China Jade I still HEART you into pieces for your SPICY-GREASY-GOODNESS offerings...
Since LKZ was in town from TX and she has not been here for lunch, L and I suggested to LKZ about China Jade after the other establishment I want to go was not open on a MONDAY. Â November 5th 2012. Â
One good thing about China Jade during AFTER PEAK LUNCH hour, we had the establishment all for ourselves too. Â Time : 13:50hrs.
We ordered these following items :
* Â Eggplant with Potatoes and Green Bell Peppers
* Â Ziran Lamb
* Â Spicy Boil Fish Slices
The service is as always prompt and efficient. Â The staff always filled the rice bowl when it comes empty and that include our beverages of Tea. Â We had a good lunch and LKZ liked all the food that we had that afternoon.
@8/2013
When you get asked if you want the "traditional menu" you know the place is going to be an adventure.
I go here with friends and we always split dishes so we can get lots of different things. The level of spice honestly depends on who's cooking, but the food is always authentic. Â I am pretty sure I ate my weight in rice one trip since my tongue was nearly on fire.
If you want good Chinese food, this is your place.
Authentic Chinese food. Â They have both an English menu and a Chinese menu if you want to go old school authentic! Â I liked both and have eaten there to tasty Chinese food. Â The waiter was family to the restaurant and very helpful and pleasant. Â It's in a strip mall. Â Don't let that fool you. Â This is good food in my opinion!
Review Source:Cons:
SERVICE: they were not very responsive. I had to get up wait for them to notice me to pay my bill. It took three passes for them to realize me.
FOOD: Rice was mushy, shrimp looked like microwave food, and the "crispy duck" was not crispy and had an unappetizing grey to it.
The small mom-and-pop look, and all the Chinese people eating in there were very deceptive towards the quality of the food. I miss my San Gabriel Valley Chinese Food.
I think I found my new favorite Chinese place! China Jade isn't your everyday run-of-the-mill Chinese restaurant - yes, they have your everyday "American" Chinese food such as lo mein and sweet and sour pork, but they also carry authentic dishes such as peking duck and sesame balls on a separate menu in chinese (both of which are AH-MAZING).
Lately, I have found myself venturing back into the "American" delicacies such as beef with broccoli and lemon chicken - my recent cravings. They do have a pretty gnarly lunch and combo special (which runs all day) and includes a soup, an egg roll, a deep fried shrimp, and a crab cheese wanton for a pretty reasonable price. They used to deliver, however, the last time I called, an employee told me they weren't; so I don't know if this is due to staffing that day or if they don't deliver anymore.
Now, China Jade isn't the most fancily decorated restaurants. Tucked away in a shopping mall off of Iliff and Peoria, it is what you might think of when you think of a strip mall restaurant. Yet, you wouldn't expect this to be the location for some worldly food, and here it is. Everything from the food to the workers to the customers all tell a great story of some genuinely tasty food.
Anyways, China Jade is a truly great find for Chinese food. Whether I am eating in or getting it to go, China Jade is my go-to place for some tasty Chinese food. If you happen to be on that side of town or wanting to go on a cross-town adventure, I recommend it hands down!
Ambiance- 2 a dive. didn't even try.
Cleanliness- 2 Â The men's and women's restroom was also used as a storage room. Â The hallway leading back was not very clean, which doesn't inspire confidence in the overall cleanliness of the restaurant. Men's room has grafitti on the walls.
Service- 3 busy doing take out orders which seems to be their focus.
Food- 3 The crispy duck was tasty but not crispy enough. Â The garlic vegetables were nicely flavored. Â Sweet and sour soup was good. Â The egg rolls were dripping in grease. Â Good food overall.
Value- 4 cheap for what we got.
First of all, I'm leaving 2 stars because the waitress was nice and friendly. If it wasn't for that, it would have been 1 star for the Chinese menu and 3.5 stars for the American menu (to be explained shortly). I've visited the restaurant in two occasion to try the two menu.
Second, I am a very picky individual and traveled to several countries in Asia and have a fairly decent taste buds. Particularly, Ive mostly visited Korea and Japan. Ate at their Chinese restaurants so, the seasoning may be a bit different for sure, so consider my review with that in mind.
So I am going to give you who should go here and discuss a bit of their menu and also recommend to the restaurant how they can improve the quality.
