Egg Roll Express

I hadn’t had The Chiner Food in quite the spell & this was right on the way to the Palace. It was about the 6 o’clock hour in the PM & I figured what the hell, ya know? Once I figured out if it was open or not I hit the ol’ drive through and ordered up a mess of sweet & sour chickens. The lady was all nice and all & even asked me how I was doing and if I liked the nice weather we’ve been having. It was pretty clear she really didn’t care what my opinion of the climate was but it’s not often a Chinese food place like that says much besides «you order & you pay» so I give her points on service.
The food, eh… The rice seemed to be lunch leftover. It was just all mushy & stale like. The chickens were big pieces but when you actually got through the fried up part it was all air for the most part. It seemed to have been lounging under the heat lamps a few hrs too. They were also a bit stingy with the S&S sauce.
I figured at 6 in the PM the food could if not should have been a bit fresher for the people heading home grabbing some dinner but hey, for the price I guess it’s probably about par for the course but what do I know? I’ll give them another shot around noon and/​or 7 – 8 in the PM to see if I just hit at a bad time. Either way it was all still much better than McD’s any day or time.

This place isn’t super inviting, and it might even be easy to mistake it for closed from the road. I figured I would give it a try.
Prices are comparable to most American Chinese restaurants in the area. The selection was decent and pretty normal for this type of place as well.
The lady at the drive through window seemed somewhat hurried, even though I was the only one in line and no one seemed to be inside. That being said, the time between when the words «sweet and sour chicken» left my mouth until I had a hot meal in a bag in my passenger seat couldn’t have been more than 2 minutes.
At first, this quickness scared me. Who could produce anything worthwhile in that short a period of time? However, I was not disappointed. The food seemed fairly fresh and like it had been mostly prepared after I ordered it, like magic. It was actually fairly delicious for the price and my expectations.

Great takeout Chinese food! For less than $ 10, you can get a feast here. Obviously it’s not fine Asian cuisine, but you’re getting what you pay for. This place is perfect if you’re feeling lazy on a Sunday afternoon and want to grab some food to-​go.

I have been going to Egg Roll Express for 14 years now (always the one on Peoria which is now apparently closed). I drove all the way here instead to get our dinner order and the lady ringing me out said all of the appropriate «thank yous» and stuff, but you could tell it was all a robotic action for her and she didn’t actually care if I was giving her business or not. I’m sure she was tired and busy from the day, so I’m not that mad about it, but it kind of stinks to have a generic appreciation of your business. I was going to give this place 4 stars until I got home and found something unknown and hard in my food (which I chalked up to being a hard piece of the egg roll I had just bitten into) and I had intended to let that go until I also then pulled a piece of someone else’s hair out of my mouth and completely lost my appetite. Great disappointment from a company that I have gone to for so long.

Great food!!! Yum yum yum! Just not that nice to eat in at… like eating inside a fast food restaurant. But yummy food! :)