Pearl Of The Orient

My husband and I recently dined at the Pearl for our 12th wedding anniversary. It was a Saturday night and the place was buzzing with activity. Our server was prompt in greeting us and helpful while we selected a bottle of wine. We were very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the wine list but even more so at the very modest prices - there were 15 different bottles priced below $21.00 per bottle! as well as several other really really nice wines at very fair prices. This pricing made us bemoan how much we have spent for similar wines at other restaurants recently. The extra dry martini my husband ordered while waiting for me to decide on the wine arrived promptly and was exactly the way he likes it (and I can tell you he can be very picky!). Our appetizer of potstickers and california roll were delicious and quick to come to the table. For entrees we chose the crunchy beef and the szechuan shrimp- both were excellent and came to the table still steamy hot from the wok and absolutely delicious!. Too stuffed for dessert, we decided to take home a slice of their house made cheesecake to enjoy later at home, it too was excellent, my husband who considers himself a cheesecake expert, gave it a 7 out of 10 and he has tasted cheesecake all over the world. For quality and value, especially in this economy, the Pearl was an excellent choice and fit for us. We will be back! Pros: fairly priced wine list, friendly service, delicious chinese food more

Just saw that Pearl of the Orient is chosen as the official Chinese restaurant for the ""Christmas Story House"", and haven't been there since the remodeling, and decided to go with our book club for an outing. What a great change from before. From the entrance with the beautifully granite waterfall to the long and modern design bar follow into the dining room is breath taking. The six of us were seated immediately, our cocktail and wines were serve right away from the friendly server. We shared a sushi/sashimi platter and a maki sampler plate, both were served fresh and tasty. The server also told us the sushi chef worked at the Ritz Carlton, Century Restaurant before here. We chose the tasting dinner for 4, since the server told us it's a lot of food. It came with your choice of wonton or hot and sour soup, Shanghai spring roll and chicken fingers(we did order extra soups and rolls since only 4 each came with the package). Then the entree came with Eight Jewel Chicken; Orange Beef; Rainbow Prawns; and Young Chow Fried Rice. The Prawns they serve are jumble size and cooked just right, delicious. We finished with a round of after dinner drinks with Ports, Kahlua and Gran Marnier. After this tasty dinner, we decided to have our monthly book club gathering here, plus each of our birthday party will also be held here. They even gave us an $8.00 gift card for each bottle of wine we had. The package is $48.00. What a great deal! more

I've been coming to the Pearl of the Orient for 13 years. The food here is very, very good. I can confidently recommend a few of my favorite dishes: Beef with Tangerine Peel, Roasted Pork with Garden Vegetables, the Home style Tofu, Prawns with Thai Chili and I absolutely love their sushi chef's white tuna and the spicy tuna tempura roll. My experience has always been one of a very friendly staff, clean surroundings and a most satisfying and pleasant evening. Perhaps the greatest asset of the Pearl is the tremendous value for my money. The experience they offer is well worth a try.\r more

8/8/08- What we encountered here was a scene that resembled a train wreck in the twilight zone. As a customer in a restaurant, it is truly a surreal experience to have the wait staff intentionally ignore you. At first you ask yourself why and try to make excuses, but when you notice that the restaurant is at 25% capacity, you realize that the most painful answer is inevitably the most likely: they just don't care. We arrived at the restaurant around 7pm and requested a table for 3. We were told there would be a 20 min wait, even though there was barely anyone in the restaurant (mind you there appeared to be at least a 1:1 ratio of servers to customers). So we sucked it up and went to the bar for a cocktail while waiting for one of the 50 open tables to become available. Now the fun begins- ordering drinks. Does an extra dirty Grey Goose martini with a twist of grape sound good to you? Well then, make sure you tell the slow-as-molasses bartender at Pearl of the Orient to make sure she WASHES OUT THE MARTINI SHAKER after each use! We would have reordered the drinks, but they took so long to get that we didn't want to push our already bad luck. Finally we were seated at a table and then had to wait, I kid you not, another 45 minutes before the server actually came to us. During our wait, what seemed to be the manager aka Mr. Asian Smiley Face made an appearance at the table to flash his non-pearly whites through an ear-to-ear smile and tried his hardest in broken english to tell us that our server would be with us shortly. Finally just before 9pm a server arrived, and she actually asked us if we were ready to order. After analyzing the situation we decided it would be best not to eat the food there, as the kitchen must surely be a health code nightmare directly proportionate in severity to the terrible quality of service. So we lied and told the server that we had a movie to catch and I finished my Ichiban beer and we left. Cons: Staff will not wait on you, do they even serve food? more

