China Ruby

This is a solid, hole-​in-​the-​wall Chinese food joint. Nothing fancy; it’s quick and quite average in quality. I usually get General Tso’s Chicken at a new place as a barometer and it was tasty, but not amazing. They do get bonus points for being very friendly, and because of that, I’ll be back.

Best food around my office at 9 mile and Woodward hands down. Fast, hot, delicious, generous portions and all served with a smile.

Typical Chinese dump with trashy food. Went here for the General Tso’s chicken. Its the same sweet bland garbage found in 95% of restaurants, except they add some ginger to the sauce. Been searching for something good for 20 years. Place in Dearborn on telegraph near carslyle closed in the 90’s nothing compared. Read Joe B’s thread (best thread on Unilocal by the way) and thought my tastes we aligned with his but I guess not. Szechuan Empire didn’t do it for me, neither did many of the others talked about. Trizest is awesome for the Sichuan, I will go back to try the generals otherwise I’m experimenting with making it myself.

Fairly standard American-​style Chinese food. Good portion sizes and pretty good flavor, although I wish that my items had a bit more spice to them. I ordered a cup of hot and sour soup, two egg rolls, and orange beef. Everything tasted good and was piping hot. I have a pretty high spice tolerance so I think I will ask for my food to be made extra spicy next time, but overall I’m pretty satisfied and the price was reasonable ($ 14 and change). I’ll definitely be back.

I have NO IDEA how this place has such positive reviews. It was terrible.
The lady who brought us menus and water/​took our order was very nice but the lady who brought us the food was very rude. My friend asked for a side of sweet and sour and she literally ignored her.
My friend and I both got a combo. She started with the egg drop soup which was the most disgusting mushy thing I have ever seen and she didn’t even eat it. I had the wonton soup which was also terrible. The filling inside was a disgusting, bland piece of chicken, possibly out of a can or something. Gross. The broth it was in was bland, too.
I had the sweet and sour chicken and it was terrible. The rice on the side was actually decent, but that was the only thing. The chicken was soggy and the sauce was bland and flavorless. I don’t think it was worth $ 9, and I didn’t even take the leftovers cause there was no way I was going to eat it again. I wouldn’t go back.

I only went once, it was okay. I purchased sweet and sour chicken to be safe. I received a bowl of soup (wonton), a spring roll, and S&S chicken for about $ 9 – 10.
Soup was ok, noodles were pretty good. Spring roll was pretty typical.
S&S chicken had onions and a couple very small pieces of pepper. The sauce was all right, not horrible. Maybe a few junks of pineapple. For $ 10, you’d think you’d get a few more veggies.

Nothing bad to say about this tiny little restaurant. The waitress was nice as can be, the food was very satisfying and arrived in an extremely timely manner. If I’m in the area and craving some quick and tastey Chinese food, I’ll make sure to remember that China Ruby is the place to go!

Worst service and Chinese food I’ve ever had. They also served us spring rolls, instead of egg rolls and didn’t ever come to the table to get us more water. Don’t waste your time or taste buds.

I have a 10 year love of this place. It started out many years back when I lived in Ferndale, near China Ruby. I was in love and went there at least a few times each week for several months. They set the standard for me, only I didn’t realize just how good I had it. I eventually made my way out east to Warren and now Saint Clair Shores, and forgot all about China Ruby.
Then one day I was fed up with not knowing any good Chinese places so I went on a Unilocal powered quest to find some good chinese food in my area. Not only did I strike out after trying a dozen different places, but I saw a common theme in the comments, other people were having the same problem I did.
I was talking with a friend about it and telling him how I used to go to this dive of a place in Ferndale called China Ruby, but it had been so long ago I couldn’t imagine them still being around. I decided to look them up on Unilocal and words couldn’t express my excitement at seeing they were still around.
So I went out for a 10 year reunion to this place to see if it was still as good as I remembered. The place was exactly the same, down to every detail, and it was everything I had hoped for. Now I make the 30 minute drive out there at least once or twice a month when I have the hankering, it is well worth the drive.
I don’t know enough to know if they’re «good chinese or not» to the rest of you, but to me, after years of trying, I have yet to find a place I like better.

