Lee’s Xpress

Good prices fast service, friendly staff.
Food is fresh and cooked in an open kitchen which is very clean.

We got takeout and fed eleven people for $ 77 dollars. Everything was just great, plentiful and good variety of veggies in the veggie dish and the man who cooked and the woman who waited on us were very nice and helpful. And we got two orders of chicken wings for free. It will become a staple for us.

I was excited to try a new place and chose this one. When I placed my order, i saw something else i wanted to try so i cancelled the first dish before the server left the table. Instead, he put in BOTH dishes in. When it was brought to the table, I said to him that I had told him i had changed out that dish for the other and he said that he didn’t hear me tell him that. Then the manager came over and asked me what the deal was with that dish i refused. I told her i had changed it out for another dish and the server didn’t hear me tell him that… it was very embarrassing for me. The server should be questioned, not the customer. Now the food. It was aweful! No seasoning whatsoever. I ordered fried wonton and got deep fried wrappers for 4.50! Not the wonton with the pork inside. Very deceaving! The lo main was clumpted in some areas… Again, NO flavor. The beef and mushroom was just unacceptable. Thick jelled brown sauce. Luckily i only spent 39. Bucks. A donation is what i call it. I don’t like food that is bland. No eggrolls, just springrolls. They looked just like the ones i buy in the frozen section at the store. The only thing that was acceptable was the wonton soup. Everything else a disaster! May wah chinese is where i’m sticking to from now on.

Looks can be deceiving. The first few (dozen) times I drove past Lee’s Xpress, I took in the expansive glass wall, the spanking new furniture, contemporary design, and said to myself, «Chain!» I assumed that it would be about as authentically Chinese as those places in the food courts in shopping malls, where most of the food is reheated from frozen. Quick: yes. Authentic: not so much.
But, a couple of friends dragged me into Lee’s one day (not that I struggled, you understand: even ersatz Chinese food has an appeal when you’re going through soya sauce withdrawal). I am pleased to report that my assumptions, based entirely upon the décor, were completely and utterly wrong. This place is the real deal. The food is actually cooked on the premises (within sight of our table), and was really good. (Okay, to be honest, the lemon boneless chicken wasn’t as good as it is at the Capilano Heights in North Vancouver, but that’s kind of an unfair comparison, because I have yet to find ANY place that does lemon boneless chicken that well.)
My friends explained to me that this glitzy place is actually the third incarnation of Lee’s, each one progressively further West. (I figure if he closes down and reopens again, it will be in Port Colborne.) My guess is that the décor came with the space, and the only thing Lee provides is the cooking. And, well, it’s the food that counts, right?
So, lesson learned. Don’t judge a restaurant by the décor. The proof is in the eating.