Moon’s Garden

Boy I was really hoping that this could be our future Chinese restaurant. It’s only ½ mile from my house. But I doubt it after the meal that we got tonight. It was my wife and I and our four kids. We started out with my wife having food on her plate (food that didn’t belong there), a fly in my son’s wonton soup, and scum on the table that you could etch your name into (I almost did). I’ve been in cleaner restaurants in the back roads in China. Okay, maybe it was about the same, but in the big cities the restaurants are cleaner.
Took about 8 min for us to get water after giving our order. The dinner sized dishes were about 2/​3rds the size of other restaurants but more expensive. The sweet and sour chicken was a cheap frozen version. Perhaps the worst I’ve had from a restaurant in a long time. I don’t mind it being frozen, just obviously not the cheap type… And it was still frozen. Mongolian beef was grizzly, which I liked but my wife doesn’t. Kung Pao chicken had chicken in it, but certainly no Kung Pao! (Spice or flavor).
During the time we were there on a Saturday night there was 4 other families that came to the restaurant, and about a dozen take out orders. It is obvious that their primary business is from people in maple valley looking for Chinese like food that they can pick up as a take out. and not a good Chinese sit down dinner.
If you are looking for Chinese food nearby that is quick, you may want to try Safeway across the lot. Their food has some taste to it even though it has been sitting out all day. And at least dishes are clean.

Awful.
My husband, Daughter and myself were the only people in there for dinner. at 5:00 PM. They seemed to be busy with takeout orders, however I am pretty sure the same Asian guy that took our order is the only one there to cook the food as well.
The menu is confusing. It says Chinese, but they serve Lumpia, not Egg Rolls.
Our Soda’s were warm, the cups and plates did not look clean. We had to ask twice for a straw for our two year old to drink her water.
When our food arrived, after a semi long wait considering we were the only people in there, it was just warm. Not hot and fresh. Everything was off. The Orange Chicken was like fried chicken fingers with hardly any meat in there. The BBQ Pork looked dry and not fresh. The Pork Fried rice had no flavor at all, it looked like it would be tasty, but nothing. Did not taste fresh.
We ended up leaving after only a few bites, with almost everything left on our plate. Huge waste of 30.00.
Anybody that thinks this place is good or remotely authentic has no experience with Chinese food or any Asian cuisine in general. Honestly, Panda Express is 10 times better than this place.

Extraordinary authentic food with a good atmosphere. The egg flower and hot and sour soups are a cut above… I think homemade all the way. Then we had Mongolian Chicken and Chicken Curry… made just the way I would make it. This is NOT the usual pasty SAD fare that one finds at most Chinese restaurants, but a high quality dining experience using fresh and expertly prepared foods. Place is mostly empty, however, so we want to highly recommend Moons Garden before it disappears.

Went in for lunch, after reading the reviews of small lunch portions, we decided to get individual dinners. We ended up with pork fried rice, bbq pork, egg flower soup, lumpia, pot stickers (appetizer), broccoli beef, Orange chicken, and sweet and sour chicken. Not sure where people are eating when giving poor reviews, it may not be the best Chinese food on the planet but it certainly is tasty. The broccoli beef was wonderful as was the Orange chicken, which was sweet and tangy. The sweet and sour chicken wasn’t the best, but the rice was done to perfection and the lumpia was tasty and crunchy. All in all I’d come here again, definitely worth it for a nice quiet lunch spot.

We got take out the other night and it was good. Soup was good, not too salty, a little bit too eggy for my taste. My favorite was the fried rice and sweet and sour pork. Hubby liked the beef and broccoli.
We’ll be back as it’s pretty close to home.

Got delivery, which they say on their website is free. Food arrived and we were informed there was a $ 7 delivery fee (1 $ per mile — when we called they said delivery was only free if within 3 miles). Got General Tsao’s just to try something simple — it was edible but bland. Same goes for hot & sour soup and green beans (these were not overcooked, but suspiciously salty — when we called on the phone to complain about the surprise delivery fee we also confirmed what was suspected — MSG! who uses that these days? These folks do). If the green beans had been overcooked I would have given a 1 star rating, but as it is, it is the only delivery option that isn’t pizza around. Maybe just spoiled by good food in Seattle, but I personally wont be dining here again.

