China Blue — Restaurant in Plano

China Blue is one of the most beautiful Chinese restaurants I've been to in the DFW area. The interior boasts a contemporary approach to Chinese design, combining traditional elements with modern aesthetics. The presentation of the food and the dinnerware were also very appealing to the eyes.

The food itself was pretty solid. However, I would have given this place 5 stars had it not been for the dumplings and baos. (Ironic considering they are titular menu items…)

-Champion Spicy Chicken: Big portion and delightfully crispy chicken! It wasn't really that spicy though - mines had a sweet glaze on top, reminiscent more of sweet and sour type of sauce. I guess I was expecting something more similar to Sichuan style fried chicken, which is tossed in a dry spice mixture vs a sticky sweet sauce. Regardless, the dish still tasted very good. (4.5/5)

-Spicy Smoked Pork: phenomenal smoky, wok-hei flavor. Pork was nice and tender; flavorful, but not too spicy. I didn't care for all the green peppers though, but it is not a big deal. (4.5/5)

-Xiaolongbao: I liked the presentation stand and the fact that you get 8 dumplings instead of the typical serving size of 6. However, my biggest complaint is that there wasn't enough soup inside the dumplings. Xiaolongbao usually have a "Hershey kiss" shape because of all the soup jello that liquifies when they are cooked. The skin was also too thin as it was challenging to pick them up without breaking. The filling tasted too meaty; I could not taste the typical aromatics like green onions or ginger that balances out the pork flavor. I'm not sure if perhaps it was an off-day in the kitchen, or a new chef, because other Yelper's pictures of the xiaolongbao have the "Hershey kiss" shape I mentioned. Either way, this makes me believe that there are some inconsistency issues (3/5).

-House Signature Pork Buns: similar issue to the xiaolongbao; the filling is too meaty and not enough vegetables/aromatics to balance the flavors. The dough seems to be same as the dumpling dough. As such, these are just bigger dumplings. I was expecting a fluffier, yeasted dough, typical of Chinese baos. (2.5/5).

Overall - I would still recommend this place to people and go again. Customer...

Disappointing Dining Experience! Do NOT recommend!

Our visit to this restaurant was nothing short of frustrating. The server forgot to ring in our order, resulting in us waiting over 45 minutes for our food. When we finally inquired, the server was incredibly disrespectful, rude, and even lied about why our dish was delayed.

We placed our order at 7:10 PM, with only three other tables occupied. As the restaurant started filling up, every table that arrived after us received their food promptly, while we continued to wait. I noticed the chef shrugging after I made eye contact, and he asked the wait staff about our order. The server then approached us and claimed, in Chinese, that our dish was "time-consuming" to prepare.

By 8:07 PM, our food finally arrived. After losing our appetite due to the long wait, we requested to-go boxes around 8:15 PM. The server remarked in Chinese that "the kitchen took so long."

When it came time to pay, we decided not to leave a tip. Surprisingly, another server approached us to lecture and gaslight us, insisting that our order was "time-consuming to make." I asked her to explain in English since I'm not a native Chinese speaker and my dining companion doesn't speak Chinese at all. She refused, stating, "I know you speak Chinese; I’m not going to speak English with you." I informed her that I had been to this establishment many times before and ordered the same dishes without any issues, only then did she leave us alone.

In the past, I’ve always tipped at least 20%, but this time I didn’t for several reasons: The staff didn’t check on our table throughout our dining experience. They repeatedly lied about why our food wasn’t ready. We essentially ended up ordering our meal to-go

The food we paid for sat in the car, practically wasted, as we had to rush to catch a movie...

Overall food was good. The Xiao long bao and pan fried bun we're probably the smallest size I've eaten in the DFW area. The flavor was adequate but not astounding and it just doesn't seem as good as other places. The bottom of the buns weren't crispy. But the xiao long bao was juicy with soup. The house special beef was definitely spicy but it had a nice taste with the cilantro. The favorite dish for me and my family was the salt and pepper squid. It was nicely crispy and evenly seasoned.

Update: 8/28/2023 Came back to give them another try and this time I ate in the restaurant. Food was MUCH better this time. The quantity was large and the price was great. Everything was delicious and I was so full afterwards. Got: Hot pan fried pork buns, boiled shrimp & pork dumplings, pepper & salt fish fillet, and beef flat noodles. The beef flat noodles were delicious and they gave a LOT on a big plate. They have 3 different versions of pan fried pork buns, but the best is definitely the Hot pan fried pork bun cause it comes out on a sizzling hot iron plate and has a really great crispy bottom crust and it's filled with meat filling that's super juicy. They have been rated one of the best places for dumplings in Dallas and I have to completely agree. Their dumplings were large, full of meat and flavor, and reasonably priced. I 100% will come back to try more food and I've already recommended them to many people to try as well. It's more worth it to eat in the restaurant than to take home. I feel like taking it home/to-go, they give less quantity, so eat in the restaurant if...