 stars? There are so many other places near by that BLOW this place out of the water. LET’S START HERE, Parking is horrible. Take out only. The line was just too long for this place. The food was way too expensive for what was served. There is no accurate priced menu. They charge what they want and add their own tip. Oh, my meal below was $39 (FYI). I love small local restaurants but the lack of transparency and consistency doesn’t sit well with me. THE FOOD; There was just something wrong about the taste of the crab puffs and the creamy filling. An after taste that was oddly sweet yet metallic. Oh they were also burnt which made it hard to eat. The egg rolls were also burnt and had no flavor. The egg rolls at Jack-in-the-Box are WAY better. The orange chicken was just afoul, it was overly breaded and soggy in the middle. You can get better quality ingredients at Pei Wei restaurant up the block. The only positive thing about this meal was the portion sizes and the chicken low main dish. It was surprisingly good but not the “best in Phoenix” as people have recommended. This place doesn’t beat Panda Express that’s for sure. Chicken was soft and tender. If you’d like to try this place, I’d suggest getting there early, only get one thing, do not go on an empty stomach, and order the small portion...

So many things wrong with this place and it was disgusting. We were recommended by a coworker to try the restaurant out and got a large variety of dishes (orange chicken, sesame chicken, lomein noodles, etc). We had an order of garlic chicken wings and they were gross. They had a deep brown color on the outside and the inside was pure white. I've never seen chicken with such a bright color, but the wings are not seasoned well. They just slap a spoonful of minced garlic on top. Every dish was large and fried well (very crispy), but the chicken on the inside was petrified. I would describe it as battered and fried cubes of chicken jerky served in funk sauces. All of the sauces except for one were complete misses and even the noodles were not the biz (I thought that was a difficult dish to screw up). We waited around to pick up our order from the one tiny ghetto window they have while a group of others gathered around waiting for their orders too. I assumed the food was amazing otherwise there wouldn't be a crowd, but I should have known better when we witnessed a drug deal go down right in front of us. I did have a request to put the sauce on the side for one of the dishes, but after I was told that it would cost a few bucks more and I was already dropping close to $50 for this hood spot, I decided against it. This place is definitely a no-go for us or for anyone looking for a half decent...