I don’t often write horrible reviews but I have to get this out of my system right now while my food is still luke warm.
First of all the pricing that Unilocal has for this restaurant is wrong. It’s spendy, like $ 30 – 45 dollars for food type spendy.
When I received the food from the sharp dressed and cute — American delivery guy, I thought something was wrong right from the start when I noticed how small the bags were. I thought nothing of it and tipped the driver $ 3.00 bucks. (I would have tipped more, but my meal already costed me about 40 bucks) I ordered two lunch specials, 6 crab puffs, and two Thai Iced Teas.
I opened my lunches and to my surprise it looks like a little kids Happy Meal. There’s hardly any food here. I called the manager to complain and the manger said: «Dinner is more filling, so we don’t give much at lunch. Also we don’t start delivery till 4pm. I had to special call my driver to come in early because you ordered early.» Um, I ordered at 12 noon which is lunch. The website doesn’t say anything about 4pm only. If you want it for 4pm only, then lock out the order function.
So how does it taste?
Well the crab puffs are just down right awful. They don’t taste like crab or imitation crab at all. They taste like doughy bread. Don’t order those.
Next up: Pork Fried Rice.
How in the hell can you mess up with cooking rice? I took a bite and it was hard as a friggin brick. It wasn’t even properly cooked all the way. Hardly any moisture to the mix. I’m so upset. This is a disgrace to Asian foods.
Next: Kung Pao Chicken.
It tastes decent, but nothing spectacular. You could get the same thing from the Chinese Deli at Safeway for less and spend only 5 bucks with a smile on your face.
Overall: I will never be eating from here in person, or ordering from them again. Such a disgrace. If the owner is reading this — you should give me my money back from the false advertising your website shows Sir. Pictures showing full bountiful plates of well cooked food and you give me this little kids meal that’s not cooked properly and tastes like something an amateur cook was making in the back alley of New-​Delhi.
¹⁄₅ stars. Hell, if I could negative 5 stars I would. This was so gross. I nearly threw-​up.

Horrible experience. Ordered food, they completely screwed up the order, asked they deliver what was missing, they refused. I brought the food back and they refused to refund the money. Then pretended not to speak English. I called the police and had a civil case filed. Called my credit card company for fraud because I returned the food and they refused to refund me. AWFUL, AVOID, AVOID, AVOID

I have to say that this was your standard Americanized Chinese food. It was good, everything was cooked appropriately. We ordered the «D» for $ 15 per person and we have leftovers. Just glad to see a decent Chinese place in Maple Valley. I will come again.

If anyone is wanting some good Chinese food, I recommend the new Moon Garden in the Safeway parking lot. It used to be the Rice Garden restaurant but changed ownership to Moon Garden a few months back. Great food, reasonable lunch specials and exceptional hot and sour soup, give the new place a try :)

Yes this place is not very busy but I honestly don’t see the Maple Valley crowd as big Chinese food eaters.
That said this is probably the best Chinese place in the area including Chopsticks in Kent. The hot and sour soup is amazing! The individual meals we’ve had are all great. Portions and prices are comparable to other places so on taste alone they get my vote.

Dead on a Saturday for lunch, and very average pricing and meal quality. I wouldn’t come here for lunch again.

This place was great. My boyfriend and I are vegan, which means eating out can sometimes be challenging. We went in to check out the menu, and were disappointed to see only a few tofu/​veggie dishes. We asked the waiter a few questions about what was in certain dishes, and after explaining our dietary restrictions, he was SO accomodating. Once he understood what we could and couldn’t eat, he offered to make any dish off the menu with tofu instead of the original protein, and was super helpful in pointing out what did and didn’t have egg/​dairy in them as well. My parents (who are definitely NOT vegan) had chicken dishes and enjoyed them as well. Everyone loved the food. I had the lemon «chicken», with tofu instead, and it was amazing. A lot of places aren’t great at really crisping up tofu (especially for a dish that isn’t originally tofu!) but this was so good. We don’t live very close by, but if we’re in the area again we’d definitely go. So accommodating, friendly, and delicious.

Not good, probably the worst Chinese Food I have had to date. The sweet and sour chicken was not edible, a small thin piece of chicken pounded as thin as you could pound it breaded and fried with some sauce poured over it. Terrible. The portions were small and the only thing that was worth eating was the hot and sour soup. We tasted it all and threw it away. all $ 26.00 worth, we did eat the soup. They also use MSG which is a turn off since we have known for 50 years that it is not good for you. When this place had their grand opening we visited and it wasn’t bad… I am not sure what changed but we will not be going back and I am sure they will not be in business for long.

I really like this place, had a dinner combo with a variety of items. Chicken was great, Mongolian beef was awesome, Fried Rice wasn’t too overpowering and a nice side dish. I go here a couple times a month, friendly staff and good prices. Can’t complain!

