Kai Garden

We used to enjoy this restaurant, but THE LAST THREE times we came here (different days of the week, all during posted business hours), there was a hand-​scrawled sign on the door stating they were closed that evening. This is the sign of a restaurant going down the tubes with little regard for their customers. RIP.

We’ve been coming to Kai Garden for 17 years now and will go nowhere else for Chinese food. Kai and Tina are like family. I hope the current health crisis with the member of their family will resolve favorably for all. Best wishes and thinking of all you.

I jus had about the worst restaurant experience of my life at this place. I get that it was New Year’s Day and few places were open. They were, so I walked in at 6:45 and ordered takeout for my 7:38 train out of town. Guy at the counter takes the order and says it will be 15 minutes. Cool.
Then, things went south. 7:00 comes and goes. The cab I called for 7:10 arrives and is nice enough to wait for a few minutes. I politely ask the guy at the front of Kai Gardens how much longer. He tells me my order is being cooked now and should be out very soon. Great. Another 10 minutes goes by without my order. It’s been 30 minutes and now the guy at the front has retreated to the kitchen. He isn’t coming back out. My cab leaves.
I make a stronger play to know when my order will be coming out. The only waitress comes over to the counter after 5 minutes and asks what I am waiting for. She goes in to the kitchen and then comes back out and says it will be ready soon. Two more customers show up for their orders. Nothing.
It’s now 7:25 and make or break tine. I have been waiting 40 minutes and need to get to my train. I am forward with the waitress and tell her I need to know specifically how much longer. She goes back to the kitchen, comes out, washes her hands, gets rice and drinks for a few tables, tells me the curry is taking a while. It is 7:28 and my train is going to get to the station in 10 minutes. I call another cab and hope the food arrives in time. The cab shows up and I decide to leave. I tell the other customers waiting for their orders they can have mine or give it to the homeless.
It’s ok if you are busy, but don’t tell me it will be 15 minutes when it will take longer than 45 and then hide in the back. Be honest at least.

Guess what fellow lunch Unilocalers… the Kai Garden has closed down lunch service on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. A hand written sign on their door greeted our lunch party as we walked from Campus to Main just for their delicious congee! Closed. Open for dinner service only. Now no Chinese old school restaurants exist on Main… if you want your fix of Asian specialties, hang around campus, gang. On a food level, I rate the place easily a four star establishment. On a management level… too bad. This bodes poorly for the future. Others have noted a decline in service. Well now, no service until 4 pm.

Very very very bad service! We have been there 2 weeks ago, and experienced a long waiting and unpleasant service. The waitress looked so busy but she only carried 1 item a time walking between tables and kitchen area. We asked 2 times for just waters, but she was so impatient to our requests. We waited for about 30 minutes and left without getting any service or even a glass of water. It was not a busy time, and only 4 tables of guests need to serve. I would not give them this star if possible.

I was really disappointed in how little chicken we got in the sweet and sour chicken. It was all onions and carrots, a bit of pineapple and maybe 7 pieces of chicken. The hot and sour soup was eh at best. Fried rice was good.

Best. Chinese. Food. In Ann Arbor. Hands down.
I’ve tried many dishes here and my personal favorites are:
1) chicken and salted fish fried rice (huge portion, extremely well fried with wok hei/“breath of the wok”)
2) taro duck (order as soon as you sit down because it takes longer to prepare than other dishes. Basically a layer of taro on top of the duck and fried together.)
3) salt and pepper squid (Kai garden’s take on calamari. The topping is addictive!)
4) kang kong ma la jiang (morning glory stir fried with a chilli paste)
Yes the portrait menu in the binder is extensive, but PLEASE try ordering from the laminated landscape menu that is just 1 double-​sided sheet long. Actually, I insist you do. That menu is FAR more authentic and it has English translations. You won’t be disappointed!

