Lotus Garden

Lotus Garden has been our favorite Chinese restaurant for years. Never have had a bad meal and service is always good. I love there sweet and sour sauce. I remember years ago when they use to sell it by the bottle, sure wish they would again. some of our favorite dishes are Mongolian beef, sweet and sour pork, shrimp in lobster sauce, and sesame chicken. The only complaint is that they don’t deliver.

One of the best Chinese restaurants in Tucson. Great service from our waiter. I don’t recall his name but he is probably in his late twins or early 20s and has very dark brown hair. I like the little gift shop in the front of the restaurant. I like the tablecloths and the fact that the waitstaff brings around a cart do serve food off of.

We’ve been to Lotus Garden twice now. The first time, we got the hot and sour soup, General Tso chicken and Almond Shrimp. Everything was superb and tasty! The soup had the perfect balance of hot and sour tastes. I loved the Almond Shrimp!
On our second visit, we got the hot and sour soup (again), Sesame Chicken and Crispy Almond Duck. We weren’t very impressed with the Almond Duck and my husband commented that the Sesame Chicken was a little too sweet for his taste.
But, overall, we are extremely happy with our dining experiences at the Lotus Garden. It is now our favorite Chinese restaurant in Tucson!

Had a wonderful meal her the other night.
I could not spot eating the beef chow ming!
Also the Wong family is truly some of the best hardworking people you can meet. Darryl always comes out to greet us based on what my family orders he knows who we are!

Food was good, nothing to rave about one way or another. Had orange chicken and chicken with snow peas. Free almond cookies are a nice gesture, but their flavor just wasn’t for me. Service was friendly and fast. Price was decent considering the amount you get. Décor is really dated. I pictured the Golden Girls in all their 80s glory dining here and fitting right in. Though dated, it was clean. The knick-​knack gift shop with booze is weird and clunky. All in all it is a step up from Panda Express, but not a very big one.

I hadn’t been back to Lotus in years but we found ourselves in the area and decided to have a late lunch there last week. There have been a few changes to the exterior of the building but everything else remains the same, including their delicious food and excellent kind service. We had a couple of lunch specials that come with an abundance of food. I had the egg flower soup, eggroll and sweet and sour pork with pork fried rice. Everything was great! Since it was later in the day the restaurant was quiet with only a couple other tables besides us which was nice. On our way out we stopped to browse their little shop at the entrance and the owner was sitting at the front and chatted with us to make sure everything had been good. We will be back soon for sure.

Have been disappointed lately with all the chinese places in town and then I stumbled into Lotus Garden. My faith has been restored!
I have taken food to go 5 times now and always it is freshly prepared, hot and tasty!
Great shrimp!

Haven’t gone back for a little while but, the food is still great.
Talking with Darryl, the owner, know that he has to charge a little bit more but he uses the best food. The food taste so good I think it’s worth it.
The food is made fresh and the staff is very friendly.
Again, a little more in price, but the food is so worth it. Give them a try.

We arrived at lotus garden about 630pm today as was told to wait a few minutes. The parking lot was full and so we anticipated a wait. This would be our first time at lotus garden. There is a full store to look around at so we did. About 10 min later more people came in. A couple who walked in after another couple and well after us was promptly seated by a server. Despite me saying «we’ve been waiting here a while!» They were sat. We left. Those people came in after us, and after another family that came after us. I’ll never go back to this establishment again. I was excited to try somewhere I haven’t had yet, too bad!

Our experience at lotus garden really came down to clumsy service.
We were seated and someone brought us water, but no napkins. We had to get a bus person to get someone to take our order. We ordered egg rolls, soup, and entrees. We waited 10 – 15 minutes to get our order in. It took at least 20 minutes to get egg rolls. Then, 20 more minutes for our food.
We were told that the manager who took our order, put it in the kitchen in the wrong place and we did not have a waiter.
When our food arrived (nearly 45 minutes later) we had no cutlery to eat it with, had to ask for chopsticks and the food was lukewarm at best. STILL NO SOUP.
Eventually we got soup, but at this point we were all so miserable it did not matter. We asked to speak with a manager, but were not given a chance to.
This was really just a terrible experience and I cannot think about going back.

A native of Tucson and today was only the second time I’ve eaten there; the first being just two weeks ago! The interior is dated, and a little too pink for my taste. The entrance is jam-​packed full of random gift shop merchandise and bottles of wine.
But let’s get to the most important part… the food is great. Lunch special is $ 8.25 and includes soup, egg roll, two won tons, rice and entrée (14 different entrees to choose from). The portion size is more than adequate. Today’s Kung Pao Chicken was delicious but not as spicy as I prefer.
Both times I’ve been there the staff has been extremely friendly; however both times my food wasn’t ready at the quoted time. Today I waited for an additional 15 minutes! Despite the wait I’ll be back.

I have passed by the Lotus Garden on Speedway for years but never ate there until last evening. The exterior of the building is nice and inviting and the parking lot gives the impression that this is a long time successful restaurant. I assumed the interior décor and food would be as inviting and fresh, but, unfortunately it was not.
The interior of the restaurant is very dated and appears to have been last renovated in the early 80’s – there is a bit of a Miami Vice look and feel to the place and the menu seems to be a remnant of the same era.
My dinner companion and I both had a combination plate – Egg Drop soup, Egg Roll and Shrimp and an Entrée. The best I could say about the food was that it was pedestrian, uninspired, less enjoyable and more expensive than an alternative like Old Peking, Pei Wei, or even Panda Express…

First, the location is awesome with lots of great parking available.
Second, the interior is really cool and has a bit of a retro vibe, which I like. The lighting inside looks cool too.
Third, the service is great and the staff seem very friendly!
Fourth, the food is good.
Fifth, the prices are very reasonable. :-)
So… 5 out of 5 stars!

