forbidden garden chinese restaurant

one of little rock’s classic asian restaurants moved west a few years ago. the old park plaza mainstay, forbidden city, became forbidden garden in the move. i can happily say things haven’t changed a lot.  the egg drop soup, thick and rich, is still hearty, and it’s still served with fried noodles.  the egg rolls arehotand tasty.

hands down my favorite chinese food in town. i've tried almost everything on the menu. i've always usedhot& sour soup and kung pao as a litmus for new (to me) restaurants. i was blown away. quality ingredients and incredible technique.

good food and fast delivery. i ordered combination fried rice sweet and sour shrimphotand sour soup. the food was portioned for 3 or 4 people to enjoy a meal. sweet and sour shrimp were cooked perfectly.

the food arrived by delivery in approx 30 minutes. the estimated time was an hour.

i was very impressed with the flavor of the dishes. very tasty rice was perfect fried and steamed.

i would recommend this restaurant and their delivery or dine in services. it was fast delicious and fresh. thanks

fantastic!. on a recent trip to little rock, my daughter took us to the forbidden garden for dinner. our experience there was wonderful....so wonderful that we visited 3 times during our stay. all the food was freshly cooked,hotand excellent. thehotand sour soup is just the best. the eggroll, chicken wings, and soup add-on to the meals, makes one entree enough for two. we also had carry out, which was the same quality....if you want fast service, pleasant surroundings, excellent service, fair prices, and plenty of yummy chinese food, this is the place to go!

a mixed bag. i drove out to the forbidden city and found it to be a very nice, clean, modern place in a fairly new looking little shopping center. at 7:30 on a tuesday night i was the only person in the place. the server was very nice, prompt and did a great job. i started withhotand sour soup which i would describe as average. the broth was thin, there was minimal extra ingredients, no meat and the spice was off a bit. next came an egg roll and two chicken wings. the first wing was cold, dry and had clearly been made at least an hour or two earlier and had no flavor. the other wing washotand tasted better. the egg roll was pretty good. the main dish was beef spiced with cumin, under chef's specialties and this was a very nice dish. very tender pieces of thinly sliced beef with sliced onions, stir fried with a generous amount of cumin andhotchili oil. it was delicious.
i also noticed they have basil chicken on the menu (one of my favorite dishes, and very hard to find), so i will have to come back and try that next time.

had the china town for lunch. very delicious. great service.hotand greathotand sour soup. my boyfriend has. the shredded szechwan beef. he said it was delicious with great texture and flavor. they even gave us samples of a dish we were interested in.


-----27 oct, 2011-----

delicious & fresh!. we ate there today, again, and had wonton soup and twice cooked pork. it was the best wonton soup that i've ever had and the pork was delicious and fresh also. i highly recommend this restaurant. service is also very good.


-----18 oct, 2011-----

beat chinese in little rock!!! food was deliicious. clean atmosphere and wonderful service. my new favorite chinese restaurant.

loved it!!!!. eaten at the forbidden garden 3 times now, lunch and dinner, loved it every time. i have had the low mein combination (excellent), sweet and sour chicken/shrimp (excellent), mongolian beef (excellent), hunan chicken (excellent) the best egg rolls in little rock (get extra, can't have just one) and thehotand sour is awesome... 4 out of 4 stars. shared with the whole family and all loved it, no complaints.
i just worry about location. nothing has ever lasted in the space it is in now. i hope people find it and go for the take out. please go here. i need this place to stay open so i can continue to get take out from here. i can't go back to some of the other chinese places. this is the best. and extremely reasonable prices.

best in town award. my wife and i ate at the new forbidden garden, what a fresh change on chinese. not the same old flavors, it washotand fresh. we had the egg drop andhotn sour soups and then to general tso's chicken and egg foo young/beef. we shared and ended up taking some of each home for later. you won't be disappointed with your choice here no flash just great food. i like the long banner on the wall, i wish i could read it.