I was excited when Moon’s took over for Rice Garden. Not to dis Rice Garden though, when the original family ran that place, it was superior. I used to watch them hand roll won-​tons and prep veggies at a table in the corner. They boiled their own broth for the won-​ton soup and it was very authentic (no purchased mixes). They retired and new folks came in. They kept the menu did not keep the quality to the level it was… I stuck it out with them, but the rest of my family defected until they petered out.
I was one of the first customers at Moon’s. They are young and energetic, but they are professional engineers, not restaurateurs. I was stunned that they were using soup mixes. We have bought the handmade won-​ton soup from Rice Garden for 10 years for medicinal purposes. Good soup heals. When I learned that they needed to mix up some soup, I learned the truth. No longer my kinda place.
Since then, we have been seriously shopping around for good chinese, where the food is still hand-​crafted. Recently, I started cruising Unilocal.Man, what a great resource! My husband and I tried the Fortune Seafood restaurant in Kent across from McLendon Hardware on Benson. That’s the place to go if you miss hand-​crafted Chinese. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but you won’t be disappointed. Check their Unilocal,my comments are out there. They don’t seem to do as well on delivery (I don’t care about that), but they put effort and craftsmanship into the food we ordered there that day. To the boys who tried to do Moon’s, I would ask Fortune if they would mentor them (they’re far enough away they might just do it).

I have to say that it appears that I liked this place more than previous reviewers. #1, hair in food is gross and I would have to say if I had that experience, I would have left a poor review. At the same time, it happens. Even when people take care, it’s easy enough for a stray hair to find its way to a plate.
This was an upgrade to Rice Garden. The food was better and the service was just as friendly. I will also agree with the reviewer that said the portions were small. I had a lunch combo with Almond Chicken, chow mein, rice and soup. Sounds like a lot of food, but the Almost chicken breast was half as thick as most places and most places I know also service two breast, not one. The chow mein was good and the soup was also good.
In the end, my only complain was the size of portion. The server preached of a healthy portion and even though the plate was huge, it was only half covered with food. I plan to return to sample a couple more dishes and an appetizer, but at present Moons garden is a strong B. with the potential of being the best Chinese in south county should they increase the portion.
***Update***
Have now sample multiple items and I’m still impressed with the flavor however again the price is still far too much for the portion. Check them out, you will see that they are far below the curve when it comes to plate and portion size.

This is, by far, the best Chinese restaurant I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy. That includes China town. The food is so well balanced that no one in my party (even my kids) reached for the soy sauce. I have found our families new favorite Chinese. They even deliver.

I couldn’t disagree with Josh’s review more. To be fair, I didn’t have any of the items he ordered, but our selections were delicious.
Started with the Wonton Soup ($ 6.50/bowl), which in all honesty, wasn’t a home run. It had really nice flavor, but the portion size was a little small. Our next selection, Cashew Chicken ($ 9.50), got the meal on track. Chicken had good flavor, mixed with baby corn, celery and bell peppers.
Ordered Honey Walnut Prawns next ($ 12.25.) Really light sauce and the prawns were fried perfectly. Had a very balanced flavor and wasn’t overpowering. Sometimes when you order HWP, they come out saturated in mayonnaise. That isn’t the case here at all, the honey sauce is blended very well and doesn’t have that gritty, wallpaper paste texture that you find on occasion. A great choice between courses.
The Green Bean Beef ($ 9.25) was such a solid choice. The beef was soooo tender, it just melts in your mouth (yes, I know that’s a cliché, but it illustrates my point so well.) The flavor is on point too, a little bit of garlic, but not enough to overpower the delicate subtleties of the meat itself. Meat is served with green beans, sweet onion and carrot, lightly cooked so they can retain their crispy texture. It’s a harmonious balance between the crispy vegetables and succulent meat.
The final item we tried was Sesame Chicken ($ 9.25.) It might have been the best Chinese food item I’ve ever sampled, anywhere. It’s one of those things that I have a really hard time describing, you just have to try it. The tempura batter made it so light, it got to the point that I forget it was fried in the first place. The sauce was delicious and the way they cut the chicken, to make sure everything is battered and sauced correctly, is the perfect combo.
It seems like Josh and I had two COMPLETELY different experiences here. Maybe the next time I come back, I’ll sample a few of the items he had, and update my review accordingly. I invite you to go to Moon’s Garden for yourself and write your own review. I have no doubt you and I will share a similar experience.

This place is under new ownership with new recipes. Not good food at all. Bad general Tao. Bad egg flour soup. Very poor quality chicken. So all in all worse food for the same price. Get Safeway Chinese food or china light down the road. Don’t go here