Ling Ling Garden

This is just on my experience with this restaurant if you even can call it that!
We go in and order around say 7pm
10minutes later another family comes in *business is so slow* so we wait around 30min for our food and the other family gets their food within 10min! Like what the heck. Anyways when we got our food it tasted terrible just horrendous! Just saying if u have a choice don’t go here, it’s a waste of time and money. I would rate a 0star if possible.

I have never been treated so rudely from the very beginning. The person behind the counter seemed very annoyed about doing their job and made us feel extremely unwelcome. When the food came one of the orders was wrong, they refused to make it right. As if all that wasn’t bad enough what we were served was sub par even by this class of restaurant.

It’s not Americanized Chinese food, it’s just bad food. I’m not a picky eater, and I don’t care if the waiter is nice to me, but the food is just so awful. The szechuan shrimp had some sad looking chewy shrimp, and tasted like hot sauce had been drizzled on top. The noodles tasted like salt and grease. If you’re looking for actual, delicious Chinese food in Ithaca, I would recommend de Tasty Hot Pot.

We’ve been ordering takeout from them for YEARS. As far as Chinese food goes, it is very Americanized. After trying other places in town, I’ve concluded that Ling Ling is tops in the soup department. They may not make their own stock, but it tastes like it. All their other dishes are ample, and full of vegetables and meat. I’m sure the Sysco truck makes frequent deliveries there — is there a Chinese restaurant in town that can deny using pre-​cuts for veggies and meat?
But, after almost ten years of going there weekly (I like soup, clearly) I can tell you that it’s clean, and I’ve not once gotten ill after eating their food. You might not think that’s a valid aspect of a review, but I can’t make the same claim for some of the other Chinese food restaurants I’ve tried in town.

Typical Americanized Chinese food – I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are absolutely stuck in this area of the city and can’t get to any better offerings. It is edible and there are probably a few tasty gems on the menu, however I haven’t found them. The staff is also quick and friendly; they will generally process take out orders quickly. So again if you are starving and in East Hill Plaza, it might do, assuming you don’t want Subway or Burger King.
The dishes are Americanized as I said and generally just «meh». One of the things I really don’t like is that they pack most of the entress with peppers, onions, and other filler, probably to keep costs down. I ordered spicy shrimp the last time I was there, and the container was easily half green peppers and another 25% water chestnuts. This doesn’t leave very much room for actual shrimp. Bleh and not worth it.

Great dumplings and good food but the server at lunch was beyond rude and totally killed the experience. With great service I would have given four stars! Food is always hot and fresh, the general chicken is the best in town.

Decent food, rude service.
We went here with our young kids on a Saturday evening and were surprised the place was empty, other than people picking up to-​go orders. We soon found out why. The waiter was rushed, inattentive, unhelpful and outright rude. They had no children’s menu, small portion or «plain» options (couldn’t even order a side of lo-​mein noodles) and anytime we tried to ask a question the waiter was very rude and abrupt. We nearly walked out before even ordering, but we were very hungry and curious about the quality of the food. The rudeness continued down to the moment we tried to pay when he took one look at our Visa card and said «No American Express» and turned away. My husband had to chase him down and point out that our card was a VISA and didn’t say «American Express» anywhere on it.
And no, it was not a language barrier thing, just a «I don’t give a shit about customer service» thing. After we left we agreed the food was a 6 and the service was a 1.
As we live very close, may still get take out from Ling Ling Garden if we’re really in the mood for Chinese, but I don’t think we’ll ever dine in again.

lots of food for the price. and good food too. nice pieces of good quality meat instead of other Chinese restaurants. We’ve ordered takeout multiple times and never had a problem (never dined in) This is our go to Chinese restaurant when we are in Ithaca.

