SJRS is desperate.
We moved here from Chicago 2.5 years ago and we have yet to find a good Chinese restaurant. Any suggestions? It seems hopeless.
Honestly, my luck has been about as good as SJRS’s over the years, so I don’t have any of my own…so I turn to you gentle readers. Whatcha got?
Oh, and she’s also open to Thai suggestions too.
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Little Szechwan on Buford Hwy. at Shallowford
For Thai in Atlanta you can’t beat Little Bangkok on Cheshire Bridge.
http://blissfulglutton.blogspot.com/2008/08/just-little-taste-offrank-ma-south.html
We have been to Frank Ma’s new place several times since it opened – it’s amazing.
For dim sum we like Royal China – saturday & sunday mornings (get there between 11 and noon).
3295 Chamblee-Dunwoody Rd
Chamblee, GA 30341
Golden Buddha on Clairmont. They deliver to Decatur, too.
For Thai, Tamarind in Midtown is a wonderful.
For Chinese (dim sum), Canton House on Bufonrd Highway.
For Chinese and a mix of other cuisines, Saigon Cafe on N. Decatur.
I think Oriental Pearl is one of the better Chinese restaurants I’ve been to here in Atlanta. I’ve gone for a banquet dinner (9 or 10 courses) and also for dim sum. Good Cantonese-style cooking.
5399 New Peachtree Rd
Chamblee, GA 30341-2842
Phone: (770) 986-9866
I second the Golden Buddha on Clairmont comment. Pyng Ho (also on Clairmont) is good as well. I live on Columbia, S. of the square, so I know both have a pretty wide delivery area too.
Can’t help you with chinese. However, Ma Li is probably the arguably Thai place in Atlanta. They also have outstanding sushi for reasonable (i.e.: not MF) prices.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/ma-li-restaurant-atlanta
*Ma Li is arguably the best…
I’m fond of Fortune Cookie in the Loehmahn’s Plaza at Briarcliff and North Druid Hills Dr.
http://fortunecookieatlanta.com/default.aspx
I’m not affiliated with it, but have gone there every couple months for several years.
My husband and I tend to favor Siam (which is on the Square) for Thai food and Top Spice or Penang (on Chesire Bridge) for Malaysian/Thai. In terms of Chinese, our favorite used to be Canton Cooks in Roswell, but I’ve heard it’s gone a bit downhill. Otherwise, Golden Buddha is nice.
This is a huge issue in Decatur! We love Chinese food, and we have tried almost every Chinese restaurant in the Decatur area without being impressed. In fact, some of what we’ve had delivered has been so gross we’ve had to throw it out without even eating! I had much better luck with Chinese when I lived in the ‘burbs, believe it or not! I think it’s a huge Decatur market opportunity for someone willing in invest in a nice location serving high quality food (including FRESH ingredients and decent cuts of meat!!) plus delivery options.
I agree with the previous poster about Fortune Cookie. It’s a little bit of a drive, but I highly recommend it! It’s not 5 star gourmet by any means, but they use really fresh ingredients and charge a reasonable price. Their crab rangoon is my absolute favorite! I’ve been a regular for over 5 years. The only negative is that it doesn’t deliver to Decatur.
I also like the Chin Chin chain. There is a location in Midtown on Ponce, near the Kroger and Green’s. I don’t think they ususally deliver to Decatur, though.
I have to disagree about Pyng Ho. I’ve tried it two or three times, and I think it is mediocre at best. Maybe it’s what I’ve ordered? But it does deliver to Decatur, which is nice if you find you like it.
As far as Thai, we love Tamarind Seed (as previously posted) and Surin. Not sure if technically qualifies as Thai, but we are also big fans of Doc Chey’s.
For Thai, there are some interesting options if you don’t mind venturing out into Atlanta proper, but sadly the only Asian fare in Decatur I like is Sushi Avenue on Ponce Place (not the square) – and that’s not what she’s looking for.
For Thai, I think Tamarind is good, steady mid-level Thai, and is at Colony Square and 14th street in Midtown. Nan, like Tamarind, is also owned by Charlie and Nan Niyomkul down on 17th and Spring in Midtown and the food is good, but it’s a little too high-end IMHO making the bang-for-buck a bit low for all but the “impress me with your expense account” business-type dinners.
For an interesting and different experience, try Panita Thai Kitchen in the highlands (N. Highland and Greenwood) behind Surin (another Thai restaurant). If you go to Panita, there are some ground rules to get out of the way — if any of these things “aren’t you” then I would suggest trying one of the other good recommendations in these comments. First, it’s just him. No waiters, no cooks, no one else: just Peter. So when you go in, if you expect to be attended to with waters and drinks in short order, you could end up disappointed like so many other folks who come in and walk right back out after a couple of minutes… It’s a pity because they’re missing out on some damned good vittles. Second, because it’s just him, your food might take a while to come up. My experience has been that it is worth the wait, and the variety and style of food is different than the kinds of food I’ve gotten at other Thai places. Duck with balsamic and orange liqueur, chicken in champagne curry over noodles with veggies, beef with green beans.
For cheap and fast Thai, I’d recommend Bangkok near Ansley on Piedmont. I can drive there, order, eat, and be back from my Midtown office in 45 minutes. Beef drunken fried rice, thai hot, is one of my faves there (tho it is perhaps a bit sweet). They’ve been there for a very, very long time.
