Chinese food has been relatively hard to come by during the quarantine (why do I feel like I'm writing in a diary). But, Elkview Chinese Restaurant reopened recently, and it was swarmed with locals who needed their fix.



I called in an order and was told it would be about 15 minutes. So I waited for a bit and got there at about 30 minutes after the time it should've been ready (I just had a feeling it would take longer). And still had to wait another 20 or so minutes inside (this part was less fun - not a lot of social distancing or masks). The inside had a handful of tables and chairs, so I gather most of their business is takeout, anyway.



BUT, soon enough, I was home, digging in. The crab cheese rangoons have an interesting texture inside - almost like crumbly. It was sweeter. Not bad. The steamed dumplings were tasty, but needed to be a bit warmer. The honey chicken was good (not on their menu, but it is on a sign in the lobby). It doesn't have the top tier white meat chicken breast, but it was close. And the regular eggroll was decent. Overall, not bad.

Grade: B

No. 1 Kitchen Chinese Restaurant in Huntington along US 60 is one of the few traditionally Chinese restaurants open in the Kanawha Valley area during quarantine.



And as one that I've never tried before, I thought it was a great time to get out of the house for a minute, support a local business and do so while socially distant. Their system was one of the most interesting - I called in an order, when I got to the restaurant, I wrote down my phone number on a piece of paper and put it in a box outside the restaurant. Occasionally, they would fish the papers out of the box to see who was waiting and would then call a name out and bring the food.



So, my haul was honey chicken - sweet, white meat chicken. This is a classic for that sweet and tangy flavor. Then the garlic shrimp with veggies gives me a bit of heat plus some fresh veggies that I love.



Then steamed dumplings. I think these were my favorite part because there is something comforting about a dumpling - whatever form it may be in.



Plus shrimp rolls and crab rangoons. Both were OK




One thing I really did like about this restaurant is that the portions were small (and cheap), so getting a few different things was no problem - which is exactly how I love to order!



Grade: B

Golden Chopsticks is located on Wheeling Island and is pretty well-known in the region for having some of the area's best Chinese food.



When I had some extra time,  I made a small detour from home to check it out. 



The inside is pretty large, but dated. There's a faint smell of cigarette smoke - maybe from a time long ago when it was allowed inside? But there are ornate decorations and a few different dining spaces.



There was a menu board featuring the day's specials, and the menu features a large variety.



The menu has both house specialties and chef specialties, gourmet entrees, lunch specials, classics, specialty menu, and even more. The specialty menu caught my eye, with options like seafood udon noodles, wagyu steak, and jumbo shrimp with oriental eggplant.



But I ordered Thai Chili Shrimp - jumbo shrimp tossed with fresh zucchini, snow peas, mushrooms, red bell peppers, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts all together in chef's homemade sweet and spicy Thai Chili Sauce. This was really tasty and definitely had some heat behind it. But it played second fiddle to the flavor. It's the kind of heat that I don't notice until I am downing water because the flavor is so good, the heat is just in the background. Crisp coating, fresh veggies, and a delicious sauce made for a great dish.



I ordered crab cheese wontons and eggrolls. The wontons came in this awesome re-heatable bag and they were great.



Solid eggrolls too.

Grade: A

Chinese takeout tends to have fairly standard items: General Tsos, Lo Mein, and more. But, in St. Louis, there is an additional standard item - the St. Paul Sandwich.



The sandwich consists of an egg foo young patty (made with mung bean sprouts and minced white onions) served with dill pickle slices, white onion, mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato between two slices of white bread. The St. Paul sandwich also comes in different combinations and specials, such as chicken, pork, shrimp, beef, and other varieties. - Wikipedia



So, I ordered from Hon's Wok to get one of these bad boys delivered right to  my hotel room. First, I dug into the crab rangoons which had super crisp edges but a pocket full of creamy cheese. The eggrolls put all the others in my local area to shame. So good. Finally, this sandwich. It is pretty basic - but it's good! It's simple, but think of a good, seasoned egg and onion sandwich with mayo - plus mine had shrimp. I'm on board.

Grade: B

Everything old becomes new again!

What was once China Gourmet has rebranded and changed its name to PJ Loyal Buffet, which prompted me to make another visit. 

China Gourmet wasn't my favorite local Chinese buffet, so I was interested to see what PJ Loyal Buffet offered.

Walking inside, it looks much the same. There is sushi and a Mongolian stir fried station directly ahead.

There are some options to the left and to the right of that.

The left was more salad and fruit.

And then the bulk of the entrees are to the right and include standard options - general tso's chicken, coconut chicken, beef and broccoli,  etc.

Even though I went right during lunch rush, there were a good bit of items running low. Though, I did see them often replacing trays.

Some of my favorites included their seafood bake and any sort of sweet and sour chicken. Nothing too different, but decent.

Grade: B

There's a new Chinese buffet in town, and it's already making waves.

China King, located in South Charleston's Riverwalk Plaza, faces the main road, but there's parking around back and the entrance is off to the side.

The buffet features classics like General Tso's, Beef & Broccoli, and American favorites. There's also a sushi bar and hibachi, too.

One item that stood out to me was an egg tart of sorts - not something you usually see on the buffet!

What's your favorite thing here?

Dragon Palace is a Chinese restaurant in Weirton off of Penco Road. On Christmas, my parents and I decided to try a new tradition of no-mess, no-stress Chinese food.

After looking over a menu I found online, I called in a few different orders of items that I thought sounded good and headed up north to pick them up.

The space, while I didn't eat-in, was really cute. It was decorated for the holidays and looked welcoming. I'd gladly return and eat in.


So here's some of what I ordered: Sesame Noodles. These were a simple appetizer. A light lo mein with a bit of sweet.

And then there were a few orders of crab rangoons - no sauce - but nice and creamy.

Peking chicken was boneless white meat chicken with a sweet and spicy BBQ-esque sauce and cooked onions. Very tasty.


A crowd favorite was the walnut chicken, which had a creamy coconut-esque sauce and breaded white meat chicken, pineapples and walnuts.

Plus, I got an order of "Crystal Shrimp," which was breaded and tossed in a sweet brown sauce with carrots, pea pods and onions. Delish.

Finally, vegetable lo mein was stocked with corn, carrots, peas, broccoli and more. YUM.

Super China Buffet is right near the Huntington Mall, so I made a quick pitstop while in the area recently. And in one of my favorite moves: I got a to-go box from the buffet.

The buffet here is pretty large, including a hibachi station, some sushi, desserts, homestyle foods and the classic American-Chinese style dishes.

For me: Honey chicken, crab cheese rangoons, crabmeat, egg foo young, mushrooms with cheese. Mmm.

What's your go-to at the buffet?

Or, favorite buffet in the state?