Yes :-) Remi's review (Mar 1st 2006)

Tasty House. Just like its name.

I’m not going to claim I know exactly what authentic Chinese food is or isn’t, and I’m quite likely not the greatest judge of what constitutes a great Chinese meal. And while my comparison sources might just include Dr? China Restaurant and a friend who visited China, I will say this: Tasty House lives up to its name.

My crispy orange beef was good; simple, certainly, but I was OK with that. I mean, I really just wanted something that was crispy, orange-y, and… well… beef-y. And it was. Thrown over some rice with some broccoli it was plenty flavorful, rivaling even Dr? China Restaurant’s chop suey. (Yes, I know that isn’t truly Chinese, but it’s good. Sue me.) The service was fast too. We got our dishes in about five minutes, which certainly makes choosing Panda Express over Tasty House at least a misdemeanor.

And the name. Tasty House. Doesn’t that make you want to sing “Funky Town?” It fits in perfectly, even though that might just be because we thought the place was called Tasty Town. Yeah, shut up. It works.

Anyway! Great food, and fast service makes Tasty House a place that should be visited. Maybe even better than Dr? China Restaurant.

Yes :-) Michelle's review (Jul 7th 2006)

OK, I am Chinese American raised in (please don’t hate me; after all, I was smart enough to leave) Los Angeles (a decent Chinatown), with several years spent in Portland (a scenic but otherwise virtually nonexistant Chinatown, culinarily speaking) and “experience” in a number of other Chinatowns/Chinese restaurants around the globe except in, believe it or not, China itself. I know, I know, it’s on my list of places to visit before I die.

My husband is from Vancouver, B.C. (a large, thriving, and culinarily robust Chinatown) and he knows his Chinese food, too (despite being caucasian and not knowing how to use chopsticks when I met him; a lack which has since been remedied and if anyone else needs instructions, let me know ;) ).

We’ve been huge fans of Tasty House since the day it opened. The owner and his chefs are from a family of restauranteurs and hail from Seattle’s Chinatown which is no slouch in the food department either.

Of special note is the Prawns and Honeyed Walnuts. The batter is light; the sweetened mayonnaise sauce (sounds gross but it isn’t somehow) adds a creamy counterpoint to the crunch of the battered shrimp. There’s a generous helping of the honeyed walnuts, or maybe I just think so because my husband doesn’t eat them so I get them all! Best of all, this dish is something that most Chinese restaurants don’t serve on the regular menu. I used to only get it at Chinese banquets (and none were as well executed as Tasty House’s) if it was even on the banquet menu at all. We order it every single time we go there, to the point that Jimmy, the owner, just laughs because he knows it’ll be the first thing we ask for.

Another dish that makes me happy and nostalgic is the corn chowder. It’s another authentic Chinese dish that most restaurants don’t carry, and those that do, don’t do it very well. It’s often bland thickened corn soup with some bland boiled chicken pieces in it. Tasty House’s, however, is lightly flavorful, a light satisfying winter lunch by itself. My husband, who originally turned his nose up at it, now admits he likes it and I have to order two containers to go so he can have some , too. It might not suit everyone’s taste (my dad, who was born in China, used to eat chicken feet at dim sum and there’s no way I’m going there), but give it a try, maybe one day when you have a cold or something, as a variation of mom’s chicken noodle soup.

One more dish that we always order is the house special noodles. The noodles are pan fried into a crispy round, topped with a clear/white sauce containing the usual vegetables (baby bok choy, straw mushrooms, carrots, snow peas, bamboo shoots) and fish, shrimp, beef, chicken and pork. It’s the kitchen sink and we love it. If the order is to go, Jimmy will pack up the noodles and topping separately so the noodles aren’t soggy by the time you get around to eating them.

As to the rest of the dishes, nothing specific comes to mind as we’ve been trying different dishes in addition to the ones mentioned above which are “the usual” for us when we go. Nothing has been spectacular enough to rate going on “the usual” list yet, but nothing has been bad, either.

Yes there’s just the two of us so we deliberately take home a lot of leftovers. We live about a half hour away and don’t get there as often as we’d like, although on our last visit we selfishly encouraged Jimmy to open a store in our neighborhood in the new addition to our local strip mall.

The place is on the small side and relatively spartan. It’s too new and too clean to be considered a dive, but the food is good enough to qualify it as one, if you know what I mean.