This my first review of anyplace or anything. I think China Ruby is one of Ferndale’s friendliest & tastiest places to eat. I often have requests that they handle without missing a beat on their way to serving a made to order treat. Lately I let the always present TINA have free reign on my lunch selection. And have never been disappointed! The «Birthday Soup» (not on menu), was as «real» a Chinese dish as can be had. Dumplings outstanding. I am partial to the chicken dishes (Tai Chen!!) & Shrimp and Scallops are GREAT. Not fancy just delicious!

My fiancée and I walked in to China Ruby on a whim. The seating is definitely limited, but it’s not terrible and there is reasonable room between tables. The young lady who seated us was very gracious — she quickly pointed out that she had just cleaned our table, and that it might be wet, so she grabbed a few napkins and thoroughly dried it before letting us sit. Overall, the place seemed clean, the décor was your usual cheap Chinese restausant stuff. Lots of newspaper clippings with good reviews and awards for the place were stuck up on the walls, but nothing recent. Really, I got up and read them; I found one from 1989. The awards seemed to stop around 2005.
The menu was small — I flipped it over almost immediately and found out that it was only one-​sided. We ordered the crab rangoons, tried two different soups, and I got the house special Spicy Szechuan Chicken. The server asked how spicy I wanted it, I told her very spicy please. I forget what the fiancée ordered, but it was another chicken dish off their combo selection.
Overall, we were thoroughly disappointed with how bland the food was. My fiancée thought the rangoons were less cheesey than they should be. The soups were both pretty mediocre, we hardly touched them. My Spicy Chicken was not spicy in the least. My fiancée doesn’t like spicy at all, she tried my food and agreed there was no heat. Final impression is that everything was hot and fresh, but very bland and mediocre. I could make better Chinese at home. Will not be returning to China Ruby.

Service is good and staff is nice. Small menu, but what they make is tasty. I’d recommend it if you’re looking for something decent and local to Ferndale, but I’ve had much better Chinese food that’s fresher. So while not bad food, it’s also not my first choice, but it’s in my top 3.

This is a solid American-​Chinese take-​out joint. If you re into more authentic Chinese you may want to try Shangri-​La, Trizest, or Hong Hua. However, if you want some good Kung Pao Shrimp or General Tsao’s, this is a solid restaurant. I particularly like their pork dumplings. I also appreciate the fact that they do the little things, like making the dipping sauce for the crab rangoons from scratch, If you are in Ferndale, this is your best option for Chinese.

The best chinese I’ve had in ferndale. I’ve been here 5 times and have had a variety of things… great friend rice and fresh food. I did end up sick after the last time but that could have been a coincidence since my friends eat here all the time and it was just that once. Staff is kinda rude. There is indoor seating.

Good crispy egg rolls and the best fried rice you can find in the Ferndale area. I would not really go for any beef dishes here because I have tried one and was not a fan, but any dish with Chicken in it has been good. The crab cheese here is not as good as say Sy Thai but their egg rolls are vegetarian and taste great.

To preface this review, I grew up on the eastside where good Chinese food is hard to find. As are lots of things. The first time I went to China Ruby was high school… about 2005? A friend who lived in Ferndale when she was a wee one took me; she had been going with her family and getting the almond chicken – sauce on the side– as long as she could remember.
Naturally, that was the first thing I ever had there when I visited with her. It was good– probably the best almond chicken I’ve had to this date, though I don’t really eat it ever anyway. The chicken was in lil’ nugget-​esque bite-​size pieces, and tasted fresh– unlike the almond chicken offerings at other places, usually a bland-​tasting, falling apart breaded chicken breast… or breast-​shaped chicken patty.
Next time I ventured out and got sesame chicken. Yeah, I know, adventurous. But it’s the best sesame chicken I’ve ever had. Hands down. Nothing else compares. I can’t really go anywhere else and order sesame chicken because it’s just going to be a letdown. The steamed broccoli tastes so good and fresh compared to the veggie options at other American-​style Chinese restaurants. I always ask for extra– it balances out the sweet and nutty flavor of the sauce. I love how heavy handed they are with the extra sprinkling of sesame seeds on top of my carry out order.
Also unstoppable: the lo mein, Mongolian beef, the dumplings, and any of daily «special» dishes sometimes posted up by the register. Not a huge fan of the egg rolls (I prefer less cabbage) but that’s not why I go there.
China Ruby is where it’s AT!

