“How Lucky Can One Guy Be” the beginning of a song made famous by an old client of mine, Dean Martin. I was just getting back from Montana (the land of horrible food most of the time and the Chinese restaurants in Montana really beat you over the head with ridiculous prices…. ‘them round eyes pretty stupid’) and wanted to try a new Chinese joint… KIRIN HuT was in my view and we decided to stop for a little lunch.
Note: On a prior stop I had visited the “GREAT WALL”, 2001 W. Avenue J, Lancaster, Ca. It would not be any surprise to me if this place would just burn down. When I was a cop it was always a joke that when a Chinese restaurant was not doing well, it seems the Fire God would visit, usually very late at night, or early mornings and it would be gone….. ‘Call my insurance agent’. Great Wall Chinese restaurant is just a filthy nasty place, High prices and Small portions. The stinking carpet that my shoe actually got stuck to as I had stopped moving for a moment and almost lost my shoe! How this pigsty is allowed to remain open is beyond me. I am guessing they do not have those health department inspections anymore. If your restaurant was granted a big “A” it was prominently displayed…. not so much anymore.
Getting back to what could be Chinese Food Heaven, KIRIN Hut, when we walked in it felt nice, it was comfortable and it had no nasty stink. The place appeared clean and there was a well maintained beautiful fish tank with gold fish (Goldfish are a good luck fish in this culture). The young lady who sat us appeared happy to see us and sat us at a nice clean table and was wearing a surgical mask. *** Visit the Great Wall restaurant you better bring anti-viral wipes.
We were shown an electronic menu that I loved, NO FILTHY PLASTIC MENUs with those nasty greasy pages to turn…. I am liking this a lot! We ordered our choices and decided on drinking water to keep our taste clean and clear. Now, Chinese eats used to be inexpensive, NOT NO MORE. All of these restaurants have jumped on the EVERYTHING IS $$$$ when in fact the vegetables and most meats used in this type of cooking is seldom the ‘prime cuts’ of anything! As consumers and those who eat out often, we have all gotten this bullshit shoved down our throats! Every chance to screw the guy with the dollar is always the road to follow in almost all instances! This is another fact of life.
We ordered TOFU EGGPLANT in GARLIC SAUCE $ 17.99, VEGETABLE SINGAPORE NOODLES ( Chow Fun ) $ 19.99 and MONGOLIAN BEEF $ 21.99 and to add insult to injury they charge you for the small bowl of steamed rice that generally comes with these entrees!! 2 small bowls of rice $2.00 *** Note if I had noticed this silly charge, I would have taken it off the tip, I don’t tip for getting taken advantage of.
Now the good part, ALL of this food was unbelievably DELICIOUS, it was as good as I think it could be! KIRIN Hut was clean, friendly and the food was incredible. Now the bad part, this place is very, very high dollar and I don’t care as long as I get what I want. And I got great Chinese food in a clean and enjoyable environment… we strongly recommend this restaurant and we are looking forward to my next visit for my all time favorite, Egg Foo Young!
Good Job KIRIN Hut, maybe rethink the $1.00 for that little tiny bowl of rice. Oh and maybe get rid of the dead plant sitting next to the fish tank. With the prices being charged and the great vibe you really should have nice fresh living plants to add to the atmosphere!