Pyng Ho

This is undoubtedly the best Chinese food in the city. There, I said it.
I have been going to Pyng Ho for several years now, and here is my advice.
If you are looking for «American» Chinese food then do not come here. You won’t get the most gracious service, you won’t have the best crab wontons or General Chicken.
The seats are held together with duct tape and there are stains on the ceiling. Everything tells you to leave.
But do you you instead want an owner (Steve, long time educator of other Chinese chefs around Atlanta and a graduate of Galloway) who will engage you in describing the history of the dishes?
Steve was kind enough to share with us his ‘secret’ menu (not all that secret).
Two recommendations to try here, both are very different.
1 — Their sesame chicken. I know, «typical» Chinese but this is different! Crispy and not greasy, and done the proper way with the sesame seeds under the sauce.
2 — Their kimchi pork belly. This pork is steamed the day before over spices like cloves, cardamom, and all spice — adding flavor and removing grease. The kimchi it is sauteed with is to die for. A perfect combination of salt and spice.
I also love their spicy seafood soup (I believe «Bong Bong» is what it’s called), full of calamari, mussels and a delicious broth.

The American «Chinese» dishes are better than any other places in the Decatur area, but ask for the Chinese menu. The stuff on there is excellent. Pork with Black Beans and Peppers, Cumin Spicy Lamb, and Ma Po Tofu are a few of my favorites.
The room is not too loud and service is friendly.
Bonus: Delivery in Decatur.

Tried their lunch special. Had the kung pao chicken ($ 7) that came with soup, egg roll, rice, wonton. The kung pao chicken was hot and flavorful. Not the best Chinese food, but not bad either. The restaurant is really dark, vacant-​feeling, and outdated, but the service and food was good. I wouldn’t rush to come back here, but if you’re in the area and you’re craving cheap, Chinese food…

Ridiculously expensive. For 12 dollars noodles, instead of coming in the usual rectangular boxes, it was one of those little chinese takeout cartons. Same with the fried rice. The noodles were bland but the special fried rice did taste good. Overpriced though.

I’ve ordered here many times. It’s a bit pricey for Chinese and I wish they would sub white rice for fried rice for free… but I also wish horses could fly, and this hasn’t stopped me from ordering again continually. I get crab rangoons, spring rolls, the sweet & sour chicken. Thumbs up.

Everything on the regular menu is really good what you’d expect from a good Chinese restaurant. What makes Pyng Ho stand out above the rest is in their specials menus. Always a winner to order off of one of the boards in the restaurant. When in doubt ask Steve what fresh fish he has and how he recommends they have it cooked, you won’t be disappointed.

good food good service good deal

How can this place still be in business? We tried Pyng Ho a full decade ago. Unimpressed, we didn’t return until a couple of nights ago. We were thinking about where to eat and while approaching this familiar set of restaurants and having a craving for Chinese food, we impulsively decided to try it again. We joked about our last visit so long ago but I guess our thinking was, «This place is still in business — all of the other restaurants in the same strip have changed. Maybe it’s okay… Maybe it’s improved.»
Well, no. We were wrong. In terms of ambiance, it now struck us as very dated. Everything was worn… The menus, the silverware, the plates, the walls. It felt like we had stepped into a time warp. Also, our memory of this place was as fairly busy. Well here we were on a Saturday night and only one other customer was dining… A man by himself. Not a good sign. So as to the most important thing, the food: Thoroughly mediocre, low end Chinese food…(yet oddly over price). Nothing was outright bad, but the beef was low quality; the alleged jumbo shrimp were medium sized at best, and the supposed sea scallops were slightly larger than bay scallops… And rubbery to boot. We speculated as to how miraculous it is that Pyng Ho has remained in business. It might be that there are few Chinese restaurants nearby, yet there are at least a couple of similarly marginal ones nearby (though I would give Mandarin higher marks both for quality and definitely quantity, if nothing else).
In sum, low quality Chinese at prices that would lead you to expect much better food. Maybe a takeout business is keeping them open? This place needs a new owner, new chef, and a major refresh of menu and interior. Unless that happens, we won’t be back again.

Poor quality meat. I could not even tell it was chicken in my dish — General Tso. This place is busy because they are pretty much the only game in town offering Chinese in the area. The Lean Cuisine Orange Chicken is a better dish than this.

