ENTERTAINMENT DELICIOUS, AUTHENTIC AND CLOSE TO CAMPUS — MR. CHEN’S RESTAURANT REVIEW

Delicious, authentic, close to campus and affordable? That’s Mr. Chen’s Authentic Restaurant.

This restaurant is a combination of a restaurant and an Asian grocery store. When you first enter you can either go left to enter the store area or head right where the restaurant is.

Once you get to the restaurant you will be greeted by the staff and they will ask you if you’re here to dine in or out.

If you’re dining in you will be taken to a seat and handed a menu. Same process as usual. They will give you a menu and leave you to decide.

The food selection is good. They have appetizers like egg rolls, crab wontons and more. They offer cold plates, various forms of rice and noodles, soups, chicken vegetables, seafood and so much more.

I recommend the Curry Rice. It’s one of my favorites and while you’re at it grab some crab wontons too.

There are so many options to choose from it can be overwhelming. That’s why I like their website. Through their website, you can look at everything they have to offer and take your time deciding.

While you look through the menu, you can already have a table reserved for you and your party so you won’t have to worry about whether there will be a table available or not! Then when you get there you can order and not feel embarrassed if you’re a slow orderer like I am.

Now the portions are pretty big. I tend to have enough food to get full the day of getting it and some for the day after. I test just with the main meal. If you add appetizers to that, I’m sure it could be more.

The price of the food isn’t anything too ridiculous. You won’t pay $25 for chicken and rice. When I get Curry Rice I tend to pay about $13 for it and eat it for two days.

The prices here range from $1.50 for a spring roll to $17.95 for a seafood clay pot. Now I’ve personally never tried that but I bet it would be delicious seeing as how everything I have tried so far has been wonderful.

They also sell boba and slushies. I am a boba-obsessed fiend so I always get the Large Taro.

Though their boba options aren’t as large as some places, being only about four minutes away from UA Little Rock makes it worth the trip.

They do have the basics though like Matcha, Taro, Thai Tea and more. Now, unfortunately, you can’t purchase the boba on their website. You can only order it in person at their restaurant. You can order it to-go, though it’s not necessary to stay and eat or anything like that.

I will mention that if you do decide to go to Mr. Chens it’s not in the most convenient area.

Little Rock is one of the most dangerous cities in Arkansas. There tend to be homeless people around and for some reason, police are almost always there. Things always get weird at night. Earlier would be better.

The last con with Mr. Chen’s Authentic Chinese Restaurant is their lack of desserts.

A shame really, but it’s good the restaurant is connected to a store. If you like sweets as much as I do, I HIGHLY recommend the Takoyaki.

It is a fish-shaped ice cream sandwich with different ice cream fillings. A favorite of mine is the matcha and red bean.

It is so remarkable that words can’t express it fully. They even have steam buns with different fillings inside too. They only come in a pack of 10 so you might want to share them.

There are various kinds of mochi too! There is so much to see and look at both in the restaurant and the store. Everything is so interesting and nice to look at. If you’re looking for food, boba, ramen, interesting sweets or anything else, I highly recommend Mr. Chen’s Authentic Chinese Restaurant.

BY ZYKEYAH EASTER