Joyful House

Joyful house has the best steamed dumplings of any Chinese restaurant I’ve been to. Friendly staff. Wish they offered delivery.

Definitely a place for takeout. The interior is near barren and harshly lit, the carpet heavily worn, the tables chipped, and a slightly rancid odor hangs in the air. But once you’re out the door, you’ll probably be planning a return.
I only have the kung pao chicken and the Szechuan spicy beef to judge them on at this point, but these stuck me as well done renditions of American Chinese food. The vegetables were crisp, the meat tender and well trimmed, and the sauces were not too sweet. Peanuts in the kung pao were still crunchy. I forgot to request a level of spiciness, but the dishes came in at what I thought was a perfect medium-​hot. Portions were generous – we got two lunches out of what we didn’t eat.
The main reason we got food here is because we were visiting the Stony Lake brewery in the same plaza and wanted something to eat with our beers, we didn’t want to drive far to pick it up, and didn’t feel like pizza. So Joyful House might have been a default choice, but one that pleased us nonetheless.

Bland but edible Chinese luncheon standards. My friend wanted to go there for lunch because she hadn’t been there in a while. I had never been there before. I’m unlikely to ever go back.
I could not help but notice the backpack and pile of mail that seemed to belong to the lady running the place, occupying the larger table at the back.
I got egg drop soup. Lots of egg, but the clear broth was quite viscous. Hmmm, is the broth mostly corn starch and water? My friend got wonton soup. She had huge wontons in her soup. Had to cut them up. The bowl of crispy wonton pieces (for a garnish) was cold and the oil had already made them soggy. I could only nibble a couple small pieces. Ew.
My friend got General Tso’s chicken. Mostly chicken and a couple of pieces of broccoli. I was going to get chicken and broccoli, but I spied chicken and garlic below that, in red letters, which usually denote a spicy dish. What arrived was bland. The sauce was brown from soy sauce and faintly sweet, with no hints of either garlic or hot spice. The chicken was OK. Pounded thin. The pieces of green pepper were not as green as I would have liked — a bit tired, if you ask me — and were cut too large to eat easily. Usually Chinese chefs get this right. Blah fried rice with puckered peas and a crab rangoon on the side.
Lunch was $ 7.25. You get a decent amount but I felt like something was missing. The flavor.

I’m working on a personal challenge to try to find the best Kung Pao in my area, and after trying a couple of places near by, I pushed out a bit to a provider I used to love when I worked closer and could have them more often. Since my paper menu was three years out of date, I was glad to see they had a website. You don’t know how many places I wanted to try that have lost my business because I couldn’t find a menu online.
Here is the scoop: The Kung Pao was great. It had mushrooms, peas, carrots, water chestnuts, mini corn, green pepper, and the best part… I requested extra hot peppers and they delivered. They didn’t just sprinkle some crushed red pepper on like most places do, but they put extra whole dried hot peppers in the mix, just how I wanted.
The included fried rice was real fried rice, with carrot, peas, and egg. Not white rice with a brown sauce added like so many lesser Chinese places do. I was going to give four stars, but I was thinking about the fried rice and decided this put them over the top. I am so tired of Chinese places skimping because no one seems to complain, using lots of celery instead of real vegetables.
On top of it all, Joyful House throws in a crab rangoon with the lunch special. I’ll be back, guys, because this is a class act.

Takeout for dinner tonight! We got 2 General Tsao chicken, 1 extra spicy. Promised and delivered in 15 minutes. The extra spicy was delightfully extra spicy. I realized as I was eating tonight, my favorite thing about GT from Joyful House is how it is lightly breaded, more like rolled in flour and flash fried than breaded or battered.
At $ 12/​pop, it’s not the cheapest Chinese around (that’s $ 12 for the entrée… no egg roll or anything), but it’s perfect for us.

Prices very reasonable. Great Szechuan Chicken! Egg drop soup outstanding! I love patronizing locally owned businesses.

When you compare Joyful House to restaurants in general, this takeout place is probably a three star… but when you compare it to the restaurants in the area and compare it to the other Chinese take out place (s) in the area, it’s a 4. That’s because the only other Chinese take out place is Best China by the WalMart and it’s low quality, high quantity cheap Chinese food. Joyful House is a little higher in quality and consistency, but you pay for it (an extra dollar or two or so on lunch specials).
The General’s Tso’s chicken which is the basic standard by which you can compare take out chinese, is good. Definitely better meat than the Best China fodder they use. The sauce is sweet though, and you definitely need to ask for spicier. The lunch combo also does come with a crab rangoon which I like better than mystery-​filled egg rolls. I have not tried anything else just yet, but I would not be opposed to it.
Above all, yes, it’s worth the extra 2 dollars for a higher quality meal. You also get less fried rice than at Best China, so not really enough for leftovers at all, but sometimes its better to have a better tasting, less gristly product.
Don’t expect more than your standard Chinese take out or delivery place and you won’t be disappointed.

My husband and I had take out here a few Friday’s back, and it was delicious! I had the veggie fried rice and Carb rangoon, and he had the sweet and sour chicken. Both of our meals were excellent and just the right amount :) The staff here are very friendly and the take out order was ready in ten minutes. Would highly recommend them!

This may be «by far the best Chinese food in Saline» but er… that’s not saying too much as there really isn’t too many Chinese restaurants IN Saline. In fact, I believe this might be the ONLY actual Chinese restaurant in Saline– or one of two? Anyway. I have ordered out here 3x. The food was about you’re «Ugh, why did I eat that crappy buffet food» fare. I can’t believe it’s higher rated that Biwako– that’s completely ridiculous. I think I remember the dumplings are decent here, that’s about it. The prices are great, but you’re not getting much, either. I wish I wish I wish that more people would open better restaurants in Saline.

This is by far the best Chinese Restaurant in Saline. I really love their menu selection, as the food is not only reasonably priced, but very delicious. Likewise, the portions tend to be on the large size during the dinner hour.

Was very pleased with everything: good food, good service, good price. The person behind the counter was… how should I put it… joyful.

Great food & great service! They have coupons on their website to save you some money.

Great food! The place is kinda boring not a lot of décor on the walls but the food is awesome! Have a great lunch buffet for under $ 8.00.