Springfield's best sweet & sour chicken

Hong Kong Inn

A busy Sunday found me checking into the Hong Kong Inn for lunch. Did I miss the hotel?  Why call it an inn?  If you fall asleep in your booth during a food coma, do you get charged for double occupancy?  I just don't understand.  Anyway, the sweet & sour dish combo was called a special and left me wondering how special anything for $4.85 could be. A few minutes later, a steaming tray of rice, sweet & sour chicken, fried wontons and an eggroll arrived at the table.

The Pros: A generous portion of food for the price. Also, the addition of sweetened carrots was a nice touch. The sauce was a good viscosity and I tasted a hint of honey, which was a natural, sweet addition in lieu of raw sugar.

The Cons: The chicken was overcooked and tough. It was too chewy for my taste and some bites had gristle and fat in them. I'm thinking it got overcooked, because my order was one of dozens that was placed at the same time. Maybe being slammed on a Sunday afternoon made it impossible for food be made to order. Even though the honey added a nice touch, the sauce was really sweet and lacked that vinegar tang for counterbalance. The fried wontons and eggroll were nothing to hold a parade for. Kind of just bland and there to take up space.

The Price: $4.85 -- tax included

Overall Score: 2.5 out of 5. Any bird this tough belongs on a "Rock of Love Bus."