Far East

Far East is fresh and good food, but it’s definitely lacking traditional flavors. General Tso chicken definitely does not come with a traditional brown sauce, more like sweet and sour sauce. Also, the chicken’s breading isn’t tender with big chunks of chicken lightly sprinkled with sesame seeds… instead it’s tiny pieces of meat and hard to eat crunch due to the deep fry batter method they’re using.
The spring rolls are off as well. The wrap is too thick and not fried long enough to give it that crispy crunch, plus the stuffing isn’t all that flavorful.
I will say the food is very hot which great!

Desperate for decent Chinese in this area, I tried Far East for dinner tonight while my wife is away for the week. The obligatory overhead picture menu, a huge completely empty fish tank, a 10 gallon tank overcrowded with goldfish/​carp in dirty water, three sticky tables — OK, two sticky tables, with the cashier/order-taker’s laptop taking up the third. No ice or glasses available for drinks, fried rice a $ 2 substitute for steamed with a dinner.
I ordered a small wonton soup, orange chicken, and a large chicken fried rice. Everything came at once, about three minutes after I sat down. The soup was the usual canned wonton soup, decently flavored, but one of the wontons contained a piece of meat that was not recognizable as normal western chicken — possibly from the neck, or gizzard. The orange chicken, served with three raw broccoli florets, was old and tired, and encased in rock-​hard fried batter, with an orange sauce so sweet that it hurt to put it in your mouth. The huge portion of chicken fried rice had a decent number of nicer-​looking small bite-​sized cubes of chicken, but overall was as dark as beef gravy, and not particularly tasty.
The woman behind the counter was nice, but the food was terrible. I would never go there again, take my wife there, or order their take-​out or delivery. You can have ten times better food for half the money at Chipotle.

I gave a 3 star for QUICK delivery, so the order was to our door piping hot! I ordered seafood fried rice, jeff ordered orange chicken. Both items were as I expected, food delivered so Jeff could continue to paint on his underwear. We may order again for nothing more than the great service.

I made an order for delivery today. I ordered 2 orders of General Tsos Chicken. When it arrived it was soggy, several pieces of the chicken were black. I literally could only eat two bites — it tasted horrible and now I feel sick.
I called the restaurant to tell them the food did not taste good — the girl who answered tried to blame the wok for the black/​dis-​colored chicken. I told her it did not taste good and she said, «the meat is good, it is just dis-​colored.» I tried telling her 3 times the meat did not taste good. She then said I could find another Chinese Restaurant, which is what I will do.
She did not offer me a refund and did not offer to remake the food (which no way I would want now anyway). I ordered just over $ 44 dollars worth of food plus tipped the driver $ 10. What a waste of money! I was hoping to have a nice evening in and it ended up being Opposite Day!

Food is ok. And, make sure u check the bag before u leave the place. I got home and only had half of my order in the bag!

Finally, good Chinese takeout near Lakewood Ranch! Had General Tso’s chicken and Shrimp Chow Mein. Both were delicious. The chow mein came with crispy noodles (good!) and rice. The chicken was excellent. Best takeout I have had in my 10 years in Florida. They deliver too.

Far East is a take-​out/​delivery place, and if you live nearby I’d give it a try. The food is decent, but I wouldn’t drive a great distance just to eat there.
We picked up the following for the cost of forty three dollars and some change: general Tso’s chicken, bourbon chicken, chow fun (sometimes spelled Phun or Phoon at other Chinese restaurants), two egg rolls, and an order of fried dumplings. It was a generous amount of food for the money. We’ll have leftovers enough for tomorrow night’s dinner, and I’ll have some for lunch as well.
Dumplings were just ok, but could have used more seasoning. The spicy mustard (yum!), dumpling sauce, and sweet and sour sauce in cups that were included were all tasty. Egg rolls were alright, but also a tad lacking in flavor.
The bourbon chicken was moist and flavorful, and my fiancé seemed to enjoy it, because he polished off nearly the whole order.
Sauce that came on the General Tso’s had a great amount of spiciness to it, but the chicken pieces had been fried for too long, and as a result were too crunchy.
The chow fun was on the dry side, and was much improved by the addition of a touch of spicy mustard and a splash of soy.
We’ll definitely return to try more more items on the menu, but I like the food at Ming’s Palace better. Portions are smaller there, but the seasonings are better executed.

My parents own a Chinese restaurant up North! It’s HARD to find good chinese food in FL… I have tried many places and I keep coming back to Far East. The owners speak Cantonese, and they are very friendly. If you are looking for a fancy dining place, this is NOT it! But if you are looking for some tasty take out to enjoy at home, this is the place! Enjoy!!!

