Crystal Garden

Nothing extravagant here at all. But that’s not necessarily what everyone is looking for. Where this place shines is the food. They have great Chinese buffet food at the right price. It’s always the same two guys working when I come and they are very informal and polite. If you come here even fairly frequently they will remember you. Great service.
Food: again, Americanized Chinese food. I love it. I especially like this place’s egg rolls and dumplings. Their chicken goo young is also really good.
I actually somewhat found his place on accident. It’s nearly hidden.

I’ve been eating here for only twelve years. The food is delicious. It is always the same — no surprises. They know how to cook tofu perfectly –large chunks. The staff is always super friendly. The only negative is their dining room– too brightly lit and a little out of date. Who cares. Just eat the food at home on your couch while watching Homeland. (I always get take-​out.) They are freaky fast. Never more than 15 minutes, usually ten. Crystal garden, I love you.

This has been our favorite Chinese restaurant for almost 20 years. The food is always fresh, quick and friendly service and properly priced. Nice variety of options on the menu including Cantonese and Szechuan.
Everything is cooked to order, so don’t be afraid to ask for your entrees the way you like them.

i love their food and its so fresh and warm to if u eat in. the staff is always so great too. I love to do take out but eating in is the best too. I enjoy the service.

Very good food and plenty of it. I had the mock duck with veggies and it was nicely flavored with just the right amount of garlic. Was very happy to see that they had a good variety of vegetarian dishes. I will definitely be going back soon.

For Classic American Chinese food, you can’t get much better. We ordered approximately 20 different items for a birthday party, and every dish was amazing. The food is extremely fresh tasting and exudes the impression of high quality ingredient. I highly recommend this restaurant for takeout Chinese food.

Got some take out from here. Worst chinese food I have had in a long time. Sweet and sour chicken was super dry and tough, general tso’s chicken was not good (according to the fiancé) and it had mushrooms in it which is just weird. Plus, they only gave a tiny container of rice for the 2 meals, seems kinda cheap. Will not go back, which is a shame seeing how it is only a mile from our house.

Had a lunch combo today with chowmein, fried rice and egg foo young and it was good at a decent price. My only complaint is that the chowmein noodles were a little stale.

A reasonably priced and good lunch buffet with a decent variety of things to choose from.
Nothing fancy.
Friendly staff.
Place has been there for years!
I probably go there twice a month or more and have never been disappointed.
I can’t speak for the menu, as I’ve only gotten the buffet.

My mom lives nearby and whenever I am in town I visit the Crystal Garden for either dine in or take out
This is Americanized Chinese but my guess is that if you wanted something authentic they would make it for you.
Living in California I can not get Minnesota style chow mein.
The house special fried rice is not as good as my local haunt in CA but it is loaded with meat
The staff is always friendly and the service is quick
If you want consistent local Chinese food, do not pass by the Crystal Garden

Good, reliable Americanized Chinese Food. Very friendly staff!

Solid local Chinese. I can’t say enough about the quality of the meats; it is always incredibly tender and flavorful — at a really great price.
Don’t expect bold, nuanced flavors; just good-​quality food.

I checked them out via takeout for lunch. The kung pao was mildly spicy (we asked for extra spicy), and decent enough. The fried pot stickers were tasty, although towards the bottom of the container they were pretty soggy. My girlfriend said the soup was pretty ‘meh’. They have a takeout menu that looks suspiciously like those of the Syndicate (of invariably bad Chinese restaurants). I dunno, it’s OK but seemed just mediocre overall. Pretty much ‘adequatulent’.

My wife and I have lived in the neighborhood for the past couple of years, walked past this place dozens of times and never thought to try it out. I guess because it’s in a strip mall we assumed the food would not compare very well to many other Chinese restaurants. We just tried this place for the first time tonight and man were we pleasantly surprised!
For appetizers we tried the cream cheese puffs and egg rolls. They were good but average. We asked our server what we should order if we want to try their best dish. He recommended that we each try one of the hot pot dishes. We agreed and a few minutes later two sizzling pots of food arrived at our table. I asked for the hot and spicy version and at the table he added the spice and stirred it into the dish. Now we were all set.
The first thing I noticed about the dish was how fresh the vegetables were. They were so crisp and flavorful. It made me realize how unremarkable the vegetables are at many of our usual Chinese restaurants. The chicken was cooked perfectly — not too greasy, not too dry. The sauce was what sent it over the top — savory, hot, and complimentary to the flavors of the chicken and the vegetables.
Service was impeccable. The three servers stood at the ready scanning the tables for water glasses that could be topped off, dishes that could be removed, or checks that could be passed out.
Again, this was our first time. Our hope is that our experience is the norm for this possible neighborhood gem. I’ll let you know after our next visit.
Thanks to all of you who posted reviews for Crystal Garden. You made us want to try it!