We’ve done take out twice now during the last month and Lotus Garden is now our go-​to place for Chinese. I had the chicken fried rice and asked them to add some pineapple. This is the first place I’ve ever had fried rice from that doesn’t add in the frozen peas and carrots — instead they opt for green onion, and it is really good. The pineapple adds a nice freshness to it. Quick, super-​friendly service, a nice bar just inside the front door and a lovely dining area. Family owned. Always busy, so you know they are good! Good value.

Ordered the Lotus Blossom Delight, Pineapple Delight with Bbq pork and the Mongolian beef. The Lotus Blossom was packed with seafood, in a very light broth. There were no big flavors here but it was very tasty. The Pineapple Delight was lightly spicey and a nice blend between the bbq pork and pineapple, for a great sweet and sour flavor. The Mongolian beef, spicey and tender. The best part of this restaurant is that everything is prepared as ordered and they have vegetarian and non gluten options. We will definitely return. Eat and live well

We have been here for the past 3 years & the food never disappoints. They make hot & sour soup, egg drop soup right, & everything we ever tried, right! Wonderful chop suey, fried rice, rice noodles, & Szechuan & Cantonese entrees. After many disappointments with Chinese restaurants in town, we are glad to have Lotus Garden here in Tucson! The servers & owners are just so professional & hospitable that we always feel like being in a high class restaurant! A great place to have a nice meal in an elegant & tranquil atmosphere.

Best cashew chicken in town! Fresh vegetables make it delicious! Service is always friendly-​eager to please. Best to order without the mushrooms unless you’re a fungus-​lover!
Ambience is very pleasant with coy pond and artistic landscaping. Most of the time I order food to go so can’t comment on wait staff

It’s Hubby’s birthday (¹²⁄₁₅). So he picks what he wants for dinner: Peking Duck.
We set up reservations and he orders the Peking Duck yesterday. You have to order it at least 24 hours prior to dining. We’ve never had it before and were excited to try it.
Got there, our table was ready, we ordered wine and hot tea, and our usual Hot and Sour soup. I guess I’m getting more sensitive to the heat in food because this time it was too spicy for me. I ate a little, but Hubby is going to get most of it.
Then, we got what we came for, the Peking Duck! Wow, a whole roasted duck served with very crispy skin, de-​boned except the wings and drumsticks. It’s served with steamed white or brown rice, pancakes and plum sauce.
The meat was delicious! Moist while the skin was crispy, the plum sauce added a sweetness, but nothing over-​powered the taste of duck. We each tried the duck mu shu style, but decided we liked it just dipped into the plum sauce. My mouth is watering just describing it here.
Well, to say the least, his birthday dinner was a great success!

We had been to the Lotus Garden once before for a midweek lunch. We were fairly impressed; so since my son loves Chinese; we decided to bring him here for his 16^th birthday. We noticed all the entrees were now over $ 10 each. but surely they were generous, right? Wrong. Pretty sad when you are paying over $ 1 a bite for Chinese food.
The good: The food is good, the ambiance great, the people friendly.
The bad: I cannot remember a time, at any Chinese restaurant I have tried, where we did not have decent left overs by ordering one entrée per person, or had to order more than one entrée per person & still feel like we did not have enough.
I don’t even have big eaters. But we ordered 2 sweet & sour chickens so he would have plenty of leftovers & with only 8 – 10 bites per plate. forget that. 6 dishes, 5 people, and we felt like we had to leave hungry in order to send the birthday boy home with a lunch the next day.
The portion sizes should easily be double what they are. The only one that seemed like a full plate was the egg fu yung. The boney duck had about 7 bites, and some empty bones on the plate. And then at the end the waiter packed up two different dishes in one box. All dishes were supposed to come with rice, that means 5 entrees, and there was barely enough rice for all of us. and again, none of us are big eaters. they were just REALLY small portions.
For dropping $ 70 on 5 people. there should have been plenty to take home.

I was born in the Year of the Snake, so it was mandatory for me to give the Chinese New Year the props it deserves. Today, I paid it mad respect by bringing it in with delicious dish at Lotus Garden. Thanks to Isabella J. for the recommendation!
The place was abuzz with activity for the special day. So much so, that I stood at the front door with not so much as a «hello» for five solid minutes. It actually took another couple arriving for them to even notice my presence. (I thought I was cuter than that!)
Once I was greeted, all went well. I sat down at a table and hot tea was waiting for me. The service just got better from there. My waitress was kind and extremely attentive.
I ordered a combo dinner, which came complete with egg drop soup, an egg roll and shrimp appetizer, and a sweet and sour chicken platter. The tea and the soup scored, and were the highlight of my meal. Unfortunately the rest of the dinner was fried and just plain unhealthy. And sometimes, that hits the spot… but not so much tonight. The food def tasted good, but my gut was a bit disgruntled. The sweet and sour chicken was über sweet. By the end of my meal I thought I was experiencing a diabetic sugar shock.
The menu reads something like «serving Tucson since 1968.» But you don’t need a menu to figure that one out. The décor is throwback style… mauve and lavender painted walls, peach napkins — very vintage, and not in the good way. I swear I saw the Roper’s (Stanley and Helen, of course) at the next table.
Overall the food was average, the service, while rough in the beginning, was stellar by the end. Not a bad place to go every once in awhile.