A Chat with China Bistro

Craving Chinese food? Now you can get it any time you drive through Rocky Ridge with a new restaurant on Morgan Drive that’s open for lunch and dinner. Their lunch menu board gives a quick overview of menu options—Sesame Chicken, Chicken with Broccoli, General Tso’s Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Mongolian Beef, Kung Pao Chicken, plus 23 more dishes just on the lunch menu all served with fried rice and an egg roll. Flip to the dinner side of the menu and you’ll find 12 chef specialty dishes along with 19 chicken dishes, 11 beef dishes, and 11 pork and veggies ones, and that’s not counting fried rice dishes, appetizers and soups. You should also know you can order family dinners for two to six people that include soup, egg rolls and crab Rangoon. China Bistro is open Monday-Saturday 11a.m.-9:30 p.m., and on Sunday they close at 9 p.m. For easy carry-out reference, you can call them up at 205-582-2098 to place an order. To learn more about how the restaurant came to be, we chatted with its owner Dong Daoi.

How did you pick this location?

We have had a restaurant in Mountain Brook, Wok Express, on Overton Road by the Publix for 10 years. This new one is a good location and neighborhood. It’s pretty similar to Mountain Brook. We are enjoying it and getting a lot of carry out orders.

What are your favorite menu items?

I like a little bit spicy. Hunan is my favorite and General Tso’s Chicken. Mongolian Beef and Sesame Chicken (pictured) are popular.

How did you end up in Birmingham?

I am from South China, which is like Alabama where it’s not too hot, not too cold. I used to live in New York, but I didn’t like how it was so busy and so cold. So I moved here in 1996, almost 24 years ago. I worked in restaurants in New York for a couple of years, but I had friends working here. I like it here, so I am not going to move anywhere.