Actually 4.5÷5
I donno why I’ve waited so long to review China Ruby and Ms. Tina after eating here almost a dozen times.
For MI, this is the best Chinese fast food joint. Its not a point-​point joint. Everything is ordered off a menu (see pics) and cooked to order. If you order to go, ask to speak to Tina, she rocks and remembers your voice if you order more than once.
We’ve dined in but mostly ordered for pick up.
When we order, I ALWAYS get 2 eggrolls to go. Lemme tell ya, these are the chinese eggroll wrapper not the Vietnamese kind. Thick, large girth, filled w/​shredded cabbage and veggies AND NO MEAT. I actually like it that way. If I want a meaty no-​veggie egg roll, I visit Que Huong or any Vietnamese restaurant for that.
Next, order the General Tso’s chicken. I disagree w/​Joe B. This is the best General Tso chicken I’ve ever had in MI and CA. I’m ½ Chinese and all my friends in CA own Chinese restaurants and China Ruby has it nailed. If you order and eat in, the chicken has the perfect amount of breading and fried then coated in their amazing brown gravy sauce sitting on top of a bed of steamed broccoli (see photo). Now if you order to go, the broccoli is on top of the chicken and I donno why. General Tso’s shrimp was soggy when I ordered it to go b/​c the batter was too thick and there was too much sauce.
Spicy Mongolian pork is delish but no veggies just sliced thin sauteed onions. Thinly sliced pork and great sauce.
Szechuan Shrimp had a sweet and sour taste to it and a little bit of heat.
Veggie Mu Shoo has the same shredded cabbage and veggies found in the egg rolls. You can ask for pork/​beef/​shrimp mu shoo as well. I love the «chinese pancakes» they come with. They might be flour tortilla but I doubt it. There’s something thin and fluffy about them. All mu shoo comes with standard hoisin dipping sauce.
Almond Chicken: people love this but I can’t get into it. Its battered and fried w/​a sauce. Honestly reminds me of Americanized Chinese version of chicken tonkatsu.
Lo Mein is essentially chow mein and pick your protein to go w/​it.
Skip the fried rice. Just white rice fried up w/​soy sauce. I like my fried rice to include bits of carrots, peas, egg and diced onions. (Like Vietnamese fried rice) Unfortunately they don’t offer brown rice as a healthier alternative so stick to white rice. You can enjoy the flavors of your dish better.
Egg drop soup is perfect amount of egg and bamboo slivers mixed in. Add pepper for a kick.
Crab wontons has more cream cheese then crab to it even if its imitation crab. Not bad, but I like their egg rolls better.
For awhile we were trying to eat the ENTIRE MENU but have started to just go with what we like. For starters, can’t go wrong with General Tso’s and egg rolls.
P. s. Bathroom is downstairs and not the cleanest. Don’t expect it to be as it’s a mom & pop Asian restaurant and most Chinese/​Vietnamese/​Thai establishments don’t have the prettiest bathrooms. It’ll be clean, not pretty (aka, toilet paper or paper towels stacked high) General rule, if the food is good, the bathroom sucks. If the bathroom is cleaner, damn, your food won’t taste so great.

