China Garden — Restaurant in Tulsa

Today I made a daring escape from the confines of not only the home office, but Owasso in general. Doesn't happen often. As I was headed into T-town, I had a destination in mind, one that had been on the bookmark list for some time. As I barreled down highway 169, I swung a right and exited on 31st street, and kept going west. My destination: The China Garden. I'd salivated over other Yelper!s pictures for far too long. I arrived just past noon, and was seated immediately. As in, right away. Note to new visitors.... you seat yourself. Don't stand around looking lost like I did for a couple minutes. A very friendly gentleman greeted me with a smile and a menu, two of my favorite things in a restaurant. Since I'd already perused the pics online, I had a pretty good idea what I was going to go for, but still, I did give the menu a good shakedown. It's pretty large with lots of variety. One thing I knew early on, and got confirmed when I saw the menu.... this isn't your typical corner location, MSG laden fast food Chinese takeout joint. As I commented to The Wife, this isn't your usual 'AmerAsian' joint. The menu is very oriented towards much more ethnic Chinese cuisine. I started with a chicken egg roll and fried dumplings and opted for the dry pot ribs for my entree. Because I wanted a little something more to sample, I also got a lunch order of beef lomein to go, figuring I'd nosh on it a bit this afternoon, purely for the sake of the review, you understand. The things I do for you people..... seriously..... :) The dumplings hit the table first, still sizzling from the pan and accompanied by a really nice dipping sauce. The sauce was a slightly sweet soy with a hint of toasted sesame. Really subtle and nicely done. The dumplings were nothing short of perfect. Perfectly sized, perfectly cooked, and perfectly good. I left a couple for The Wife to try later, and I must admit, I resented it just a bit. I wanted them all. Next up was the egg roll. Thinner than your usual egg roll, more like a spring roll, it to was cooked perfectly. Sometimes they get overcooked and get all brown and crusty, but not this one. Delicately seasoned with a nice amount of filling, it was a worthy addition to the lineup. Shortly on the heels of the apps, and I do mean shortly, my entree arrived. First, they use the cutest little steel wok on a stand with a burner underneath. The wok was still sizzling, but oddly enough, the burner just kept the food at a good temp without overcooking, or overheating it. Now for the ribs.... Really well seasoned and dry (hence the name). Included in the wok was a generous amount of fresh green beans and onions, lightly sauteed in dried chilies and a seasoned oil. Also present was an abundance of dried chili pieces, which I have to confess, I wasn't fond of. It's seasoning, I get it. And most of the time they're a pain to pick around, but not this time. The beans and onions were easy enough to fork, and the little riblets I just nabbed by hand. While not very big, each one packs a punch of flavor. A little crunch on the outside, tender on the inside, and possessing plenty of porky goodness. I'd eat em again in a second, and probably will. Service was great, with no issues there. Atmosphere was nice and quiet, lighting a bit on the dim side, which is nice. Overall, The China Garden is indeed a neighborhood hidden treasure. The food is great, and best of all, unique. I plan on returning to sample many of their more exotic dishes, especially now that we're looking down the throat of fall and cooler weather. All the better to deal with those...

I've visited China Garden in the past which was likely over 7 years ago. I recall stopping in for lunch in between jobs and ordering off their lunch menu and the food was great. For no good reason I haven't been back besides I now reside outside of Tulsa. My wife and I enjoy authentic Chinese food and recently saw several people on a Facebook group recommend China Garden so we decided to check it out.

We arrived on a Saturday evening around 7pm and the nice gentleman greeted us and told us we had just missed the dinner rush. We were promptly seated and shortly after that put in our drink order. I like that they have a lot of pictures of some of their popular menu items. It was difficult to narrow down what we wanted because so many entrées looked and sound good. The gentleman pointed out some of their more popular dishes in an effort to help us decide.

My wife went with the beef flat noodles. Portion size and flavor were great. If we were to have one complaint about her dish was that it lacked beef, it was very sparse. She also mentioned she would enjoyed a crunch of some sort would have been nice like scallions. I opted for one of their recommendations and went with cumin lamb. The portion size and flavor of my dish was also great. The lamb was definitely plentiful. Being I have a high heat tolerance I ordered it on the spicy side, going with a 5 out 5.In the beginning I was sort of missing the spiciness but as I ate more it started to warm up, yet very tolerable.

Overall, our expierence was positive. Friendly owner/staff, great food, and reasonable pricing compared to other authentic Chinese restaurants. We have already determined we will be to try other dishes like their spicy boiled fish. The gentleman helping us said they only use sea bass which...

This place used to be so good, I went today for the first time in a few months to get take out, and was SO disappointed. I would have stated prior to today to anyone, that this place had the BEST Chinese food in Oklahoma, but after returning back there today, I won't be back. I ordered 2 Thai teas with my meals, and a few months ago the tea was really tasty and sweet, today it tasted like watered down black unsweetened tea with the tiniest amount of milk. It was pretty weird. I tried to talk to the staff about it and said it didn't taste good, and doesnt taste like normal. They told me that it is how it's always been and would not remake it or listen to me trying to tell them it was definitely changed and just stared at me like I was crazy and wanted me to leave. I felt forced out. I didn't recognize any of the same staff in there today that used to be there. They were super unfriendly to me, and overall judt really unprofessional. One of the greatest appeals of this place was how family oriented and friendly thr environment felt, and how good the food was, and now lthose things are gone. I got home after being disappointed with my encounter there, to find that our food was mediocre at best, not the same quality it was before at all. This used to be me and my fiances favorite date night spot, it's so sad. I hope they take it back to the way...