Joy Luck IV

The food is average but I don’t have high standards for Chinese food when it’s delivered. However, this restaurant has the WORST delivery. I have actually spoken to two of their drivers and they have told me the place is poorly managed. When they have a driver, the delivery is twenty minutes. When they don’t, which is very often, the delivery can be well over an hour. If you call and complain, you get a man on the phone who can barely speak English. Additionally, if you try to modify an order (ask for no spicy) they will consistently get it wrong. One time I called and asked them to fix the order and send a replacement order and they actually asked for the mistaken food back! I didn’t trust them not to attempt to deliver my rejected order to someone else so I wouldn’t give it to them. Too bad there isn’t another option for Chinese food delivery in Broadneck Penninsula because they would drive Joy Luck out of business

Worst Chinese I’ve ever had and let’s be honest this is Chinese food. It’s hard to get it wrong

Quick delivery, good food. Had the moo shu pork, kung pao chicken, general Tso’s chicken, pork fried rice, and crab rangoons. The moo shu was a little too salty, but still very good, both chicken dishes were delicious. The crab rangoons were, like all crab rangoons seem to be, mostly cream cheese.
Hit all the bases, and they deliver.
Not generally a fan of most restaurants in the Annapolis area, most of them don’t seem to know what a seasoning is if it isn’t old bay. Not surprised this place is reviewed so poorly– they actually have flavors and I didn’t have to do anything to the food to make it tasty… unlike some highly reviewed restaurants I could name.

Small portions. Over priced. General Tsos tofu isn’t very good at all. Delivery took well over an hour.

I’ve given this place a 2^nd and 3^rd chance. My mistake!!! General Tso was ok, egg rolls disgusting.

Last resort chinese takeout. Some old standards like egg foo young and moo shi pork are edible. Not bad fried rice. I have not had good experience with delivery.

We picked up carry-​out from here last night and won’t make that same mistake again. My daughter ordered the appetizer that included ribs, spring rolls, wings, shrimp toast and crab rangoons. Everything was overcooked, greasy and dry. The chicken wing was so hard and tasted like old oil. The crab meat/​cream cheese filling in the rangoon was black from being burnt. The ribs were hard and fatty. My husband got the sesame chicken and it was dry and bland. I got the shrimp in lobster sauce which was pretty much some shrimp and water chestnuts in a very bland egg drop soup. Both meals came with a minature size portion of rice. Where can we find decent Carry-​out Chinese???

This review covers three different dining/​delivery experiences. The first two had me concerned. The food was not what I had experienced in the past so I stayed away for about a year. Just recently I had house guests who wanted Asian carry out so I decided to give them a try.
The food arrived and I am thinking Gordon Ramsey must have shown up and kicked b — t. The meals were back to what I have known in the past. Very fresh and full of the main ingredients. I will try them again soon.

Not our ultimate favorite but it’s our favorite within 25 miles. We enjoy the food, they deliver and the owner is great.

overpriced because it’s in the Cape stay away

I eat here repeatedly and love the Singapore noodle with shrimp chicken and pork. I like their hot and sour soup. Delivery on take out is always courteous and prompt.

I will never order food from here again as everything we got from the crab meat wanton to the chicken and snowpea was horrible tasteless and just a grease disguting mess will never order from ay of these because I think there is more than one! yikes

Quite possibly the worst «Chinese food» I’ve ever eaten… and that’s saying a lot. I’m not particularly picky, and not a snob for authenticity (I enjoy Americanized Chinese food too), but honestly, Panda Express is more authentic than this place.
We ordered the orange chicken combo with fried rice and an egg roll (generally a safe bet, especially since they distinguish between orange and General Tso’s), shrimp lo mein, and the hot and sour soup. Every single dish was bland, bland, bland. No seasoning on any of the meat, no green onions in the fried rice, the egg roll tasted like cabbage and bland pork. Just bad.
The shrimp lo mein was, according to my wife (I’m allergic), completely inedible. Let’s get one thing straight: it is nearly impossible to ruin shrimp for a seafood fanatic like my wife. She poked around the quart of sloppy, tasteless noodles and picked out the pieces of shrimp (also tasteless) for about a minute until she gave up and asked me to throw it out. Unacceptable.
The worst offender was the «orange» chicken (there was nothing orange about it). It tasted like quickly fried, slimy chunks of meat drenched in a slightly sweetened brown sauce that was completely devoid of anything remotely resembling what a normal human being would call flavor.
The price is not particularly competitive, but not outrageous either. The portions were fairly large, but look at it this way: do you get a lot of food? Yes. Will you want to eat it? No. We threw out over half of our order. $ 26, completely wasted. Honestly, I’m a bit upset that I have to give this place one star, but I would do so simply because the lady at the front counter was very pleasant. That’s the most positive thing I could say, though.
Would not recommend. Would not go back. Would warn against ordering.

I have to assume the previous reviewer meant «Hot and Sour» soup not «Sweet and Sour» soup. It’s been awhile since I’ve ordered from here but I only made that mistake one time. There isn’t a single thing remotely resembling and ‘Asian Entrée’ on this menu as Joy Luck IV is a purely typical Americanized quantity over quality ‘Chinese’ delivery joint.
With all due respect to the first reviewer, honestly if you’re going to write about something that other folks are actually going to rely on for factual and insightful information and you cannot provide that then it would be better to not review at all. Rant-​ended.
If you like tons of corn starch soaked poorly fried bits of ‘meat’ drowning in sauces that no self-​respecting Asian would get near then give Joy Luck (1, 2, 3, 4 10, 20 whatever) a call. If your idea of an ‘Asian Entrée’ is sweet and sour pork with lots of water chestnuts and fruit this is your joint. If you like quantity over quality (and there is NONE of the latter) and just want to fill up your gut with a bunch of fat and grease and salt this is the place for you. If you actually CARE about having a true Asian experience you’re a bit out of JOY and LUCK altogether in the Annapolis area. The only legitimate options are further outside of town like Hunan Manor in Columbia — you’ll see REAL chinese folks eating there. House of Hunan on Riva has a very small # of actual chinese dishes on their menu — closest hope you have in this town. New Big Wong in DC’s Chinatown is also legit — this place — not so much.
NOT REMOTELY HUMBLY SUBMITTED THIS DAY
D. Food Snob, Ph.D.