China King
3456 W Lincoln Ave
Anaheim
714-761-5985
What attracted me to China King? Ok I was hungry. But also the sign, which you see in the first picture. For long time residents of the area you remember Pioneer Chicken? Well this sign used to be a Pioneer Chicken sign. I reviewed a couple Pioneer Chicken that are still open and still have that sign, Pioneer Chicken-Bell Gardens and Pioneer Chicken-Soto St.
So I decided to give this a try. China King is your "Panda Express" type Chinese fast food place. A large steam table filled with Chinese food. You pick how many items you want, add rice or chow mein and your ready to eat.
The chow mein just got to the steam table so it was fresh and hot. The chow mein had celery, carrots, and cabbage with some soy sauce. It was pretty standard fare.
I get the two item combo, $5.92 with BBQ pork and black pepper beef and all chow mein. While the picture may show the BBQ pork overflowing, but it had so much fat it wasn't even funny. The little amount of pork that was left, was pretty tasty and tender.
The black pepper beef had a very strong pepper flavor, which is good. But the beef was very tough and not tender at all. If the beef was more tender this would have been a great dish. The strong pepper flavor was great.
Service was good. But this place is sooo busy, I couldn't believe it. They moved the lines quickly, though we waited about five minutes for the chow mein to be ready.
When I got there, at least six people were ahead of me. I would say of those six, five of them ordered two or three meals each. While waiting to place my order, at least another six people got in line behind me. I would say that within the 25 minutes I was there, at least 12-15 were there ordering food. This was about 4:45 pm. Amazing.
I wouldn't go back to China King again. The prices are fair. The portions are big. But the food isn't that good. Lots of fat on the pork, tough as leather, beef. There are many other places, including Panda Express, that serve better quality food for the same price.
