Ling Express Wins by Default

 A couple of weeks ago, I was going to do a comparison between two local Chinese restaurants. One of them being Mr. Li's on John Moore near Bloomingdale Avenue and the other restaurant I checked out was the Ling Express in Bloomingdale Square at Bell Shoals Road and Bloomingdale Avenue.

Not known for it's seating (I'm told there are two tables), the Ling Express is better known as a delivery service restaurant. I got my food from Ling Express delivered during the weekend and, just to keep it fair, I was going to get the same order "to go" from Mr.Li's.

Upon arriving at Mr. Li's, I found it to be closed down and the new Latin Cafe 2000 crew hard at work. You remember the executive chef and owner of the Latin Cafe 2000, Anderson Ruiz? I did an article on him as Chef of the Week a couple of months ago and I told you he was upwardly mobile. Well, he's opening a new store and his construction team was hard at work building columns as I write. Hard work has its rewards and I can't wait for it to open.

While I find myself in front of my computer singing my rendition of Queen's, "Another One Bites The Dust," I can't help but think of Mr. Li's closing. It just goes to show you, if you're not doing the job better than the other guy in the restaurant industry, you are going to close down. Ling Express wins this competition by default since it is the last one standing.

I got my food from the delivery guy fairly quick, especially for a weekend. It was reasonably priced and the staff was very accommodating over the phone but that quickly changed.

I ordered my shrimp fried rice with extra jumbo shrimp and no sprouts. Before anyone starts, I realize that bean sprouts are super healthy for you but I just don't like the way they feel in my mouth. EW! So, naturally, when the order arrived with bean sprouts, I called to speak with a manager. I'm really not sure what I was expecting as an outcome, but I surely wasn't expecting to get yelled at for calling and interrupting her busy night. This seemingly nice lady took the phone from the employee and asked me what was wrong. I never mentioned any type of problem with the employee; I simply asked to speak to a manager. She didn't ask me if there was anything she could help me with or not even a 'How may I direct your call?' Instead, the first words out of her mouth was, "What's wrong?"

Then she began to tell me that there were no bean sprouts in the food because she checks out all the food personally before it goes out.

At the time I was a little bit miffed, but now that I think of it, how ingenious is that? She got to vent her frustration and I got what was coming to me. I was left sitting there feeling alone and helpless, and she got to go back to work with a smile on her face knowing she just told off a fool who expected something to be done because he found a bean sprout in his food. Nutcase on the phone handled---she got to check that one off on her to-do list for the day.

Back to the food, except for the sprouts, the rice was perfect. The shrimp were huge and many, and the onions crisp and tiny as they should be cooked when you saute' in a wok. The Crab Rangoon and Potstickers (steamed dumplings) were perfect, also. They even sent me the homemade hot mustard as I requested instead of that packaged nonsense they normally give away. My fortune cookie said I was going to meet the girl of my dreams and my lucky numbers didn't pan out. It's just as well because my wife wouldn't buy that girl of my dreams nonsense, even if the cookie told me so. I'm giving these guys three stars, even though there were bean sprouts in my rice. Later, Roy

1 Star--Wouldn't go back on a bet

2 Star--Would have to go back, but only on a bet

3 Star--If I was in the neighborhood and hungry

4 Star--Would go out of my way even if I wasn't hungry

5 Star--Would make reservations and wait in a line