Lam’s Oriental Cuisine

I must say I was very disappointed with the food quality here. I had the General Tso’s with fried rice and my wife had sweet and sour chicken with white rice. The chicken in both dishes was extremely soggy with a texture that I could only compare to a wet sponge. The rice was over cooked and mushy. On a good note the staff was extremely nice and there crab and cream cheese wontons were very good. Also the sweet and sour sauce seemed to be homemade and quite good.

Love this place! I always be sure to stop by when I’m home for the weekend. Not as heavy as other Chinese places I have had and the staff is so nice and welcoming.
A great place to have in New Phila!

We stopped here on our way home to Michigan. We arrived just 30 minutes before closing and decided to get the buffet. I worried that since it was so close to closing that the buffet food would be sparse and old, but it was the opposite. My husband was pleased with his General Tao’s chicken and other dishes. I had a very nice wonton soup. In fact, 5 minutes before closing they were still bringing fresh food out. This restaurant is owned by and older Asian couple who came out to speak to us, asking where we were from. We felt very welcomed and enjoyed eating here.

This service here is great and the staff is very courteous and friendly. Unfortunately that is where the good side of this establishment ends. I had been craving Chinese so I was excited when I was told that this is a town favorite. Then I walked up to the buffet which is only about 6 feet long and very limited on options. I selected General Tso chicken, a shrimp egg roll, a couple of spare ribs, some onion chicken, and some crab rangoon. The general chicken which said SPICY on the sign would not make the eyes of an infant water, it tasted like sponge soaked in sweet sauce. The crab rangoon was bland and soggy. The spare ribs tasted like they were soaked in the same sweet sauce as the general chicken. The only 2 flavors that have been established here are sweet, and bland. Everything I tasted had me hoping that the next item would be a redemption for the previous one. Sadly this never occurred and after 5 minutes, and not one dish that was remotely palatable, I left still hungry and went elsewhere. If you are seeking great service this is the place however if you would like tasty food with your service, this is definitely not the place.
–That is all

This restaurant is an absolute gem. It’s family owned and has been for a long time (several generations of Lams work there). Not only will you recognize the staff upon a second visit, but they’ll recognize you, give you a hug and remember what your favorite menu items were from previous visits. The elder Lam said «we spoil our customers», and she’s absolutely right. The buffet is a great deal, with a nice selection of fresh and homemade dishes. Dumplings and fried eggplant are our favorites. If there’s no eggplant on the buffet when we arrive, it appears shortly afterwards. Seriously some of the best chinese food I’ve had and the customer care and service pushes it way over the top!

I am truly ambivalent regarding this place.
The staff, owner and family included were all quite nice, helpful and quick to please.
The place is rather small, so the buffet by necessity is as well.
We arrived about 4:30 PM on a Saturday, and of the dozen or so available slots on the steam tables several had yet to be filled, so selection was definitely an issue. There was egg drop soup, fried chicken and pork for use with the sweet and sour sauce, a beef dish of some kind, a happy family type dish with chicken and shrimp with cauliflower and other vegetables, spare ribs, pork dumplings, a very small offering of oddly butchered pieces of fried chicken, lo mein noodles, rice, the standard fried items, (egg rolls, rangoon, etc.),.some dessert items and that may be about it.
Everything was relatively fresh. (Arriving early to a buffet has it’s advantages.)
Things were hit and miss in flavorland however. The dumplings were hands down the best I’ve had. The dough hadn’t resolved into that leathery crap that serves no function other than to annoy the diner and the filling was moist and delicately flavored.
The quintessential gastronomic understatement!
Every Asian cookbook I’ve owned or looked at starts with cooking some chopped garlic and ginger together and building the dish from there, frequently employing soy sauce or something else in the process.
That step appears to have been skipped altogether here.
Unfortunately Chinese cookery doesn’t employ salt and pepper like western cuisine, and if you loose the garlic and ginger and soy, and don’t use salt or pepper, or hot Asian peppers, e.g. Szechuan, there’s not a whole lot else available for flavor development.
That’s the rub here. The food is nicely prepared with care, but much of it just lacks any developed flavor.
The product of a VERY simply satisfied palate.
The beef dish just tasted very mildly of beef, sans salt or any other seasoning, the shrimp. chicken dish was largely flavorless, the sweet and sour sauce forgot the sour component and tasted only of sweet. The ribs were good. Nothing special where the egg rolls etc. were concerned, the pridefully served house-​made hot pepper oil tasted equally of bitter and heat, not an especially pleasant combination.
On the other hand everyone aimed to please, attending to drink refills and the prompt securing of any sauce or whatever one asked after, and when one individual was bringing freshly cooked donut holes to put on the buffet they were offered to all the diners individually along the way, a very nice touch.
All the staff was quite affable and likeable, and the food was lovingly prepared, it just. largely, didn’t have much taste. If they can fix that problem, this would be a great establishment, until then it will likely continue to get VERY mixed revues.

My friend’s family thinks this place is the best, so my expectations were high. Ummm. Yea. I didn’t like it. It was greasy, fatty and generally not tasty.
We all got the buffet which was pretty small. The food was non-​descript and generally seemed old and tough, like the meat wasn’t the best cut or the freshest. I was basically reduced to the very chewy and bready egg rolls.
I can’t remember one item that stood out as amazing. The dumplings were little rocks. The sweet and sour chicken was mainly breading. The sauce was just sweet, no flavor. The vegetables were way over cooked and just mushy. I can say the white rice was good. So there is that.
I was sad that I didn’t like it because my friends rave. THey have been going to this place for years and apparently they used to have one in Canton. They knew the family, which seems very nice. But it was just scary food. I wonder if you ordered off the menu if it would be fresher and tastier. The service was good, which is why they got two stars instead of one. I went through a lot of water to get down my one plate of food.

We moved to Columbus area and haven’t found a place we love as much as Lam’s. I guess you don’t know what you have until it is gone. Lucky for us we just hop in the car and drive to NP and get us some. We usually get the buffet; I love Won Ton soup and you can add as much ham and onions to it as you like.
I haven’t had a bad meal here and I have eaten here many, many times. Lisa (owner) and her daughter work here and are both very sweet. Lisa taught my boys how to eat crab legs back in the day!
If we are passing thru, (they have a pickup window) I will call ahead and order the shrimp fried rice and sweet and sour chicken (sauce on the side so it doesn’t get soggy) and won ton soup to go. So GOOD! Typing this has made me hungry!
Try it you won’t be disappointed.