Fortune Chinese Restaurant

I came here after a funeral for a luncheon with about 40 people and the service was typically of a Chinese owned restaurant. Very curt and not very pleasant but adequate service. They didn't offer us anything but water and that is unusual because teapots are generally served with family style luncheons. Maybe they are just cheap.

They served a very luke warm Hot and Sour soup that needed a little more kick to it and didn't have too much sour or vinegary taste like I usually expect. They then came out with Ma Po Tofu (their version had peas in it) but it was on the sweet sauce with a sweet bean sauce when it should be slightly more spicy. Next came a Chinese style fried chicken that was good but they didn't serve shrimp chips or lemons or spicy salt with it. Next was a BBQ Pork Chow Mein dish that had very little meat and vegetables but mostly noodles. The Beef Chow Fun was good and the Fried Smelts were done just right. The Emperor's Chicken had a good sauce to it and the Steamed Flounder was surprisingly very fresh and tasty. They served Eggplant as their vegetable, but I couldn't eat too much of it because it gets very greasy when stir-fried in this way.

There was plenty of food as Chinese banquet style generally is but I wouldn't come here because of the attitude of the family who owns the restaurant was just not very polite to us Asian folk either.

Recently stopped here with friends and ordered a ton of stuff. Most of it was off the, "Special Menu", which is supposed to be more authentic. I am not an expert in Asian Cuisine, so I cannot vouch for its authenticity, but I can say that most of it was very good and some of the items were quite unique.

Here is a rundown of what we had.

CRISPY PORK INTESTINES
I probably shouldn't start with my least favorite item, but these were definitely interesting and the crispier parts were great. The problem for me was that most of them weren't done enough for me. If I ever ordered them again, I'd ask for them to be extra crispy.

PEAPOD GREENS
These aren't even on the menu. You need to ask if they have them and definitely do because they are fantastic! Fresh, slightly sweet and earthy. I will ask for them every time I visit.

SHRIMP FRIED RICE
A nice version of the Asian staple. I used it instead of plain White Rice under my other dishes.

EIGHT TREASURE DUCK
A classic combo of Duck, Bok Choy, Crab, Scallops, Shrimp, Squid, Chicken and Veggies in a white sauce. Mild, still full of flavor from all the different ingredients!

SZECHUAN SHRIMP
Spicy without being crazy and perfectly cooked Shrimp.

GINGER BEEF HOT POT
My favorite dish of the night. Tender Beef with Onions and Scallions in a rich Gingery Brown Sauce.

Service was friendly and helpful and they are wheelchair accessible.

I have been as close as driving past them in their parking lot and never even checked them out. I didn't have lunch yet so I quickly did a u turn and finally stopped by. I will post pictures of the menu.

Mongolian beef lunch specials are getting hard to find for some reason so that's what I ordered.

The building looks like it was a Burger King in its past life. The inside was nice looking with white table cloths, not the dumpy kind. The tray ceiling has a cool light in it. The place has no heat and was cold so I did Carry out. There is a flat screen playing that day time chatty crap.

My Mongolian beef came out fast and smells amazing in the car on my way home, see my pictures. The Mongolian beef lunch special comes with pork fried rice and an egg roll.

The Mongolian beef was very tender and meaty in a tasty brown sauce with green onions. The beef to vegetables ratio was great. This was not hot or spicy like some places. The pork fried rice was decent with nice little BBQ pork pieces. The egg roll was better than average for lunch specials.

Over all I really liked the lunch special and would do this lunch special over a lot of other places. I'm giving 4 stars for a better than average lunch special and not over stuffing the meal with vegetables so to put in less meat. Was it the best I have ever had, no. Would it beat my fav Sun Wah in Chicago, no but it is solid.

