East Island China Bistro and Sushi

This place was actually called Noy’s Thai Bistro and Bar now. the food tasted like I tried to cook it. And I can’t cook, especially Asian food. Prices were higher than the last place. And the Thai tea was over sweetened and strong, I couldn’t even drink it. I will not be going back or recommending.

Great food and very affordable. They offer lunch menus everyday until 4pm, prices ranging from $ 5.25 — $ 6.75. All lunch menus include choice of egg roll or cheese Rangoon plus rice fried or white and choice of hot and sour soup or egg drop. The plum sauce is to die for. They also have great sushi and dinner menu. Most of all, the owners and staff are the most friendly people we have ever met. Would recommend restaurant to others.

Ugh. With few options for sushi nearby and a delivery menu in our hands, we just had to give it a try. Bad move.
We ordered salmon sake pieces, a spicy tuna role, and a salmon avocado roll. There was hardly any flavor to any of it whatsoever, and what little flavor they did have was plain bad. We stopped eating after trying a piece of everything. The one good thing about the order, though, was the crab rangoon. They don’t skimp on the filling, and it was crunchy and tasty.
If in the future we’re bold enough, we may try the Chinese food, which might be better.
The good points: (1) pretty quick delivery, (2) friendly staff.

$ 2.99 Sushi should have been my first clue… I have eatten better sushi from my local grocery store. The rice was dry and the rolls tasted pre-​made. I might return again to try the chinese items on the menu but pass on the sushi.
the one nice touch was they turned the paper from my stray into a flower… so kudos for that.

Universal City has six Chinese restaurants, which I find a bit perplexing. They’re the second-​most popular cuisine offered next to Mexican (chains excluded). It raises two questions: why are there so many of them in such a small city?, and — more importantly — which one is the best? Brad S. investigates.
At the end of the strip mall on Coronado Boulevard lies the bright orange beacon of China Bistro. During my sometimes multiple daily trips past the mall, I watched as the banners over the restaurant went from «coming soon» to «now open» to «sushi special.» I’m not brave enough to try the sushi, but I’d certainly give the Chinese a try.
From my time in Universal City, I’ve noticed that the strip malls usually just house businesses — the restaurants don’t typically fare as well (The Forum excluded), even if they do have the advantage of being right off Pat Booker. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like China Bistro was breaking the trend, with a weekday lunch leaving me the only diner in the new and nicely decorated restaurant. The two nice ladies were eager to take my order.
I’ve been using Chicken with Garlic Sauce as the standard against which I’m judging the local Chinese. I realize there are more authentic Chinese dishes (though it’s well accepted that all but a few restaurants in San Antonio are serving the typical Americanized versions of the food to please the locals), but I like garlic, and I like spicy, which is usually an option for this dish. I ordered the heat cranked up to 11, because I have yet to taste a version of the dish that had any sort of spice whatsoever.
I chose for my meal to come with a cheese rangoon — which was good but fairly standard — and steamed rice. The garlic chicken was a mixture of tomato, onion, and carrots, which were all clearly fresh at the time of preparation. The slightly sweet sauce, however, was under-​seasoned, and was diluted with water, starting thin at first bite and slowly tightening as I progressed. Its weakness meant I was tasting a majority of the vegetable and not enough of the sauce meant to tie the dish together. I would hope that my request for spice was merely just forgotten, because there was no heat to be found.
The fortune cookie tasted a little off, too, but that was before I realized that I ate it before taking the fortune out, so that was more user error than the restaurant’s.
While the sauce was a bit of a misstep, there was enough good there to leave me hopeful that China Bistro can provided some decent Chinese eats. With fresh ingredients and some unique menu items, including frog legs and calamari, I’d definitely be willing to give China Bistro a look when considering Chinese food in Universal City.