Tsingtao House — Restaurant in Town of Brighton

Yes! This is a Chinese restaurant that actually serves Chinese food, not the typical Chinese-American food found at most, if not all, Chinese restaurants in Rochester. In fact, this is the only restaurant that my Chinese friends will eat at. That should tell you something.

I believe Tsingtao House has gone through some changes over the years. A few years ago, it was delicious and authentic. Then, i guess it changed hands and became much more Americanized and the food wasn’t great. But, apparently, they changed hands again, because the food now is not only authentic, but delicious.

The chef is from Sichuan, so please bear in mind that the food tends to be on the spicy side. If you are not a lover of spice at all, you may want to ask for “not spicy” if you visit.

While there are some Chinese-American “classics” on the menu like Kung Bo Chicken, General Tso Chicken, Sesame Beef, etc., you may even find that these dishes are slightly different (but even more tasty) than the Americanized version found in most restaurants.

But, you should really try the dishes that aren’t typically found on Chinese restaurant menus here. There are so many yummy dishes like Basil Chicken Hotpot, Crispy Chicken Hot Peppers, Pork Belly Sichuan Style, King Du Pork Chop, Spicy Crispy Beef, Long Hot Pepper Beef, Stir-Fried Ginger Lamb, Cumin Lamb, Stir-Fried Fish Hunan Style and Cucumber Roasted Chili.

For the more adventurous, there are dishes like Sichuan Chicken Feet, Sichuan Beef and Tendons, Crabmeat Pork Wonton Soup, Dry Pepper Pork Intestine, and Sea Cucumber Hot Spicy Sauce to try. There are also a variety of hotpot dishes available.

The portions are decent and it is reasonably-priced. There are also lunch specials available from 11:30-3:30pm. The lunch menu isn’t as extensive, but has enough variety from which to choose.

If you are interested in Chinese food at all, you should give Tsingtao...

Ordered for take out: Scallion Beef and Tendon 葱爆牛杂—amazing flavor with a mild piquant glaze. All was cooked to perfection and everything could be tasted, including the mild char on the onions, and all the textures were there.

Spring Roll 素菜春卷—very crispy and the dipping sauce was sweet and spicy. Very good!

Beef Roll 牛肉卷—another winner, hearty in size, and crispy. There is a slightly sweet component to the beef, but that is to be expected and is a definite plus

Singapore Mei Fun 星洲炒米粉—If you like curry, this one's worth ordering. There is shrimp, chicken shallots, and the noodles are thin and not wet. Very tasty

Walnut Shrimp—big shrimp, plenty of walnuts, juicy, crunchy and crispy

Shrimp Wonton Soup 虾馄饨汤—the broth is amazing! It doesn't taste like it came out of a can/carton. This can be seen by the fact that it's not as clear as other restaurants' broth. It's tastes homemade. There are a generous number of wontons, which were more shrimp that dumpling , and there is a bit of cabbage in there.

Pork Belly Scallions Soy Sauce—the most spicy dish on this list, but again, another pleaser

The food was ready on time and hot. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone wanting a solid meal, whether dining in or out.

Note: if you're not used to authentic Chinese food, these dishes were oily, to perfection (heavy for American standards), but not greasy.

I will definitely be driving the 30 minutes to this place again!

I didn't take photos since we were hungry and eager to eat before it occurred to me to...

The outside of the restaurant looks a bit like an industrial site. Inside there are a few Asian decorative accents, but the feel is a bit run down -- think diner a la "Asia Texas Hots." Service was "family style," the one server gestured in a general direction to seat us, and sat at one of the tables with a young couple much of the meal. Payment wasn't even take the check to the cash register, it was take card to counter to swipe on cellphone reader.

That said, food is the important part. I'm known to enjoy a late night garbage plate, doesn't need to be fancy. We didn't recognize many of the lunch options, none of our go-to dishes were listed. Mom had the Orange Chicken, being a fan of Sesame Chicken -- often served on a bed of steamed broccoli, so she asked for broccoli with it. I tried a shrimp dish. I was aware it would come with a savory white sauce.

We did finish most of our meals, but the Orange Chicken was heavy on the breading and the sauce was tooth-achingly sweet, even more than expected. Just a few bits of limp broccoli. My shrimp dish had a good flavor -- Mom assures me it is normally a pool of white sauce with egg, and a few prawns. There was a decent quantity of prawns. Neither dish as ordered on the lunch menu comes with any sort of vegetable.

Other customers seemed to enjoy themselves and their food, and I don't want to trash the restaurant for not meeting my expectations, when there was nothing wrong, per...