Subpar service side, the menu and price is right for students needing their Chinese food fix.

Located in a strip mall wedged between a grocery store and a tax services place hides a sub-par delicious Chinese food restaurant conveniently located minutes from the American River College campus. The Pearl House restaurant in Citrus Heights serves great food at reasonable prices ranging from $7.95 and up.
However, the service was inconsistent enough to make this reviewer question if she would ever come back.

We must have arrived at an awkward time because the workers of the restaurant were eating in a round family size table in the middle of the restaurant. The “host” rose from their table minutes after seeing us standing and seated us a couple feet away from them. She put the menus down and walked away. She seemed angry that we interrupted her meal.

Confused, we took the menus and started deciding what to eat. When we were ready to order the “hosts” was nowhere to be found. We waited and the waitress finally came and we gave her our order of beef pot stickers, chicken chow mein, mixed vegetable beef, and orange chicken. We ordered white rice with the orange chicken and mixed vegetable beef.

Minutes passed before the waitress came with our food. She placed massive-sized family portions of the food we ordered on the table.

The orange chicken was not orange but red and fried almost to perfection. There were little slivers of orange peels mixed in with the chicken. The chicken was very tender and balanced with the right amount of sauce.
The chicken chow mein was made with thick noodles. I have never eaten chicken chow mein with thick noodles before. Surprisingly, the thickness of the noodles did not take away from the grand flavor.
The mixed vegetable beef was nothing special. The dish came with broccoli, zucchini pieces, snap peas, carrots and water chestnuts drenched in sauce. The beef was easy to tear through. I personally think it would have been better if the beef was tougher.

The beef pot stickers were doughy; as if they weren’t fried long enough, but when dipped in the teriyaki sauce it created an amazingly tangy, but not too sweet flavor combination.
The white rice that accompanied the orange chicken and mixed vegetable beef tasted undercooked.

We finished our meals and sat there. The last time we saw the waitress’ was when she dropped off the food. She never came back to check on us. The couple that sat in the booth in front of us had to raise their hand to get the waitress’ attention.

Overall, the place is affordable and perfect if you want some alone time and good food. The restaurant has the potential to be unforgettable if the service was better.

Pearl House Restaurant
6053 Greenback Lane
Citrus Heights
95621

dokesd@imail.losrios.edu