Orient House

I got take out here last night. You get free crab rangoon with your order if it’s over $ 15, so i got the braised pork belly, which is usually a dish that i order when im balling out. It was $ 14.99 though, so i had to get a water bottle to go over 15. That’s how they get ya!
The pork belly was a little tougher and more salty than I prefer, but I didnt regret it. The fact that they even have it on their menu speaks volumes of their authenticity. Im giving them 4 stars for having a good selection of more authentic menu items and polite staff.
Compared to Ichiban Sichuan on the same block, I hold them in pretty much the same regard. Im going to switch off between them for my post stress chinese take out dinner because theyre both pretty good.

Great delivery option ! Stayed at Sheraton near and was pleasantly surprised by this restaurant. I was somewhat hesitant because of previous reviews but extremely glad I went with this place! I had egg rolls, wonton soup and spicy chicken.

Chinese food is my absolute favorite so I was more than thrilled to find a restaurant that delivers so close to my work. When the food arrived I was immediately put off by the less than friendly delivery driver. On top of that, the dumplings I ordered were cold and — I kid you not — had a spider stuck to one of them. I will NEVER order from this place again. DISGUSTING!

Their lo main is good but the rest of the food ordered not satisfying. Their pepper steak too much pepper which maybe understandable coz it’s pepper steak. But it’s too salty. The garlic chicken stir fry was sweet!!! The tofu with vegetable exact the same taste as garlic chicken — the only difference is the ingredient chicken and tofu!

I have ordered from this place dozens of times and lately it has been trending from simply lack-​luster to «I need to find another go-​to Chinese restaurant.»
My experience is both with delivery and carry-​out. We regularly order egg-​rolls, steamed/​fried dumplings, crab-​rangoon, beef w/​broccoli, Mei-​Fun, General Tso’s, Pepper Chicken, bao and a host of other dishes, nothing uncommon.
The food has become inconsistent at best, when we order dishes with some level of spice it ranges from non-​existent to far too hot. It’s hit or miss if the food is hot or cold when it arrives and usually the order is wrong or incomplete. Not only that but we have begun experiencing wait times of well over an hour. Being less than a half mile away I expect at the very least hot food when it arrives.
To make matters worse, when we bring these things to their attention they seem to blow us off as if we don’t matter.
My suggestion is to pay a few dollars more and try Ichiban Sichuan, which is literally two doors down. The quality of their ingredients is better, there food is much more consistent and the service is much better.

BE WARNED, they do not follow order instructions (i.e. Chopsticks, please call, don’t ring door bell) and most recently the delivery drivers have asked for more tip at the door. (I tip 15−20%)
Black pepper chicken! It’s the only place in town that has the perfect kind: real meat, real pepper, real tasty.
I also love their egg rolls. The wrapper is crispy and not airy like most around town.
Their rangoons aren’t awful and the service is pretty speedy. This is my second fav place in Madison for Chinese.
Do it, do it now!
Try the Yangzhou fried rice. YUM

Bland boring and dull. Just ordered pickup, ate a few bites, and then went to go make my own food. I ordered my entrée with garlic sauce and specifically ordered the «spicy» option. Tasted like bland mixed vegetables with no spice or seasoning of any sort. The soup was equally bland. We typically order from another place down the road and will be doing so in the future as well.

The scallion pancake was delicious! I got the roast chicken and found it to be surprisingly well seasoned.

This is one of the best Chinese restaurants in Madison. I find the crab and pork xiaolongbao here which is totally amazing. If there is some soup inside, this may be better. But I definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone who want to try some traditional Chinese dishes.

General TSO was good.
Portion size was good — I had leftovers for dinner the next day and was still mostly full.
The options of spiciness seemed accurate IMO so that was good.
Delivery estimate was 45 – 60 mins, and it took a couple minutes over an hour, so it was fairly accurate.
Definitely a fine option if all you want is some cheap Chinese food delivered. Ordering again now.

Wish I could give 0 stars. The mgmt at this place is terrible, I have ordered takeout four times and of those four I have not received the correct items twice. I liked the quality of the food but the customer service is terrible and not worth the struggle. It was good while it lasted thanks a lot for the hot sour soup an hour late.

Worst Chinese we have had in Madison. The Chinese sugar doughnuts were the only good thing we ate. The soup dumplings were sticky and fell apart. Not authentic. The shrimp and mixed vegetables was not the light and savory dish we are used to. The shrimp was lightly breaded and came in a brown sauce. The fried rice it came with was stale and doused in soy sauce. The kung pao chicken was not spicy. Also breaded. Not tasty in any way. Came with two wontons we didn’t order. Again, no flavor just fried cream cheese. It was all hot, just none of it particularly fresh or flavorful. The delivery came in 30 minutes, that was good I guess. Even as I look at the photos now, I think they don’t look as bad as they taste. Sorry… Order elsewhere.