What a great place! Wonderful patio in Rocky River. We were greeted and sat right away. The server gave very good service and excellent reccomensation on the menu. I had a stirfry with beef ,scallops, chicken, and vegetables. It was excellent! And I loved that theu offer brown rice as a choice. The chicken and broccoli was excellent too. We had one spicy tuna roll, it was very good. but we'll go back again soon for just sushi. Nice indoor seating too! A big open bar area, and window seating. They offer coupons to repeat customers and have many specials on the menu too. A very diverse menu from sushi , stirfry's, to pad thai. more

Looking for the best Chinese food in town? Pearl of the Orient is the best place. This place is great , nice bar/sushi bar, dinning room, also nice patio for summer. It is sensational!. I and my friends ordered Pearl Platter, spicy tuna tempura roll, and rainbow roll as an appetizer. Those are very good and fresh. Kung Pao Pearl and Happy Couple are very good. Sweet & Sour Chicken Mandarin Style and Szechuan Pearl are the best taste ingredients that I have ever had. The foods are consistently great. Everything is always so fresh and cooked so perfectly and is a taste sensation. Service was friendly and attentive. Enjoy their special and get a great deal from the bottle of wine special. $10 gift certificate for the next purchase.....and don't forget to save room to enjoy dessert Apple Caramel Ginger Egg Roll.. ehmmm yummy Pros: execellent food, great deal, lots of parking, nice decor more

A friend introduced me to this lovely find. Having come from Vancouver which has its variety of Asian-Chinese-Pacific Rim restaurants, I found that the Pearl was exceptional in both the taste, decor and service. The menu is an interesting melange of various Asian cuisines. If I wanted Sushi, I could whet my appetite. Or if I wanted something more authentic, I could find it too. Most interesting to me were the Specials which have a more fusion flavor. My favorite was the Peking Salmon which was at a very reasonable price. The food presentation was very attractive and appetizing. \r Another time I sat at their new contemporary bar and tried a couple of the Drink Specials and found out their appetizers are 1/2 off on Tuesdays. The atmosphere was quite calm yet cosmopolitan. I have yet to try dining on the Patio which has turned out nicely. The staff has been attentive and helpful. I am planning a gathering for some lady friends soon in the nicely-appointed party room and I definitely would recommend this restaurant to anyone who loves to enjoy great food at a great value. Pros: Great tasting food, modern decor, elegant and comfortable atmosphere. Cons: Can't think of any. more

After reading the Cleveland Magazine with the Reader's voting the Pearl of the Orient Restaurant as the best Chinese Restaurant in Cleveland, I decide to go try it with my colleages from the office. It was a Thursday night we went and they were busy. We liked the new remodeled dining room, very chic and modern. A large piece of granite type of water fall faced the grand front entrance. The bar was long and extensive and filled with patrons. \r We sat down in an open, bright and airy dining room, and the server came to check for drink pretty much right away. Our martinis are strong and flavorful. We shared some sushi, a Volcano roll, Dragon Roll and a California roll. It came in a timely fashion and they were fresh and tasty. We then ordered the Tasting menu for 6 and Wow is the word I would use to describe the dinner. The Wonton soup is probably the best I have had, and served hot which is the way most of us like it. The menu consist of Pearl combination platter appetizers, Almond Honey Chicken, Prawns and Cashews, Mongolian beef, Pearl vegetables, and House Fried Rice. All were out of this world and we even took some home. Service was friedly and price was right. $78.00 for dinner for 6, I think is reasonable.\r \r Try it, you will like it. Pros: Great food, friendly service, right price, escellent atmosphere. Cons: None!! more

