Joy House — Restaurant in Rocklin

I had weekend lunch here with a party of six. Some folks ordered the lunch combo specials (which wa. offered even on the weekend) and others ordered entrees. I was able to sample a bit from their orders. Everything tasted fresh and flavorful. Service was friendly and attentive. The restaurant was clean and modern. It had a relaxing vibe.

Miranda, the waitress, was fantastic. Since she was the only waitress, she was busy. The husband and wife owners also work at the restaurant. He is the chef and she helps in the kitchen. He used to be a chef at Chef Chu’s restaurant in Los Altos.

Now let me tell ya about the food: The cuisine ranges from Hunan, Szechuan, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

Hot and Sour Soup- Pure deliciousness! Luved it. Savory, spicy, and tangy. Beautiful thick, glossy broth.

Pork Fried Rice- It was prepared well. No oiliness. Rice was fluffy and fresh tasting.

Prawns and Lobster Sauce- Gorgeous color on the prawns and vegetables. Classic Cantonese flavors.

Boiled Fish and Pickled Cabbage- This dish was new to me. The entree is prepared like a soup. Besides the large chunks of white fish, it had glass noodles and pickled cabbage. The broth had an intended slight sour taste. To be honest, my first sip threw off my tastebuds and confused them. But after several more sips, the flavors grew on me. I had enjoyed it.

Spicy Beef Combo- This is one of their signature dishes. I have never had this before, so I gave it a go. It was thin slices of cooked beef mixed with honeycomb tripe, bamboo shoots, and what tasted like chopped pine nuts. It was all served in chili oil. The tripe was thinly sliced as well. The beef was tender and had a melt in your mouth texture. The dominant flavor was the chili oil, it had a "kick". This was another dish that at first bite, the texture and flavors put my tastebuds on alert. But gradually it grew on me.

Yu- Shang Shredded Pork- This was my favorite dish. It was delicious! Besides the shredded pork, it had bamboo shoots, wood ear mushroom, carrots, green onion, and bell peppers in a chili sauce....

This is my favorite and one of the more authentic Chinese restaurants in the Rocklin and Roseville area. The chef is from Beijing and used to work at the famous Chef Chu's in Los Altos.

I love going for the lunch specials, which are offered Monday to Saturday. Amazing that you can still get a lunch special on Saturday! These are my recommendations: Yu Shang Shredded Pork Mixed Vegetables Deluxe Braised Eggplant in Garlic Sauce (you can add a meat of choice for a small upgrade charge) Salt & Pepper Fish Candied Pecans with Jumbo Prawns

There is even a Special Chinese Food menu with regional Chinese dishes, like Dan Dan Noodles, Chongqing Chicken, Beijing Noodles (a.k.a. Jajangmyun), Mongolian Lamb, Spicy Beef Combo, and Spicy Boiled Fish.

I always pay the $1.75 upgrade for BBQ Pork Fried Rice. A friend said she was allowed to get brown rice as her fried rice, and today I witnessed another customer switch the BBQ pork to chicken, so it appears that the fried rice is made to order.

They seem understaffed, so you may need to walk up to the counter to flag down a server. You must ask for chopsticks.

Two televisions set to the Sacramento Kings NBA game with the sound on low, so you could catch the game here. I like the pretty dining room with tablecloths...

We are looking for something to eat for lunch from an event and not really familiar in the area. So we drove around area of Roseville and we ended up in Rocklin. Sometimes its a hit or miss when going to chinese restaurants specially if your new to the area. While driving, we saw a sign on the street saying. " JOY HOUSE grand opening." The place is warm and cozy its not big but small enough to relax and enjoy your food. We both order their lunch specials we ordered sweet and sour pork plus chowmein. There no long time of waiting for your food to serve which is perfect . The service is good. By far their sweet and sour pork is the best sweet and sour pork i ever tasted, pork is tender you cant taste or smell that it is frozen and just reheated it .the taste is sweet and litle tangy, the chowmein is good not really greasy the salad is that goes with our meal is excellent the salad it self is already a meal for me if im not really hungry im not really a fan of their sour soup though, im not sure what ingridents they use in that sour soup is like bland taste doesn't have any taste but soury taste. I would give 5 star for joy house restaurant for the food, service and cozinnes of the place.highly...