Royal Asian Fusion — Restaurant in Winter Haven

THE BEST FAMILY OWNED ORIENTAL RESTURANT IN CENTRAL FLORIDA!

Chinese, Vietnamese Pho, and Japanese food await you at the Royal Asian. This is not your typical Americanized Chinese restaurant. This is the kind of place where everybody orders, and everybody shares. Expect to be served on platters, not paper, plastic or typical restaurant plates. The food is as genuine as it gets. I ordered vegetarian Chow Mein but instead of getting bits of vegetables in a I-don't-know-what sauce, it was large chunks of cabbage, carrots, and onions among the other ingredients served in an unthickened sauce. I couldn't finish it. I shared my platter and then turned and shoveled in most of the Fried Rice that I ordered. Again, this not the caramelized rice that I was used to. It was fluffy and tasty.

My son ordered Street Curry - not sure what was in it, but he polished his platter. My wife ordered the Sesame Chicken which she proclaimed as the best ever. She particularly liked that it was crunchy. She likes everything crunchy. Like me, there was more food than can be eaten in just one meal. She took a to-go box and had it for Monday's lunch.

This not a romatic place. Furnishings are a bit sparse. There is no beautiful view. In fact, the place is in an old strip mall off 7th and Ave. I in Winter Haven, just south of the new Wendy's. You'd expect the place to be packed on Mother's day, but we were there with only one other couple.

Service is fantastic. My son must have gone through a dozen refills on his drink. Orders were taken quickly, and the waitress checked back on us often, not waiting the four minutes as is the standard in most places. When we were ready to leave, the bill was there in moments. No arm twisting to buy a dessert ... I hate that. For a family of four that was served enough food to last us at least two meals, the bill came to $54.

Good for parties. We didn't buy any spirits there, but they do sell beer and wine. My son, who is infatuated with Thailand, found a few Thai beers on the menu. The dining hall is large enough to accommodate a decent size office party or family get-together. We walked in, however, if you've got a large crowd calling first might be smart.

I will go back next time I'm in the mood for oriental food. Perhaps taking the time to research some the items listed on the menu. I'm not opposed to experimenting with new cuisine. I'm just anti-meat and really want to learn what I'm about to be served. Plus, I'd love the opportunity to learn more about the different cuisines offered, and an idea of what to expect.

If I have any complaints it's that I don't like the chopsticks. Bring your own because the half-sized balsam wood things these folks offer doesn't work for me. I got about halfway through my meal before running out of patience and resorting to the American stainless steel fork. It just lessened the otherwise authentic experience I...

First let me say this was my first visit to Royal Asian Fusion. I intend to visit the restaurant at least one more time, order some different dishes, and see if I will return after that.

Other than the breadth of the menu there was nothing special or exceptional to recommend. We ordered two appetizers, edamame and pork egg rolls. The edamame was perfect, served warm, lightly salted and an ample portion. The pork egg rolls were extra crispy, served very hot with duck sauce, no mustard, and under seasoned. The General Tso's Shrimp was described as "shrimps and vegetable sauteed with fresh garlic sauce". I received fried shrimp, a good portion of them, in a sticky, spicy, red sauce with 5 or 6 lightly steamed very small broccoli florets placed as garnish around the dish. The sauce was not garlicky, merely sweet and hot. Not what I was expecting from the description, even tho it resembled unimaganitive General Tao's dishes served in forgettable Chinese takeaways elsewhere. I'll order something else next time. My companion's dish of Lemon Grass Chicken smelled delightful. She said it was too salty. So, for Chinese food, not my go to place. The menu has Sushi, Thai, and Vietnamese dishes as well. Next time I'll see if those turn out better.

What else? Decor? Hum drum. Service? Attentive but not engaging. Here's what really stuck in my craw. We sat down in a booth and, within seconds were asked what we would like to drink. It's Florida. It was hot outside. We said we would start with ice water while we looked at the menu. Now this place obviously has a bar, with at least beer and wine service. I could see on one, count it, one other table in the restaurant, a stand up plastic drinks menu. We weren't offered one, nor were we ever asked if we wanted anything else to drink. I count that as a huge missed opportunity for the restaurant to increase the bill, and just plain apathetic service on the part of the wait staff. Like I said, stuck in my craw. Not up to minimal standards of...

Don't judged the book by its cover as the saying goes. This restaurant is amazingly nice and clean once my friend and I entered the restaurant. It was dinner time so we only ordered a few dishes. The dishes there were the best tasting foods thus far that we have had when comparing to other Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and Sushi restaurants in Winter Haven. They offering a little bit of everything of Asia's cuisines. We have tried Thai spring roll and they were delicious and yummy; we also tried Hong Kong style wonton noodle soup and it was super delicious, good to the last drop; we tried the beef chow fun and it was awesome and great tasting as comparing to New York city Chinatown Chinese restaurant. Lastly, we tried their tempura battered fried red-bean ice scream and it was delightful and refreshing. Overall, the restaurant's environment was peaceful and relaxing, the services was prompt and courteous, each dish portion was more than enough, and all of the dishes were excellent, and the price of each dish was among the most reasonable price as compared to similar restaurant in Winter Haven. We strongly recommended this restaurant. We gave Royal Asian Fusion restaurant overall score of 4.5 stars. We are looking forward to dine there again and again. They also have some great stuff off the...