Location: 1185 Vestal Ave., Ste. 3, Binghamton, NY 13903
Phone: (607) 722-5767
Cuisine: Chinese
Price: Less than $10 per person
Review:
Sometimes I get these cravings for Chinese take-out for lunch, and the Triple Cities have many options in that regard that are always very quick and inexpensive, but variable in quality. Moon Star in Endwell and Foliage on Riverside Dr. in Johnson City are a couple good ones that I've found, but I'd heard some good things about Fu Star on Binghamton's South Side, and so off I went to try it out.
Fu Star is located in a small plaza on the South Side, behind Thirsty's and across the street from Whole in the Wall and South Side Yanni's. The restaurant is small but has a few tables available if you choose to eat there. My guess is that 90% of their business is take-out. The small store is clean, but does not offer anything by way of ambiance. Which is fine. I do not expect much from these sorts of places.
With it being around 1:00 PM, I opted to order a Lunch Special, which features one of about 25 different entree options (the usual ones) served with your choice of white or fried rice. To me, this is kind of "meh" for a special. Many of the other places offer soup or an eggroll, or at least a beverage as part of their special; Fu Star did not. Cripes. But I was hopeful that the General Tso's Chicken with pork fried rice I ordered would be up to snuff.
Within 5 minutes my order was ready. Be sure to bring cash if you're going to Fu Star, as they do not accept credit cards. It's 2011 and they don't take credit. Come on! Anyway, $5.35 later, I was out the door. A pretty good deal.
Unfortunately, I did not care for this meal at all. As soon as I opened the packaging, I knew this was going to be subpar Chinese due to the glossy, syrupy appearance of the chicken. I am usually a pretty big fan of General Tso's. I like it best when the spicy quotient is amped up and the sweet component is secondary. This was the exact opposite of my preference. Sugar-sweet chicken that wasn't spicy at all. The rice was pretty much par for the course, a little dried out. And no fortune cookie in the bag? What's that all about?
Here's how the missing fortune should've read: You will never return to Fu Star Chinese Restaurant.
Grade: D
I was happy to see that you reviewed Fu Star. It's unfortunate that you had a sub-par experience. Fu-Star is a weekly spot for my girlfriend and I and we love it. It's not about ambiance at all, but delivers consistent, decent, straightforward American-Chinese food. I have heard rumor that Fu Star has family connections to Foliage and therefore a similar approaches to their recipes. (I used to be a big fan of Foliage until they changed many of their sauces and ingredients). I have noticed one of the chefs from the kitchen at Foliage is at Fu Star and has been for a few years now. In any event, I just wanted to say that Fu Star has the best Garlic Sauce in the Triple Cities and always alters the spice content upon request. Their vegetable dumplings are large (unlike most which are the smaller dumplings) and are fantastic. The won ton soup is always hot and tasty. I highly recommend their garlic sauce dishes and dumplings. Hopefully the grade D doesn't detour you, or others from another chance. Moon Star is great, but a bit oily. China Lake is excellent as well, but an "experience" and a bit of a wait (but worth it). Thanks for your reviews. As a fellow "foodie" living in the Binghamton area, it's nice to see this blog being maintained and explored. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, thank you for the comment. I am certainly willing to give Fu Star another shot--I will try something with the garlic sauce next time around. I'll also hope to check out China Lake at some point soon. I have heard good things about it from several people, so I am eager to try it out. Expect a review in the near future!
ReplyDeleteChina Lake, is in my opinion, the best Chinese food within an hour's radius of Binghamton. And since I haven't tried the best of Syracuse yet, it might be even better.
ReplyDeleteI recommend ordering off the chinese menu, if she'll give it to you. I recommend Beef with barbecue sauce and the 3 flavors chicken. If you're going there with other people, ask her what's "not on the menu," such as the soup dumplings. You will be pleased.
I wasn't a fan of Fu Star, but they have some ridiculously greasey (read: tasty) shrimp toast. It's a guilty pleasure. The rest of what I have tried has only been meh.
BokGwai, thanks for reading. I am definitely getting excited about trying China Lake. I really don't know why it's taken me this long to go there. I guess I hadn't heard too much about it from anyone, and it looks like a hole in the wall. But sometimes those kinds of places are the very best! I will be sure to ask about the non-American Chinese menu.
ReplyDeleteSorry for a short response due to te fact I'm on my phone but I literally live across the street from Fu star and am a frequent customer. I'm usually one of those customers that orders the same thing no matter which Chinese restaurant I go to and pretty much always is satisfied despite the quality of the food, however the beef with broccoli is amazing considering I always get it and I've tried it at probably over 40+ restaurants, I really believe that it's one of the best especially if eaten fresh. The quality of the beef surpasses all others and the broccoli is fresh but is flavorful. After reading some reviews on other sides I decided to increase my menu selection and tried the pork egg foo young and I was not disappointed. The sauce/gravy is unlike any other I have ever eaten it was made fresh was not salty infact it had a slightly sweet quality to it. I've tried eating it straight up and also breaking it up and mixing into the rice both ways are magnificent. But to be completely honest as of late I feel their fried rice is getting worse I've had it three times with slightly undercooked rice but other than that it is one of my favorite Chinese takeouts and I ask that you give it another try... Lol guess it wasn't exactly short but thnx for blogging
ReplyDelete>The small store is clean<
ReplyDelete?? Did you take a close look at the telephone? Do so and realize at time sthe cooks take phone orders and them go a and touch raw food directly. I first noticed this a few years ago, and walked out after ordering after seeing MY cook take a phone order and then start making my order.
Went back a year or so later to see if any different and no different. Went back two months ago to order some rice tp go with some wings I got at Dominos in the same plaza and it was the same. Three strikes. They're out!
I got general tso's yesterday, then again today. Comes to $5.40 for the lunch special. I get it with white rice so I can not comment on their fried rice as I have never had it. It only takes them 10 minutes to cook it, which is great. I asked them to make it spicier this time, as the first time it was really saucy and gooey and too sweet. This time was just right, the cook also added in little scallions with the sauce to make it spicier. I noticed that people were complaining that they do not take credit cards. I sell credit card processing, and offered them my services. Lets see if I get a call back. Lesson learned: ask for your gerneral tso's to be spicy. Fantastic!
ReplyDeleteAnd there is a front lady that answers the phone. Never seen the cook answer it.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, they make the best Orange Beef on the planet. Absolutely killer stuff. Nobody else anywhere makes anything like it. They also make their own egg rolls, from scratch.
ReplyDeleteI won't eat any other Chinese food in the area. I have been in love with their sweet and sour chicken since the day it opened.
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