Author: GCS
Last saved by: ENU

168 Restaurant
3288 Pierce St., Richmond, at the 99Ranch/Pacific East Mall
Review date: November 2008

Great Szechwan was closed for kitchen remodeling, so we ended up at this Shanghai-Taiwanese restaurant instead.

We ordered three dishes: Chow Mein in Shanghai style, Shredded Pork and Cabbage with Rice Cake, and Dry Sauteed String beans. I also ordered a Lemon Iced Tea, which took a while because they don’t just open a bottle of Snapple! It was real lemonade with a hint of cinnamon or allspice, mixed half and half with strong black tea and sweetened – very refreshing.

The Chow Mein was a hodgepodge of mixed meats and chewy fresh noodles. It was tasty – Carlos liked it a lot – but also very greasy and a modest serving. The Rice Cake was also modest in size, but slightly less greasy – this was the one I preferred. 

The best dish was the string beans, though – this place is one of the few that seems to do it properly any longer. It was salty, spicy, and truly dry-cooked; we ate the good-sized serving and cleaned the plate!

If we could somehow combine 168’s green beans with G.Szechwan’s tan-tan mein, Carlos and I would be very happy…but alas, unless we do takeout we’ll have to debate between two restaurants that are both flawed, but have a couple of good dishes worth returning for.

Lunch, two dishes, a vegetable and a beverage, was $37 with tip.