Bamboo Bistro

this is the new chinese place where Cheng Hing was.
Here, I must admit to bias.
cheng hing was great– the perfect chinese. inexpensive and excellent with $ 4 lunch specials with heaping portions.
alas, it closed.
now the new place
The good news they serve sushi
The sushi is good
The Chinese is OK
The hot and sour soup is not so good
The seafood special is not so good
did not understand their general tsos chicken
The ambience of the new place is very spare and not pleasant
all of the Oriental decorations are gone
prices are higher then before in the old restaurant
in general this is now an average dining experience
The sushi is very good but the Chinese is not so good
I really can’t recommend the Chinese not good enough and too expensive
disappointing

Not sure where to start because I’m very excited about the whole thing.
First, I was a huge fan of the previous place in this location Cheng Hing and was devastated when they closed. As far as quality and location Hing couldn’t be beat, and I hadn’t really found a suitable alternative… until now.
I did a Unilocal search for Chinese and Bamboo Bistro came up. When I saw the address I audibly cheered. The next thing I noticed was the Eat 24 option. I checked it out and before I knew it, I had ordered my food from my iPod. What a time to be alive!
So there I was, 15 minutes later, standing in the former Cheng Hing, now Bamboo Bistro, picking up my food. Not having spoken to another soul. It was pretty cool.
The verdict: Bamboo is a beautiful spot, in a great area of Swarthmore. The staff was helpful and the guy at takeout even gave me some tips for using Eat 24.
Another thing I was excited about was that they had a menu item very similar to Dan Dan Noodles (Hot and Spicy Szechuan Noodle) and while it’s the best I can do out here in the burbs, Han Dynasty and Dan Dan have nothing to worry about.
My next criteria is dumplings and Bamboo gets a 7 out of 10. Not quite the doughy balls I like but more than passable. I didn’t really get a main meal this time but I like all of the options, from Chinese to Japanese to Thai, I should have plenty of time to make a decision.
Bamboo Bistro has me excited to eat Chinese in the burbs again.

Love this new addition to Swarthmore.
We have ordered take out from here many times and were so happy to have such a great Asian restaurant so close by.
My husband prefers traditional Chinese fried rice and chicken dishes and I love the sushi. It’s a nice variety of countries and cuisines. It’s easy to order for a group since there’s something for everyone. My vegetarian friends love the food.
I’ve had lunch inside the restaurant a couple of times and it has a nice calm atmosphere.
Friendly staff keep you happy and really good food keep you coming back.
It’s BYOB.
This is our new go-​to carry out.

The atmosphere is intimate the people are great and the owner is wonderful! Xiong xiong

It’s great to have a good option for cheap Chinese. We ordered takout from here and were pleasantly surprised. The dumplings were very good although they tasted more like gyoza. The spicy Szechuan noodles were spicy enough but could have used a bit more seasoning. The standard Kung Pao chicken and General Tso’s were more than acceptable. The sesame chicken tasted very similar to the General Tso’s with sesame seeds and not as spicy. The Yu Shang chicken was good and chock full of wood ear and ginger.
Service during ordering and takeout was pleasant.

First couple visits dine in great. Forget about take-​out ours was pre cooked, packaged and shot in the microwave. Cold and mushy I guess they thought we wouldn’t know.

I Ate there this afternoon. Service was pretty on point. The water in my glass was never empty. Got the spicy tuna roll and the spicy salmon roll, couldnt complain. Total tab between me and my sister was like 20 bucks. She got two rolls and an egg roll.

The food quality is good. I think the Tri-​Asian menu (Chinese, Japanese, Thai) leans more towards those looking to get a tasting of mainstream dishes from Chinese cuisine and it does very well at that.
Japanese — The sushi bar offers some common varieties of rolls/​sashimi while the kitchen can serve udon. All ok/​as good as you would find from similar sushi venues in Delco.
Lastly, there is a very small offering of Thai dishes. Didn’t try so cannot speak to them.
I feel that for a dine-​in experience, the choice and quality of appetizers is very good and entrees reviewed as above (your tastes/​opinions may vary). The tea they serve is excellent! What the menu lacks to complete all this is dessert, none whatsoever.

The gyoza, scallion pancakes, sushi, and squash soup were great. Sure hope they can expand their selection of sushi in the coming months/​years … I really like raw shrimp, salmon roe, quail egg, etc. Every table in the restaurant was taken by the time we were finished.