Guide to Asian Restaurants for non-Asians in ATX

Pho King excellent!

2010-01-15T14:30:00.000-08:00

Pho King

1021 E Parmer Ln

Austin, TX 78753

512-491-7585

http://www.phokingtx.com/

Small bowl of Pho: $6.10

Large Bowl of Pho: $7.10

FINALLY! Been driving by this place for months now and it's finally opened. This place is Pho King good! I've been here 3 days in a row for lunch now and tried 3 different dishes.

Day 1: Appetizer - Spring rolls and fried egg rolls / Beef Pho with rare steak and meatballs

Went with a group of 4 co-workers, Spring rolls were HUGE but the egg rolls were tiny but tasty (you get 4). Beef Pho was excellent. For all you Pho virgins, you can tell if a Pho is good by the broth. This was rich and tasty. I did not have to add as many condiments vs a poor Pho place. List of things I add: sprouts, cilantro, any herbs provided, hoison sauce, hot sriracha sauce, lots o limes. I would get this again.

Day 2: Seafood Egg Noodle Pho

This is a little different as the noodles are egg noodles (similar to taste and texture of ramen, only better) and the broth is on the lighter side. I was impressed with the shrimp and the calamari in this bowl but was unimpressed with the broth. Would not get this again.

Day 3: Rice with grilled pork, fried egg and pork cake

I've had better at other Vietnamese restaurants. The pork cake was a little "off" but decent. The grilled pork had lots of flavor. Probably won't be getting this again.

All in all, the restaurant is brand spanking new. Bathrooms are nice and clean. Service is super fast and friendly, be careful of the non-English speaking waiters. Ask for help if you need before you order or else you will get something you will nightmares over.

I will be back here though to try other dishes.

Fav: Beef pho (herb selection is impressive)

Least Fav: lack of a dessert

9 out of 10 Asians would eat here.

Maki Toki

2008-11-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

Maki Toki

1910 West Braker Lane Suite 300

512-832-0200

$14 with appetizer to share and a drink

11.7.08 Had lunch at a FANTASTIC little sushi place today with some coworkers. Maki Toki sounds like something from a Brady Bunch Hawaiian episode but it's nowhere as cheesy as the show. I can't rave enough about the awesome fresh sushi they serve here. It's located in a new strip mall behind the Wendy's and Wlagreen's on Metric and Braker. The interior is cafe nice, nothing you would call a restaurant. There are some tables, 3 large booths for parties and a long bar with high seats.

For lunch, I ordered a seaweed salad, a large calamari appetizer (to share) and a calamari tempura roll. All for under $13. Take away the appetizer and you've got a lunch for 8 bucks. The seaweed salad was very good as well as the roll. I highly recommend the calamari appetizer. Breaded and fried to perfection, the huge pieces of calamari were very tender.

My Tony had a Sesame Chicken Benta Box lunch for $8. Came with egg rolls, rice, sesame chicken, 3 pieces of cali roll, and fruit tempura (banana). Your choices are Pork, Chicken, Sesame Chicken. You can take away the sesame chicken, it wasn't very good but everything else on there was excellent.

Damian had a lunch combo with 2 tuna, 2 salmon and a huge cali roll all for $8.

Darrin had the best dish though. He ordered 2 rolls: the Scuba and the Spider. Both were huge rolls with soft shell crab meat, avacado and fresh tuna.

I will definitely be back at this place for lunch.

Fav: calamari appetizer

Least fav: Sesame Chicken

Rating: 8 out of 10 Asians would eat here

Wokaholic

2008-11-06T12:34:00.000-08:00

Wokaholic
1776 Wells Branch Parkway
512-990-3900
$8.50 with a drink

11.6.08 I must admit that I am a Wokaholic. This little Chinese restaurant in a little strip mall packs plenty of big taste. Don't let this fool you though, some of the best Chinese restaurants await your eating pleasure in some of the most unassuming strip malls in Austin. I was hesitant to eat at a place so presumptuous enough to call itself "Wokaholic". You better be the Bruce Lee of wok-fushness to lay claim to that bold restaurant name. It lives up to that name though.

Upon entering, I was mildly disappointed at seeing no other Asian patrons. I felt about as alone as Rowdy Roddy Piper in the movie "They Live". The staff, thank goodness, from waitress to cook, is 100% Asian, not a non-Asian in sight. I later learned that Asians order off the menu and normally don't partake in the buffet, which was what I had for lunch today.

The buffet consisted of your normal Chinese variety fare. Soups, stir-frys, fried foods, dessert. What was surprising was a Mongolian style grill where you pick your foodstuff of choice, meat, veggie, sauce, varying degrees of spiceyness, and the chef will stir-fry it right there for you. It was FANTASTIC! The Hot-n-sour soup was easily the best I've tasted at any buffet. The grilled teriyaki chicken and fried chicken wings were absolutely delicious. Lo-mein was above average, as well as the stir-frys. Dessert was sadly, pretty bad. The best thing was the ubiquitous ice cream machine with the store bought chocolate syrup.

All in all, I would go back here to eat again. For the price of a lunch admission, it was well worth it. For the non-Asians, you will definitely like this place.

Fav dish: Mongolian grill & chicken wings
Worst dish: General Tso's chicken (more like AWOL Tso's chicken)

Rating: 6 out of 10 Asians would eat here

The Fujian Grand China Buffet

2008-11-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

Place: The Fujian Grand China Buffet
Address: 8709 N Interstate 35
Austin, TX 78753
Phone: (512) 977-8822
Price: $9.50 with a drink

11.3.08 I've seen this restaurant off I35 being built for months now and I finally saw a "Grand Opening" sign. Today for lunch, I decided that was where I wanted to go.

When I first got there, I saw other Asians, so I had some hope that this would be a good place to eat. I got in, paid first (unusual) and was seated in a far off corner. The place was packed. I felt like...cattle.

The lay out is u-shaped with the buffet itself in the middle. There's a very small disappointing sushi bar. A Mongolian BBQ grill where you pick your noodles, meat, veggies and sauce and they stir fry it right there in front of you. Problem: no one was manning the station and it looked like it wasn't open. The rest of the buffet had quite a selection but practically NOTHING was labeled. There were beef and chicken stir fry and two versions of what looked like General Tso's Chicken. The dessert section was HUGE, but lacked substance. There was the normal soft serve ice cream machine & different cakes but what set this apart from other buffets were the 5 (yes, 5) colors of jell-o and marshmallows in coconut sauce (yeck). There was a rather large selection of fruits though.

I first went for the Hot N Sour soup, a basic that will determine of I ever go back to a buffet. It was so-so, nothing special, spicey yet too watery. Walking around, I was disappointed to see pizza, chicken nuggets, french fries and American type cold salads. One looked like the macaroni salad from HEB.

Maybe I set my expectations too high, maybe I gave it too much credit, but I probably would not go back here.

So to all you non-Asians in Austin, you may see a few Asians in this place but they're NOT eating there, trust me. This is geared and marketed towards the masses and is stocked for the families with kids. Be prepared to spend alot though for your family to eat here.

Favorite dish: surprising, the lo-mein noodles

Yuck dish: marshmallows in coconut sauce (I just threw up in my mouth)

Rating: 3 out of 10 Asians would eat here