Review: Asia Bistro

Hello dear readers...those of you that are still here after my lazy ass hasn't posted for over a month anyway.  Well, for those of you that have stuck around I wanted to take a little time today to share with you a review of one of my favorite types of cuisine, take-out Chinese.  I've written about it on here before, and you might remember that my unabashed favorite is Hong Kong Cuisine at 126th and Highway 37.  Sometimes though when you see a new place open up it's at least worth trying to shake things up a bit.  That's what I did with Asia Bistro.

Asia Bistro is located in the plaza at 116th and Allisonville between Marsh and Little Caesars.  I believe the shopping center is Fishers Station maybe? One of you feel free to correct me in the comments if I'm wrong. In any case I decided this place was worth a go for Chinese takeout because it is on my direct route home from work, and if it was as good as Hong Kong it would be endlessly more convienient for me when picking up dinner.  However, I knew that was probably going to be a tall order.

When I walked in I saw the usual setup.  Depiste having "bistro" in the name it was more or less the same as every takeout place you've ever been to with the same menu.  To keep consistent and to make good comparisons I ordered my usual dish, chicken with garlic sauce, while opting for an egg roll as my side along with fried rice.  I also picked up an order of steamed dumplings.  The first thing I noticed when I opened up my container was that it more or less looked like the same dish I get from Hong Kong, but the awesome garlicky smell wasn't there.  Unfortunately, the lack of smell carried over to lack of flavor.  When I order something with "garlic" in the name I expect to be punched in the mouth with the flavor of it.  Here it was barely noticeable at all.  There was slightly more heat (not very much) than the same dish at Hong Kong, but it didn't really translate to more flavorful food.  The veggies and chicken were cooked alright, but without the sauce being right it just wasn't enough.  The fried rice was also inferior.  While not as stale and "neon yellow" as I've had at other places it wasn't better than my standard.  The dumplings were good.  The meat inside was juicy and the wrapper on the outside had a good texture, but Chinese takeout places around here have yet to even come close to matching the delicious dumplings served at First Wok in Muncie, IN.  They just do them better, and their dumpling dipping sauce has a big kick.  Not just soy in the cup.

I have to say I was really disappointed here.  I so badly wanted this place to exceed my expectations so it could become my new go-to.   Also, I believe they deliver which isn't something any other Chinese places in the area are doing.  Unfortunately I don't think the food was good enough to ever make me go back.  Ratings time

Taste 5/10 Not great.  Not horrible. Not worth going back.

Value 3/10 With food that isn't as good as my favorite and similar prices the value score has to suffer a bit.