Very good almond chicken lunch special

Back in Early Fall 2013… Hot and sour soup was perfect spice wise and served nice and hot temp wise which i really appreciate. The Scallion Pancake was good although a bit heavy with batter. For our main course choices we had, Roast Duck and Spicy Whole Fish. Oh my, the fish was the best I’ve had for several years. Succulent. Tender, moist and flaky with a sweet spicy sauce. Delicious when picked apart with chopsticks. I love it when enough time is allowed to really enjoy the meal and that was the case. My husbands duck was also moist, tender and delicious. Not fatty and no greasy taste. The chef came out personally to ensure we had enjoyed our food and also conversed with other guests. Service good, discussion occurred when ordering the fish to ensure I knew what to expect in terms of flavors and market price. It was a really enjoyable meal in a pretty non assuming building but it is on the A2 strip! Try it on– I don’t think you will be disappointed!

The portion is really small for the price, and the food is mediocre, except the pig ear which is probably the only redeeming quality about this place. From a Sichuan native’s perspective, most of the Chinese dishes are just terribly done, authentic or not. I suppose I can call this authentically bad, if it’s an consolation.
The staff are helpful when you speak Chinese, but doesn’t change the fact that food is bad, and overpriced. Except the pig ear, which is overpriced, but good.

Place was empty on a Sunday, probably due to the bad weather.
First the positives. Inside was very clean, nicely laid out, and the people working there were quite nice. Asked if I needed suggestions and took interest in what type of cuisine I like. Unfortunately, this is where the highlights end.
I opted for the Dried Noodle/​Chicken Broccoli plate. Not sure if I picked the wrong sauce or what, but there was very little taste to anything and the only thing I had running through my mind while I ate was «blandness».
They seem to have a vast selection, so will probably give it another go before I write the place off.

Pretty standard American Chinese dishes. I haven’t tried to see if there’s a «hidden» menu because I rarely crave anything other than greasy American Chinese! The service is fine, and sometimes they are really nice. I ordered takeout and it was done in 10 minutes, which was just the right amount of time for me to walk over and pick it up.

Really delectable meat dumplings! The chicken with fruit was delicious, a refreshing dish to see. The young chow fried rice was not authentic at all, but as a standalone dish, it wasn’t bad. Just don’t get it if you’re looking for actual young chow fried rice. The seasoning is not the same. Not bad, just different.
Service is ok, like any chinese place. Amusing colorful fish in the tanks.

Came here on the recommendation of someone who is from China and said it was super authentic.
Overall I had a good time but there were a few things I didn’t like.
The ambiance was kind of weird. They were playing jazz music and it was dead silent in the restaurant– even though there were at least 4 tables with guests.
The décor needs an update– I was surprised by how outdated it was– especially when they have prime real estate on Main street.
Putting those minor complaints aside, the restaurant was clean, had a/​c, and I didn’t feel like I was eating complete crap.
Anyway, the good was the food.
Ordered crab rangoons and they were good. They were not as deep fried as other places and they seemed smaller. Every place is different– I think they just used a different pastry crust or something.
The wonton soup was okay– kind of salty but good.
The egg rolls were very tasty,
In general I thought the portions were appropriate for splitting. I split the chicken szechuan and the orange chicken. I preferred the chicken szechuan with brown rice.
I would consider coming back– possibly to try some of the more traditional dishes.

I’m sorry to say it but the nicest word I am willing to use to describe Kai Garden is «underwhelming».
My boyfriend and I made the trek to Main Street from campus for lunch today. Since I usually grab a quick bite to eat from the Union or South U on school days, this basically constituted as a middle of the day date.
I was impressed upon walking into the restaurant as the room has a nice ambiance (in a cheesy Chinese-​restaurant sort of way) and is very spacious. My appreciation ended there though… because thereafter I was repeatedly disappointed with every dish I tried. From the tea cup-​sized bowls of flavorless soup to rubbery beef and Panda Express-​like sauces, I’m sorry to say Kai Garden will just never be my go-​to Chinese restaurant.
To be fair, I recognize that many dinnertime experiences are better than lunch– so Kai Garden can still have three stars from me. :)

This place is okay. Kind of quiet for lunch.
Came with my family when I first arrived in Ann Arbor. Certainly wasn’t a memorable meal, but it wasn’t terrible.

