XIAO China Grille & Lounge

My husband and I used to LOVE their pad thai. It was always hit or miss but when it was good it was amazing. I haven’t been happy the last four times or so, so I’m in the market for a new place to get pad thai. It’s just very bland. No flavor at all.

Even though my friend and I came in right before they closed the waitress and host were very kind. They gave us lots of time to choose what to eat even though it meant staying a bit after they closed. It was exciting to be able to choose from different Asian cuisines all at one restaurant. The sushi was good and so was everything else. The presentation was thrilling as well ! :)

It feels like I just had 60 bucks fly out of my wallett and received nothing in return.
Extreme slow service, coupled with tiny portions made what could’ve been a nice dinner, turn into a travesty.
If the restaurant would’ve been busy, I could understand slow service. However, There were only a total of 5 patrons in the restaurant when we arrived.
The hostess greeted us with a frown and acted like we were a personal problem for her and was not welcoming at all.
Our server was nice but kept disappearing and only returned to do her minimal duties.
The food that we ordered was good but did not even come close to its price tag, in portion size or quality.
My family and I were very disappointed and we will not be returning to this establishment

I really wanted to like this place. I got one roll that was good but unfortunately I paid 16 dollars a roll for fake crab :-(. I got my son the fried rice with chicken and he liked it but I tasted it and it was pretty bland. My son is 18 months old sooo that may explain why he liked it. I will try it again and hope for better but they really really shouldn’t be charging so much if they aren’t going to put real ingredients in the sushi!

Here, you truly do get what you pay for. Yes, a little pricier than some of the hole-​in-​the-​wall places around town, but you get an enhanced ambiance and art on your plate.
We came in for a weekend late lunch and were greeted quickly, placed at a round table which worked well for our group of 4 friends. We were given ample time to look over the menu and there were many, MANY options to choose from. We started with miso soup and edamame. The miso soup was pretty standard, nothing special and the edamame was perfectly cooked (not mushy or too hard), but could have used 1 – 2 more shakes of salt.
I had the MSU roll which was crab, cream cheese, and avocado that was deep fried and covered in a white sauce and eel sauce. It was perfectly cooked and the tempura batter was light, crisp, and complimented the entire roll. The crab was obviously imitation crab, which was kind of a bummer. The presentation of the dish was like none other. They used a long, narrow plate that came with some thin, translucent crispy noodles and even an edible flower. Enough to share, it certainly was!
The other members of our party enjoyed a tuna roll, Spartan roll, and spicy tuna tempura. Each of my friends loved theirs as well and were happy with the size, presentation, and value. It’s a good place to celebrate something fun or just come in for an impromptu lunch with friends. Yes, you might pay a few more bucks but you’ll surely be glad you did!

My husband and I had a groupon and it was our first time there. We started with the philly cheesteak eggrolls which were delicious and now a favorite. I had the asian seafood boulibaisse which I devoured. My husband had the sechwan steak which he loved. We will definitely be back.

I enjoy reading the reviews for Xiao. I’ve come here 4 times a month since it’s opened. I have never had a bad sushi roll! Taste or health afterwards! Ive also experienced a lot of Sushi places in and out of town (state). This is one of three/​four places to eat in the city. They have a few deep fried rolls but I’m more of a fan of the raw rolls. The white tuna and salmon are fantastic and come in large sashimi pieces.
As for the rest of their dishes; I’ve always enjoyed their tastes and presentations. The Tom’s Salmon is fantastic! There are a lot of other dishes I’ve sampled and been very impressed with.
As for the staff. As with any staff, some bad ones must be flushed out. They have been solid with my personal experience. But I want to enjoy my experience without the servers bothering me too much.
I have really enjoyed my experience with the restaurant. If your looking for a place to dine, I’ve made this my regular place.

Delicious, not terribly pricey.
I ordered the Tiger Cry and my date ordered the Baja Breeze (both sushi entrees) and we spent some time arguing over whose was better. Definitely some of the better sushi I’ve had. The staff was exceedingly nice, though a bit distracted. I’ll definitely be returning.

I visited this place a couple months ago. I liked it over all. Food was good and the waitress was kind enough to answer all my questions.

Alright, I actually have 2 reviews I want to post for this place. The current star rating above combines them both.
1. I visited Xiao during their grand opening in EL (years ago) and was so incredibly disappointed, I didn’t visit them again until a few months ago. Literally everything that COULD go wrong, DID go wrong. The hostess greeting, our table, cleanliness of the table, our waiter’s punctuality, knowledge of menu, bringing out the right food, timeliness of food, alcoholic drinks, friendliness; everything. I know opening week is a time to work out the kinks, but it seemed as if NOTHING was planned. It was awful.
2. I came back a second time after reading the overwhelmingly positive reviews on Unilocal about the business, and was pretty impressed at the turnaround. The staff, food, alcoholic drink quality, overall ambience, and waitstaff ability. We tried a few different sushi rolls, asked a ton of questions about them (which were promptly answered), and received just what we wanted.
I still haven’t completely forgiven them for the first visit, but I’m getting there.

