Willowgate II

Well it's been awhile since we've tried something new, but we finally did over the 4th of July weekend. Both of us love Chinese food, but we're also picky about it. We're not as big of fans of the two closest take out places to us anymore (sorry Heights residents if you still love either place, we just feel that the quality isn't there anymore). We like a couple of higher end type places, but you have to drive a little to get to them and they're a bit spendy in price.

Nate suggested Chinese for dinner on Friday night and it sounded fantastic to me. He decided to simply Google Chinese restaurants near our zipcode. He came up with Willowgate II. Willowgate is located in Roseville and is sort of tucked away from the main drag if you will. It's almost overshadowed by nearby Applebees, Red Lobster, Bakers Square and Good Earth. But, we found it and boy were we happy we did.

It's super cute on the outside, they have a stone replica of the Great Wall of China, I read online that they added this when they reopened after remodeling in 2000 to great fanfare. This was when they added the "II" to their name. They have actually been around since 1983.

We stepped inside and were seated immediately, nothing too exciting about the inside decor, in fact they had the lights kind of dim, but there were plenty of people enjoying dinner. The menu is HUGE. It could almost be overwhelming in way, but they also help make it easier by offering combination specials and dinner specials to help you hone in on something. We were served hot tea and water and then left to scan the menu. We both decided on the combo specials, for $6.95 you got a choice of soup or salad, an appetizer and then one of their entree selections. I chose egg drop soup, cream cheese wontons and then chicken chow mein and sweet and sour shrimp. Nate chose hot and sour soup, egg rolls and sesame chicken.

They brought the soup out and it was a nice small sized bowl, just enough to wet your appetite. Hands down it was the best egg drop soup I have ever had! It was light in flavor, nice and warm and didn't leave me feeling overstuffed or anything. Nate enjoyed his hot and sour too, he said there was pork in it which you don't always get with hot and sour soup. He really liked the flavors and also agreed it was just enough as a starter.

The pace was great, we enjoyed a little more tea and a chance to talk a bit and then they brought our entrees, which included the appetizer but that was fine with me.

It may sound like I had a ton of food on my plate, but it wasn't too bad. Half of the plate was chicken chow mein, half was the sweet and sour shrimp and then there was fried rice kind of in the middle. I also had two cream cheese wontons. Some Chinese places heap so much food on your plate it's hard to dig in. Not the case here, but I wasn't feeling like I was gyped either. I started with the wonton - it was heaven! Nice and crispy, tasty shell, just enough cream cheese with a touch of sweetness. I haven't had wontons that good since a place we used to visit called the Saigon Star closed. Then I moved on to the chicken and rice - again, fantastic. The rice was perfect, the chicken had a great tasting gravy, mixed in with some chinese noodles. I like my celery nice and mushy and it was done exactly that way. Then I moved on to the shrimp - also very tasty, I loved the sauce, it wasn't too sticky or heavy like some sweet and sour sauces and had just enough tang and sweetness combined.

Nate let me taste his egg roll - again, wonderful. I am not a big fan of them normally, but this was good, not overly cabbage flavored, nice blend of veggies and the sauce was actual fish sauce which you don't always get according to Nate. He was pleased. His sesame chicken was very good as well, sauce was a little tangy without being too much, in fact he said next time he'd ask for it a little hotter since they gave you a choice of mild, medium or hot. But he still enjoyed it along with his fried rice too.

We purposely made sure we brought leftovers home since nothing beats leftover Chinese, especially good Chinese! The best part was the bill - around $15 for both of us. It is so rare to have a bill that low when you go someplace like that. We almost ordered a piece of their cheesecake to go just because the bill was so low! It probably helps that we stuck with the complimentary tea and water as our beverages. I did notice their wine list looked interesting - plum wine, sake, and another oriental wine were among the choices. They also listed several beers. Might be worth going back and trying one of them sometime.

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Willowgate, it was a short drive, great service, outstanding food, we will be back!!