Full Kee Restaurant — Restaurant in Tuckahoe

This is hands down the best Chinese Restaurant for the price, in the city of Richmond. Not "Chinese takeout". Chinese food. Show of hands. A Chinese restaurant offers General Tso Chicken for 12 dollars. How many times have you gone to that place and seen even one person in the store eating? I went for lunch and every 4 top table in the dining room here was in use.

This place. Is the real deal. Walking into the vestibule, there is a shrine to the left with cups of tea, sweet cakes and money. As you come into the store, you are greeted with a plaque in pride of place "Top 25 restaurants in Richmond" on the left, and too the right a hot holding case for the meat you will soon be eating. Which I saw being taken out of the oven and hung up. Entire roasted ducks and chickens. while walking into the dining room the crabs on the menu eye you warily from their aquarium.

If all that was not the giveaway I was in for something special, the fact that once seated I was presented with a tea cup, plate, reusable chopsticks and a fork was the final straw. You are not given a spoon, or a knife here. The tea was given as I sat down, Jasmine, and you could see the loose leaf still floating in the first pour. This was not from a bag. I ordered my go too General Tso, being an insufferable Meiguoren, but I also ordered the steamed pork buns to go with it.

To my surprise, without prompting the chicken was presented not with fried rice, or white rice, but with brown rice. Those of you who know, know. And it was very good. The rice was cooked perfectly, with the perfect creaminess you expect from good brown rice. It worked great with the spicy general tso as well. The Pork Buns were likewise amazing. Clearly steamed and cooked all the way through, with a bready, almost cake like texture and taste. And the filling was hardly an afterthought. Perfection.

While looking around the room, I noticed traditional large tables with the rotating tops. This is a place to bring the entire crew, and create your own tasting menu. If you have an Asian food fanatic in the family, this is your spot. One table walked out with enough carry out to feed a small army. Upon walking up to the counter to pay, the lady of the house was interrupted by a carry out order. The person on the phone wanted to order duck. Not a duck dish. A duck. The whole duck. Roasted. With 4 side dishes.

And my entire meal cost around 19 dollars. Mind boggling. An experience like this could easily cost 40 dollars. You have to try...

Overall a great place. Lots of seating room and nice decor. I love this place and have been going here for many years, but service and food does vary from time to time. Sometimes it can take a couple of minutes of standing in the doorway before you're seated, especially if it is bust. However, I have had one instance, even though it was not busy and there was no line, when we were left standing there while the person was at the counter moving paper around. Majority of the time this does not happen and they are always very nice and quick to sit and serve you throughout the time spent there. Food can also vary taste wise. Sometimes I'm in love with certain dishes, other times it is not really worth the price; however, the majority of the time the food is great and 100% worth it. Favorites of include: soy sauce pan fried noodles, garlic green beans (sometimes have a strong garlic taste, other times it is a bit weaker in taste), shrimp crepe, shrimp har gow, char siu, and shrimp fried rolls (these are so crispy it is amazing). My acquaintances like the sesame balls, egg tarts, egg plant, and baked pork buns. The char siu sauce is sometimes good, sometimes it does not taste fresh. The duck here is good, but once it tasted very gamey (we assumed it was meat near the liver). I am not a fan of their wonton soup, meat crepe, or their coconut (?) jello (the white jello block). The dim sum time is fun to experience, but food can get cold in the one unheated rolling cart (there are usually 3 carts in total, dim sum, congee, and other dishes(unheated one)) so if you are worried about that just try to ask for a newer order to be made. There are two bathrooms located in the back. While they are clean, they have a very strong bad smell (someone at my table said it smelled like clogged sewer pipes). . The lowered overall star is because there was one instance that I had a mini spider lower itself from the vent above our table onto the food and then climbed onto the table before we were able to trap it and call a waitress. They remade the dish and took the spider away. The lowered food star is because of the...

Review Update: 7/2024 I've been back for lunch a few more times on Saturdays and Sundays at different times ranging between 12pm and 2pm. I must have coincidentally arrived after the lunch rush as the wait for a table wasn't as bad and the dimsum carts were able to come by more often. Food was good, except for a few items here and there that may not have been steamed for long enough as it was only slightly warm. If you get there a little later, there's a great possibility that they may have run out of some of the dimsum items. Service is better when they are not run off their feet dealing with the lunch rush. Still rarely saw them pick up the empty steam baskets, but at least you can get their attention easier if you need refills.

Original review: Being the only dim sum place within a 50 mile area doesn't trump bad service. No, I don't expect the same level of attentiveness from an authentic dim sum restaurant as I would from any other American restaurant. It's a thing! However this place just disappoints. If you're there for the dim sum carts for lunch on a weekend, be prepared to wait in line for a long time. I've been there before opening time a few times and there's always been a line to get seated. Once seated, be prepared to wait for a long time for the dim sum cart. And if it does come by, you're better off grabbing as much as you think you'll eat since that cart probably won't come by until an hour later. Yes, food is good, but it takes way too long to get to your table and it is lukewarm by the time it gets there. Don't expect good service. They are way too understaffed and busy seating and serving other customers or clearing out tables to come refill your empty tea pot or drinks, or pick up the empty steam baskets. If they came by with the carts and refills more often, maybe we would have finished our meal sooner, allowing another group in the line to take over our...