China Garden

I have never actually been into this restaurant but I have ordered for delivery several times. Which I’m not very close to them so I was surprised to get a menu in my mailbox one day and to find out they deliver to me. The food is always good, nothing totally exciting just your average Chinese food. The staff isn’t ever really overly friendly or anything there’s never any small talk they just want to get your order and get it delivered. They usually seem pretty busy so I take that as a good sign. Tonight when I called for delivery he put me on «hold» I could hear him talking on another phone to another delivery order and when he picked up my call and I said I would like to place an order for delivery I heard a big sigh come from him, I assume they must have been swamped with deliveries. I’m waiting for my delivery now they told me it would be about 45 min to an hour which I think is typically what I wait for a delivery from here. For delivery they have a $ 10 minimum so I always add on a crab Rangoon which comes with 6 but then it makes my order $ 14 and with the $ 4 delivery fee my total always jumps to $ 18 which I don’t mind when I’m splitting the meal with someone.

Mongolian beef, more like Mongolian onions! I ordered a large and I only a got a merger serving of beef and the smallest serving of rice i have ever seen butt I did get 3 large onions with it.

Never delivered my FUCKING FOOD!
Should be no star but it wouldn’t fucking let me #FUCKTHISPLACE

Went over the lunch hour to China Garden and was not super disappointed, although I would not get my dish again. The lunch specials are amazing – about $ 5 for an entrée, choice of rice, choice of soup, and choice of appetizer (crab rangoon or egg roll). For the price, you definitely get a lot of food as portions for the entrée and rice were pretty good.
I ordered the Kung Pao Chicken, and although it was good it was mainly celery instead of chicken. The chicken pieces were very tiny and not a lot of it, so I definitely felt like I was eating all celery. My friend ordered the chicken with garlic sauce and it was really good! So I would go with that next time.
The place is small with not many tables, but during our time there it looked like they do a good take-​out business. There was one table doing the hot pot so it was fun watching them eat that – definitely want to try that sometime!

My only question to myself is: What took you soon long???
Will S. has been talking to me about this place for a while, but I wrote it off bc it wasn’t super close to my house and I figured I could make hot pot better than anywhere in Omaha. I admit (some level) of defeat here. While I do make a good hot pot and we also eat it with family often, China Garden is super legitimate for the days that I don’t have the time to prepare it myself. We’ve now been there two times for hot pot, and I can sense many more visits in our future.
For those of you new to this Asian style of dining called hot pot– every Asian culture has their own version of it. The complexities and ingredients of broth and accompanying starch whether that be noodles or rice varies with every culture. There are also preferences for the items that you would cook inside of the hot pot, but the items do tend to be fairly standard all-​around. At China Garden it’s a Taiwanese style with some Sichuan flair. I recommend to you all to wear dark clothing as splatter can occur and you don’t want to ruin some pretty pastel or white clothes– chili oil is pretty unforgiving.
First you pick your broth here. I recommend either half-​and-​half with the house broth and the spicy broth or all house broth. Spicy broth is very spicy so unless you have a very high tolerance I don’t recommend it for beginners. Then you can choose the types of things you’d like to put in your hot pot. This is a communal pot where you cook it yourself so you have to be comfortable in sharing food with others. I recommend one order of beef, shrimp, fish, tofu, two different kinds of greens, and one or two different kinds of mushrooms for a well rounded hot pot experience. Double orders of things here is not necessary for parties four or smaller unless you just are getting that and nothing else (for example you don’t like seafood so a double order of beef). We made a mistake our first time ordering double orders of some vegetables that we liked and it was way too much food for four people. They also provide a medley of sauces to mix together for dipping your food in after it is cooked in the hot pot. Some restaurants in bigger Asian populated cities have entire sauce bars dedicated to this but I think China Garden does a good job with what they give you.
I’m very happy that I have found this restaurant here in Omaha I plan to come back and try some of their main menu items off of the Sichuan menu and not the American menu!

This is my favorite spot for Chinese food in Omaha. Here’s why:
1. Want Americanized Chinese? They have all the familiar favorites cooked up piping hot and served fresh and tasty.
2. Want authentic Sichuanese cuisine? They have a large, leather-​bound menu to peruse when you dine in. This is the only spot in town that I know of where you can order hot pot, which comprises of a giant pot of spicy, oily soup boiling in the center of the table that you add in uncooked meats and veggies to — lettuce, tofu, mushrooms, beef, tripe, crab, fish balls, etc. It’s up to you and the rest of your table to choose what you want to eat. The results are a lovely communal meal. And as someone who’s had hot pot many times in Chengdu, China Garden definitely holds its own. We’re ordering the super-​spicy soup next time, though!
3. As if all that wasn’t enough, China Garden offers vegan renditions of most of the menu, complete with several varieties of mock meat.
4. Their delivery area is pretty massive.
Basically, there’s something for everyone here, from those with dietary restrictions to the unadventurous eaters to the thrill seeking food questers. Sure it’s basically a hole-​in-​the-​wall, but that somehow adds to the charm in my book. Well done, China Garden. Well done.

As far as I know, China Garden has the only authentic Sichuan style hotpot in Omaha. Hotpot is a type of communal dining experience where you cook the food yourself in a pot of boiling oil and broth that is loaded with spices. The flavors at China Garden were spot on (complete with numbing spicy peppers rarely found in the US) and they kept the Tsing Taos flowing. Each pot comes with 2 crabs and you then order additional items. We had thin sliced beef, fish balls, cabbage, mushrooms, frozen tofu, and noodles. They provide little wire basket scoops to fish items out of the pot, which is helpful. Hotpot at China Garden is an experience that all connoisseurs of exotic cuisine must try.

