Li Wah

2999 Payne Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44114
(216) 696 6556


I suppose I have been on an Asian cuisine kick lately. But, I love the flavors and the different techniques that go into such cuisines. I have been looking for the best that Cleveland has to offer. I have been doing research on what others say is the best in the city, and so far we seem to have somewhat differing opinions. Li Wah in Cleveland's Asian Plaza, has been toted as one of the "best" Chinese restaurants in the city. Okay, you walk in, and the place is pretty, everything matches. It is a large and sprawling place, and when we arrived it was early on a Saturday evening. We were promptly seated, and our server came over a few moments later.
We looked around the dining room and saw parties of four or more of people not of Asian decent. Not that is exactly what is important, but I feel it can be a good indicator of whether the food is authentic and or good. We ordered some tea, and decided to get the "Spring Roll" appetizer and the "Vietnamese Spring Roll", just to compare. Both arrived, and served with two plastic squirt bottles of spicy mustard and sweet sauce. They were crisp rolls, both I found to be uninspired and lacking flavor. The only flavor was from the fishiness of the Vietnamese rolls; not a good flavor. I ordered the Vegetable and Tofu soup and my companion ordered the Spicy Beef Noodle Soup. The soup I ordered was meant to be a starter soup, and the other as a meal, which I realized when we ordered, but the server I think thought that I did not know this information.
After about 45 minutes I would say, the vegetable and tofu soup arrived. A large bowl of raw vegetables tossed into a salty broth with cubes of Tofu bouncing around. There were chunks of shrimp and crab as well, which I was not aware there would be in a vegetable soup. The beef soup was lacking flavor as well, and only had the bean sprouts to thank for texture which came on the side for your own addition. The noodles were over cooked and also lacking.
Even though we only had a few items, and it was early on a Saturday evening, I still feel that is no excuse for a restaurant that is supposedly the "best" in a city.