There's a restaurant in our neighborhood that's been around for many, many years. My husband and I had one of our first dates at the Pagoda back in 1978. His family had been going there for years prior to that. With my husband's family, food from the Pagoda always meant there was a special event, something to celebrate or you were just plain craving it. Pagoda quickly became a family tradition with my husband and I as well. When we lived in Park City and my husband worked in Salt Lake, he would order Pagoda for take out and then drive the 30 miles back home with it.
Pagoda Chinese food wasn't necessarily authentic. If anything, it was somewhat Americanized. But our entire family absolutely loved their ham fried rice, chow mien, sweet and sour short ribs and BBQ ribs. The take out portions were large enough that we could get a least two meals from them.
A couple of years ago, the last original owners died and the Pagoda changed ownership. My husband and I went there with friends raving over how great the food was. We were disappointed. The sauce for the sweet and sour had been changed slightly. Not a good thing, IMO. But the chow mien and BBQ ribs were still the same.
Last week, my husband ordered chow mien and BBQ ribs from Pagoda. It would appear that with the change in ownership, that all the owners got was the name and not the recipes. Both dishes were vastly different and disappointing. The take out portions were small and over priced. We won't be going back. I wonder if other long time Pagoda patrons feel the same way.
I'll miss the ribs, rice and chow mien. Darn.
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