Lotus Garden (James Island, SC)

There are few comforts in life more rewarding than ordering Chinese food straight from your favorite couch. Soon, technology will allow us to beam the food right to our table, but for now delivery will be a close second. My girlfriend and I had a craving for some fried dough and MSG, so we called Lotus Garden right down the road. Despite being close in proximity, the delivery time was upwards of twenty minutes. That we looked past because we were hungry. We had the sweet and sour chicken, the brown rice with veggies, and suchlike.

Now on to the real reason we're all here: the sweet, sweet delicate deliciousness of the dumpling. The first bite was savory, not too sweet, not too salty. The dough to pork ratio was appropriate - still hot, still fresh. We devoured them quickly and without remorse, the stains of soy sauce blotting the table like a Rorschach pattern. Alas, they were gone, and our appetites were hardly satiated -- that is the effect of MSG on the pallet. Despite our ferocious devouring of the dumplings, their rating is now overwhelming. They were good, but not great. Delicious, but not impeccable.

Four stars out of five for Lotus Garden of James Island. Remember, we must reserve five star ratings for the true connoisseurs.

4 out of 5

Tyuck!

Asia Lee (Franklin, NJ)

When a new Chinese place opens, it's my duty to deliver a new dumpling review for it. Asia Lee is somewhat new. It meets all my criteria for a go to Chinese place, used to be an old tire shop, Check, limited number of tables, Check, visibly empty a good majority of time, Check. With all that going for it, I was very excited to give these a whirl.

I usually go with pan fried dumplings, the far superior alternative to steamed dumplings, however, this time around it was steamed dumplings and fried them up myself. I have to say this dumpling fell well short of its potential. You would think a dumpling made in an old garage would be a delectable gem, these were far from it.  Give me some flavor Asia lee. These dumplings were some of the most bland, I have had in a long time. They were very reminiscent of those dumplings at Chinese buffets. Sauce was eh, Dough was eh, and filling was basically devoid of all flavor. Not the stellar dumpling, you would expect from a small, dive like Chinese place.

There are far superior dumplings in the area, but if you found yourself stranded in Franklin on Rt. 23, and dumplings are the only thing that can and will help you in a predicament like that, than by all means stop on in to the former ice cream shop turned sushi/Sichuan/Japanese/thai/Chinese fusion they got going on and grab some.

1.75 out of 5

Good Job, Good Effort.

Eric