Pearl Garden

I eat at Pearl Garden quite a lot because they are the only Chinese restaurant near my house that serves brown rice. I have thoroughly enjoyed everything I have gotten there, including the non-greasy egg rolls. Their Chicken with Ginger is absolutely fantastic. I highly advise checking out the little menu board on your way in, several gems are hidden there. I understand what Eve meant in her review. It bugs me that they charge an extra dollar for a single serving of brown rice -- and tried to convince me that it was terribly expensive when I questioned that. C'mon, I didn't just come over on a junk, I know what that rice costs retail, and it's not THAT bad! The other thing I noticed is that their portions seem significantly smaller than most Chinese restaurants. If I am not particularly hungry, their servings are just fine, but if I am really hungry - I go somewhere else. That makes their slightly higher than usual prices quite a bit higher than many of their near by competitiors. There are so many restaurants in that tiny area, I think they need to try to be more competitive. All that said, I'm going to continue eating there although less than I have before now! more

The restaurant itself looks like most other small Chinese restaurants, but a bit small, so we decided to get carry-out instead. We ordered the Chicken Broccoli with dark meat substitution instead of white meat, the Roast Pork on Rice, a small Hot & Sour Soup, California Rolls, and 2 Spring Rolls. The food was average, but I would say of the four items we ordered, the Chicken Broccoli was the best. It was not too salty or oily (some problems I often encounter). The Roast Pork on Rice however was very dry and did not seem too fresh. I think this is because the Roast Pork is one of the Barbeque items and is pre-cooked. We ended up throwing away about half of it. The Hot & Sour Soup was mediocre at best, as it was neither hot enough or sour enough, but the texture was good. The Spring Rolls were good, as they were crispy and flavorful. The California Rolls, on the other hand, were not so good. Too salty and didn't taste too fresh, when compared to other sushi places in the area. So, in terms of food, it can be good. You just have to know what to order, as I suggest staying clear of things that are not freshly made (Barbeque items, soup, salads, etc.) The thing that irrated me about Pearl Garden was the fact that the person who rung up my order added $1.00 to my total for the dark meat substitution. I thought that was very tacky, because dark meat is cheaper and restaurants usually do the opposite, as they charge extra for white meat substitution. I would have been okay with it IF she had told me, but I had to figure it out on my own. But this was only after she told me that she was going to charge me an extra $1 for adding fish roe to my California Rolls. I have never had California Rolls without fish roe (the red/orange little things on top of your sushi). I thought that was particularly unacceptable. Bottom Line: Food was average, but Management/Pricing needs to take Customer Service 101. more