Rose Garden Restaurant

New owners have made some bad changes but fixable. For the Almond chicken, they need to use less batter. If they simply did this, it would come out better and much less dry. It's too hard and crispy. The gravy should also be lighter. Use a better wrapper for the egg roll. If you want to stay in business, you will need to bring some quality to the original food because most customers here have been around for 40 years. You don't want to lose them!

Great restaurant! Very relaxing inside with great decor, service and food. Love that I can get Thai and/or Chinese food. I had the war bar soup, papaya salad , and gai kow. Soup was very flavorful, loaded with veggies and also had ham, chicken and shrimp. Papaya salad was a standout. Julienned green papaya in an sweet and sour sauce infused with fish sauce along with tomatoes , peanuts and shrimp. I really love this salad and this is the best papaya salad that I ever had. Spice level is on point. I got it extra hot and it was extra hot. The gai kow was loaded with chicken and veggies - plenty of bok choy which I love. Fantastic service and very clean inside. They gained a customer! Looking forward to going back again.

I grew up a few blocks from here where my parents have lived for almost 35 years. New Owners bought it out in the middle of Covid, and a lot of the neighborhood was excited.

We tried it twice now: once right after they reopened, and tonight. The first time was horrible - absolutely no flavor in our food... but we decided to give them another shot tonight since this was the spot for our family for over 30 years.

This was a CARRYOUT. On picking it up, they look to be following Covid suggestions very well. Tables are spaced apart, and even those picking up are guided to stand in a way to maximize safety. The register also has a plexiglass barrier. If you need soy sauces, chopsticks, or fortune cookies and they don't ask, be sure to say something because those are handled at the register.

We ordered [Beef Chop Suey], [Egg Foo Yung], [Kung Pow Chicken], [Fried Rice], and an [Egg Roll].

First, the new owners got rid of the standard paper Chinese food containers with the metal handle for the main courses (which is blasphemous), and substituted it with styrofoam. Any Chinese Food place that uses styrofoam is throwing any hint of a care about Feng Shui out the window. It shows they don't care about the traditions or culture... let alone the environment.
To make matters worse, THE PACKAGES LEAK! They're obviously aware since they put them into plastic bags - that are opened on the sides! Reaching in to pull out the styrofoam containers pretty much guarantees that your hand is going to be covered in slime. Whomever thought this was a smart switch... is an idiot.

The [Egg Foo Yung], which is normally flattened like a pancake was a ball the size of a grapefruit... and the center was not cooked. We cooked it here until it was safe, but it had no real flavor. The brown gravy that came with it was salty enough to help, but not by much. Still, we considered that an improvement since the first time is was just brown water with barely enough flour to thicken it. To compare, most places have it served like a pancake, evenly cooked with spices in it to pull the contrast in textures between the eggs and vegetables together. This place does not know how to do that.

The [Beef Chop Suey] - our family's favorite here for decades - fared no better. The first time we got it, it was 96% bean sprouts, 3% celery/bok choy, and 1% beef.. with absolutely no flavor. My Dad had a whole plate's worth (a giant portion if you know my Dad), and he has no beef in it.
Tonight the ratios were definitely improved, as the bean sprouts were about 90%, celery/bok choy at 5%, and the beef at 5%. It goes to show that the books are just grabbing and throwing in ingredients at random, as there is no consistency. The flavor was also improved, but with almost all of the ingredients now being a dish that's 90% bean sprouts.. it is absolutely not worth the cost.

The [Kung Pow Chicken] (their spelling of it) was just... weird. First, every other place I've been to spells it 'Kung Pao', and what makes it stand out are the fresh ingredients in a light sauce with a spicy kick. If that is what you're used to too, do notttt order this from here.
Instead, you get an odd mix of red/green peppers, PEAS (seriously.. peas), and some other diced veggies in a brown gravy that looks like the same stuff they use for the Egg Foo Yung. There is no heat to this at all.. gone are the ubiquitous szechuan peppers that define the meal everywhere else. I will point out that they drop a handful of cashews on top... but they're not fooling anyone.

The [Fried Rice] was par. Not huge on flavor, but not ruined either.

The [Egg Roll] which used to win awards after award in Detroit for the best one, seemed to be missing a lot of the ingredients that used to be inside. Instead of a good mix, it's now... you guessed it.. 90% bean sprouts. And the flavor was charred fryer.

This place has unfortunately been ruined be owners who seem to only care about using the culture for profit.

