Chinese for Christmas

[BrianInAtlanta]

I and my friends want to go out for a traditional Christmas meal; i.e., Chinese for Christmas. However, my friends are REAL picky foodies and none of us know of a Chinese restaurant in Atlanta that would be consistently good. Any suggestions?

[HaagenDazs]

Atlanta downtown or metro Atlanta?  Where are you exactly and where are you willing to drive?  There are places all over including Marietta (Tasty China).  You'll have to rely on someone else's, perhaps more recent review of that place though.  I haven't been in over a year.

[AndyBoy]

Wan Lai on Buford Hwy. has been consistently good for us. It is in the same shopping center as Panang. We love the chrispy, garlic chicken and their soups are good also.

[Jmolinari]

Agree with Andy. Wan Lai is good cantonese. Tasty China is still great, that's in marietta.

[Barnum]

Tasty China is still great, that's in marietta.

not even close....

[Jmolinari]

Tasty China is still great, that's in marietta.

not even close....

distance or tastyness?

[Barnum]

Tasty China is still great, that's in marietta.

not even close....

distance or tastyness?

sorry, my sense of humor given this popular and ambiguous catch-phrase.

Haven't been to TC in the last 6 months, but on the most recent trip it was still up to its high standards if you could talk them into the real food and out of the tourist food...

[Jmolinari]

Since Phuong (sp?) left they no longer try to talk you out of dishes. Honestly, it's kind of nice. Her shtick got kind of old.

[A_Russian_Cook]

P.F. Changs is pretty good. Pretty upscale. Here's the site with their locations:

http://www.pfchangs.com/index.aspx

[Foodgeek]

I can't confirm this for sure because I haven't actually eaten there, but I'd think it's pretty safe to say that P.F. Chang's is going to be closed today. I suppose I could call them to confirm this, but my phone is in the other room and I'm too lazy to go get it.

Chang's is big chain Americanized Chinese and places like that are usually closed on Christmas day. Large corporations like that like to give their employees the day off on Christmas. On the other hand, immigrant families from China, Vietnam, Korea, etc. view Christmas as just any other day - in most cases - so they stay open.

Yep. Just called. Chang's is closed.

I'll second Tasty China. Still very, very good. I'd go there today if I hadn't already gotten my taste buds set for Korean food.

[KoPP]

I ate at Wan Lai today (my friends are sick today, so I was on my own), and it wasn't packed. Had the beef satay casserole, and it was pretty good. Next time I'm heading over to the seafood side of the menu.

[BrianInAtlanta]

Thanks for all the suggestions! We're going to try Wan Lai tonight. I'll let you know how it goes.

[BrianInAtlanta]

Eh.

The service was good and the duck was tasty. I'll say that for Wan Lai. Otherwise the Hot & Sour Soup was horrible (it went back to the kitchen), the pork was mostly soggy fat and everything was salted to the maximum amount. Sauces by and large ran to the bland. Perhaps that's authentic. If it is, then I guess Chinese is not for me.

[Jmolinari]

That's too bad. Can you detail what you ordered, so others can avoid or comment if they've also had those dishes?

[AndyBoy]

Sorry your meal was not up to par. We tend to order the chrispy garlic chicken which I think is super and the tofu and spinach soup which is light and tasty. Haven't really explored a lot of their menu but we did go with a large group of our neighbors one night and I tasted several more items and they were all good I thought. Hopefully they were just having an off night.