Peking Chinese Restaurant

Excellent Chinese Cuisine! written by maui4me
Last visited this restaurant on February 24, 2007

I've eaten Chinese cuisine all over the US and was trained by a Chinese master chef in an excellent restaurant many years ago as well as taking formal cooking classes in Chinese cuisine and I know what's good and authentic. I was more than pleasantly surprised by the offerings of the Peking Chinese Restaurant in downtown Hazard, KY. The band that I manage (This Is Contempt) was playing playing a couple of doors down at R.J.'s Cafe and not wanting McDonald's or Pizza Hut, I decided to give it a try, not expecting much. Located in what they euphemestically call "The Mall" downtown, which is a converted department store that has been subdivided into a photography studio and an office supply, this unassuming restaurant in the rear provides a real surprise once you climb the stairs to the second or mezzanine level. Tastelfully decorated and definitely luxurious for the coalfields area, this restaurant really surprised us with the quality and quantity of food served.

I first started out with ordering a Wor Shu Gai meal, a dish consisting of a battered chicken with vegetables and a brown sauce with an egg roll and wonton soup which came to about $10. The egg roll was excellent as well as the rich broth accompanying the wonton soup. Their brown sauce that the came with the chicken in the Wor Shu Gai is nothing short of amazing and one of the best I've tasted anywhere. With plenty of chicken as well as vegetables, this single entree was enough for two people with normal appetites.

I returned later that night with my son and his girlfriend after telling them about what a great restaurant that I'd found. They ordered the Chicken with Broccoli that also features their amazing brown sauce and longer than usual pieces of broccoli and vegetables that include mushrooms, carrots, and water chestnuts. My son is still talking about this restaurant more than a week after we dined there and we have plenty of good Chinese restaurants locally.

The only fault that I had with this restaurant concerns service. I visited there around 7 PM and there were several parties dining but most had already been served. After waiting about five minutes for the Chinese waiter to bring me a menu and about ten more minutes for him to take my order, I explained to him that I was in a hurry due to our upcoming show and to bring the soup and egg roll as soon as they were ready, as well as the meal. It took about fifteen minutes for the egg roll and soup to arrive and about ten more minutes for the entree to arrive. I can only interpret this to mean that nothing is prepared in advance and that's okay under normal circumstances. Fortunately, the quality of the food vastly made up for the delays.

I highly recommend this restaurant if you're in this part of the country and noted that they have a lunch buffet that would speed things up a bit. I only wish that we had a Chinese restaurant of this quality in our locale. Five Stars for the food!

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