Went to this place for some group hot pot and for my first experience was fantastic! Thankfully we had someone in our group who could lead the way, pick a pot with spice level, pick the things you want to cook and eat and the rest is the fun part. My recommendation is to wear a shirt that you can ruin for your first hot pot experience. Splashing and spilling can happen.
The fish balls are delicious, cabbage is amazing and the longer it cooks the spicier it gets. The beef is great and cooks very quickly, frozen tofu does a great job of absorbing the flavors of the broth too. There are plenty of other items available too! Venture to this fun side and try hot pot next time you are at this great restaurant!

Beware, they have a new chef tonight. I ordered what i had last week. Lamb with cumin, kung poa chicken (both off the other menu). Last week it was delicious, truly outstanding in flavor and seasoning.
Tonight, it was totally different. It was greasy, salty, lacking any spice. It was shocking, neither had any flavor. I called, as i had gotten the food to go. I told the person that answered, and she said oh, we have a new chef that started today.
She did not offer me a refund. Super sad…

Couldn’t tell you what the food is like because they were so rude I left. All I asked for was a menu and what was in the cucumber salad. Apparently that was too many questions. Shocking

I’m really happy that I found this restaurant! They have amazing food. I would recommend to order from the Chinese menu if you want an authentic taste. The service was good. The food was delicious! Thinking about it makes my mouth water. Highly recommend ordering a few dishes to share with your friends and family. I knew this was quite close to authentic: a. Only chinese people in the restaurant b. The special menu was in chinese c. Separate menu. Can’t wait to go back and try their hot pot! The restaurant is on the small size so I wouldn’t recommend going there during rush hour.

I just came here for lunch and got it to go. I ordered 宫保鸡丁 (Gōng bo jī dīng) from the Sichuan menu. It was pretty tasty. I’m excited to try some more authentic Sichuan items in the future. The staff was quick and polite.

I’m kind of torn. I asked for the sichuan menu and ordered the Mapo doufu off of there which they made vegetarian for me (usually has pork). But the staff were not friendly at all. I’ve been there several times because I like the food a lot, but it’s like they don’t care at all about the customers. So I have stopped going, which sucks because I crave that Mapo doufu all the time because they put sichuan peppercorns in it and it’s to die for, but it’s not worth the bad service. Bummer.

I have found another awesome Chinese restaurant in Omaha! This place is a gem hidden behind Husker clothing shop. Here is the key to have a great dining at this restaurant.
This place offers two different menus. One is designed for American taste (English menu), these foods are okay because they are designed to cater to the American taste. Either too sweet or too salty :(You can do better at Panda Express. I’m sorry the truth hurts.
The second menu is the authentic Sezhuan Chinese cuisine (Chinese menu). You will have to ask for this menu because they don’t offer this to their clients. Guys! Please try the foods in this menu and you will get what I mean. This is how Chinese foods should taste. Simple yet delicious. Try their roasted duck, pork belly with plum veggies, steam fish in chili sauce, eggplant in chili sauce, or spicy beef or lamp with cumin. Try their soups and hot pot. Keep in mind that Sezhuan cuisine is more on the spicy side so if you are not a fan of spicy Chinese foods look for something else. I would highly recommend you to try new things in this restaurant. Have fun you only live once!!!
Service is good and fairly quick. Ask your waiter for recommendations and extra steam rice. He will be more than happy to do this for you.

I have no idea how any of the food or service is at this place. When I was seated, I was met with a swarm of fruit flies all over the condiment bottles on the table and stuck to the table. Not just a couple, a swarm. How anyone else was eating there, I don’t know.
I have never done this before, but I walked out before the waitress could even come back to the table.

I give two stars because I’ve had the best Chinese in the US. The taste was off on all of the food we had.

They won’t offer you an authentic menu unless you ask or chopstick either it seems. Seemed to skip on the spice on the items on the regular menu.
The quantity of food is large, but the quality is Meh.

I admit that I have only had their food via delivery, and never even knew they had a second menu until reading the other reviews, so my review is limited to delivery only.
With being one of the few Chinese places that deliver in Omaha, I started off skeptic. Especially when the beef and broccoli that I initially ordered was ‘so-​so’. But a month went by and I had another hankering for Chinese but did not want to leave my house so I figured I would give them another shot. This time I decided to order their general tsos chicken as a dinner meal. Yum! Since then I have gotten delivery from them many times since and it has all been the delicious Americanized version and I love every bite.

China Garden isn’t a big place, but it was recently remodeled and looks nice. The food is delicious and not just the same old fast takeout as every other place. My favorite is the Shrimp Lo Mein. It always tastes fresh. And you can’t beat lunch for $ 6.
I’ve never had an issue at China Garden, but I did take off a star because their staff aren’t always very friendly. But they always get my order right and keep my water filled.

This is the place I go to when I’m feeling nostalgic about my semester abroad in the Sichuan province. Seriously, why even come here for Americanized Chinese food?
Beware, they have 2 websites. I don’t know why. For the Sichuan menu, order from here:
Here are my favorite Sichuan dishes from China Garden:
宫保鸡丁 (Gōng bo jī dīng) What kung pao chicken wants to be when it grows up
肉末乾煸四季豆 (Ròu mò gān biān sìjì dòu) Pork with green beans, garlic, and fermented black beans
魚香茄子 (Yú xiāng qiézi) Eggplant & pork bits in garlicky sauce
回鍋肉 (Huíguōròu) Twice-​cooked pork fat with veggies
If ordering on the phone and cannot speak/​pronounce Chinese, make sure you specify that you want to order from the Sichuan menu! Very important. I can’t tell you how disappointing it is to order gongbao jiding and get kung pao chicken instead. It’s tear-​worthy.