The only thing I have ever had here is the cashew chicken, and it is plenty good after several samplings. I wish more rice came with it. I always have to order extra since the ratio of cashew chicken to rice is not good.
The service as a takeout place is always matter-​of-​fact and quick. I do think the price is a tad high for the quality and quantity.
It’s the closest Chinese takeout to where I live, and it is pretty good for what I expect.

4star food for a regular chinese resturant
Food is excellent the «hot pots» are the greatest they come out sizzling still cooking any meat or seafood or veggie nummy

I came here after reading Jaymi M’s review about Crystal Garden having unusual vegetarian/​vegan dishes.
Unfortunately, you shouldn’t get your hopes up. Crystal Garden is just another Chinese strip mall joint, although it does offer a few more veg. dishes than I would have expected.
We shared the «lychee mock duck» ($ 8.50) which was the most unusual-​sounding dish on the menu. It was basically just mock duck, carrots, lychee and pineapple in a savory brown sauce with cornstarch. While it’s uncommon to find lychee in stir-​frys, I felt the lychee wasn’t well-​integrated in the dish. This was just an average stir-​fry with one odd ingredient.
The «Buddha’s delight» ($ 8.50) was also a brown sauce stir-​fry with peapods, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, broccoli, carrots and mushrooms. It was exactly the same as you’d find it in any other Chinese strip-​mall restaurant.
Other than that, you’ll find a bunch of other tofu and mock duck dishes with garlic sauce or brown sauce, etc.
All that said, the service was friendly and attentive. The waiter was knowledgeable about ingredients and assured us that there was no oyster sauce or chicken stock in any of the dishes we ordered (you should still ask questions regardless).

This is my go-​to place for a quick sit down lunch. They have a nice buffet for around 8 bucks. None of the dishes really blow me away, but they are all consistently good. My guess is that this is MSG free zone. Or they use it very sparingly. Most MSG restaurants dishes taste very salty and you end up thirsty all afternoon. This is not the case here.
The two waiters are great as well. They both wear white shirts with black bow ties and are two of the most polite and attentive waiters I’ve come across.
My only complaint is that they do not deliver. But then again, that’s just my lazy ass talking.

OMG this place rocks!!!
Looks like a hole in the wall, but lots of tables inside. Many of the Fort Snelling folks come in for lunch/​dinner. I have spoken with people who came Andover, Stillwater and Anoka… that’s some trek for Chinese Food.
They have good cantonese style food. I love love love their Chow Fun. It’s excellent. Good home made wontons in the soup, their egg drop soup is like it was in NY; not bizzare like in some other twin cities places. Egg rolls are good too, not with that icky cinnamon flavor/​weird spice that some many place seems to carry from a central vendor.
Excellent Moo Shoo and Egg Foo Yong. Really everything here is good. I love their traditional pots of hot tea (you do have to ask for it, about .50 per person)

We all know that Minnesotan Chinese food is far from authentic but, if you are like me, you eat it anyway. I’m definitely a creature of habit but I never, ever eat out somewhere on a consistent basis. I’ve been to Crystal Garden twice this week, so something must be pretty awesome there.
Oh, there is so much awesomeness! The employees are incredibly friendly and attentive AND the food comes out quickly. Their menu is super long and everything I’ve had has been really, really good. Some highlights? The shrimp toast (it’s a large piece of breaded shrimp as opposed to those greasy pillows of filth most places serve,) sesame chicken, Crystal chicken, cream cheese wontons and chicken with walnuts (sugary goodness!) I tried the Bön Bön Chicken and I loved it, but it’s basically the leftovers bits of chicken covered in peanut butter. It sounds completely unappealing but, believe me, it’s awesome. There are a lot of spicy options but they can alter that to your taste.
The one thing that really stands out to me is their impressive section of vegetarian dishes. I don’t know if any of them can be made vegan, but I haven’t seen so many mock duck and tofu options since I was last at Evergreen. I definitely want to try the lychee tofu the next time I am there.
They have a buffet during lunch but you can only eat in or take food to go all day. Definitely don’t hesistate to sit down and have dinner there because it’s a headache-​free experience with good food. If this place can get my super picky parents to stop eating at that nasty Star Dragon on Lake Street, they are doing something right.