I drove pretty far to dine at this whole-​in-​the-​wall take-​out Chinese restaurant because I heard that they have Chow Fun (large flat noodles with bean sprouts and bean sauce). It is in fact listed on their menu, but they were sold out. They also did not have string beans, which is interesting considering how available and cheap they are right now. It is highly recommended that you call to see what they have before driving there. However, I had never been before, so I did not have a menu handy to order over the phone.
The only characteristics that make this take-​out place different from others in the area is the fact that they sell beer and that their menu is glossy and has some different items than most places. Normally, I do not review buffets, large chains (even though I should start), or take-​out but this is an exception based on the quality of the food. Note that they do serve decent sized scallops here and their black bean sauce actually has fermented black beans in it. They also serve Walnut Shrimp, which is a mayo covered delicacy that you only find at banquet restaurants. They have roast duck as well, but I cannot vouch for the quality– $ 15 for half and $ 30 for whole.
I could not help myself; I ordered the Crab Rangoon. They were wrong because they were so sweet and even had nutmeg in them. It was wrong. They have Crab and Corn Soup, but we had ordered so much already.
The House Special Singapore Noodles were decent– not too dry, not too oily, and enough curry flavor. The shrimp were small and lacked that snap that comes with the correct preparation. This was the alternative to Chow Fun. I would have preferred to order their Pan Fried Noodles (aka Birds Nest Noodles) because it is a rare find at take-​out, but my husband loves some curry Singapore Noodles instead. I would love to try their Chow Fun or Pan Fried Noodles in the future, if they have them in stock.
They have many options of fresh vegetable stir-​fry dishes, which were impressive to say the least. I was so happy to find that they have Chinese Eggplant, which was cooked perfectly with a sufficient amount of sauce and a little spice. We also had a stir-​fry of Broccoli and Snow Peas mix with brown sauce. Which was something that I could have easily made at home, but it was a luxury to find it here. Make your own: ½T cornstarch, ½ T sugar, 1T dark soy, 1T wine, 1T oyster sauce/​bean sauce, 1tsp ginger (opt), 1tsp garlic– mix all in bowl and pour over your stir-​fry at the end of cooking.
I don’t know how often we will find ourselves driving this far for take-​out in the future. But, if we are in the area and want to pick something up quick, then this is a good place to visit. Noted before in another review, but– located behind Fresh Market off of Honore and University, not in Sarasota.

When I crave Chinese food, I want Far East. Even when I’m back in Toronto and spoiled with choice. I always get the Tofu & Mixed veggies when I’m in town.
Their english isn’t very good but they will pass the phone around to get your questions answered. My question was ‘Is the tofu & vegetable soup vegetarian?’ they said ‘yes’ but when I asked if it was made with chicken broth they also said ‘yes’, which means, it’s not vegetarian but good to know. I prefer the honesty.
They probably use MSG (I’m sure you could ask for without) but the food is fresh and tasty, the place is clean and the price point is good. They don’t skimp on the baby corn, which is important to baby corn lovers. There’s also lots of bamboo shoots and water chestnuts.
Steamed white rice is included in the price of the stir fry which naturally blows my mind. I tried to order it separately and they were like ‘WTF you know you get some with the meal?’ It comes in those fun paper take-​out containers I sadly only know from tv instead of that styrofoam shit I always get in Toronto.
They are always super friendly, make the food quickly and they aren’t even mad when I show up 5mins after close to pick up. Awesome.

In a recent review of the Chinese food scene in Sarasota I stated that the selection of well done food isn’t great. However there is a local carryout that does step up to the plate in offering good quality tasty food. Maybe the bar isn’t very high, but I think that Far East shines.
This is mainly a take out with a few tables (4) and they do offer delivery to a limited area. It’s located on Honore Ave near University Parkway in the Home Depot shopping center. Their large menu offers over 124 items along with both a lunch and dinner combination specials.
Contrary to my last takeout experience (see China Taste 11÷17÷09) my phone order was handled promptly and politely. The order was complete and waiting for me 15 minutes later. They do a very nice touch here in that your package includes a «baggy» with soy and duck sauce, mustard and fresh crispy noodles. There are plenty of extras on the counter along with chop sticks.
This restaurant offers Chow Fun Noodles. This is a delight I first learned of when living in DC. It is a Cantonese dish made with a spongy wide rice noodle. It’s mixed with bean sprouts and onions with a light sauce. The noodles must come to the restaurant in a fresh state as this dish is not always available, which also would happen at our favorite spot for Chow Fun in DC. The owner of the DC restaurant suggested adding some spicy Chinese mustard to the dish and it does add the perfect spice.
It’s available with Beef, Pork, Chicken or Vegetables and a nice change and tastier than Lo Mein noodles. Note also that some pronounce this dish as Chow Foon, it’s the same thing. A large portion with plenty of meat is only $ 7.95. One order is a meal for two.
This trip also included an order of Pork Egg Foo Young… the ultimate Chinese comfort food. Three plump omelettes with thick brown gravy, packaged separately, along with a nice portion of rice. It’s just delicious and prepared with large pieces of well trimmed pork so there are no surprises, along with ample amounts of vegetables. As usual it’s also available with Chicken, Beef, and Shrimp.
Although I didn’t have it on this trip Far East also offers Pan Fried Noodles with various meat selections. Always good and something that for some reason doesn’t appear on many Chinese take out menus in Sarasota.
Enjoy! I think you’ll find Far East to be a step above for Chinese food in Sarasota.
Please note that the pictures shown are not of the actual food provided by Far East, but really look exactly as they prepare these items.