Ginseng Cafe

I love the food here and the people. I see them so often that they’re like family. They already know what I want as soon as they see my face. Definitely worth the visit with good prices.

Good food, large portions, decent prices, and daily specials. My go-​to American Chinese restaurant in Downtown. Doesn’t taste too Americanized, and the Asian women working there are very friendly.

I have probably been here 10 times. Its solid American Chinese food. For lunch you get 2 mains and rice or noodles for under $ 7. Its nothing fancy but its constantly tasty and the staff is fast and friendly. They make sure to pile up the food so you get enough. Also, if a dish is out they always have it working in the back and can bring it out pretty quick. Lunch gets busy but like I said, they are fast. Some how this place is better than the place right next door on the corner. I guess I figured it was basically the same place but there is a taste difference.

Hands down the best chinese-​american food place.
People consider this gem a fast-​food joint but the food is prepared fresh and displayed for customers to choose from. Food is always fresh and lots of options to choose from. I love, love, love their stir fried eggplant side to accompany my general tso chicken with steam rice and an eggroll (there’s also so soup, but the portion is pretty big, which is good, but I usually skip the soup). You’ve got to try it. Looks/​taste better than what I’m writing up.
Lastly, The owner is an absolute dear and genuine woman I like and respect. She remembers her customers and shows that she has a passion to cook and serve delish chinese food to the area.

This is one of my regular places to eat. Friendly staff. The owner always takes care of me. Doesn’t hesitate to cook fresh food for me when they are running low. Love the chicken broccoli, spring rolls and egg drop soup. They have great fruit punch and lemonade although a little expensive.

You know, I really wanted to like this place. i really did. It’s really hard to beat the prices. As already mentioned, you get 2 entrees, rice, and an egg-​roll for 6 bucks. That’s close to nothing.
However, as much as I love cheap food, the food here just didn’t do it for me. I’ve only eaten here once, so maybe I should give it another try before giving such a harsh review, but I just wasn’t satisfied.
When I think Chinese food, I think fried food. So I got two fried entrees, sweet & sour chicken, and the «House» chicken, with fried rice and an eggroll (and before you ask, yes, my arteries do hate me). I should have known better when I saw that the sweet and sour chicken looked damn near radioactive, but I decided to go against my better judgment, which I do often with food anyway.
Maybe my taste buds were just out of whack that day, but the food was so bland. SO bland. I couldn’t taste anything. I wasn’t even aware that it was possible for something deep fried to be that bland. I was proven wrong. The food just wasn’t great, but the staff was very friendly. That and the price is the two stars.
Who knows, I might decide to give them another chance some day, when I feel like burning through 6 bucks. Until then, you probably have a better chance of seeing me at Ali Baba’s or Rosa’s. Sorry, Ginseng.

My friend’s aunt owns this restaurant and I think this place is pretty good. Being Chinese, I don’t like to go out & purchase Chinese food, but I think this place is worth it. It doesn’t really taste like American style Chinese food, which I like. For about $ 6, you get 2 sides, rice, egg roll, soup and a sweet tea (free if you are a GSU student). I think that’s a pretty good deal. I always have leftovers.
I always get their tofu and chicken & broccoli with steamed rice, egg roll, egg drop soup, and sweat tea. I eat there once or twice a week on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Of those times I’ve been, there’s always a line at lunch time. Evidence of how good the food here is. :)
Try it out! The staff here are really nice also.

Day 2 of conference in downtown. Another trip down Broad St. :)
Here’s what I had.
«General’s» Chicken– This entrée (carrying the euphemism for inauthentic chinese food in its name) had the typical sweet syrupy type of sauce over it, but the good thing was that there was an actual spicy kick to it– enough to make my head itchy. That’s good think btw. There were pieces of chicken that were actually crispy too. :) That’s better than you’ll find at most fast food Asian joints. (3.5)
«Hunan Chicken” — Basically, this is chicken breast slices stir fried with onions, zucchini, and onions, again with a good helping of kick to it. Tasty. (3.5)
Egg roll– pedestrian. ok. (3)
Hot and sour soup– It was hot temperature-​wise, but wasn’t sour or spicy… but on a cold day in which I did a lot of walking outside, it’s a welcome accompaniment to my entrees and fried rice. All this for $ 6 flat.
The ladies serving the food and handling the cash registers are really friendly. These are the small mom ‘n pop kind of places that I’d love to be able to support regularly– even though there’s nothing necessarily «blow your mind» special about the food.
3.5 overall.

$ 5.75 for rice or noodles, 2 entrees, spring roll, and soup (tax included, drink $ 1 extra). You just can’t beat that kind of deal for lunch! Ginseng Café is a popular lunch spot on Broad Street for both GA State students and downtown workers. The food is surprisingly not very oily for Americanized Chinese food, and doesn’t contain water chestnuts (ick!) or baby corn for fillers like many other places. Their entrée selections include tofu, chicken, beef, and other veggie selections. The staff is super nice (Koreans… though the lady at the register speaks Chinese too).
This one of my favorite places for eating out at work.

Right next to Thai Gourmet (and somewhat indistinguishable from Thai Gourmet, actually), this spot will satisfy your cheap Chinese cravings at lunchtime. $ 5.10 buys you rice or lo mein, two dishes, a vegetable spring roll and a choice of hot & sour or egg drop soup. A soda will bring your total to $ 6.75.
The place was not crowded at all at 12:30 on a Wednesday. The staff was very friendly and outgoing. After inquiring what was vegetarian, I selected the eggplant and green beans with steamed rice. Both soups have chicken broth, but the spring rolls are vegetarian, which is great. Nothing was too greasy, even the spring roll. The eggplant and the green beans were cooked well, and had decent, but not overwhelming flavor. I finished about ²⁄₃ of my meal and kept the rest for leftovers. The good chopsticks (rounded and pre-​separated, won’t give you splinters) are available on request.
As alluded to parenthetically above, the one thing that was sort of weird was that I felt like this was basically the exact same meal I had at Thai Gourmet awhile ago. So if I want eggplant and green beans and spring rolls for lunch, I have two options, and need only decide if I’m in the mood for pad thai or lo mein.
And on a related note, after giving a bunch of four star reviews to places within a 7 minute walk of my building, I’m sort of embarrassed that I initially claimed there wasn’t much around here. Ooops. I have edited my list description accordingly.