Location: 47 Riverside Dr., Johnson City, NY 13790
Phone: (607) 798-8998
Cuisine: Chinese
Price: Less than $10 per person
Review:
I was recently on a plane ride out of Binghamton and had the fortune of sitting next to a rather chatty fellow, and this blog, relatively new as it is, came up in the course of conversation. He asked what I thought of the Chinese restaurants in the Triple Cities and I commented that most places I had tried were below average, but there were a couple I found mostly agreeable, especially Moon Star in Endwell (which I shall review soon). My fellow passenger suggested that I try out Foliage, a place he had eaten at and enjoyed on numerous occasions. Today, I got around to trying it out for lunch.
Foliage is located on Riverside Dr. in Johnson City, right on the border of where JC meets Binghamton. It's located in the same small plaza as Pancho's Pit. It's a tiny restaurant with about five tables available for dining in, but I get the sense that most business is of the take-out variety. It's not really great on ambiance but is fairly well-decorated and looks, well, like a typical Chinese restaurant.
I approached the counter and placed an order to-go. With it being the lunch hour, I went with their Lunch Special, which featured my choice of entree, wonton or egg drop soup, and white or pork fried rice for around $5. I decided to go with Chicken with Garlic Sauce, the wonton soup, and the fried rice, and a mere ten minutes later I was out the door, bag in hand.
Upon arriving home, I was stunned to open the bag and find a fairly enormous amount of food that I had paid a mere $5 for. If this stuff tastes any good, I thought to myself, I've just come across one of the best values in Binghamton!
And sure enough, I was quite happy with the food. The wonton soup broth was a little watery and kind of average in my opinion, but the wontons themselves were really tasty. The fried rice had great flavor and was not just the random yellow rice you get at a lot of places around here. And the chicken with garlic sauce was very good, with a nice mix of stir-fry veggies in a sweet and fairly spicy garlic sauce. If you don't like spice, I recommend letting them know before they make your food. As for me, I'll take it as spicy as you want to serve it to me, thankyouverymuch.
Foliage certainly won't get confused with gourmet Chinese food anytime soon, but that's perfectly fine. I thought the food was definitely on par with my other favorite, Moon Star, at a much lower price, at least for the lunch portion. Heck, that was probably enough food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If this is the lunch portion, I can't imagine what the dinner looks like. Oh, and did I mention it was only $5? Well, Foliage, welcome to my rotation, and thank you, fellow Greater Binghamton Airport denizen, for not leading me astray.
Grade: B+
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