I'm not sure how anyone could call this cuisine "authentic," they've substituted out all fresh Chinese vegetables for American style broccoli and canned bamboo shoots, canned water chestnuts. This restaurant wouldn't fly in Chicago, and if you're from San Francisco, Seattle, New York City or the like, don't even bother parking outside. But, by Milwaukee standards, not bad for Americanized chop suey style Chinese. The service is excellent, friendly and prompt, the outside isn't much to look at but the inside is cheerful and bright thanks to big windows on three sides. It's clean and tidy, and they have better variety than the other Milwaukee Americanized-Chinese joints I've been to, they even have a pressed duck (edible, nothing to rave about).
As I was eating here I was thinking about how a sociologist I was talking to earlier about rumors and myths wasn't completely correct. She was under the impression that the speed with which the no-carb and gluten-free fads took off and spread was an indication that rumors and fads spread with greater velocity in the Internet age as compared to the television age. It's not either of our specialty areas, but I think that the very rapid spread of the rumor that MSG is a health hazard, this in the 1970s long before the Internet, was an example of a groundless rumor that spread as fast as the purported dangers of gluten. But MSG is still gone from Far Eastern cuisine in American restaurants, this place is like many that still post "No MSG" as if they are proud to not serve cyanide or arsenic to their customers. What's changed is the speed at which food fads and health rumors are corrected I think. Word spread that a healthy diet includes lots of high fiber whole wheat products and that only a small percentage of the population is actually allergic to gluten so we can still buy tasty bread. Although MSG is still found in lots of baby food and yogurt (suggesting a kind of underlying prejudice or double standard), MSG is still not available and frowned upon in Far Eastern restaurant cuisine in America. The fact that MSG is not actually harmful in any significant way (except for those who need to cut back on sodium because of hypertension, or the small part of the population with glutamate sensitivity) never spread far and wide because that good news had to travel at pre-Internet speeds.
Well anyway, for egg rolls without MSG, the ones here aren't bad at all.

Need to update because this is consistently the best Chinese food in Milwaukee. It's not even a contest.

What to order:
1. SALT AND PEPPER SQUID!!! Nobody makes this better than Fortune.

2. Eggplant with plum sauce casserole

3. Stir fried Chinese Broccoli

4. Salty fish fried rice (might be a personal taste thing, but if you like salty fish, get it)

5. Seafood Cantonese chow mein - for a great noodle dish

Granted, there are other great things to order on the menu, but these 5 are my usual go to. And if you are a sesame chicken person...well then you don't really know Chinese food

I need to qualify my review. My experience was on Christmas and I know things get busy when you're one of the few restaurants open...but that said...make sure you're ready. Fortune was definitely NOT ready last night.

We dined in last year and it was a good experience. They were not too busy and the food is always really good. I should say a few words about the food: it is good. No issues in that regard. If I order Chinese - they're usually my first choice.

Let's get back to last night, however. Bad service will always trump good food. You might have the best General Tso's Chicken in town, but if your service is awful - people will stay away.

We placed our order last night and we were told 30 minutes. We paid online (which is a nice option) and it should have been a simply pick up. It was not.

We arrived to pick up our food after 30 minutes...but then we waited another HOUR to get our food. Yes...an additional hour...and we were not the only people waiting. There was a vocal crowd of customers waiting and waiting and waiting.

Seriously. Make sure you have enough staff. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If it starts getting backed up - do something to make up for it. Toss in an extra order of something or offer a free drink...don't just stand there looking lost.

Speaking of lost - they also "lost" the verification that we had paid for our order. Poof. It was gone. We had a receipt from PayPal on our end - but they had nothing in their system and upon review - the transaction never went through so their system is apparently not working. We had to pay for everything again (not a big deal - but we'll definitely be making sure we were not double charged).

Chinese is popular on Christmas. They make a point of being open when other restaurants are closed. They advertise the fact. I'm glad they are open, but if you can't execute - you might as well close up for the night.

It was a bad experience. I hate to say it, but we'll try another option next year. There are plenty of Chinese restaurants around. I'll probably go back now and then on my own, but for our big family Christmas - we'll take our money elsewhere in 2018.

Very disappointed. Took 2 hours to get my food delivered, which delivery charge was $8! Then when it was delivered the driver called me wondering where to go (my apartment isn't hard to find....) I had to walk to the road and she rolled down her window to give me my food...not okay. The food on the other hand was pretty good and large portions. I got the chicken lo mein, an eggroll, crab rangoon and hot and sour soup. The soup wasn't that good. crab rangoon were cold. overall not entirely sure if i'd go here again.

Went here for a quick bite to eat with the wife. Menus are big and have a lot of choices. Egg foo young chicken was some of the best around and the chicken moo goo ago pan had lots of vegetables and large chunks of chicken.

The food was excellent again this time and they gave me the sweet and sour sauce I like and alot of it and the delivery time was great

Ate as work lunch spot for years. It's very good. Lunch specials are inexpensive but very tasty. Today I had the BBQ pork lo mein. Very good

**** August 2016 - I retired and havn't been here in years. Took my wife and grandson. We were all VERY disappointed. Only positive for me was the hot-sour soup. All the rest of the food was poor.