If you're craving good Chinese or Thai, there are MUCH better options in the area:
* DYNASTY CHINESE on Ford Road and John Daly (across from Target). VERY large portions, and they don't skimp on flavor
* LUCKY WOK (Chinese) on the corner of Ford Road and Middlebelt in the shopping center by Planet Fitness and the dollar store. Great flavor and variety. Plus, they used to deliver for free... (here's hoping that option comes back)!
* BANGKOK 96 (Thai) on Telegraph Road just South of Michigan Avenue. The owners there are so good at what they do that the main chef has been on several TV shows, caters for movies in the area, and is often flown out to cook for international diplomats when they visit.

All in all, my parents and siblings were quick to sadly confess that there's no way we'd consider coming back here when there are places with cheaper, better, or even cheaper AND better Asian food in the area.

My son picked up three orders of sweet & sour chicken and one order of pepper steak...and the food was nothing like it used to be. Started going there years prior to taking my wife there in 1985 but the pandemic put the brakes on our frequent visits.

We were sad when they sold their liquor license back in the day but having the taste of the food change so radically means we'll have to find a new favorite restaurant...and we've already tried since we've moved about 40 miles away from when we first started going and nobody came close to how good the food was.

Anyway, this time everything seemed laden with grease, so much so that the eggroll balked at accepting the plum sauce. The chicken was overcooked (dried out) and some sort of parchment-type paper was lining the styro under the chicken, the "brown" rice was way more brown and tasted weird, the pepper steak was salty, and the fortune cookie was stale.

On the positive side the portion sizes were good and both the plum sauce and the actual sweet & sour sauce was very good, like it has always been and part of what we look for in other restaurants but unsuccessfully so far.

Becoming a successful Chinese restaurant in the United States is tricky. You need to cater to the American palate, but still be authentic enough to be considered a reputable Chinese joint.
With more than 41,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States to make it 40 plus years means they doing something great up in here.
Entered a 1975 rich wood paneling dining room with beautiful decorative interesting interior filled with Art and Waterfall. Super dark lighting make for a relaxing enjoyable meal. Starting with the very best ever Hot Sour Soup so unique has Shrimps, Pork n Chicken OMG outstanding. Moo Shu Chicken and Shrimp Balls WOWED be Shrimps dipped in Egg Batter n Deep Fried FABULOUS food find. Going back really soon Love the older Chinese restaurants, just not for everyone who like to complain about the littlest things as I read the reviews around the Web. #rosegardenrestaurant #mooshu #shrimpballs #hotsoursoup #downriverfriendseat #letsguide #motorcitymunchers

Still my favorite restaurant for Chinese food. I like the beef chow, but everything is actually good. I really don't know of any better place around where the food is consistently good. There a dish that has chicken breast stuffed with ham that is really good. And the shrimp in lobster sauce is a good one as well. My son likes their sweet and sour pork to. A large bowl of wonton soup here makes a meal with the sliced pork in it. .

My family has been ordering take out here since I can remember... probably at least 25 years! I love their food so much. The pepper steak is my favorite! It is our tradition to order from here every Christmas Eve. Definitely my favorite Chinese restaurant.

Been coming here for years! This Chinese restaurant has the best egg roll in the area. My wife and I will get the sweet and sour chicken with a side of shrimp fried rice. Runner up is the almond chicken. Every once In a while we will try something else, but nothing comes close to these two dishes. Even though I grew up and bought a house 30 minutes from here, my wife and I still make the trek to get our (American) Chinese food from here (to go)... and we live really close to Best China. Place has a divey/hole in the wall feel to it and I've probably only eaten inside here 1-2 times in the 15+ years of going here. Carry out order never takes more than 15 minutes. Only complaint is they forget to put a hot mustard in there from time to time.

My family's favorite Chinese restaurant for thirty+ years! They've won Best Egg Roll numerous times by the Free Press. I love their moo shu pork or chicken. Almond chicken is the best. Sweet and sour chicken of course. Egg foo young! I could go on and on. The owner Connie has been there since I was a little girl making wishes in their fountain (they all came true!) and collecting their cocktail decorations.

Very good food! The service is a hit and miss sometimes the older ladies are rude i dont think they know that they are being rude at times! I've been going in there for many years they have always acted the same i dont pay attention to it or take it to heart some people are just that way! The food is good,the wonton soup tho the wontons were a bit tuff to eat the broth was really light not salted enough. The egg rolls are made with soy beans and baby shrimps the shrimps are tuff the egg still was good. The rice that comes with your meal wasnt that great this time, however if you ask for shrimp fried rice its much better. The Szechuan Chicken had lots of flavor the chicken wasnt tender but i like fact i could taste that its real chicken breast. The food is not overly seasoned. I will go back i always do but no more wonton soup for from there.