North Garden Chinese Restaurant (2nd visit)

FIRST POST ON NORTH GARDEN [HERE]

REVISIT POSTS ON NORTH GARDEN [HERE]

North Garden serves average or below average Chinese food, and it is really just random. Also, the service can be attentive or sparse and is pretty much random as well (usually more sparse than attentive). The restaurant has plenty of comfortable booth seating arrangements as well as large tables for groups of six to ten people.

CREAM OF CORN WITH MINCED CHICKEN SOUP ($7.00). 

The soup has a clear sweet corn (canned) taste in a fresh chicken broth and tastes slightly salty. In addition, the minced chicken tastes fresh and not too chewy.

SLICED FISH CONGEE ($6.95). 

I asked for no salt or MSG and the congee tastes tasty, smooth, creamy and not bland. The congee has probably been cooked for a good four hours and the slices of sole fillet taste moist, not overcooked.

3LB CREAM AND BUTTER SAUCE CRAB ($11.99/LB).

I have mentioned before that the cream and butter sauce always tastes like pure margarine and not very good. However, I still order it because I know what to expect. This time though, the cream and butter sauce tastes slightly better. The sauce has a lighter margarine flavour and a slight hint of cream this time. As for the crab, like always, tastes perfectly cooked with a wee bit of a heavy batter which is not a big deal.

SAUTEED ROCK COD WITH BEAN CAKE ($13.45). 

The menu should be changed since this is not rock cod and is sole fillet. Also, when we asked the waiter if this was rock cod, he said yes and after asking the waitress, she confirmed it was not despite what is stated on the menu. However, the waitress was kind and offered to take back the hot pot, but why waste food? The sole fillet is lightly battered but tastes stiff, and the sauce tastes light as well as flavourful without tasting salty.

BBQ PORK FOO YUNG ($10.95). 

I have never tried foo yung in my life and neither have my parents, or sister. The foo yung has a good amount of bean sprouts, barbecue pork, green onion and peas. BF says it tastes too salty and stiff, but I did not try it. The dish is just not very appealing to me.

COMPLIMENTARY RED BEAN SOUP.

The red bean soup has a nice thickness and does not taste overly sweet.

POSITIVES

- Service is better than usual (waiters/waitresses did not ignore us this time)

- Cheaper than Yan's Garden and dishes are only 5-10% worse

- Not horribly bad, just average eats

NEGATIVES

- Food and service is a gamble

LITTLE THINGS

- First post on North Garden [here]

- Revisit posts on North Garden [here]

- This one waitress who is always a grump (seriously like all 50 times I have been here) was friendly for the first time

- When you go to a restaurant knowing what to expect, there is not much to complain about since you are used to the dishes

Food: 2.5/5

Service: 2.5/5