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[NecrosaroIII]

They're a dime a dozen where I live.

 

[Woggleman]

It's hard to even find good westernized chinese food. They all seem to have that yellow rice and sticky sweet sauces.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

Chinese food is by far my least favourite takeaway option, it’s often far too salty and/or sweet, like they’re cooking for old people with depleted taste buds or something.

I’m not a huge fan of their cuisine in general, but it’s sometimes nice from a really good restaurant.

But Chinese takeaway is almost always gross.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Chinese food is by far my least favourite takeaway option, it’s often far too salty and/or sweet, like they’re cooking for old people with depleted taste buds or something.

I’m not a huge fan of their cuisine in general, but it’s sometimes nice from a really good restaurant.

But Chinese takeaway is almost always gross.

Funny thing you go to a real Asian restaurant and most of the stuff isn't sweet at all. Its more salty, savory or spicy.

All the stuff you see like tons of sweet and sour red sauce shit, orange chicken, sweet thai chili sauce, honey garlic this or that are all Americanized recipes. Yanks love sweet things (hence the giant portions of candy, soft drinks, sweet BBQ sauces etc..).

 

[PaddyOCanager]

Because Thai food is better and becoming more prevalent.

 

[Woggleman]

There is still a really good place in New Brunswick NJ called Noodle Gourmet. It looks like a hole in the wall but the food is the best chinese food you can find. The dipping sauce they use for their dumplings as addictive.

 

[Badlucktroll]

My favorites are the places that look like this

Random little hole in the wall places

 

[Champomade]

This is straight false. If you want a wasteland for Chinese food and Asian food in general come to Europe. Us has plenty of great Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese etc spots all over.

Paris and London (for example) have lots of both old school and new, maybe more authentic, Chinese places.
Of course it's a minority vs the bad ones, but it is still a lot of places.

 

[EverydayBeast]

 

[HoodWinked]

I think its definitely true. When I was younger I never realized how good we had it. We'd get takeout as a group at a semi local Chinese restaurant, and was really good. But they changed owners and it dropped in quality but was still good.

Then I moved and had Chinese food elsewhere and it was just bad. It's probably generational the first immigrants are retiring or passing away. And their kids are in much more successful careers and the fuckups that inherit the business just mostly suck. These days Panda Express isn't great but it's generally better than the random hole in the wall and P.F. Chang's is pretty good.

 

[Woggleman]

PF Changs is pretty much the Olive Garden of Chinese food but it's not bad. Honestly my local Shoprite actually has good General TSOs chicken from their in store Chinese place.

 

[jshackles]

There was an amazing buffet place in my hometown. I used to go at least once a week. I made it a point to revisit it years ago, when I flew back for my brother's wedding. It's all you can eat, and it's cheap. It had been almost 10 years since I had eaten there, and it was still absolutely incredible.

Where I live now, the Chinese food is shit and there are no buffets. Everything is ridiculously overpriced. $10 for a small plate of fried rice? Fuck off. $20 for coconut shrimp, when you only get 3? Nope. We just got a Panda Express - and while it's alright tasting, it's still waaay too expensive.

Sometimes I miss the South. Sometimes.

 

[LRKD]

I think the two near me were both ran by older Chinese couples who were ready to retire. The one took a massive dive under new owners, the other is about the same as before. But yeah seems like most of the good ones were long time family business, and the kids don't take over, parents retire. And so it either closes, or is sold to new owners who may not know what they are doing.

 

[Coconutt]

Noticed in my area most chinese restaurants seem to be following the same route as Panda Express by having the stuff loaded onto hotplates and I do not like this practice.

 

[ÆMNE22A!C]

Try take out in my place. Couple options. Bad to mediocre quality and overpriced. Rather make it myself. Same goes for lots of take out places =(

I'm really sincerely annoyed by this

And if you go to the restaurant you get like half the portions.

It taste all the same anyhow more or less

Best takeout here is stone oven pizza. Although they're skimpy with the toppings and slightly overpriced

 

[Aesius]

I’ve eaten tons of Chinese food in my life but I don’t think I’ve ever had legit, true Chinese food. Just General Tso’s Chicken type places. I assume that many others are like me and it’s why we gravitate towards Thai/Korean/Japanese/Vietnamese food instead when we want Asian. It’s hard for Chinese food places to convince people they aren’t serving the equivalent of what you find in gross Chinese buffets.

 

[DragoonWalker]

The classic Chinese American food that was so prevalent was bastardized Southern Chinese cuisine brought over by mostly Hong Kong immigrants seeking the American Dream. It's struggle food. This was back when the US seemed like a land of dreams, leaps and bounds over everyone else, and no one in their right mind would move into closed Communist China (nor could their population move out).

Well, obviously, things have changed. The US has declined, the world's perception of it alongside it. Hong Kong was reunited with its commie motherland, and the motherland has gotten fat rich. If there are new generations of Hong Kong youngsters looking to make it big, they're going up north to the big cities that have become capitalist paradises, not across the pond anymore. Sad times.

I too remember when my dad would take us around to different small towns back when I lived in the US, and we'd encounter at least one single Chinese restaurant, usually a buffet, in nearly every single town. Guess those days are over.

 

[GardenOfAbbylon]

Are we talking Americanized Chinese food or authentic actual Chinese food?