Lee Garden – Atlanta Restaurant Review – Chinese

CHICKEN WINGS ARE GREAT for throwing. Sitting next to a large table with an entire family, I felt a chicken wing thunk against my head. I was deep in a plate of beef stew over rice when a fried chicken wing took flight and made me notice a little 3 year old chinese boy staring at me, laughing.

Immediately his grand mother, sitting closest to me, started apologizing profusely in mandarin before the mother and grandfather joined in. ‘Ni hao’ I said to the boy, waving at him and showing everyone that I was okay. Much to the boy’s sadness, the chicken wing had caused no brain damage.

The grandfather started asking me questions in mandarin and I was completely lost. Once again I recited my basic Pimsleur and once again the game was up.

Note to self: STOP PRETENDING LIKE YOU KNOW CHINESE.

Pointing at my food the grandfather tells me that he never sees anyone except chinese eating what I ordered for lunch that day. This is because it’s from the chinese menu and not the regular menu printed in english.

Yes I know, I surprised myself and ordered from the chinese menu. Not intimidated by the hanzii and unknown characters. Not afraid to order blind, to order food that might not be to my liking. I was fearless! I charted uncharted territory! I am not like everyone else in Alpharetta! I’m in the know, I’m cool, I’m just an all around great guy!

Well, except for the fact that while they have a separate chinese menu, it was translated a while ago and now you can order from both without being able to read chinese (if you can actually find it). But most people never order from the chinese menu due to the unexciting translated names such as ‘beef stew over rice’, ‘pork hock soup’, etc. These names are always poor indicators of how good your food is going to be. My food that day was better than any of the ‘regular’ food, better than sweet and sour, better than kung pao everything.

Having apprenticed in Shanghai, ‘Lee’ moved to Georgia and started cooking offerings that appeal to suburbia while throwing in some dishes from home. Unlike many of the competitors nearby, seafood is an option worth trying here.

Looking at what the family ordered, I saw big bowls full of steaming hot soups and stews. The broth fogging up glasses and warming everyone’s face. The little boy happily made attempts at eating his rice, eventually needing help every now then. I arrived at the end of the lunch rush and now the restaurant was near empty except for me and this family. I told them about my planned month in China during April and they told me how much they missed living there.

Leaving Hubei, the grandparents came to America wanting something different for their son. Like many immigrants, they left with almost nothing and worked hard the second they arrived, moving from place to place until eventually settling here in Atlanta where their son grew up and married a woman also from China. Eventually they had a child and one day he threw a chicken wing at my head.

Tags: Lee. Garden. Alpharetta. Chinese. Authentic. Atlanta. Restaurant. Review.

Lee Garden
11770 Haynes Bridge Rd
Alpharetta, GA 30004
(770) 740-1698