It’s true what they say about Chinese food in upstate New York. I made sure to eat a lot of Chinese food on the west coast before starting up grad school at Cornell because I knew I wouldn’t be getting anything good for several months. The food here can’t even compare.
Service here is pretty good, aside from the fact that they default to giving everyone a fork rather than chopsticks. The food is mediocre at best. I tried one of the lunch specials — roast pork with fried rice. It comes with a bowl of soup which wasn’t bad, but the soup and the dish weren’t all that spectacular. The whole thing is pretty cheap, but not as cheap as the (better) stuff that I’m used to.
If this is the best Chinese food in Ithaca, I think I’ll avoid all the other places.

Surprisingly good Chinese for upstate NY. My Chinese wife even liked it.
We came in just expecting some passable food on a rainy day. The décor was not great. What we got was generous portions and fast service and pretty decent food. My wife even wanted to go back the next day.

Service is AMAZING. Best for me in years. He comes so quick and doesn’t miss a beat. Reminds me of a hopping NYC waiter but in a laid back town and quiet restaurant.

I think they must have gotten a new chef recently, because I went on Valentine’s Day (the bf and I are classy individuals) and were extremely impressed. The vegetables were all very bright-​tasting and freshly-​steamed, the General Gao’s Chicken crispy and flavorful. Nothing was soggy, greasy, overcooked, or any of the other bad things that lots of Chinese in the US sometimes can be.
Yeah, it’s Americanized, yeah there are pandas on the menu. Who cares? The food was great.
Service was also quick, space clean, et cetera.

Lunch started off really promising with delicious hot and sour soup so I had high hopes for my entrée. Unfortunately, my chicken with garlic sauce was more like water chestnuts with garlic sauce. The chicken that was there was really tasty but there was very little of it! My colleagues had the chicken with cashews and fared a bit better with more chicken than mine but still heavy on the cashews.
Fried rice was «meh» — I was glad to be eating low-​carb and leaving it on the plate.

I have gone here two times when I needed to pick up a check at Cornell’s payroll office next door. I’m not in east hill plaza often but I have heard good things about Ling Ling so I figured it was worth a try.
On my first visit I ordered chicken and broccoli for takeout with hot and sour soup. The broccoli was horribly overcooked and mushy. The soup was relatively thin, a refreshing positive compared to the cornstarchy stuff served at most places, but the flavor was a bit too sour and not hot at all. The next time I ordered one of their generic fried dishes with sweet sauce (maybe general Tso’s or orange chicken). It was the typical Americanized Chinese fair. Way too sweet and not crispy enough, the chicken was a bit soggy.
One big plus though is that their takeout containers are very nice. So nice you could reuse them if you want. But that’s about the only thing positive I can say about this place. I would give it one star but it is edible and considering there is no really good strictly Chinese place in Ithaca, its not like I can recommend an alternative.

Mediocre Chinese food. I used to go all the time for lunch or get takeout for dinner because I worked in the big office building behind the East Hill Plaza, so it was an issue of it being convenient.
There are better Chinese/​Asian restaurants in Ithaca for sure though.

I always laugh when I think of ling ling gardens. If you’re looking for authentic Chinese look somewhere else. But if you’re looking for some of that greasy Americanized Chinese stuff then look no further.

Nice place, the food was decent (not the best, but considering this area of ny, it was quite welcome) and the prices were fair. Service was very quick, which was the best part. Plenty of parking, walking distance from Best Western University Inn close to Cornell University.

Surprisingly good, given it’s a Chinese restaurant in upstate NY. I’ve spent my share of time in metropolitan areas with numerous Chinese restaurants, and while this certainly isn’t one of them, it’s definitely one of the go-​to Chinese restaurants in Ithaca.
They don’t have some of the more «exotic» fare I’m used to (duck, fresh seafood, etc.), but the pork and tofu-​based dishes I had were great. Parts of the dining area appear to have been converted into storage space, which doesn’t help the ambiance. They are neatly clean, though, and have Tsingtao.
Like Ron mentions — the name is terribly stereotypical (a given, I guess, given the locale) — and the menu features pandas and bamboo. However, give this place a shot. I liked it, and you probably will, too. But please, feel free to order something other than the typical General Tso’s Chicken!