Kim's Chow Mein — Restaurant in Saint Paul

Former food writer/professionally trained cook here. I don't often leave reviews and I hate writing negative ones but I ordered takeout last night and a friend picked up on his way so I can't speak to the service or atmosphere but in terms of the food itself I was really disappointed in the chicken chow mein. (Chow mein is in their name so I was thinking I should try it, ya know?) The chicken looks like some sort of processed chicken with an almost spongy texture. My friend and I both gave the chow mein a fair shot and both of us stopped eating it after the first few bites. The sauce was too gelatinous (too much cornstarch?) and it was literally just chicken and celery. Maybe it was an off night or they ran out of some ingredients but I tossed basically a full container of the chow mein. The kung pao beef was barely spicy and there were no whole dried chilies in it like most preparations call for, and even the kung pao photo on their online ordering menu shows dried chilies in the mix. The veg low mein was the best out of the three dishes but the noodles we got weren't lo mein noodles; they were more like thread noodles/rice vermicelli like in Singapore noodles. It's kind of misleading to use completely different noodles than what is called for. I don't think I will be back. If it were just one "bad" entree I wouldn't be writing this review but the chow mein was pretty unappetizing, the kung pao was so so and not what you'd expect from kung pao, and the lo mein was decently flavorful but also kind of disappointing because it's not the right noodle? Personally I get low mein because I like the density/chew of those noodles and these weren't it. It was a very weird rendition of all three dishes and I don't eat out/order take out often so it's just pretty disappointing when most of the meal just isn't what one would expect given what the dishes are supposed to be, and there are mostly good reviews...

Last summer for my bachelor's party, my dad picked up a bunch of wings to-go from Kim's. Normally I'm not at all a fan of wings and find them to be a hassle to eat and messy, BUT these wings were so good! They're fried and the breading tastes like that of a McNugget! Probably the best wings I've ever had, honestly.

I haven't tried their other food but keep forgetting when I have the opportunity, and it's crazy because I lived two block away from it a few years ago and never went there! Man, for those prices I could've eaten there as a Friday treat every week and it wouldn't have put much of a dent in the tight budget, haha.

But Yeah, try the wings, listen to the good reviews, and assume the bad reviews must be the mistakes 90% of all restaurants make once in a long while (or those reviewers are picky, pompous foodies/critics -- Keep in mind that Merriam has some pretty rich people there...

Ordered take away chicken fried rice. $6 for a pint that was dry and inedible. No moisture whatsoever, overcooked onion, no sprouts. I don't want my fried rice greasy, but there's a limit to how much extra saliva I have to produce in order to choke down a bite. Major irritation. I can't afford to eat out very often (low fixed income), and when I get something like that, I usually give the restaurant a call right away to let them know that what they are presently producing is below standard. I called Kim's, but the woman I got on the phone was too busy talking to listen to what I had to say. She interrupted me so many times, I hung up. Don't they care what their customers think? She just didn't want to hear what was wrong with the dish so that it could be corrected. Rice went in the garbage. Never going back there. ...