1. They have what's called an American menu and the Chinese menu. The American menus are flavored, seasoned and prepared for American customers who tend to go for a really oily, "vivid" (for the lack of better term) taste. If you are an American and you are okay with Panda express for example, it's definitely a rank up and the food was fine for the general population in this country.
2. Now here goes the nasty part of the review, the Chinese menu. My experience with good authentic Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Italian, French, Lebanese, etc etc restaurant is that,
a. All ingredients are fresh.
b. You don't serve a dish to feed a cow.
c. You don't sacrifice quality over QUANTITY.
My point is, if you are trying to serve the general American population, you can compromise the quality and focus on feeding people so that they are full and ready to go without making them feel like they are missing something. I think that should be the purpose of the American menu. Â If you are trying to feed people from other cultures with a more refined taste buds and don't eat like a dinosaur Like us Americans but want to enjoy the food, the ingredient and the culture, you could simply forget about the quantity and really focus on the quality.
3. We had the Hoikoro (or twice cooked pork) and the chinjaorosu (don't know the English translation), but both of them came out within 3 minutes of each other and within 10 minutes after ordering. Well, you will think "damn, WTF are you complaining of?". Well, if you have any experience with cooking, it takes more than that to prepare a dish although both of the dish are fairly simple to prepare since I know how to make them. You will usually prepare the sauce, seasoning, and ingredients the night before or in the morning if you expect the day to be busy. Common sense. So if they were good, I know thats what they did and won't complain for the dish to come out very quickly.
4. The fact is, they were disguising. It actually tasted like it was microwaved or was defrosted. It will be very sad if this is actually how these foods tastes like in Sichuan. The meets were like rubber with old oil like smell. I wonder if the chef simply lost it by living in the states for too long? It was a clear Yelp failure.
5. This is an advise to the restaurant. Keep the American menu as it is. It serves the need and market inn the states for the general American population. Good job here, you will not go out of business. However, for the Chinese menu as you call it, STOP the quantity. People that wants to enjoy the food doesn't want to over feed themselves with cheap stuff.
An edit. Of course, what should I expect for from a restaurant that's very affordable. I shouldn't I guess. Â All dishes are below $15 and you WILL be full for sure. No argument here. I guess it was the initial Yelp reviews were very very high that I had such a high expectation. I am still leaving 2 starts to balance this imbalance in the actual quality with the yelp quality control. Final edit, done. Have fun.
Did a geographic search near my new address.. this came up and the featured review was by the guy who knows Aurora and knows ethnic (Mark T.) Â No doubts, I called and ordered just by using his English list on Yelp and asking some questions: Â pork buns (no frozen junk here), crispy duck (whole!), the spicy Chinese long beans (green beans), Â shrimp with lobster sauce, the curry chicken, and the sesame balls. Â Everything was great, it smelled like Chinatown in NYC, and next time we're going to eat in with a crowd. Â I had to drive to get it and wait but they put it in a easy to carry cardboard box and it was nice and hot upon arrival. Â
Definitely great. Also the beef and tendons and the hot pot style fish looked fabulous, that's on my list for next time.
Got takeout from here on Easter Sunday to keep up with a family tradition. I couldn't find what looked like an up-to-date menu online and so we stopped in at this location and easily picked one up.
We placed and order for mongolian beef, broccoli with garlic, lo mein with chicken, and spring rolls. As we were picking the order up, the wait time was quoted as 15 minutes. We showed up and they appeared to be running a bit behind. After waiting an extra 10 minutes, we had our meal, along with an extra pint of hot and sour soup. A lovely touch!
When we got home, we discovered that we had been given another beef and vegetable dish instead of the broccoli. Not ideal as it was super spicy like the mongolian beef, but it was still tasty. All ingredients were very fresh and properly cooked. The lo mein was delicious and had a nice garlicky taste to it. There is a large presence of oil in the dishes and I will request for less used next time (if possible).
Would definitely recommend this restaurant. Our total was $38 for the 4 dishes and they fed the two of us for 5 meals.
This is our absolute favorite Chinese place. Â While most of the more "normal" dishes are on the Americanized menu, there are some tasty gems on the Mandarin menu that shouldn't be missed! Â This is not a fancy Panda Express like most Chinese places around here, so if that's what you want, head over to East Cafe on Mississippi. Â If you want real Chinese (or as close as it's gonna get in Denver, CO), come here!
