My husband's wonderful secretary is good at many things, including recommending restaurants. When she said she enjoyed Auntie Chang's, I knew it was worth a look. My husband and I had dinner in the very nice dining room (which is complete with a neon dragon on the back wall) on a Sunday afternoon, and we were happy to see that many of the other families eating there seemed to know the waitstaff and the menu well. Repeat customers and recommendations from friends usually means that the food is good.
That said, I wasn't blown away by Auntie Chang's. The dumplings were fantastic. We tried the fried pork, and what arrived were 8 very tasty little morsels (accompanied by maybe half a dozen various sauces to dip them in). We gobbled those up too quickly and wished we had ordered more.
I decided to try Firecracker Shrimp from the specials menu. Unfortunately, my shrimp were overcooked to the point of almost being inedible, and though the sauce contained many pieces of jalapeno, the dish wasn't at all spicy. I threw out the leftovers I brought home.
My husband got the crispy tea flavored duck off of the regular menu. I don't love duck, but the bit of skin I tried was very crunchy and not at all bad. Maybe I should start following his lead when it comes to ordering, since it seems like he usually chooses better than I do.
As you'll note from the website, Auntie Chang's is authentic; English is not the first language spoken by most of the waitstaff. However, the language barrier is easily overcome by the friendliness of everyone who works there. Auntie Chang's gets an A+ for service, if not for cuisine.
Bad Chinese food is not the end of the world. The disappointment with Auntie Chang's wasn't that the entree was unbelievably bad, but that it came on the heals of something that was really good -- the dumplings. My suggestion is to abide by the restaurant's name. Get the dumplings, many of them, and enjoy. Be careful if you order anything else.
