A8 China

In a word: Unremarkable, but not totally gross.

The specs: #0001
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; Cap Times review by Kristine Hansen; reviews at Yelp; A8 China web site;

Latest A8 China news and reviews

JM ate the sweet & sour chicken with white rice and a soda while working the December 1979 Atlantic cryptic crossword. His fortune cookie said, "All the answers you need are right there in front of you!"
N ate the shrimp lo mein and pork fried rice while reading Girl Cook by Hannah McCouch. Her fortune cookie said "You find beauty in ordinary things. Do not lose this ability."
The bill was $11, or $5.50/person, plus tip.
JM gave A8 China a C-; N gave A8 China a C+ (see our grading rubric).

A8 China's divey exterior was part of the reason it took us a while to start this A-Z thing. It's squished between a hair place and a tatoo parlor on University Avenue, with a whiteboard easel advertising cheap eats. When we went, a big poster advertised dinners with "fried or withe rice."

Because "the rules" don't specify a minimum order, I was planning to get just an egg roll and a soda, but I was hungry and ordered a full dinner. That was a mistake - we both ended up throwing out some of our food cuz it just wasn't that good.

While we were sad that the soda fountain was out of ice, we did enjoy looking at the mural and the yellow plush duck.

Update 9/7/04: we've noticed a lot of folks getting here from Google looking for an online menu for A8 China. As far as we know, they don't have one, but you can call 250-8888 and ask for your favorite standard Chinese takeaway; it'll probably be on the menu.

Update 6/16/05: A8 China now has a website. Yay!

Comments

[A8 China]

The menu is online at www.a8china.com/menu .

[Rich Trotto]

Don't know about dinner, but I found this a decent place to get a good inexpensive lunch. I usually skip the steam table and order something off the menu. It's comes quickly, and includes a soda and decent egg roll (hard to find in Madison) for about $5. The food is not exceptional, but generally good. I’ve had several good dishes here, but my favorite is the Shrimp with Lobster Sauce. Good size shrimp, not over or under cooked, decent sauce, and plenty of food. There are better Chinese Restaurants in Madison, but not by much, and none in the area. Let’s face it, there is no good Chinese food anywhere near State Street. I rate it a B- overall, and a B+ in it's price range.

[Kyle]

Ordered: Hunan chicken and General Tso's chicken.

Received: Anonymous red-tinted Chinese Chicken A and Anonymous red-tinted Chinese Chicken B.

Grade: D-, in that at least it was edible.

[Kyle]

Nevermind. See Beijing Restaurant.

A8 was pretty bland, but the ingredients were prepared well. Decent, for Madison Chinese food anyway.

[Jay Fleisher]

Sorry, but I ate the "Chicken and Cashew" meal at A8 China at 608 University Ave. on Friday evening, Dec. 8, 2006, and the chicken was awful. Must have been 3 grades below commercial. Dark meat with an unpleasant taste and cut into globs with an unpleasant consistency. The rice and nuts were much better. I would have gladly paid a few dollars more if the dish came with tasteful white chicken meat

[TC]

I've heard of no fewer than 4 people (myself included) that got violently ill from eating General Tso's chicken from A8, everyone had eaten the same dish months and years apart. Be careful!

[luke]

i eat the general tso's there almost every time, and i've never been sick. also, it's always white meat. it's cheap as all hell and they deliver very quickly. maybe i've just gotten lucky. or maybe they like me because i tip well, who knows?

[Hungry]

Worst tofu I have ever had, all because it was incredibly overcooked. F-

[ap]

Ugh, they litter like crazy. Between the menus blowing all over when I enter the first of the double doors of my apartment and the ugly magnets they have now plastered every metal surface with when you get inside the second set of doors, I'd never think about trying this place.