Hidden Ming Terrace Offers Great Food, Prices

LAS VEGAS -- It's easy to overlook places like the Ming Terrace at Imperial Palace.

It's not one of those celebrity chef places with trendy decor and weeklong waiting lists to get a table. Located on the fifth floor away from the traffic of the casino doesn't help place it at the forefront of most people's minds. Instead, it operates under the radar, and the cool thing about that is when you tell your friends about this cool, inexpensive Chinese place you know about you can act like you have some sort of secret Vegas insider information. They'll be impressed, trust me.

It's a small place with only a couple dozen tables and booths tightly packed in two side-by-side rooms. We'll call it cozy. But the vibe the restaurant gives off is one of those family-owned Chinese places in your neighborhood that everyone raves about -- the kind that you order take-out from and scarf down every bite because it's so good.

The menu is traditional but expansive, with dozens of appetizers, poultry, beef, seafood, rice, and noodle dishes available. If you've ever been to a Chinese restaurant, you won't find anything here that will confuse or shock you -- orange chicken, Mongolian beef, etc. But in a city full of restaurants that seem to go out of their way to include dishes that make you go, "Huh?" a familiar selection like this can be a comfort, and it certainly expands your ordering options.

We began with a pu-pu platter, partly because our server suggested it and partly because we enjoy saying pu-pu platter. It was practically a meal in itself, with egg rolls, chicken and beef skewers, heavily battered and deep-fried shrimp, barbecue pork ribs, and won tons, plus a tangy plum sauce and hot mustard for dipping. With the lone exception of the tough -to-eat ribs, everything on the pu-pu platter (heh-heh) was delicious, and it extended way beyond the concept of appetizers.

For our meal, we ordered the Mongolian beef (tender chunks of beef and veggies sauteed in a slightly spicy soy-based sauce), moo goo gai pan (chicken, mushrooms, onions, and more with a traditional stir-fry tang), and chicken fried rice, plus white rice on the side. After the pu-pu platter, it was way too much food, with each dish containing enough to feed probably one-and-a-half people, so if you happen to know a half-person, just order one dish and split it.

Of course, that didn't stop the two of us from attacking everything with gusto and continuing to eat way past the point of rationality. But that's less a commentary on our waistlines and more about the quality of the food, which was -- in a word -- delicious. Mongolian beef is one of my all-time favorite Chinese dishes and not everyone can do it right. The Ming Terrace does.

A full dessert menu follows and, yes, we ate some of that also -- carrot cake and chocolate cake if you must know. And, yes, they were good and, yes, we had to be carried out of there on wheelbarrows, so keep your snide comments to yourself.

On the long list of truly great things about the Ming Terrace are the prices. Almost every entree was under $10, and the two of us got three glasses of wine, the pu-pu platter, the entrees, hot tea, the deserts and tax for $55. You'd have a hard time getting half of that for $55 at most other Strip restaurants.

The service also belongs on that "great things" list -- efficient, friendly, and extremely patient with the odd fellow that was sitting in the booth behind us.

If you want a terrific traditional Chinese meal on the Strip and don't want to pay a fortune for it, we can't think of any better place to visit than the Ming Terrace.

The Ming Terrace
Imperial Palace
3535 Las Vegas Blvd. S.
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(888) 777-7664
Open daily at 5 p.m.

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