The Ma Po tofu is hands down the best we've ever had and we always get one order of that. Â We've also had the basil eggplant (yum!), pan fried green beans (excellent!), spicy rice noodles (very good!), and the vegetarian tofu. Â The vegetarian tofu was decent and probably would have been much better if we'd eaten it at the restaurant instead of as take out as by the time we got it home to eat, it was getting a little soggy. Â
There are so many things here that aren't available at most restaurants that it will take us quite some time to work our way through the menu! Â I know I'm forgetting a couple of things that we've tried. Â The only thing that wasn't incredible was the pepper steak that my mother in law got when she was here, she said it was good, but my husband said it was just OK. Â I didn't try it since I don't nom on cow if I can help it.
A word of caution to those who are vegetarian, a lot of the vegetarian sounding dishes have ground pork in them, and while it can be avoided for the most part, it is in there so it's a good idea to ask.
This is the best Szechuan place we've found in the Denver area; we eat here often, and the food is consistently delicious. Â Most of the people eating here are Chinese; that's when you know it's really authentic. Â
My favorites:
* Spicy Fish with Tofu (fried fish slices and soft tofu in a spicy oily black bean garlic sauce)
* On Choy with Garlic (veggies similar to spinach, but slightly crunchier, sauteed in garlic and oil)
Also recommended:
* Twice Cooked Pork (sliced pork stir fried with jalapenos and bell peppers)
* Spicy Eggplant (oily, but great flavor)
Prices: reasonable, considering every entree is good enough for two people (though we often order multiple items and take the rest home for another couple meals).
Seating: you may have to wait for it, since it gets crowded for dinner and the place is relatively small.
Service: usually very good. Â
Parking: plentiful in the strip mall parking lot.
Delicious, authentic Chinese Food
You will feel like a grease ball after eating here but it is tasty. There were A LOT of items on the menu so it took us a while to decide what we wanted and we will definitely be back to try some of their other dishes.
We got the Mapo Tofu, Spicy Boiled Beef, and Twice Cooked Pork
Ate there with my boyfriend Superbowl Sunday and it was pretty good. The service was abrupt (for lack of a better word) but it's kind of what I expected in a place like that. We ordered Mongolian Beef off the "American" menu (rumor has it there's a more authentic Chinese menu) and it was very, very tasty. My boyfriend said the sauce was different from he's used to having on Mongolian Beef, more Szechwan style, but it was fantastic. It was spicy enough to leave a nice tingling on your taste buds but not so overpowering that we were reaching for water after every bite.
Overall I would definitely visit again!
Pretty solid little hole in the wall. I don't think I'll ever eat a meal there, but I hit them up for takeout all the time. It's a little pricey for the portion you get compared to my other take out places, (no 2 meals out of one stop here) but there's no argument that the quality is way higher than those places that give you 2 meals in one sitting. Everyone I've spoken with there has had a pretty thick Asian accent, the perfect sign that what you're about to eat is gonna be pretty authentic...
Review Source:I went there twice. The first time is for dinner. I ordered their famous Sichuan Boiled Beef. It was good, but not the best I have tried in the area. Â I liked the open kitchen setup so that we can tell if the kitchen is clean.
The second time I went there for a lunch special. I was completely disappointed. I ordered Pork with Garlic Sauce, a very common disk on the Chinese menu. This is a  traditional Sichuan disk, I'd expected it would be more authentic from this restaurant. It came out completely unrecognizable.  The port they used was some left-over Cantonese BBQ port, accompanied with some broccoli, carrot slices, etc, in brown sauce.  Is it because their lunch special is for people who don't know anything about Chinese food?  Probably.  I lost my appetite on this restaurant quickly with this disappointment.
You know you are in the right place when everyone in the restaurant is speaking Chinese.
The food was awesome! They have a traditional Chinese menu with items for the adventurous types and an adapted American style menu for those who were expecting Pei Wei.
My bf ordered off the first menu. A pork dish with peppers and jalapenos and it was fantastic. I know I quickly abandoned my mongolian beef for his tasty spicy plate.
The restaurant was packed on a Thursday but have no fear if you are in a hurry they deliver.
My Chinese friend from all the way back to elementary school finally visited me at my new place today. "WHOA! You live like RIGHT next to my family's favorite Chinese restaurant!" ....what?!?! And I did not know this?!
