San Tung

People RAVE about San Tung.  "Best wings ever!" "Crack wings" "Hour long wait for the best meal of my life" blah blah blah.  You know this is just a set up for disappointment right?  I've had some mighty tasty wings in my life, Crisp in Chicago and Pok Pok in Portland.  The latter, being my favorite of the two places.  But Running Man and Triple F looooove San Tung and they are some heavy hitting foodies.  They catered the Twin Tornadoes one year birthday party with food from San Tung.  So the wings weren't piping fresh when I tried them, but I believe the flavor was still there and I was unimpressed.  Korean Chinese food is usually a cuisine I have difficulty appreciating.  It comes off as bad Chinese food, almost Americanized in its overly saccharine sweetness.  I'm sure its not meant to come off this way, I'm just not accustomed to its taste.

Dry Black Bean Sauce Noodles

This is actually one of the few dishes at Korean Chinese restaurants that I really like...when its done well.  Here it was just ok.  You'd imagine that a sauce so black and thick would be loaded with flavor, buuuut its really not, at least not this one.  The noodles could have been chewier, more al dente.  I really like the version at Dragon in LA.

Dry Sauteed String Beans

The beans were not good that night.  Save for that, it would have been your standard fare.

Original Dry Fried Chicken

They definitely get dinged for being dinky ass wings.  At Crisp and Pok Pok you get the whole wing! Maybe there isn't much meat in the distal wing tip, but psychologically you get excited to see a big piece of meat.  Ok, size aside, the wings are just too darn sweet for me!  It just lacked balance.  After one wing, you don't want much more.  It gets tiring eating something so one note.  I'm really not sure why people would wait hours to eat these.  I could probably make something better.  Oh wait, I have. I've made the Pok Pok wings at home and they are the TRUE crack wings of this century.

Sweet and Sour Beef

This is also another popular Korean Chinese dish, which tastes like such an Americanized Chinese dish.  I think Panda Express' orange chicken tastes better than this.

I'm probably being pretty harsh when I call this place mediocre beyond mediocre.  But when places are built up so high, I will usually come down on them pretty hard if I'm coming down at all.  I'm just in disbelief that with a city full of Chinese people, that food like this would get such rave reviews.  Granted, most people go here and order a couple plate of wings and that's it, but the wings alone are not enough to garner such attention.  I think I need to try Kyochon and Bon Chon to see how those wings compare.  I ain't coming back here!