Huang’s Garden

What more can you want in a restaurant? The prices are phenomenally low, and every time we order, they throw in freebies such as doughnuts or fried wantons, etc. My kids love the food. We usually find it best to get take-​out, because the interior of the restaurant is more like the family’s living room — it’s small and cluttered and inhabited by elderly Chinese people watching Chinese television shows. However, one time, my kids and I decided to be adventurous and we ate in. It was actually a fun and interesting experience. It was comfortable. We’d do it again.

My expectation for Chinese takeout is generally low. The atmosphere of the restaurant when we came to pick up our food didn’t help either. So I was pleasantly surprised by how good the food was! I am half Chinese, so I think I’m a pretty good judge. We ordered a bunch of appetizers, like the scallion pancakes, spring rolls, boneless ribs, fried dumplings… they were all excellent. The spring rolls in particular were delicious. We also had sautéed string beans, shrimp with black ran sauce, and house chow fun. Also very tasty. I should also mention that their prices are very reasonable. We easily fed 10 hungry people for just $ 65 with plenty left over. They were open on a major holiday and very kind and accommodating!

Huang’s Garden is really a misnomer.
It may be Huang’s, but it surely isn’t a garden.
This Chinese house sits on the southern end of Farnsworth Avenue in Bordentown, NJ. Where most of this main street has come to life in the past decade and now is attractive for strolling, eating and comfortable happy hours, this place is a throwback to when B’town was more or less a dump you wouldn’t consider visiting unless you lived nearby.
My beginnings were not auspicious, as I parked at the front door, and immediately behind a exterminator’s truck. I asked the driver if he was about the treat the restaurant, or was coming in for lunch. He appreciated my concern, and replied he was only doing an inspection as part of an ongoing service contract. Glad they were on top of that.
I came in and sat down at one of 2 booths and 2 tables in the front end. The space was cluttered and populated by three generations of the family running the operation. Grandma and grandpa sat at a round table in front of an HDTV watching a Chinese station, while mom and dad worked the kitchen, and granddaughter came in and out doing what 10 year olds do.
I was sitting in their living room. Gratitude for the invitation.
The menu was state of the art for 1990. All the usual dishes. So, I asked for the Sesame Chicken lunch special and a bowl of Wonton Soup for an extra 4 bits. Let’s see what was delivered.
The Wonton Soup was surprisingly good! The 3 dumplings had a thin coat, and the ground Pork within was tasty. The broth was unusual because it had a mild lemony flavor, which at first stopped me mid-​chew, but ultimately was interesting and enjoyable. Cool.
The Sesame Chicken was plentiful dark meat chicken that was textured as if it had not been frozen, with a very dark brown sauce that was not as gloopy as expected and nicely piquant. Again, above average for the standard Sino American plate. Finally, the Fried Rice while suspiciously uberdark brown, was full of chunkies, and tasted pretty good.
While I wouldn’t make the trip to this tail end of Bordentown’s main drag again for this, I was pleasantly surprised that the cuisine emanating from the kitchen was far better than the dining room atmospherics suggested.
Grandma was a gracious hostess and server as her hubby napped peacefully. I left satisfied and appreciative of being adopted by this lovely family.

In my previous life working for an international corporation I’ve had the opportunity to dine at Asian restaurants around the globe. I’ve traveled and tried authentic food in exotic locations in the far east as well as their more westernized counterparts in Europe. I’ve feasted like a pig in shit on corporate expensed dim sum at the Peninsula in Hong Kong as well as fresh served oysters on a floating barge in the London Docklands at Lotus Chinese.
And yet, despite all these fine dining experiences, I still give Huang’s Garden 5 stars.
Why?
Because life changes.
No one could have told me a decade ago when I was flying the world on BA first class as a gold tier member (the Lakme tune in the safety video is burned into my mind) that 2008 would herald the end of my international jet-​setting career and relegate me to a the life of a regular Joe working a mundane 9 – 5 job in a second tier city living in the suburbs.
But crap happens and you need to adjust.
Sure, when an international banking conglomerate was paying me to live and work in the far east I’d pick and choose what to eat very selectively.
But on a cold, dark December Jersey night when I’ve just got off the Light Rail at Bordentown and experienced double frozen teste’s on the walk back to my car and and I’m looking for the best combination of fat, salt and protein — Huangs Garden is all that I need.
Do I question the hygiene? Sure, a little, but I’ve seen much worse. And I doubt that the situation at the chains is that much better. I do also subscribe to the theory that as humans the more we exclude germs from our life the weaker we’re making ourselves, so I don’t focus obsessively on this. This is more a psychological thing than a real issue frankly.
Recommend: house special fried rice.
Avoid: shrimp toast (seemed to be very weird).
Advice: stick to takeout!

