China Garden

4 West 66th Street
Richfield, MN 55423
612-861-4421
chinagarden777.com
More mad scrambling brings us to last Friday.

Jake and Jeni plan a date night.  Jeni comes home a bit later than expected.  Jake gets caught by coworkers which delays him even further.  Jake calls Jeni offering to bring home takeout of her choice.  Jeni is cranky and says “Ugh. I don’t know. I don’t know. Just come home. Let’s order delivery.”  Jake comes home and asks Jeni if she wanted to order pizza or Jimmy Johns and Jeni says no.  Jake is mildly exasperated.  Both of us are too tired to make food or drive across the street.  Too tired to wait for take out. Too tired to wait for delivery.  Jake falls asleep and Jeni looks for fast takeout. Leann Chin’s just closed.  Jimmy John’s just locked their doors. . .

In sheer desperation, I see China Garden’s “Open” sign and veer into the parking lot.  The small sign beckons me inside and I notice they are open until 10:30 p.m.

When I ask which orders take the least amount of time to prepare, the employee replies that any order can be ready in 5-10 minutes.  I order orange chicken and spicy beef combination plates to-go with a side of cream cheese wontons.

Although there is only one table of customers, the restaurant seemed to be doing brisk takeout service.  And my order was indeed ready within a short 5-10 minute wait.  The entire order cost $20 and came with the overflowing combination entrees, two eggrolls, cream cheese wontons, and a container of sweet and sour sauce.


My first bite of spicy beef is a delightful relief.  First and foremost, I am shocked that it is actually spicy.  The entree consisted of thin shards of soft beef stir-fried with julianned vegetables such as celery, onions and cabbage.  The sauce is not a typical gloppy brown sauce, but is a thinner, oilier sauce that tastes sweet and of chili oil.  Some may not find the beef to vegetable ratio ideal, but I was more than thrilled with the well-cooked vegetables and accent of beef slivers.  Both Jake and I have an affinity for well cooked cabbage.

The orange chicken was less spectacular than the spicy beef.  The chicken pieces were kind of soggy.  The sauce tasted like a typical orange sauce but did not strike me as cloyingly sweet.  

The fried rice is nothing spectacular, but tastes pleasant and is not greasy.  The rice is accented by slices of soft and silky chicken and diced onions.  The white color of the chicken initially alarms me but tasted fine.

I liked the flavor of the filling in the cream cheese wontons which were light and fluffy.  I also appreciated the abundant side of fluorescent red sweet and sour sauce which reminded me of my favorite childhood takeout.  


I’m usually not so crazy about eggrolls.  I like the shatteringly crisp Vietnamese eggrolls and Hmong eggrolls filled with noodles, but am not as excited about the more thickly wrapped Chinese takeout eggrolls.

While filling, these eggrolls did not make me a convert.  They weren’t completely offensive and tasted fine when dunked in the sweet and sour but had that strange, funky, cinnamony, cabbagy flavor I just don’t love.

In closing
  • The price was right. 
  • Portions were generous.
  • Open until 10:30 p.m. and my order was ready quickly.
  • The spicy beef was actually spicy. I liked the smokey, sweet flavor of the sauce and well-cooked vegetables.
  • Cream cheese wontons were fluffy and I received a whole container of sweet and sour. 
  • Everything else was fine if not exciting.  The location is close to my home, open late, and provided a comforting version of Americanized-Chinese takeout.  China Garden filled my nostalgic cravings for imperfect Americanized-Chinese takeout I keep searching for but never seem to find.  Of all the versions I’ve tried in the Twin Cities, I would return to China Garden and Ruby Thai at the Mall of America when I’m craving the nostalgic Chinese takeout food of my childhood.