For Chinese food, I’ve traditionally gone to Buford Highway because I’m really not so into the typical Ameri-nese menus like General Tso’s Chicken and chicken in plum sauce that fried and slathered in molten plum jelly. However, Frank Ma has put his moniker on a place across from Whole Foods on Briarcliff, Frank Ma South, and the food is top notch and much more traditional. We’re talking hand-made dumplings (I’m told the soup dumplings are coming soon), house noodle w/ black bean sauce…. yummy! I’ve had the kung pao chicken, the chicken in plum sauce, the mandarin sliced pork, the fish in hot oil, and the duck…all are very good (tho be warned – the fish in hot oil is aptly named – very spicy!!)
Kristina – sad to hear that the Canton Cooks on Roswell (if that’s the one just inside the perimeter on Roswell Road?) has gone downhill – it was a great place.
Thanks for the tip on Frank Ma’s! It sounds wonderful! We’ll be checking it out soon.
I’m going to Second that vote for Panita, as far as Thai food goes.
I’m a bit biased on Chinese food, having grown up in Chicago and spent no small amount of time/money in Chinatown. I’ve yet to find a good Chinese bakery here that has fresh BBQ pork buns, but you can sometimes find them in the frozen section at First Oriental Market on Ponce (between the Square and the farmer’s market). Let them thaw, then pop them in a steamer for a few minutes? Not too shabby, depending what brand you get.
Imperial of China is the one Chinese place that delivers to my house (i’m about three miles away from downtown Decatur); the food’s not bad, but sometimes a bit heavy on MSG.
Fortune Cookie for Chinese. Top Spice for Thai.
Hmmm, good Chinese food. Nowhere close to Decatur! I have tried every restaurant with a full parking lot only to be disappointed again and again. Siam on the square for Thai is great, plus they deliver. Stay away from Noodle, the quality has really gone down. If you are looking for super fresh tasting fried rice then Surin in VaHi is really wonderful. I once ordered some shrimp rolls from Pyng Ho – too bad they smelled rancid. Good luck and let us know what you find!
Jin Jin near McDonalds in downtown Decatur is prepping to open fairly soon. Let’s hope it’s good! I miss Hunan Express now where the Waffle House museum is. For Thai, it’s Siam for me. Golden Buddha for Chinese, until (hopefully) Jin Jin takes it’s place.
I’m going to add a third vote for Fortune Cookie. I used to live close enough for them to deliver. (I discovered them through trial and error with every menu left on my doorstep.) Since I moved to Decatur 5 years ago, I still drive over there to pick up whenever I want Chinese food. It’s worth the trip.
Thanks to everyone for all of the recommendations! We will try them and then post back to let you know. By the way, we found the Rice Box in Midtown and it had been doing the job, but the last few times it was very unimpressive (that is what prompted this request). We have tried Fortune Cookie and my husband had to throw away his fried rice after one bite b/c it was so awful. We have also tried Golden Buddha, Pyng Ho & Saigon Cafe and the food was bland and seemed like it had been cooked some time before we ordered it. So now we have a quite a few more to choose from. THANKS!!!
For Thai, I really like Royal Orchid in the Midtown Cinema/Apres Diem shopping center. Their tom yum soup is to die for.
Penang on Buford Highway is technically a Malaysian restaurant (and their Malaysian food is delicious) but they have a Thai menu as well that is very tasty.
After coming back from Thailand two years ago, I found two restaurants in Atlanta that make Thai food the way they make it in Bangkok: Panita (already mentioned – in VA Highlands on Greenwood Avenue) and Thai Chili, at the corner of Briarcliff and Lavista. Get the pa-nang curry – seriously. Don’t even bother to get rice with it, just eat the sauce by itself. You won’t be sorry!!
Baron –
About Canton Cooks – yes, I meant the one off Roswell Road, not in Roswell as I mistakenly wrote earlier. I will say, though, that it is my intention to go there myself at some point and judge for myself…I’m not one to write off a great restaurant without personal proof.
For authentic Chinese food, Frank Ma’s South on Briarcliff is quite good; a little farther (Buford Highway about a mile north of 285) Nam Chun Hong is even better (it’s Chinese food aimed at a largely Korean clientele – they automatically put kimchi on the table). Even farther out (and a bit pricier), Sichuan House in Duluth is excellent too.
We love Golden Budha, and have to say, hate Pyng Ho. I kept their menu by mistake and ordered from there a second time – but got up and threw their menu away before I made that mistake again!
We LOVE Siam on the square in Decatur for Thai food! It’s delicious!
I think Pyng Ho may be ‘love it or hate it’ but i love it. We don’t eat anything but seafood dishes there and it has always been fresh and good. The family that owns it are very nice and they are open to questions or different combinations of things. I also will go into about anything Cliff Bostock suggests in his grazing or good eats column in creative loafing, and he frequently writes about pho or odd places on buford highway. Bien Thuy closed (so sad) but Bostock’s column for last week says Chateau de Saigon is great and it serves both Chinese and Vietnamese — yum! I went into a small vietnamese place last week, coming on claremont from decatur, turn right on buford hiwy, restaurant is on the right in a small strip mall with some kind of tire store, and before you get to the CDC entrance. It was clean and happy in there and the food was excellent.
You guys have got to listen to Karen above, Oriental Pearl is quite good. Incredible ribs, good dumplings and Chinese broccoli that I couldn’t stop eating … I was introduced to it by a life-long, native Chinese, restaurant owner. Not a savory location but very savory eating!
My extended family and many of our friends all love Royal Orchid at Midtown Promenade next to the movie theatre! So glad it got another “vote” here. Definitely a hidden gem. The food is fresh, light and delicious. The people are lovely.
For good, inexpensive Thai food there is hole-in-the wall place in Tucker (about 5 miles from Decatur) called Yum Yum. Wonderful service and a great value.