Some of the freshest Chinese food enjoyed. Don’t be thrown off by the décor (or lack thereof). It reminded me of being in Beijing 20 years ago. Had scallion pancakes, General Tsao Tofu and Lo Mein. Will definitely come back when we’re driving south on I-​95.

I’ve been ordering her for a long time and the food is consistently good. The food is tasty and authentic. I eat in Chinatown all the time, and the food is similar. His ingredients are fresh and it is not overly greasy. One small family runs this place… husband and wife so be patient when ordering and leave 25 min to pick up. This is only for take out. The dining room is not really more than a pick up area. Please try it. They are so sweet and work so hard. It’s a hole in the wall but it is delish!

I’ve eaten Chinese food about a million times in my life, from gross-​looking strip mall joints, to inner city takeout places with plexiglas windows to deter (additional) robberies, to white tablecloth/​candlelit/​fine china (pun intended), to Chinese dining in other countries.
This was, by far, the worst Chinese food I’ve ever eaten. Strike that. I didn’t even eat some of it — the smell was too unappealing.
I ordered several items for takeout — sweet and sour chicken with pork fried rice (combo), shrimp lo mein, beef stick, and spring roll — to figure out what I like (and, let’s be honest, for the prospect of leftovers).
The spring roll was both greasy and overcooked. It was also flavorless and had no shrimp in it (not all Chinese restaurants add shrimp, but still). The veggies inside were not fresh.
The sweet and sour chicken was battered in an unfamiliar coating, and it was totally overcooked. The sauce had a weird spice to it that I didn’t recognize, and it smelled funny. Hard to put my finger on it, but I had one piece and threw the rest away.
The beef stick was so dry and so flavorless I actually checked the menu to see if I had accidentally ordered dried jerky. I hadn’t.
Finally, the lo mein. Ah, lo mein. Usually slightly greasy, a perfect hangover food. Usually chock full of onions and scallions, with bright pink shrimp and bursting with flavor. Usually doesn’t apply here.
I am not even exaggerating: the lo mein smelled like wet dog. I got smacked in the face with an overwhelming odor of wet dog when I opened the carton.
I couldn’t stomach myself to keep the trash in my house, lest it stink up the house. $ 16 in the trash. I’m hungry — can anyone recommend a good Chinese take-​out joint?
It’s not Huang’s Garden. Avoid!!!

Normally I give four stars only for great food, but Huang’s is all about value. For $ 6.55 you can’t find a healthier, better value than one of the tofu dishes anywhere in Jersey. It”s enough for two or three meals. Plus it’s got character. I agree with other reviewers that the dining area is what it is — the cluttered living room of a multi-​generational Chinese family with heavy accents and big smiles. The family that runs this is very likeable and really appreciates your business. Over the 15 years this place in downtown Bordentown has been under the current ownership it’s evolved into a takeout place.
All the Chinese take-​out standards are less expensive here. The deliciously spicy Singapore style chow mein with shrimp may be the tastiest thing on the menu. I do not recommend spicy orange beef or shrimp toast. They are happy to customize your order including brown rice at no extra cost.
Free delivery.

One of the most surreal «dining» experiences in a long time. We only went here because we were in a hurry, and everywhere else in Bordentown had long waiting lines (Saturday night). As we walked in, we thought we’d actually walked into somebody’s house, as the owner’s family were sitting around in chairs, the kid playing a shoot-​em-​up video game loudly on a big-​screen TV at the back of the seating area. They seemed as surprised to see us as we were to see them.
They assured us they were open, though the restaurant was dark and there was nobody else in the place. Again, we were really in a hurry and figured things could only get better. But they didn’t. The more we looked around the more we realized what a dump this place is. The menu had the usual stuff you’d expect to see at a no-​frills Chinese joint that appears to do most of its business as take-​out, and the prices are about what you’d find anywhere else.
The food, when it came, was unimaginative and really unappealing. Yes the servings were large — almost too large — but the food just looked awful. And it tasted awful. Really awful. None of us could eat more than a few mouthful. The shrimp fried rice consisted of rice — and shrimp — and possibly a few fragments of onion.
And all the while, a kid continued to play the shoot-​em-​up game (admittedly with the sound turned down a little) just a few feet from where we were sitting, absolutely oblivious to us. Nobody thought to ask him to move or turn it off.
A take-​out customer came in at one point and was waiting for several minutes for someone to help her, and I finally got up and went over and knocked on the kitchen door and told them they had a customer.
One of us went to the bathroom, which she described as beyond filthy. Horrific, I think was the word she used.
I could go on and on, but this place is CREEPY and DIRTY, and the food was really really awful both in appearance and taste. I cannot believe the health department allows this place to remain in business. Do not under ANY circumstances eat here.

Good local Chinese restaurant… with friendly delivery service. If your order is over a certain amount, you get free donuts. Food typical Chinese takeout fare. Better go for takeout. The restaurant is kinda dumpy. I think most of their business is doing deliveries locally.