Ordered take out and everything was great. I had the sweet and sour pork which and chicken with garlic sauce. Both tasted amazing. I also got fried wantons and they threw in a free order of crab wantons. I did order soup but they forgot to put it in so I will check my order before I leave next time. Other than that everything is fresh and you could tell it was made to order. I will definitely go back. The building looked to be well clean and the last at the front desk was very nice.

Went there last weekend at dinner time. We were the ONLY ones there besides the occasional person getting takeout. The menus were paper, like the kind you put on your fridge, and mine had a nice, big, sticky, brown stain on it. We had to wait over 10 minutes just to get our order in (mind you — we were the ONLY ones, and at least 6 staff members were present) and then had to wait over 20 just to get our food. When we finally received our food, within 5 minutes both of our dishes were COLD. SERIOUSLY COLD. They never came to ask how our food was. It took about 10 minutes after we finished just to get our check. They never came to collect it from us, so we just left, barely giving them a 10% tip. Worst Chinese restaurant I’ve ever been to. The only good part was the sugary rolls. Highly unrecommended, if you couldn’t tell.
Oh, and added side note: don’t eat the fortune cookies. Ours were so stale they were mushy.

My favorite reviews are those where people actually name the food they ordered, that makes me happy and helps me when looking at the menu. Unilocal reviews swirl through my mind and a lot of the time I order based off of Unilocaler’s reviews whom I trust have similar taste and expectation to my own.
Orient House has two styles to offer, the Americanized and the more traditional. I tried both. I had the chicken and snap peas, and for dessert the red bean paste bun. You get a lot for the price. I thought my entrée was great, the sauce was light and the peas crunchy not overcooked. They gave 10 red bean paste buns! That’s a lot!
Also, I ordered delivery at 9:45pm from their online ordering on their website, and Unilocal says they close at 10pm… They delivered to me by about 10:30pm, so one can order all the way up to closing.
My new delivery spot when I don’t want to spend too much.

Wow. You can order the standard, Chinese-​American fare or you can try their dim sum. You will not be disappointed. Every weekend I crave their dim sum. No need to go to Chicago (even though the menu is relatively small). Mind you their dim sum originates from Beijing, it’s unlike most dim sum in the states (southern style). The workers are nice too.

I came for dinner with my husband, 3 year old, and 10 month old. We were instantly greeted. The place has got the relaxed atmosphere of a lunch spot, so nothing too fancy which I liked since we had kids with us. Everything was super clean down to the bathroom, which could have sparkled. Only downside, no place to change a baby.
Food was good. It’s served in a family sharing kind of way, where they give you huge plates and you scoop it onto your smaller plate. We ordered way to much and ended up taking a lot home. (which we were more than happy to do) Dishes came out piping hot.
The server was super friendly, although didn’t have perfect English, she couldn’t have been more polite. She was asking me if I wanted more soda before I could even finish it so we were well attended to. I was surprised quickly food was sent out to us.
Everything is very fairly priced. All and all, great experience!

After a rousing day of thrifting with friends from out of town we stopped at the Orient House for a late lunch. We ordered a variety of dishes:
Mu Shu Chicken
Noodles
Orange Chicken
Sweet and Sour Chicken
(apparently we like chicken)
We were all happy with our food.
We had been concerned that the Orient House had recently changed ownership, but were happy with our experience. The staff were friendly, the restaurant was family friends (we had two kids in tow).
My only negative was that the floor was unusually dirty… which I noticed only because I was picking up things dropped by my one year old over and over and over…

Orient House — once a 5 star restaurant– how now changed management as of early November 2013.
I was extremely sad to see the old staff go. They were so welcoming and gave us special orders like Vegetable Soup even though it wasn’t on the menu. Now, with new management, all ties of ordering off the menu foods are gone.
Fried rice has changed and so have the chicken they use for sweet and sour chicken. It is much harder and the portions are much smaller.
For those who are use to the old Orient House may find that they do not like the new change. I certainly do not.
Very, Very sad what the new management changed to the menu including prices and taken off at least ½ of the options that were available under previous management.

Meh.
While many of the items on the menu could have come from a Szechuan restaurant in any large city, the authenticity of the taste didn’t quite live up to my expectations.
Their food is doused in way too much sauce, as if they’re trying to compensate for taste. The food wasn’t the freshest I’ve had, but when you take an hour and a half to deliver something that you said would take 45 minutes, it could take away from the freshness.
Their cuts of meat also weren’t of the quality I’m used, giving it a stale taste. My least favorite part, however, was that their chicken dishes aren’t boneless. I ordered their Deep Fried Chicken with Dry Chili Peppers, a favorite of mine, and was sorely disappointed.
The chicken wasn’t fully fried, creating a dichotomy between the crispy outsides and the soft insides. Also, the chicken had bones in it, making it extremely difficult to eat.
However, I will give a huge props to their Fried Sweet Bun, which was absolutely delicious. And at $ 3.55 for 10, it’s also a complete steal. Too bad you have to order an additional $ 11.45 worth of other mediocre food to get them to deliver.
And with that, my quest for good Chinese food in Madison continues on.