Sam’s Chinese Kitchen

I received a gift certificate from my niece at Christmas for Sam’s and I wanted to try a different place to eat in Clarion. I arrived about 12:30 on a weekday and WOW was this place packed with people. They were very poorly staffed with only 2 people seating customers, cashiering and waiting on tables. I waited about 5 minutes to get a table and place a drink order. I then proceeded to the lunch buffet, which seemed like the only thing they have at lunch. When I went to the food table, there was essentially nothing available to select except some fried egg rolls which were just put out. I took a couple, went back to my table and waited to see more food while I ate. Meanwhile five, then ten minutes passed with no drink and no servers. I went back to the food table and they brought out a couple more options. When I wanted some steamed rice, I asked the kitchen/​food person and she gladly brought me some. It was a full 15 minutes before I tracked down a server to bring me a drink, she did. I never had contact with anyone there again until I paid my bill. The food was good, not great, but decent. The service is below «1 star». I would be inclined to not return here again because they were so poorly prepared for the lunch crowd.

I went to the one in Eagle Grove and it was very delicious. The general chicken was very spicy just the way I like it. Very nice and friendly service is also, I highly recommend this place.

My boyfriend and I stopped here, specifically looking for an unknown hole-​in-​the-​wall place in the middle of cornfield Clarion, Iowa so we weren’t exactly expecting much other than your average Chinese food. We thought we’d try it out regardless because we were starving!
Upon entering the building, my first impressions were that they really needed to fix up the building and give it a good clean. I also thought it was very bright for an evening meal with bright florescent lights on their bright green booths so that wasn’t very appealing either. Basically, the place really needs an update, but it wasn’t the worst I’ve ever seen. It also wasn’t very packed full of people, but again, it’s Clarion so that’s to be expected.
The menu size is really big and a lot to choose from, but that’s something you always see in Chinese restaurants. Their food was well-​priced, I’d say between $ 8-​$ 12 and maybe pricier if you ordered anything with expensive seafood in it. My boyfriend and I ordered egg rolls, the Mongolian beef special (came with Mongolian beef, sweet and sour chicken, and fried rice) and I ordered the crispy shrimp, which came with broccoli.
Again, we weren’t expecting much, but we were pleasantly surprised. Our egg rolls were very hot and had good flavor to them. My boyfriend’s order cost him $ 9.99 and the plate was HUGE! My plate came with the crispy shrimp in the middle of the plate and the broccoli arranged in a visually pleasing way around the outside.
As a Culinary Science graduate, I will say that the food was awesome! The crispy shrimp had the perfect crisp texture and the sauce to go with it was a little spicy, just the way I like it. I was most impressed with the broccoli that came with it because it was very clear that it was fresh and you don’t find fresh in many Chinese restaurants. My boyfriend really enjoyed his food as well and the Mongolian beef was really spicy! I think the Mongolian beef could have been better, but was still pretty good. Another thing I was impressed with was the fried rice. We were expecting that yellowed, prepackaged stuff you find at most Chinese restaurants, but were surprised to see that it was freshly stir fried and tasted really good!
Overall:
–Atmosphere was really dingy, needs an update/​cleaning badly and was too bright for an evening setting.
–Waitstaff was very friendly, but probably could have filled our drinks more often.
–Food was excellent! Very very fresh and clearly homemade.
–Food took a little while to come out, but was well worth the wait. :)

The best place to go for Mandarin and Cantonese style Chinese in north central Iowa. You owe it to yourself to check it out. There’s a daily lunch buffet and nightly specials. Be sure to check out the spicy hot house specialties.