The Orient in Bethpage, NY

Here we go!  Our first review (but actually our second restaurant on our quest… stay tuned for the second first review!).

Highly recommended, The Orient didn’t disappoint.  Is it the best?  No. But we have a baseline now.  The Orient is located at 623 Hicksville Road in Bethpage, NY.  We got there at 6:00 PM. They don’t take reservations, and they don’t have a liquor license.  We brought our own wine (not subject to the view of this blog, sorry).  Of course, I brought a magnum (what else would I bring?) of Chardonnay.  It went down smooth, and before the night was over, we opened a Mee Tsu Yan’s magnum (in my honor?) of Pinot Grigio.

The front help desk was welcoming, and soon we were seated.

We were quickly greeted by the Waitress, who was very gracious, and made sure we were going to have a good evening.  There was no issue with us bringing out our own wine (thank goodness I brought a cork screw as I’m not certain that they had one for our use.  They quickly put four wine glasses down (unfortunately, Mee Gonzi Biao couldn’t make it this evening).  Our waitress suggested some items for us that weren’t on the menu.  The House Special Wonton Soup, I thought, was exceptionally good.

In quick order, we had the soup served.  It was delicious, though we found the soup bowls to be a little small.  No biggie, as we quickly emptied them and polished off the rest of the soup that wasn’t initially served.  Next came an order of spare ribs (this is going to be one of our baseline dishes… the constant to compare across restaurants.  This was a disappointment as they looked scrumptious, but tasted ordinary.

Said Mee Yong Joo –

Food was great. Pricing was good. I wasn’t crazy about the decor.  I like cozy and warm rooms.

Mee Tsu Yan had the most to say about tonight’s offering –

You’ve been to a good Chinese restaurant when you wake up in the morning and go straight to the refrigerator to look for the white take out boxes with the silver metal handles. Such was the case when I recently visited The Orient restaurant.

We pulled up to the restaurant in Bethpage in an area that I had never been to before. The restaurant is next door to a very discreet strip joint, which may or may not be convenient for some.

The decor was Old School Chinese Restaurant. The wait staff was friendly and eager to help us pick out some authentic dishes. The ribs arrived to the table looking like they were going to be winners.

They were meaty, but tasted very bland. So disappointing! We order a Hong Kong style soup for the table that really hit the spot. Then come the entrees. One was a chicken dish, one a beef dish, and shrimp and scallops in a black bean sauce. I have to say they were tasty indeed. Overall, I would definitely go back, and plan to return with Mrs Mee.  All for now from the North Shore of LI.

And now, our quantitative analysis:

Stay tuned as we venture along on our great journey.  If you’ve got any suggestions, please post a comment/review, or email us!

Chop Chop!

– Mee Magnum