Bamboo Creek Asian Bistro in Jacksonville, FL

Bamboo Creek Asian Bistro
8532 Baymeadows Rd
Jacksonville, FL 32256
904-733-1188

Bamboo Creek

Allow me to give you (the reader) a look to the past of Jacksonville Florida’s nightlife and bar/restaurant scene. On any given Friday or Saturday night in the late 80’s through most of the 90’s there was a ’strip’ that was popular for bar hopping as well as a place to grab some food. Usually a young single would start at Bombay Bicycle Club on Baymeadows Road. Then they might go down the road to Rio Bravo for some warm flour tortillas that were being made at the front door as you entered. Before you would go to the beach for a night at H20 or maybe Einstein’s. If not a trip to the beach, you might would go down Phillips Highway to the Crazy Horse. But what was often a stop for people before the nightlife got started was Bennigan’s on Baymeadows. Unfortunately, those days are now only a memory and so are those establishments.

Bamboo Creek Store Front

The reason for that walk down memory lane is that the location of the old Bennigan’s is now the home of the Bamboo Creek Asian Bistro. Everything inside is pretty much the same as Bennigan’s was over its last years, including the lack of customers. The former tenant took everything off the walls, and nothing has been replaced. Bare walls, no music, and no customers make for a lonely place. The signs on the sidewalk tell the passerby that they have dim sum specials that start at $2.60. Even this does not seem to pull the customers in. And once you are in the restaurant you can see the old bar area that is also empty except for a few servers milling about. Their are no TVs left in the bar area, and very few bottles of any kind behind the bar (no liquor). Another thing that you notice as soon as you sit down is the absence of chopsticks…ANNNND the presence of knives. Knives are not to ever be in an Asian restaurant, except in the kitchen. If you think about it, the food in all Asian places whether it is a take out or a restaurant is already in bite size.

Rhonette's Hot Tea

After sitting there for a few minutes a server toke our drink order, Rhonette went for the hot tea, while I got an ice water. The server smiled and left to get our drinks. Apparently they did not have cold water available, so I had to wait for my ice water a few minutes longer than expected. When she returned, we were still not quite ready to place our order. Even though we had 3 separate menus to choose from, there was nothing that looked that good. We decided to get some appetizers in the form of edamame, pot stickers and the vegetable spring rolls. A few minutes later she arrived with our appetizers and to take our order. The edamame was a large plate filled in a mound. The spring rolls were very greasy and dripping on the plate. Lastly, the pot stickers were also greasy and only four of them, FOUR small, greasy pot stickers. Mind you the pot stickers were only $3.50, but they were just not that good.

2 of the 4 Pot Stickers

Edamame

We now waited for the main course. Some may think it boring, but I decided to go with the chicken fried rice. This was the highlight of my meal. First off the serving size was huge, I mean HUGE. It was only $7.50 and had a great taste except… They used iceberg lettuce in the rice. They actually cooked iceberg lettuce! If you have not tried this it does a couple of things: first it gives a limp and wilted texture, second it has a very pour quality of flavor. There are options of other kinds of lettuce or greens that can be cooked that would be a much better option. Now the quality of the main course was very good except for the iceberg lettuce.

Fried Rice

This is a place that seems to not know their identity when it comes to the menu. Teriyaki, spicy Korean, dim sum, Kung Pao and coconut curry all find its place on one of each of the three different menus you can choose from. Not even offering chopsticks to the customers seems a bit awkward. My guess is that Bamboo Creek on Baymeadows will not last till the end of 2010. This place needs to go with what works and not try to do experiment with ideas that are not tested. The prices are almost the same from lunch to dinner (even though they list lunch specials), with tofu or vegetable items at the $6.50 range to the shrimp or beef at $8.50.

General Tsao's Chicken

You will probably never find me back at Bamboo Creek Asian Bistro on Baymeadows under its current conditions. If you decide you want to give them a try then swing by. You can give them a call if you like at (904) 733-1188.

Review by Pie, email: pie@piesplate.com