Sometimes you have to give some restaurants a second chance, and since we had an open dinner without anything planned on the menu (due to a smelly batch of ground turkey from the store), we thought the two of us would visit a long time established restaurant close to our house that we had not visited in probably thirty years. The restaurant is the venerable Yen Ching on Brentwood Boulevard across from the Galleria. We arrived just as they opened at 5:00 pm after finding a parking spot in the crowded lot they share with the Sleep Number store and Mattress Direct (not to be confused with one of the four Mattress Firm locations along Brentwood between Clayton Road and Strassner.) Why we need so many places in the Brentwood/Richmond Heights area to buy mattresses, I have no idea.
We made it to their front door at 4:58 pm, but one employee spotted us there so he let us inside. We were seated at a table for four in their dining area which appears to not have been updated since our last visit in the 1980's. We perused their menu and noticed there were only two pork items but a lot of chicken, beef and seafood items. My wife selected the sweet and sour chicken since she had initially wanted sweet and sour pork. I was looking in both the beef and seafood sections, and when I noticed the shrimp dishes and the beef dished cost essentially the same amount, I decided on shrimp. After talking to our server I chose the Szechuan Shrimp since it was sauteed and not deep fried like the Red Pepper Shrimp.
As we awaited our entrees to be prepared we noticed our server and one other employee were just standing against the one wall, looking out like the guards at Buckingham Palace. Our server seemed to be just watching us as we sat and talked and it was rather uncomfortable since we were the only customers there at the time. We were surprised when the sweet and sour chicken arrived in only a few minutes and my Szechuan shrimp appeared just a few minutes later.
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| Sweet and Sour Chicken |
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| Szechuan Shrimp |
We noticed right away that the sauce on the chicken looked like a pure lollipop sauce without anything to add some "sour" to the "sweet". It was too thick and syrupy, and too sweet and candy like. The chicken itself was not too bad, and there were some nice vegetables added, but the sauce was just too gelatinous and overpowering. The shrimp dish was better with a nice selection of sliced celery and carrots and a slightly hot and flavorful sauce. However, the few shrimp were small, overcooked and a bit tough. Our server asked us how everything was and we had to smile and lie and say it was fine. Since she was watching our every move, we were afraid to display any signs of dissatisfaction.
As we dined, a number of other patrons joined us and by 5:45 or so the place was probably half full. That goes to show that a good location can often keep a place alive even if the food is not that great. Just like Hunan Wok further down Brentwood, customers keep these places alive because there is no better alternative in the area any more. When Hunan Star was on Brentwood Boulevard it was really good, as was Hunan Wok itself back in its heyday back in the mid 1980's. The best Chinese food I have experienced outside U. City recently may be the Lulu Asian Kitchen in Rock Hill (and that is really an outpost of a U. City establishment). The P. F. Chang's just down Brentwood at the Boulevard is not too bad either but rather overpriced.
So it may be another 30 years until we give Yen Ching another chance. I would prefer not to pay premium prices to have some restaurant employees stand around and watch me eat mediocre Chinese food. Maybe under new management it could become a worthy place for us to eat, but for now I guess we will have to drive a little farther to find some Chinese food worth eating.
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