Now, if I can just find a place to get some dim sum, I’d be a really happy camper.

Yes :-) Karla's review (Aug 4th 2006)

I have been called a lot of things in my life, but restaurant reviewer is definitely not one of them. And since I just moved to Spokane and am not familiar with most of the food places around here, I feel less qualified than most to spout an opinion about them. Plus, I’m not very articulate when it comes to desribing food, my comments range from ew! to good or really good. That all being said, my kids and I went to Tasty House for dinner last night.

The food was good. Really really good. We ordered the Honey Walnut Prawns, which were good, but in my mind perhaps not $12.50 worth of good, but I liked them and was glad I tried them once. We also ordered Beef and Broccoli, General Tso Chicken and Crispy Orange Fried Chicken. All of them were fabulous. In hindsight, I would not have ordered the two chicken dishes together because their flavors were similar. But they were super good. My kids tend to be picky when it comes to Chinese food, we had two favorite restaurants that we went to in California and we rarely ventured off our favorite dishes, and those were basically the dishes we ordered last night. They held up well to the boys’ standards, and we decided that unless we find something closer to home that’s as good (Gordy’s is closer and good but not as traditional as we like), that Tasty House is now our regular Chinese restaurant.

Yes :-) Sara's review (Aug 10th 2006)

On my first visit to Tasty House, I made the mistake of taking a to-go order all the way home, half an hour away, so that by the time we were eating, it really wasn’t that good anymore. Also, the cashew chicken wasn’t that good, period. (The chicken seemed pickled and the veggies were mainly celery).

However, I wanted to give Tasty House another chance, so recently we ate inside the restaurant. I ordered the crispy orange chicken, and my husband ordered the Dinner Combo A, which was almond chicken, prawns and BBQ pork fried rice. He had the hot and sour soup and I had the egg flower soup. Our two year old daughter shared with us, and especially loved the sweet chili sauce that came with the combo dish for dipping. Everything was really delicious, and my chicken was perfectly crispy. The service was quick and accommodating too. We’re glad to have finally found a great Chinese place in town. Just stay away from the cashew chicken.

Yes :-) PatD's review (Jan 8th 2007)

Went here the first time about 2 months ago fueled with recommendations from here. We have been trying to find a good Chinese place in Spokane for five years and so far this is the best. The food is really good and the prices are great, especially if you compare it to other places. We have eaten there six times and never been disappointed. Can’t wait to go back again.

No :-( Mike's review (Jan 27th 2007)

I was disappointed with Tasty House. I’d heard it was good, but it wasn’t. The place was nice and the service was fine. The food however was bland. To compensate for this, a sickeningly sweet sauce was poured over the chicken dish. I think it was orange chicken or ginger chicken. I doubt it would make much difference because it seemed like the same out-of-a-can glutenous sauce was used for every dish with just a tad of flavoring for variation. Four of us ate there but we all came away with the same opinion: bland food, overly sweet sauce to hide it. You do get a lot for the money, which, depending on how you look at it could be good or bad.

Yes :-) barman's review (Apr 1st 2007)

A quick Friday post-work meal, right? Something other than fast food, but no big production. We wheeled into Tasty house. Since all the other reviewers need to issue their bona fides, here it is..I’ve been eating at western US/Canada Chinese places for decades…all the way from Dillon MT to Eureka, NV, and at every Chinatown in North America.

Tasty House? Tasty. Great service. Decent MooShu Pork, though why can’t you get a pancake anymore? Price, just right. Decor, very nice inside, clean, quiet. Perfect for Friday. Why isn’t it full?

Well, others eating at the same time were the most beastly folks I’ve been around for a long time, cranking off about some entertainment card special or something, it was atrocious. Please, if you’re going to use a coupon, just use it and don’t whine, OK?

Anyway, decent Chinese with an attention to detail, very fresh tasting, you’ll enjoy your trip.

barman

Yes :-) Franks Review's review (Aug 1st 2008)

Far better than most in the area. Unlike many Asian restaurant food, the vegetables are freshly cooked, with a tiny bit of crunch… Each has it’s own distinct flavor. The Orange Crispy Chicken was excellent, with an spicy orange, ginger sauce that was right on the money. The beef lo mein was so good and went so fast, we re-ordered it while we were there.

Authentic, clean, friendly, and reasonably priced. A great find. We’ll be back.