27 March 2008

Restaurant Review: Wah-Mee

The Wah-Mee restaurant, now located at 435 Elm St. (next to the Hustler Store), has been downtown for at least two decades. A restaurant that has been around for that long should be pretty good, I figured, so I went there for lunch recently.

I sampled two items, the roast pork lo-mein and mongolian chicken.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Roast Pork Lo-Mein: **
Mongolian Chicken: **
(out of 4 stars)

FULL REPORT
Every Chinese restaurant has pork lo-mein on the menu but only some have roast pork. If you can imagine a cross between tandoori and barbecue, it's kind of like that. Wah-mee's was average, nothing special. They were also a bit miserly with the meat. And the vegetables too, now that I think about it.

Most restaurants use the same type of thick, flat noodle for lo-mein. Wah-Mee uses a thin, round noodle which is more vermicelli-like. I like the thicker noodle better, but that's just my preference.

(For the worst in lo-mein noodles, visit Moy-Moy's in Montgomery (they also have a 2nd location in Kenwood, which I haven't been to); they use ramen noodles for their lo-mein)

Wah-Mee's lo-mein is average: not much meat, not much vegetables, and not much flavor. The roast pork lo-mein at Golden City (Glenway Ave, across from Price Hill Chili) or China Island (Hosbrook Rd in Kenwood, in the complex caddy-corner from Lone Star Steaks) are much better.

The mongolian chicken was listed on the menu with a chili pepper symbol next to it, signifying spiciness. This is a bit of false advertising; to me, it barely registered as mild. There was enough meat (barely) but once again the veggies could have used more company. The flavor was average, nothing special.

I like Hunan and Szechuan style Chinese because I'm a fan of the added spiciness. Although Wah-Mee states that it prepares food in these two styles as well as Cantonese, it struck me as basically a Cantonese-style restaurant, so I found the food mild and lacking in flavor.

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