I’ve only eaten here once, but that was enough to decide not to bother again. It’s not that the food was bad, but nothing I tried was particularly interesting, and small portions at high prices. You’re paying high prices for not particularly good food in what is admittedly a nice restaurant, but personally I’d rather pay half as much for twice as much GOOD food in a hole in the wall.

The service is great as always
The food is delicious and very filling
Hopefully having the Spartan Roll will bring Green some good vibes for Friday!

Foods bad I’m surprised this place is still open likely the worst sushi in east lansing. They are not very clean either was served a salad with old food crusted on the plate and the greens in my salad looked old and limp like it had been sitting around for awhile. The sushi was really bland … the rice was not cooked fully and it took forever to get my food.: /

Pricey and just not that good. Chicken was bland. My husband’s dish tasted like Ramen from the grocery site. The only saving grace was the free dessert I got for being my birthday.

Like this place, food is very good, so far no MSG. The spring rolls taste good and the General TSA is great tasting, lightly breaded. The sushi is also a treat.

My first impression… another PF Chang’s??? Lol… definitely an americanized asian restaurant, but nice décor.
We had a group of 5. A few of us were late, but they set-​up our table anyways and seated us early. The menu was mediocre. Just think of all the different asian dishes assembled into 1 menu: ramen, sushi, pad thai, fried rice, phở, etc. The choices were too scattered/​different that it was really not much to choose from (if that makes any sense). Our table ordered:
— Chicken Teriyaki Bento Box: they could’ve at least sliced the chicken instead of giving a whole breast meat
— Saigon Beef Phở Noodle: didn’t taste like legit phở, but still tasted good
— Pad Thai with Tofu: again, didn’t taste legit, but was good
— Spicy Koren Ramen: the trend continues… good taste, not legit
— Xiao’s Spicy Tuna Tempora: pretty good
— Bao (2): Taiwanese style, which wasn’t what I thought, but it tasted good (came free if you checked-​in on Unilocal!)
Overall, I think this restaurant is about making classic asian dishes into their own «American» twist. Personally, I like the classic as is.

Just had a great dinner @ Xaio! We started with the Fried Chicken Dumplings, always a favorite starter for us. The dumplings were good & the ginger dipping sauce was very tasty.
For dinner, I ordered the General Tso Chicken & Heidi had the Chicken Pad Thai noodles. The General Tso chicken was all white meat with a tangy, slightly spicy sauce. Excellent flavor & a good size portion. (I had a little extra to take home.) Heidi described her meal as a nice change up & was happy to see other options on the menu.
For us this restaurant is a secret jewel in the middle of Frandor.

I suppose that since this place touts itself as a Chinese restaurant that people go there for traditional Chinese food — however, there’s a lot more on the menu than just that.
There is a dearth of phở places in the Lansing area, but when I saw that XIAO serves the dish, I wanted to give it a try. We stared with the pork belly buns, which were delicious, then I had the beef phở while my partner had ramen. The phở was alright — not incredible, but certainly better than no phở at all. It was served just with sirloin, rather than with more traditional Vietnamese meat choices (meatballs, tripe, etc.). And at that point in our visit, I might have given XIAO a three, but then Frank, the owner, stopped by our table.
Frank asked about our meals and specifically if there was anything he could do better. I mentioned that I was accustomed to more traditional Vietnamese food (which I think took him a bit by surprise, since I am definitely not Vietnamese) and not only was my criticism well-​received, he informed me that they had in fact had tripe in the phở on their old menu, but it had not been well-​received by patrons (c’mon Lansing! expand your horizons!). However, if tripe is what you’re after, they still have some in the freezer, and can add it to your phở on request. I was impressed by his professionalism and that he took the time to chat with us, which earns XIAO the four.
In my opinion, a more focused menu might help. Asia is a big place, and trying to do any kinds of food well seems difficult. Plus, East Lansing already has sushi and Chinese, there is a waiting market for dishes like pork buns, ban mi, phở, and ramen, it just needs to be tapped.

I have eaten better sushi in American diners.
The spicy tuna roll I ordered took 20 mins. The chef was behind though I didn’t see many people around. The tuna looked like a mash of sauce and dabs of tuna. The taste was tuna but I lend the flavor to the sauce which every one can imitate.
I ordered spring rolls after. They were boring but hot and the sauce AGAIN was what made it bearable. My hunger was the driver but the taste was not on.
The service was SLOW. Waitress brought nothing without me asking for it, including flatware, water and straw. My straw was brought to my table with bare hands and no wrapper.
I’m hoping my meal can be digested normally. The sake was ok. Will not be back.

I used to be a big fan of this place and was once able to justify paying the above-​market-​average prices for their dishes. However, it seems that the quality has plummeted severely. Recently ordered a $ 14 plate of Pad Thai and was surprised at the drastic change from what it used to be: vegetables weren’t fresh, very small portion, the shrimp still had the mud-​vein in them and gave off a very unappetizing odor.
I once gave this place high marks. I now rescind what said as I am greatly disappointed in what it has become. I will not plan on visiting XIAO again as the quality has failed to match up to the prices for a very long time.