So immediately after that, when the opportunity rose for food, I suggested China Jade.
She did not lie. Â Everything tasted SO good, even the usually-poor-tasting-grease-dripping eggrolls, rangoons and soup. Â I love me some good ol' Chinese food and it's actually a bad thing that I live so near. This won't be doing my love handles any good.
I was visiting Denver from Dallas so naturally, I used yelp to find everything.
Had the beef chow ho fun and it sure was fun! Very tasty and they gave me a ton of food.
I also came in wearing golf attire and one of the employees started chatting me up about where I played. We had a real good conversation about golf/denver/life in general and before i knew it my food was out!
Friendly service/fast service/great food. 5 stars!
i. die.
this place is amazing. i lived in shanghai for a while... and ever since, i have been hunting for something even close to the food i had while i was there.
this is it! but i have an admonishment for those who go:
DO NOT ORDER OFF OF THE WESTERNER'S MENU.
it's delicious, yes. it's normal americanized "chinese" food, yes. but the real reason you should go here is for the stuff that resides on the OTHER menu. i found it slightly funny when a big ol' suburban family came in when i was there last and glanced in horror at the authentic menu.
i had the crispy duck and it was BOMB. my boyfriend got the sweet-and-sour chicken, as they were out of his selection from the authentic menu. the aforementioned suburban family also glanced in horror at me sucking the flesh off of the bones with my fingers, as any self-respecting chinese food aficionado would do.
one of the best parts of the afternoon was a middle-aged dude who spoke fluent mandarin and ordered off-menu.
love this place. going back as often as i can.
Meh!
Where did these great ratings come from???? The people are very nice and I guess if you're chinese and eat off of their separate menu it may be better. I am disappointed in Yelp this time. We are from out of town and rely on Yelp always. My family of 5 with very cultured palates found this to be almost unedible. ps We have traveled to China, Korea and Japan and are very familiar with their cuisine. Â 2 stars because the people were friendly.
The food was FANTASTIC! Â China Jade even has two menus, one with Authentic Chinese food, and one with westernized Chinese food.
The restaurant is localed in a strip mall and took us some searching to find it. The decor is simple cafeteria style and seemed clean.
The staff was really friendly, and there were many Chinese people eating at China Jade (always a good sign).
We ordered off the non-westernized menu a green sautéd veggie that I saw another Chinese couple eating that looked delicious, it was some kind of spinach...I could eat this every day!  And a chicken dish with noodles (I can't recall the name, but it was close to Lo-Mein), also delicious!!!
YUM, YUM, YUM
Pro: I go to mainland China every year and this is the only authentic Szechuan cuisine I can find in CO. If you live in west Denver, go to "Star Kitchen" for dim sum (Chinese Brunch). Â Â
Con: China Jade does not have a website and the atmosphere is average. This is not American Chinese food; if you come here expecting sweet orange chicken, Panda Express is probably the better choice. Also Szechuan is known for spices so some dishes will be spicy!
They have a English lunch menu but go for the Chinese menu in the restaurant (It also has English translation on it) or look for the Chinese menu picture on this page. Here are my recommendations:
H8 Spicy boiled beef (Their signature dish)
H18/19 Ziran (Cumin) flavored beef or lamb
H30 Spicy rice cellophane noodles with minced pork
H32 Twice cooked pork
H35 Eggplant in hot garlic sauce with minced fish
H44 Beef Chow ho fun (flat rice noodles)
M24 Singapore Chow mei fun (thin rice noodles with different meats)
H13 Ma-po Tofu (Traditional Chinese dish if you like Tofu)
Price is bit pricey but portion is good. There are less than 10 tables and the service could be better.
My first in Denver...Yum Yum Tree
My last...this place.
Lunch is killer 6 to 8 tickets. A plate of flavors, several items the names of which I do not know. Prefect range
Dinner is gluttony 10 to 15 tickets. A platter of flavors, mainly just the specific choice. Share or carry
The kids love it. The girl is learning chinese but to shy to try.
Serious culinary crowd completely enjoying themselves as plates continuous flow to some in a small (8?) table space.
Things are looking up in Denver.
