Technically, you can't usually eat there, there's only one table, so normally you'd be getting take out. On this trip to these old stomping grounds though, the table was open and I dug in right there and then.
I was unsure whether or not to get the General Tso's lunch special, i've grown weary of ordering General Tso's I know will be bad and instead see the dish as kind of like a weight class in boxing: it isn't fair to compare older, MSG-centric, usually Polynesian-centric (think Chicken Fingers and Pupu Platters), to generally newer non-MSG focused places. With the latter, ordering General Tso's is fair because they can afford or choose to afford white meat in General Tso's, which is generally much better, even though ironically the dish started as a way to get rid of dark meat.
My sentimentality for the old days may have blinded me here. The sauce was watery, and the croquettes were made up of different meat pieces and pieces of fat. I'm surprised they didn't put in some pieces of old menus in with the meat byproducts.
I tried to be polite when the owner asked me how it was and talked to him about dark meat versus white meat, and he said his customers were fine with the dark meat. It was a reminder of how I try to write these reviews, I dislike too much subjectivity because everyone's tastes are different. You might like the dark meat style, I find it to be too grisly, and requiring multiple pieces of meat which creates a strange texture like in what was served here.
The meal came with Fried Rice and Crab Rangoon as you can see, and that was fine, but I left disappointed. It's funny, they had some kind of mystery diner thing on the wall applauding the food, and while it was unfair of me to order what I ordered given what I knew would probably happen, I can't agree with their assessment.
Meal: General Tso's Lunch Special
Price: $6.80
Speed of Service: 15 minutes
Time of Day: 2:00 PM, Weekday
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