Food Review - Tasty House Chinese

Tasty House Chinese Food

1512 W Bell Rd
Phoenix, AZ 85023
(602) 548-8108

Don't forget to read the Yelp reviews, too!
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tasty-house-chinese-restaurant-phoenix

I came home from work the other day and I found a pamphlet hanging on my door from a new local restaurant named "The Tasty House"

The Tasty House Menu

Their menu is your impressive standard Chinese food fare.  They have a very large selection printed, separated into appropriate categories which make it easy to read.  "Poultry" "Chow-Mein and Lo-Mein, Seafood, Sides" etc.

The Tasty House Menu, Categories

 As I browsed the menu and looked over at the prices (and pictures!)

Tasty House Menu, Lunch Specials and Pictures

  ...I really was interested...but alas, the Tasty House would have to wait.

Several weeks later and a lot of convincing later -- I finally managed to visit the Tasty House on a warm Saturday afternoon (11/6/2010) for lunch and here are my impressions:

Location:
From where we live, the location is perfect.  Located in the "hole-in-the-wall" area of around 15th Ave. and Bell Rd. it's only about 5 minutes from my house...which of course could turn into a longer drive for others.  Good thing they deliver, too!  The Tasty House really is a small hole in the wall business.  I really enjoy these types of places and my wife and I secretly search for these "gems" and try desperately to discover something we can rave about and enjoy eating for years to come.

Interior / Ambiance:
This leaves a little bit to be desired.  But...understandably.  You don't look at a menu and see an entire pint of egg flower soup for $2.50 and expect the interior to be "top notch" -- and I will agree with everyone when I say it's kind of a dive.  The chairs and tables are very beautiful and brand new, but the walls, ceiling, floor, and ambiance is that of an old beat down used up building with some generic Chinese wall-hangs attempting to give some decor to the otherwise plain walls.

Hopefully they can make some money and they can spice it up -- it could really be a delicious intimate restaurant.

The Service:
Here is where they got knocked an entire star.  Don't get me wrong:  I understand that people could be at work tired, maybe they are not feeling well, or perhaps they are just having a bad day but my wife and I are an up-beat young couple and we walked into the Tasty House with high hopes to get some delicious Chinese food....

We were not greeted.  No one said Hello.  In fact, I will attempt to paint a picture of what we saw:  Nothing.  The entire place looked empty, except for a teenage Chinese boy who had on a pair of headphones and looked like he was actually sleeping in the corner booth on top of a newspaper.  Our guess is that he was the family delivery guy and he had no orders so he was taking a well deserved cap nap.  Sounds fine to us.

After a few minutes the beautiful young girl (note that attractive does not equal happy) came to take our order.  Rather than try and re-create her attitude via text in a written review, I will simply say that she was NOT happy to be there, and she did not seem happy serving us or taking our order.  That's all I will say -- she could have smiled, once, or at least been happy to give us our food or something. I actually felt BAD for her.  I wanted to help her, like maybe she was ringing people up under gunpoint or she was secretly some type of a waitress hostage.  Maybe she just had a fight with her family?  We're not sure!  We didn't really tip, but the Tasty House is not a "sit down and be waited on" type restaurant.

The Food:
The food was amazing.  I ordered the spicy Szechuan chicken with steamed rice and an egg roll.

Spicy Szechuan Chicken, Steamed Rice w/Egg Roll

My wife ordered the sesame chicken with steamed rice and an egg roll.

Sesame Chicken, Steamed Rice w/Egg Roll

We both drank water so it only cost us $10.88 -- seriously.  For lunch.  In Phoenix.  VERY good value.

After a few moments the unhappy girl delivered to our table the most delicious spicy chicken szechuan piled high with delicious crisp vegetables.  I loved every bite.  The egg roll was nuclear hot and went well with the complimentary sweet and sour sauce and duck sauce.

My wife's Sesame chicken was also very delicious -- although she says it had too much sauce on it.  My wife tends to like things bland, so her mood effects the sauce-to-food ratio.  Personally, I enjoyed it.  It had a great mix of savory and sweet delicious flavor and seemed near perfection to me, with the exception of a few questionable pieces of dark chicken bits.

The Price:
$10.88 for two people for lunch is great, especially with the portions and how delicious is was.  Well worth it, and I highly recommend it to people for lunch or even dinner (dinner prices are about 2-6 more, depending on what you order)... so you could get out of there for probably $14.00-18.00 for dinner.

The Verdict:
I will definitely give Tasty House another try.  The food was good enough and delicious and the price was right for me to investigate this as another option for a quick lunch or fast and cheap dinner.  My only change: I am going to do Take Out so I just have to pick it up, pay, and bring it home without any of the hassle.