This is the real deal if you want it to be. You can get the American Chinese food if you wish but why when they offer real Chinese that allows you to experience the culture. I heard they offered pigs ears and knew I had to try that. I stopped in to JUST try the pigs ears and ended eating that, pigs intestines, and pork hock with jelly fish. I would have tried more except I already eaten dinner before stopping in for «desert». Lol.
This food will excite your eyes, challenge your imagination, and wow your taste buds. The pigs ears, I didn’t even know what it would look like or how it’s prepared, but learned quickly that it’s sliced thinly and prepared in a delicious spicy Chinese sauce. They are a bit chewy, which is what I expected, but not as bad as I thought. It was much more tender than I imagined. It was a great start.
The pig intestines were prepared with the same marinate and spices as BBQ spare ribs. BBQ flavored, not really spicy at all, but also served with some salt to dip it in. The salty and sweet of the two work really well. It does have a gritty’ish flavor, I mean it is intestines, so expect that. It however was better tasting than other intestine dishes were I had them just sautéed or cooked in sauces.
Lastly was the pork hock and jelly fish. The pork hock was actually nothing special, great tasting, but not some crazy exotic flavor to shock you. It’s like eating some pieces of pork. The jelly fish add some flavor and mostly texture to the pork. They are also marinated well, sweet, to help compliment the pork’s heartiness.
The staff was amazing. They were so helpful in helping us pick some of the dishes, even though they were laughing at us the ehole time. Lol. I think they were so excited to see these non-​Chinese patrons eating this food.
It’s worth the drive to Ann arbor, I would easily do it again.

This place isn’t where you would go to get your socks knocked off, but if you want a decent, quiet lunch, with friendly service, that isn’t going to put a hole in your wallet for lunching in Ann Arbor, this is it. The spring rolls always seem a bit raw in the middle, so stay away from those, but otherwise, I have no complaints. I visit this place about once every one or two months for the last 5 years.
I like their constitancy and it’s a friendly, affordable place.

Kai Garden didn’t knock me out but it didn’t leave me bummed out either. I was recovering from a nasty stomach bug and my appetite hadn’t returned 100% so basically whatever I felt like eating – that was what I was going to eat. So when I was craving some no-​frills, middle of the road Chinese food I decided to give this place a try.
I opted for the beef with garlic sauce which was definitely garlicky (tasted it throughout the rest of the night) but it was just missing something. I couldn’t and still can’t put my finger on it but every time I took a bite I was like, «OH SO CLOSE!» but it never really hit the mark. Had a bit of spice to it so it wasn’t that… maybe one day I’ll figure it out. Loved the egg roll though and the sauces for that they serve with them were also quite tasty. Tried a bit of the moo shu pork which I had never had before and I quite liked it. Maybe even more than my own beef with garlic sauce. Mostly I appreciate their huge menu and that everything here is made to order. That means, if you don’t like things spicy, they can tone it down. Have an MSG sensitivity? They can work around that too. Helpful if you’ve got allergies or are dining with someone who does.
The restaurant is clean and filled with a whole lotta mauve. The booths are comfy and the fish tank is really clean and beautiful to look at. Our waitress was really attentive and very sweet. I would also like to shout out her ability to carry like, 20 plates on one arm. I honestly thought they were all going to tumble to the ground but she has a GIFT.
All in all I’d give this place another shot and try something a little different, especially since they have such a diverse and huge menu, but they didn’t slay me on the first go ’round.

Just had a carryout from Kai Garden. It reminded me that there’s a few things at Kai that are must try items:
1. steamed vegetable dumplings
The pan fried pork dumplings are good of course, but the vegetable ones are fantastic and often overlooked. Super fresh, bright vegetables and delicious.
2. Roast pork and tofu hotpot
3. Candied walnuts
The best I’ve seen. They are super light and the crispy glaze is well through the walnut. I asked Kai about them and apparently it’s a very long and involved process that few people do anymore.