Bangkok Chinatown Cuisine — Restaurant in Pittsfield Charter Township

I hadn't been to Lai Lai since COVID. Especially since they are only offering take out, but I planned ahead and was excited to feast on some good Chinese food. I ordered gai lan (Chinese broccoli) with oyster sauce, walnut shrimp, and ma po tofu When I got home and opened my order, I was very disappointed! My "Chinese broccoli" was regular floret broccoli and was practically flavorless which I paid $10 for?! Not only was my gai lan incorrect, but my walnut shrimp was made with an Americanized white sauce with vegetables (baby corm, carrots, etc.) On a more positive note, my ma po was fair in preparation and flavor Part of me wants to say, maybe they ran out of ingredients (supply shortages) or maybe they changed their menu since my last visit? But a big part of me wants to say that I was unfairly profiled as Caucasian. This has happened to me at two other locations in Ann Arbor! I am bi-racial (Chinese and Caucasian) and to most people I don't "look" Asian. Granted, one other time that this happened I was also wearing my face mask. But, it is still unfair to judge someone ordering and automatically say, I'll serve them traditional or I will serve them Americanized right? I'm just disappointed that one my go to spots can't accept me as one of their own and serve me something less because of the way I look. Update I ordered the walnut shrimp and chinese broccoli again today. I checked my order when I got out to the car to find regular broccoli again. I took my order and receipt back inside to ask the staff and she just said, we don't have gai lan. I told her I didn't want to pay $10 for generic broccoli and asked if I could order another vegetable side. I opted for a mushroom/bok choy mixture and then she proceeded to tell me it would be $2 more. I said never mind and walked out. Very disappointed with my shrimp. I'll start taking my business up...

You enter this restaurant and the first thing you see is a newspaper article from 1990 saying that Lai Lai has the best Dim Sum in Ann Arbor, though technically it is located in Ypsilanti. Unfortunately, the restaurant did little to live up to its former reputation.

The service was awkward, no one comes by to ask you if you need anything, or even to refresh your pot of tea. The table cloths (vinyl) are stained, and it makes you wonder whether anything has been updated in 20 years. Still you hold out hope, maybe the food is great, right?

Wrong. The food is bland, the brown sauce seems to reappear in multiple dishes making you feel like you're eating the same flavors repeatedly...oh wait, you are. The stuffed tofu was inedible, and the crusty taro is tasteless. Don't go for the scallion pancakes either unless you want to be chewing for days, it tastes as though they took it straight out of the freezer and deep fried it. The only highlight of this visit was the spring roll, but that was probably frozen too and if I just wanted a spring roll, I could have gone to a Chinese restaurant.

Definitely not worth the money, they need to taste their own food and work on...

I’ve been on a foodie tour through Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor since moving here from Saint Paul where the largest Hmong and Thai communities spoiled me with authentic specialties. Tonight I stumbled upon this quaint and beautiful restaurant where the service, ambiance and taste has me wishing I had another stomach and many more friends! The Tom Yum soup was the best I have ever had with a perfect level of spice. They even beat out my previous favorite from Los Angeles. The spices on the fried chicken were deliciously interesting with depth of flavor arguing against dipping in the accompanying sauce but then these flavors together… muah! Then there’s the pillow-like crab Rangoon that is more crab than anything else… uhm, yes thank you!!!! And let me tell you about the tamarind shrimp… butterflied with the head and tail on with this perfectly sweet and savory sauce - a must try off the specialty menu. Pair these amazing treats with Thai tea or Thai coffee and finish with the mango sticky rice. Oh, yeah! I wish I could give 10 starts. This place is a must for anyone who...