Mei Hao

I would say if you want cheap chinese food that is well spiced or very flavorful and don’t want to spend a lot of money this is the place to go. I got 4 things for about 5 dollars! It all cam with a nice giant serving of rice and a soup. My favorite that I tried was the curried meat and the spicy tofu was my second favorite. Many dishes I haven’t tried before so it was nice to see this place was unapologetically chinese and didn’t cater only to western customers. Even if you’re not as adventurous there’s still plenty of chicken stir fries to taste. The cashiers are nice and friendly people. Im definitely coming back here.

Sometimes you have a good food experience by jumping outside your comfort zone. I just had that sort of experience at Mei Hao. Chinese food from warming trays does not inspire my confidence, especially when seafood is involved. Yet I’d walked by Mei Hao for over a year, noting that the place smelled good, and the food looked intriguing. It’s not pretty — it looks like the middle ground between cafeteria food and home cooking. But It looks like real food — most of it is recognizable: vegetables, tofu, meat, fish, shrimp, clams…
It was the clams that got me. If this place could serve clams from a warming tray every night while maintaining a loyal crowd of single men and families they must be all right. That was my reasoning. I still had to steel my resolve to walk through the door, but once in I was committed.
Here’s the drill: the nice lady behind the counter grabs a styrofoam tray, loads it about half full of rice, then waits for you to choose four items from the (easily 25+) trays in front of you. I chose the mapo tofu, pork rib, on-​choy (had to have some greens) and the clams. I followed her back to the cash register, where she asked if I wanted soup. Why not? Buy the ticket, take the ride. She put my supper into a plastic bag, and I handed her ten dollars. She gave me six back.
You read right; this supper was going to cost me all of FOUR DOLLARS.
Here’s a rundown on the food:
Soup: A clear broth with seaweed, tofu and some egg (in egg drop style). Nothing to write home about, but a good addition to the meal. Glad I got it.
Pork spare rib — 2 little pieces, tender and delicious — sweet, soy and five spice the main flavors. So good I was chewing on the cartilage to get every last bit of flavor long after the meat was gone.
On-​choy — simple greens, fully cooked, generous portion. Rounded out the meal very well.
Mapo Tofu — only a single piece of what tasted like Chinese bacon in it — the rest was all tofu and sauce. Slightly numbing (prickly ash detected), with just enough chili heat to give a tiny tingle in the sinuses. Generous portion.
Clams — The most subtle black bean sauce I’ve ever had, but perfect against the subtle flavor of these tiny in the shell clams. They were little, and there were only eight or nine of them, but they were very good.
I finished it all, and felt full. Here four dollars buys a proper sized dinner for an adult man, as long at that man eats his rice. (Shame on him if he doesn’t). I did not feel the weighted down feeling I get after eating fast food. I’d consider what they’re doing at Mei Hao a step up from fast food, and a step down from good home cooking.
Fair enough. For this price that’s about the best you could do. Next time the wife is away and I don’t feel like cooking I’m heading back. I’m excited to explore at least half of their offerings.
Sometimes it pays to step outside your comfort zone.