Happy Lunar New Year! Our Family’s Three Favorite Chinese Restaurants in Omaha and Council Bluffs!
Note: This guest post was written by my son with some additions from me. I hope you find it helpful in your own local explorations and celebrations!
My family loves Chinese food and ramen any time of year, but a cold January day seems to really bring out our cravings for it. With that in mind, I’d like to tell you about three family-owned Chinese restaurants we love in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area. I think you will love them too!
Panda House - Omaha
Panda House is my family’s favorite Chinese restaurant in Omaha and it has recently undergone an extensive remodel that has turned the inside of the restaurant into a very modern-looking sushi and ramen bar. There is a brand new bar area serving adult beverages.
These renovations also came with a partially-reworked menu featuring many different sushi rolls and ramen bowls to choose from. Rest assured, they still offer a full suite of their delicious more traditional options that they are known for. My personal favorite dish is the Peanut Butter Chicken, which has just the right texture of sauce to coat the chicken without ever feeling too sticky or overwhelming when you take a bite.
The service is also very fast and friendly, and you can tell that the people working there take a lot of pride in food they make and serve to you. We have gone there so much that they know us and always look genuinely happy when we come back.
I encourage you to stop by and try it. We love their tasty ingredients and superb service! Now there’s even more to love! 😋
The website (online ordering capability) is below:
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The Great Wall in Council Bluffs
The Great Wall has been my family’s go-to Chinese restaurant since I was born, and has maintained an excellent level of food quality and customer service throughout that time. They are a small, family-owned restaurant that features a wide range of traditional entrees as well as a selection of “Lunch Specials” that come with a side of soup, a side like an egg roll or crab Rangoon, and a soft drink. My favorite thing to order from Great Wall is the rainbow fried rice, which includes beef, shrimp, chicken, and pork. The proportions are excellent and the rice is always cooked perfectly. My sister is a big fan of their hot and sour soup and they always know what she wants when she walks in the door. They watched us grow up and feel a part of our extended community family.
Please note there are two locations in Council Bluffs. We have only frequented the Woodbury Avenue location, for no other reason than it is closer to our house.
Their website with menus and online ordering are below:
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The House of Lee in Omaha
House of Lee was introduced to me by my dad, as he and his former co-worker used to eat there several times a week when he worked nearby. Now that he works from home, we don’t get to eat there nearly as often, but every time we’re in the area it’s always the restaurant we think of first. Similarly to Great Wall, their menu consists of a number of traditional entrees that you would typically find at a Chinese restaurant. However, what sets House of Lee apart is the quality of their meats and their sauces. My go-to dish when I eat there is the orange chicken, and it’s the best orange chicken I’ve ever had. The chicken and the sauce stand out when compared to any other orange chicken I’ve had elsewhere. Their crab rangoons are large and very tasty. We all agree that House of Lee is fantastic!
The website with menu and online ordering capability is below: