O'mei Chinese - Westside

One of the great things with catching up with friends is reliving the funny stories from our past. They usually start with "do you remember..." and end with both of you laughing. Paula is one of those friends to me and we met at O'mei Chinese Cuisine last week for some Gan Pung and some giggles.

O'mei Chinese Cuisine

The front entrance to this place is very nondescript. I wonder why they don't spruce it up a bit? Well, they have been here since 1979, so they must know something. We got there at 12 noon and there were plenty of seats.

I liked the decor inside, a bit minimalistic, but tasteful. Our starter soup came a few minutes after we sat down.

I asked the waitress what was in it and she said sauerkraut and pork. It was sort of watery, but still had flavor. Sweet and sour is what they were going for, but didn't quite make it. And there were little red rings of fire (spicy pepper) hiding between the cabbage.

Speaking of peppers, I ordered the Gan Pung Express, which came with steamed rice ($8.95). This has been a favorite of mine for years and I always have to order it. Chunks of breaded, fried chicken, water chestnuts, green onions and peppers in a sticky, sweet and tangy sauce. If you bite into one of those peppers, you win a fire-mouth prize! Needless-to-say, I pushed them to the side.

Paula got the Lemon Chicken Express ($8.95) with brown rice ($1 extra) and liked it very much. Not too sweet, like some I've had, and a nice natural lemon flavor. It was on some shredded cabbage and veggies.

The lunch express menu says it's smaller portions and cheaper versions of their normal menu, but the food was still plenty for us. I was at that point where I was full, but there wasn't enough left to take home. Oof, one more bite then!

A nice touch was the orange slices at the end of the meal. Reminded me of playing soccer as a kid and loading up on these at halftime. It was juicy and fresh.

Over 30 years and O'mei is still going strong. For the dinner service, they turn the lights low and make it more of a fancy place. But lunch is a better value. Good quality Chinese - you owe yourself a trip if you haven't been.

Scores out of 10:
Food: 8
Service: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Value for price: 7 (lunch express)
Overall: 7