Wow. Â I love Ethnic Aurora. Â Full of Chinese people! Â This is my first experience with authentic, non-HK, Chinese food. Â A very good experience. Â The menu is intimidating with so many choices and so little description and so little personal experiences with this food. Â The server we had was very friendly and helped pick out a couple dishes that were popular.
Good value too as the dishes were big. Â The flavors were good. Â Would like to go again. Â Just difficult to choose between all the ethnic places nearby when you have to drive an hour: Masalaa, Thai Flavor, etc.
Note there is an Americanized Chinese menu too, but I cannot comment on the quality of those items.
I've ordered from them a few times and some of the choices are very good, but overall nothing really stands out. Â
The beef skewers are tasty and tender.
The fantail shrimp is too heavily breaded.
The crab and cream cheese wontons are also heavy and more of a fried ravioli than a rangoon
The quality of the chicken is often sub-par, stringy and dry.
The hot and sour soup is well balanced and very good.
I like that they are open on Sunday.  I like that you can order online through <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FDelivery.com&s=bb92e95e0800aa71b476a53653ae5b293cc8cbd35ff0f32e359bb2225369522e" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://Delivery.com</a>.  The delivery is usually fast and  accurate.  It took longer when ordered online.
Stumbling across China Jade's menu when I first moved into my apartment was like finding a gold mine. This is by far my favorite Chinese restaurant.
I absolutely love Crabmeat Cheese Wontons. Love, love, love them. China Jade has the best Crabmeat Cheese Wontons I have ever had. They are like little pillows of heaven. There is no hunting for the filling in these bad boys. Some places skimp on the filling leaving me wanting more. China Jade fills them full of delicious goodness. I always feel like I'm getting my moneys worth when I order these. Which is, uh, every time I order. In fact, I just placed an order this evening and it takes every ounce of my will power not to eat every single one of them in one sitting. I highly recommend them.
Their Teriyaki Chicken is delicious. By far one of my favorites to order. I also love their Sesame Chicken, my only desire is I wish it was a bit sweeter. It is still delicious none the less.
Okay, I'm going to make this short and sweet. Please eat here. Please.
My wife found this place on Yelp and even though she doesn't have the adventuresome taste buds that I do, this restaurant does have Americanized versions of Chinese food as well. So not only is she happy, but I'm happy as well.
Do yourself a favor and order the twice-cooked pork and the spicy boiled fish slices. Take in the smells and enjoy the spicy Sichuan goodness!
Tip: do be careful when you take some of the food home b/c all of the chili oil that they cook the food in will leak out of the styrofoam containers.
I definitely have to update my review from 2009. After almost two years of living in Aurora I finally went into China Jade to see all these Schezuan dishes with my own eyes (my previous expereince was with delivery)
I was not disapointed. I ordered the boiling fish slices dish which seemed to be yelp recommended. It was definatley a ligit dish, soft fish filets swimming in chilling oil with plenty of garlic and pepper. The flavor of the dish was excellent. My only qualm was the quality of the fish, which was a little below par, and fishy. For about $13 the dish was HUGE, and there are still plenty of left overs in my fridge.
I also ordered the beef tendons to snack on. Such a simple and popular dish, yet so hard to find in Denver! Again, a very generous portion, and if I didn't have left overs I would probably have ordered another one to go for home snacking.
Great Chinese food, yes. Best in Colorado.. maybe. Its more cafe-styled for casual meals with friends. This is definatley my go-to place now for chinese cravings under $20.
I visited China Jade before my flight departed from DEN and boy was I glad I did. This restaurant serves Szechuan style Chinese food, which is on the spicier end of the spectrum in comparison to Cantonese style counterpart. Â First of all, I was surprised to find a restaurant that is dedicated to serve good Szechuan dishes that I have missed dearly from those Chicago days.
China Jade is smaller than most Chinese restaurants I have been to in Denver but size does not matter because their food was DELICIOUS. Â Like most Chinese restaurants, they also have the menu above the counter with pictures, which are all the Americanized items. Â The real deal can be found in their laminated menu. Â You might get dizzy from looking at the menu because it is no different than starring at a huge list of gibberish. Â The menu has literally two categories, appetizers and house special.