Pricy, unauthentic, and tasteless...paid way too much for crappy food that I could have easily gotten at a cheap take out place (and probably would have tasted better!). Worst won ton soup I have ever had. The only reason I could possibly come up with for why this place has gotten good ratings is simply that those people have never had really good Chinese food and just don't know any better! more

When I saw a 9.7 rating I thought I was going to eat some excellent Chinese food. I was disappointed to discover that they don't even come close to other that I have had on the East Side. You can't even substitute fried rice for steamed rice with your entree! That really disappointed me. Pros: Quick with carryout orders Cons: No substitutions more

I never understand how this restaurant consistently rates among the best chinese restaurants in the area. I've tried it several times just in case I'm missing something, and it's always just OK. I don't find the food to be bad, in fact the quality of the meat and vegetables used is high, but everything is bland. I'm not sure how they do it, but the dining room smells fantastic and the dishes smell fantastic as well, but when you actually consume the food, it's never quite as lovely as it smells. The ambiance of the newly remodeled dining room is great, although the service was extremely iffy recently (forgetting items, mixing up orders, not being familiar with the menu at all). In all, I think it's a decent place to eat if you want somewhere with ambiance where you can relax and have long conversation for a very reasonable price, but not if you want extremely tasty food. Pros: Pleasant atmosphere, large menu, food isn't bad. Cons: Food doesn't meet expectations. more

I am from San Francisco and there are countless great chinese and Asian/ Fusion restaurant. I was really disappointed when I first came to Cleveland because I could not fine a comparable Asian restaurant. That's when my friend took us to the Pearl of the Orient. Wow. What a pleasant surprise. The sushi/sashimi selection was extensive and FRESH to boot. Can't believe thjey have Vietnamese soft spring rolls and Beef Pho! Both were out of this world. So unusual to have a restaurant that does such variety of cuisines so well.\r Before we arrived, I expected the usual chinese bland or gordy red and gold interior. This Pearl is so classy and modern and clean, I thought I was back in San Francisco. The long sushi bar and regular bar is connected to creat a splashy visual statement. \r All in all, I wish I had been here sooner but I was told the owners put in a lot of money to redecorate this restaurant to fit the extensive expansion of this new Beachcliff Mall. More people should know about this hidden gem in the middle of a west side suburb. Pros: Lots of parking. Great variety of cuisine. Nice Sake selection. Cons: Can't think of any. more

Last ate there about six months ago and recalled good food. Returning this past week a friend and I were impressed by the remodeled decor. Physically this is a stylish, well appointed restaurant. We opened with two non Chinese appetizers: shrimp spring rolls and chicken satay. The spring rolls were a disappointment. Cilantro was missing and they had substituted basil. The chicken satay was lightly seasoned but liberally dosed with msg enough so that it gave us both headaches later that evening. The accompanying peanut sauce had been sweetened to taste almost like Nutella with a few shopped peanuts added. For an entree, I ordered the duck with mandarin sauce. It was a major disappointment. The duck was lost in a sugary heavy sauce of cherries which looked like they had come from a can or jar (perhaps Morello Cherries) and had orange slices added on top. The sauce was so sweet that it seemed that it might have been better served on ice cream or in a pie than on duck. The net effect was to make the dish inedible. My friends entree, unaga don, arrived about 20 minutes after I had received my entree. She noted that it wasnt bad. The meal which also included two Tsingtao beers came to 52 dollars before tip -- pricey especially considering the mediocre quality of the food. This is not an authentic Chinese restaurant and I doubt if the person who prepared the meals was Chinese. If you want mock Chinese or have a sweet tooth, then dine here. If you want authentic Chinese food, you would be better served elsewhere. Pros: Nice decor, easy parking, nice area Cons: Food is avrage at best and too sweet, not really Chinese more

Definately the best Chinese/Sushi bar in the west side. Try their Happy Family, large sea scallops, jumbo prawns, chicken, shrimp and beef with crunchy veggies in a delicious brown garlic sauce; my wife had the Crunchy Beef, the tangy sauce was out of this world. We also tried some sushi and Maki rolls from the sushi bar section, they tasted great and very well made. Service was friendly and attentive. I was shocked when I saw the bill, it's so reasonable. Go try it and you'll like it. It's worth the trip. Pros: Great food & service, lots of parking, Nice decor more