Classic Chinese Restaurant
23565 Moulton Parkway #C
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
There are few things in life that I look forward to more than the end of the holiday season. Yes, I know, bah humbug and all that. I used to like holidays, but that was before I got a job, paid my own way, and had to do a bunch of running around from one family function to another. Once the new year begins, it's like a big weight is lifted off of me.
One of the things I totally look forward to is getting back into my regular groove of venturing out to restaurants again, and this time we were taking my good friend David out for his birthday. He had just recently visited Classic Chinese in Laguna Hills and claims that they serve some really good food. We decided this is where we'd have his birthday dinner this year, and also celebrate another year of making it through the difficult holiday season.
Classic Chinese is situated on Moulton, in the same shopping plaza as the DMV, Polly's Pie's, Big Lots, and Kosher Bite Deli, which I definitely need to hit up soon to get my pastrami fix. Classic Chinese has been around for three and a half years now. They replaced Long River Restaurant, which was another restaurant that served Chinese food in this spot for a good many years.
We arrived at Classic Chinese at just before 6pm on a recent Thursday. This part of the shopping center was pretty quiet outside, but that was a stark contrast to the bustling energy inside this crowded restaurant. Even with a nearly full restaurant, we were seated right away near the back of the restaurant. The menu here is pretty overwhelming with 183 items listed, but thankfully they are separated by sections. All of your favorite Chinese-American dishes are present here, but there are some more exotic offerings for those of you that like to get a little more adventurous. Think squid, jellyfish head, duck jaw, and six varieties of porridge, which I did not even realize was a thing in Chinese restaurants. We stuck to pretty much the basics, so let's see how David's birthday dinner turned out for us.
I guess I did not get the memo when Katie and David agreed that we were going to get these Crispy Fried Wontons ($6.95) to start out with. These came six to an order and came filled with cream cheese. Both David and Katie assumed this when the order was placed, but it came as a jolt to me when I bit into one when it came out. I'm not a big fan of cream cheese, so I finished that one and let them have the rest. Some meat filled wontons or a better name for this on the menu would have made me happier.
Photo credit goes to the birthday boy for this picture of the Sizzling Filet Mignon ($15.95). He got the better shot because the steam coming from this flew right into my direction. This fajita inspired plate was the best beef dish I have ever had in a Chinese restaurant, hands down. It came out on an iron plate, filled with chopped onion, a couple of mushrooms, red and green bell pepper, and some melt in your mouth filet mignon. As other dishes came to our table, this is the one that I found myself coming back to over and over again. It did not have an overpowering sauce, so the beef and veggies were the stars of the show. A very good start to our meal.
This is when it had started to turn for us at Classic Chinese though. We had wanted the Shredded Pork in Garlic Sauce, but they brought out this BBQ Pork with Pan Fried Noodles ($11.95) instead. This was probably my least favorite entree of the evening. Too many veggies, pork that was very tough and resembled beef jerky, and the crispy noodles added an awkward feel to this plate. We should have asked for our original selection to be brought out instead.
This Chicken Pan Fried Noodle ($12.95) was better, but not by much. It was colorfully presented with plenty of red and green peppers, a better-fried noodle, and plenty of strips of the chicken running through it. The sauce was a little better here but did not wow any of us.
Rounding things out for us on this evening was some Chicken Fried Rice ($11,95). We had wanted to try the house special fried rice, but it has shrimp in it, and Katie does not handle shrimp too well, so we went with this version instead. It was one of the most boring fried rice dishes I have had. Very bland and after my initial scoop, I kept my distance.
I guess it's safe to say that David's birthday dinner was kind of a bust when it came to the food on this evening. With the exception of that awesome sizzling beef dish, the selections that we made failed to impress. Maybe if you stick with the traditional dishes like beef and broccoli, sweet and sour pork, or orange chicken you might have a better experience than we did on this evening. The wait staff was not very friendly. They seemed like they were just there to move things along and get people in an out of the place. No checking up on us, no drink refills until we asked for them, and no smiles from any of them. Even though this restaurant failed to live up to our expectations, I'm still excited that the holiday season is over and that we can get back into a regular routine again.
Out of five eye charts, (because this restaurant is situated in the same shopping center as the DMV, and eye charts are an important part of getting your drivers license), five being best to zero being worst, Classic Chinese Restaurant gets 2 eye charts.
Classic Chinese Restaurant does not have a website, but you can find plenty of information about them on their Yelp page here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/classic-chinese-restaurant-laguna-hills
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