I used to be a big fan of Dragon House, which was a Chinese restaurant located on the East Side and in Urbandale. You may be saying…Pete, the restaurants are still there and open for business. That is true, they are still there, but the previous owners sold out and since the quality of food is really not that good…so I just stopped going.
The decision to stop going to Dragon House came years ago, years that I struggled trying to find a restaurant in town with equal quality Chinese Food, until I found Café Su. If you are an avid reader of this blog you realize I have a fascination with Cafe Su because they satisfied my Chinese cravings for years, but now they have competition.
You know those original owners of Dragon House…the ones who sold their restaurants…they are back!!! They have just opened a new concept over in Clive called Phoenix Asian Restaurant. It is much smaller than their Dragon House restaurants and it had only been opened two weeks when we visited last Friday. Yet, their food is the BOMB! I don’t use that phrase often, basically because it is so 1990’s…but it is a good adjective for Dragon….ah, excuse me, Phoenix’s food.
I went with my new Co-workers, there were 5 of us total, and we all got a different items on the menu. For starters we had to order their Pot Stickers, because I haven’t found as good a sticker in town. They didn’t disappoint, their Stickers were fabulous! Their lunch meals come with choice of Egg Drop Soup or Hot and Sour, both of which we had and both were well received. Each lunch item is also accompanied with an Egg Roll AND Crab Rangoon. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, you get your meal with a total price point between $4 and $6 for lunch. I ordered the Sesame Chicken, which as amazing. My co-workers ordered Empress Chicken, Kung Bao Chicken, Mixed Vegetables, and the Chicken Lo Mein each were very impressed.
Stop on out to the new Phoenix Asian Restaurant in Clive in the same strip-mall area as Rookies and the Kum & Go just off 156th street and Hickman. I know Misty, the owner, will be very happy to see you. If you can’t stop out, no worries, they deliver as well!!
After all, why would you want to eat at a chain restaurant when you can eat at Phoenix Asian Restaurant?
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We’ll have to give this place a try. Our favorite Chinese restaurant is Sam’s Fine Foods in the strip mall on the corner of SW9th and Park Avenue. It’s hidden behind the Save-a-Lot grocery store, and is tiny, but the food is so fresh! And the owner is a great guy who chats with customers while he’s cooking their food.
While I’d put Cafe’ Su in a different category than Phoenix and other strip mall Chinese places I was totally impressed by Phoenix’s food. It was by far the best of that style of Chinese Food I’ve had, including some famous place in San Francisco. I rarely take home a menu, but even though they’re a long way from my home in Beaverdale I know I’ll be ordering delivery very soon.
yea cafe fe mu la is in a different category for sure.* The Phoenix, is a mythological bird from the ancients… now it’s cooking chinese food in Clive, Iowa. Phoenix Asian Restaurant is in their own category.