Some of you may have seen my Talk post about my search for some really good General Tso’s Chicken. I have my favorites but I want the best. After sending out a thread I got a couple responses and decided to try one of the local favorites suggested.
China Ruby sits on the south side of 9 Mile just West of Woodward on the Ferndale strip. It’s next door to the bike shop and Winezilla. It’s fairly unassuming and from the outside looks pretty unremarkable but people swear by this place!!!
I had to check it out on Tony Stark’s recommendation and this was my take on it.
I ordered the General’s Chicken combo «as hot» as they could make it with a spring roll and some wonton soup on the side for good measure. Who doesn’t love spring rolls or wonton soup after all?!
The soup was OK… someone here compared it to chicken flavored rainwater but it was fairly decent. I’ve had worse, and better, but I can say that the wonton was way way overcooked and fell apart into doughy masses that were not so fantastic. On top of that, they could use a little meat in them (sorry vegans), and maybe some Asian Bok Choy floating in the broth, which would make this a much better soup.
The spring roll was really good. I truly enjoyed it. It was crispy and fresh and a decent size relative to most.
The clincher was the egg roll though. One of the better, maybe the best, I’ve ever had with NO sprouts to speak of which is a very good sign. It was all cabbage and carrots and a few other veggies and it was packed! Their egg rolls are the biggest I’ve ever seen although they could really use some real plum sauce to accompany them rather than those packets of Duck Sauce, at to that some actual spicy Chinese hot mustard versus those generic packets, and again, it would be a huge improvement.
Now onto my quest. I’ll start by saying that my combo probably weighed an actual 5 pounds. You could likely feed a family of four on one combo.
As for the contents… I got a ton of fried rice, some steamed broccoli florets and the Tso’s. The fried rice was sub par at best… I couldn’t tell if there was chicken in it but it was pretty bland. The florets were steamed just right and not over or under done. The General’s though, the reason for this excursion to begin with, was not very good. Someone mentioned that they use «pressed» chicken which is pretty ubiquitous in so many Chinese joint’s chicken dishes. I’m not sure if it’s actually formed but they do batter it TO DEATH! Biting into the biggest piece of «white meat» I found that it was mostly breading… that spongy kind that has virtually no texture to it. The sauce was, unfortunately and probably, the same they use for their Sesame Chicken and likely a mother sauce they adapt to any dish ordered within limits. It’s not what I was looking for but I will give them huge props for the spice level being hotter than most I’ve ordered elsewhere! Considering I asked for it as hot as they could make it, I was underwhelmed but they made a nice effort nonetheless. But my search for the best General’s will continue for now. Onto Carrie Lee’s in Waterford… and maybe Mon Jin Lao next if they make a version of Tso’s.

I have yet to find a «go to» Chinese takeout restaurant in the Ferndale and Royal Oak area. I entered China Ruby with high hopes for a solid restaurant option based on the current crop of Unilocal reviews. Did it meet expectations?
The large menu holds all the typical dishes for American-​Chinese fare: almond chicken, sweet and sour, broccoli in a brown sauce, lots of noodle dishes, egg fu yung. Nothing stands out as an unusual addition. Helpful guidelines for spiciness and popular or specialty choices are on the menu; staff was happy to answer questions.
The beau and I decided to dine in on a foggy evening, watching the traffic stream by on Nine Mile and Woodward. He went for sweet and sour chicken; I had General Tso’s on rice. Egg rolls came highly recommended, though we could take or leave them normally. I found mine too large and a bit too greasy to eat. The beau finished half of his. I could have gone without.
China Ruby’s portions are generous enough for two and a half meals, definitely intended to be taken home. With standard prices between $ 6 and $ 10, you can clear up what you’ll eat tomorrow for lunch and dinner the instant you sign your pen to a printed receipt and come out ahead of whatever other fast food meal or Starbucks frothy calorie catastrophe of mocha caramel venti deliciousness might tempt you.
The food itself was not especially memorable. It wasn’t greasy, too spicy or awash in its own sauces. I asked for sauce on the side to be able to decide how much I would use, which is definitely the way to go. But the flavours failed to pop much. They blur together in a bit of baked, crispy crunch and chewy chicken. I would have liked more kick to the food, and that might be my fault. Next time, I’ll ask for them to spice it up a bit. The sauces are thick and pretty goopy, hence why getting a saucer on the side makes the dining experience much less messy and more tasteful.

Sesame Chicken is delicious. It is crispy with a wonderful sweet sauce. I love how the chicken doesn’t get soggy.
On another note… I tried the Boneless Almond Chicken because of reviews I read on here and it was really gross. The chicken was dry and the gravy barely had any flavor. It was like eating dry chicken with sauce. I don’t recommend it!