We ended up deciding on their famous Spicy boiled fish slices and House Chili Pepper Pork. Â The waiter had told us that Spicy boil fish slices is what everybody comes for. Â I thought he had perhaps overstated at least a little bit but he sure didn't. Â From the moment I got to the restaurant to the moment I walked out the door, every single table did order their famous dish. These fish slices were so tender; they melt in your mouth. Â However, I could see that many people might find this dish a bit too greasy since the fish is served in excessive amount of chili oil, shown in one of the pictures. Â The second dish, House Chili Pepper Pork, was also very tasty. Â Absolutely no complaint -- I was happy and full.
Overall, China Jade serves tasty authentic Chinese food with friendly service. Â Not to mention that the portion is HUGE. Â There is plenty to take home and spread the love to your love ones at home. Â I am definitely a fan and counting the days to come back.
Hands down the BEST Chinese food in all of Colorado!!!!!! Â The old adage is soooo true. Â Literally every time I have been here I walk in and almost every seat is filled with an Asian face that will stop momentarily and glance at the largish white guy filling the door way, smile politely and go back to eating.
The variety, authenticity and spice level are amazing. Â While this is nestled in a strip mall in an un-remarkable space the food is anything but!
My Wife is Half-Chinese and she almost cried when she tried their Mapu Tofu as this was a favorite childhood dish and China Jade has been the 1st place in 15 years to get it right for her.
I've tried almost everything on the menu (including the stomach and intestine dishes) minus their  seafood offerings and they are all delicious.
I recommend the Ziran Beef and the  Garlic Green Beans.  All of the food is amazing regardless of which menu if comes off of, but the "Asian" menu does have a larger selection of dishes to choose from.
The staff is  all Asian (and related?) and fantastically attentive and FAST.
Even when they are packed (which is often) the food comes out surprisingly fast.
This is my new goto place for Chinese in Colorado. Â I've been moaning for years how there are so few decent Chinese restaurants in Denver that someone who grew up eating it could set foot in. Â Finally, a place I can look forward to taking my friends to in order to show them "See, See! Â This is what I've been talking about!"
The restaurant itself is your typical no-frills 'Chinese kitchen with seating area' joint in a strip mall in the middle of suburban Aurora.  There is virtually no decor except for the standard framed newspaper plaudits and generic Chinese Restaurant Tablechair, the kind made from one strip of repeatedly bent metal and 2 seat cushions.  Eating is obviously  the main concern here.  As always, ask for the Chinese menu, which actually has English on it.
Supposedly the manager is from Tianjin, and the cook is from Sichuan, which is why this place has that odd mix of Sichuan ma-la spicy dishes and Tianjin style Zhajiangmian. Â The last time I had any decent Sichuan style food I was in Sichuan. Â This is pretty close, though my burned out spice-blasted taste buds could have used more flower pepper, even after asking for the 'spiciest.' Â For the uninitiated a warning, ma-la is a combination of peppery and numbing spices that will leave you red and sweating, and regretting it the next day on the toilet. Â And you will want more of it. Â
I would recommend the ma-puo tofu, a staple of Sichuan restaurants but my favorite was definitely the Sichuan style boiled beef (beef in a soup of very thick red ma-la oil). Â The boiled fish was ok as well. Â We also ordered kongxincai (the hollow heart spinish like dish, there's a pic of it on this yelp), but it was quite stringy and not tender.
I don't know too much about Tianjin food but the Lo Mien (dalvmian) was an ok cold noodle dish. Â I would advise never bringing a vegetarian here though, unless they tend to eat sparingly.
China Jade in Aurora has once again made me a believer in authentic Chinese food in the metro area.
I have patronized them many, many, MANY times now, and recommend everything I've tried. The owners (from the eastern municipality of Tianjin) give their all to the dishes on both their "regular" (Americanized) and "special" (Traditional Chinese) menus.
Don't these sound yummy?
Pot Stewed Beef & Beef Tendon
Wontons in Red Spicy Oil
Shanghai Style Smoked Fish
Tofu with Preserved Egg
Tianjin Style Pork Buns
Tianjin Style Lo Mein
Salt & Pepper Pork Slice
Braised Pig Foot
Preserved Bean Fish [mmmmmmmmmm]
Fermented Glutinous Fish Slices
Steamed Pork with Preserved Veg.