Pyng Ho is the remnant of large Chinese restaurant that dominated Decatur in the 90’s. Or at least that’s what it feels like. Very old and weathered, but the food remains good and consistent. Don’t expect a PF Chang type of décor.
If Pyng Ho had 20 grand to refresh their look and menu, this place would do very well. I dined in and felt like we were the only table seated in the entire place. This was 8pm at night. The take-​out traffic was steady.
We had the crispy beef which was superb. Nice little orange slices used as garnish, I felt like Pyng Ho was really trying.
We had the calamari, which wasn’t even on the menu but it came out crispy and very tender. I was pleasantly surprised.
Would I eat here again? Yes, but probably for take-​out only.

We love this place! I always get the hot and spicy shrimp and it’s delish. However, their «hot» is not like other Chinese restaurants, so if you truly like hot ask for it to be extra spicy. My Mom has gotten the steam vegetables and moo goo gypan and loves them both. Big tip though– go for lunch. Dinner is overpriced and at lunch you get a yummy spring roll, wonton and choice of soup. The reason I didn’t give them a 5 star rating is because the bathroom is disgusting, dinner is overpriced, and they don’t offer complementary green tea like most places I go to. Overall I highly recommend this place!

Service and take-​out is super efficient. However, the food feels a bit flavorless. I’m speaking of the moo shu and shrimp with vegetables. The egg rolls are flavorful but honestly for the price there are much better take out selections in the area.

This restaurant is very disappointing. The serving is extremely small compared to other restaurants. Their price is rather high too. I ordered Shanghai cabbage with garlic and if you are Chinese, it’s not what you expect. It’s not the cabbage it’s supposed use and the flavor is completely different. The taste is full. I also had beef chow mein and I assure you can get better beef chow mein with lower price and higher quality. I would not be ordering from this restaurant again.

One of our «go-to’s». Been coming here for 10+ years. Love the egg rolls (pu pu tray), sesame chicken and Mongolian beef.

Nope chose something else. Rude. And the food is deff not worth it. But if you like people who have attitudes before they serve you your food and also complain that they have to deliver… When their websites CLEARLY states that they deliver. Then go for it.

Had a very late dinner here. The owner stopped by the table to chat and he addressed my food allergy and ensured me they could whip up a dish without it in there. The tangerine chicken was fabulous.
Service was a little slow but they tried hard and I appreciate knowing that the owner is also a chef and could manage me without even a blip. I’ll definitely be back!

Love Pyng Ho. We have had evening meals, Chinese New Years, and delivery. I have never been disappointed. Had a great dinner there today and the Shantung Chicken with ginger and garlic was so very good! The service was also excellent today!

Came here once and never return.
We ordered a pork dish and the Chinese Firecracker Beef. Both were not bad at all. We ordered a honey glazed banana dessert and took forever to serve.
Eventually a lady came to our table with a bowl and kept stirring the dessert in ice cubes, the vigorous stirring was intense as if she was taking out on the dessert because she was angry.
Still, the dessert turned out to be not too bad either. So what went wrong?
What went very wrong was while we were having our dessert, I spotted a special guest scampering on the wall next to where I sat. We girls almost let out a scream. It was a cockroach! Yes, a cockroach!!!
The only guy at our table turned hero and crushed it with a napkin. By this time, we girls were ready to leave. We did not want to make a scene, quickly paid and left. Needless to say, we told ourselves never to return. Thankfully we did not get sick, but I seriously have doubts about the cleanliness of this restaurant.

I am a fan of this place and have dined in and ordered delivery often. I feel that they have good, maybe just ok, days and bad days. Tonight our delivery was definitely a bad day. The portions were small and it was the usual expensive prices. None of the dishes were good. My kids, who are huge fans of their sizzling rice soup, didn’t even eat it. They were out of pork dumplings and we were offered chicken ones. These tasted like the frozen ones from Costco. Sadly, I’m going to take a break from this place. I really want to like it because of the lack of good Chinese places around Decatur.

The basil garlic chicken had no flavor.
The «ant walking on a tree «noodles were stuck together and it was kinda dry.
Really unfortunate… the stale fortune cookies. Ordered 20 mins before closing so maybe not made totally fresh. Oh well.