Pot Stewed Pork Shoulder
Ma-po Tofu
Taiwan Style Pork Tofu
Home Style Pork Tofu
Ziran [cumin] Flavored Chicken
On Choy [morning glory greens] in Shrimp Sauce
Scallion Lamb Stomach
Home Style Pork Stomach
Pickled Cabbage with Pork Intestines
Spicy Rice Noodle [Ants Climbing a Tree]
Home Style Pork Kidney
Twice Cooked Pork
MooShu Pork Tianjin Style [no pancakes!]
Basil Eggplant
Salty Fish Fried Rice [hot stuff!]
Pickled Cabbage Tofu Pork
Pan Fried Green Beans
Sea Cucumber with Mushrooms
Cured Pork with Leek
Sour Taste Cabbage
Vegetable Delight
...plus two items from the in-Chinese-only whiteboards at the front of the restaurant (a hot 'n' spicy frog leg dish and an offering of succulent pork wrapped in a soft omelet). As well as the Crabmeat Cheese Wontons, Fantail Shrimp, Sesame Balls and so on.
See? Now I TOLD you I was a fan. If I try to explain all of these we'll be here forever, so if you want more details just let me know.
Have fun!
RARE FIND
China Jade specializes in Sichuan and Tianjin style cooking.
It is most likely the only restaurant in all of Denver specializing in these cuisines. Nearly all of the Chinese restaurants in Denver are Cantonese, Chinese-American, and a handful of Taiwanese places. In fact, China Jade is the only restaurant we have found that is not Cantonese, Chinese-American or Taiwanese. So this is a really special find.
This was the first time we tasted "ma la" here in Denver. Happy mouths had we.
If you do not know what "ma la" is: Mapo doufu = <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMapo_doufu&s=be093020b79e46fa35a73bb53b52dfd5b58b1f82177b51b82a2a4776097bc8aa" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/…</a>
Ma la = <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMala_sauce&s=c403a6bb3ce009de500bd68d5deb2fd76c4bfe9cb403edbe85f9ce7a1cc1b0ae" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/…</a>
Make sure you get the laminated /plastic covered menu! The sheet of paper folded up menu is the fake American Chinese menu. The two menus are very very different.
Vegetarians: you could ask them to make the signature Sichuan dish -- ma-po tofu -- without meat. Most Sichuan places in NYC, for example, would have a meatless version of mapo tofu listed on the menu, but China Jade does not. Â Just ask for "Ma po do fu with no meat."
Minus one star because:
1. They do not have pao cai. No pao cai at a Sichuan restaurant is like no kim chi at a Korean restaurant.
2. One dish came out with one main ingredient different from what was indicated in the menu. The ingredient listed in the menu was the vegetable that the dish is usually made with, but they substituted leeks instead. Â
3. Not every dish on the menu is a winner. We have had several disappointing dishes.
I was a bit skeptical when I first found the place because of it's location and there was only one table of customers there when we arrived. Â I am pretty picky when it comes to Chinese food since I am from Hong Kong and I love to eat. Â
Upon arrival, we were immediately greeted by a very friendly staff. Â He was very patient while we took our time to look at the menu, and took the time to explain what the dish is. Â When we requested special ordering/substitution, he accommodated us with enthusiasm.
When the food arrived, it was definitely better than expected. Â The food didn't take long to get here at all and the portion was pretty generous. Â Although we didn't confirm, the pot stickers seems like they were homemade. Â While we were eating, the staff was still very attentive and refilled our soda (a couple of times) without it ever running all out. Â
Although the food might cost a dollar or two more per dish, with the quality of food and the portion, I would say it's definitely worth it. Â We ate too much and we still have leftovers for probably another full meal. Â I would recommend this to anyone who wants a good fast easy Chinese meal. Â No fancy plates or decorations, just plain good authentic Chinese cooking. Â And with one of the friendliest staffs and best services we've gotten in Denver, this place is hard to beat.
Just finished having dinner there tonight, and I must say the food is pretty good. My sister and friends all gathered there for dinner and we ordered one of the combination dinner which came with soup plus 4 different coarses. Â If you do not know what the dishes are, you'd better off ordering a la carte. We had: Seafood tofu soup, followed by KenDun beef ribs, steam Flouder, Beef & Vegetable Hot Pot. It was all very good, and all this for $40 plus tax and tip. Not bad.
The only complain is there is only one waitress and the service is bit scattered and she doesn't really pay attention to what the customer needs. But I still would recomend the restaurant despite the slow service. It wasn't really that big of a deal.