1556 N Decatur Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30307
(404) 378-8188
Last week we went to Atlanta to watch Warren compete in a Kendo tournament. It was held at Emory University, which is massive and beautiful. After Warren's pre-tournament meeting on Thursday night we went to the nearby Doc Chey's Noodle House. There are three of them in Georgia and one in Asheville, so it's chain-ish, I suppose. It kind of reminded me of Pei Wei but less corporate. As you can see it is pretty casual and has a nice patio.
It was fairly crowded when we arrived, and although it looked like one of those places where you order at the counter, a hostess sat us at the far end of a large family-style table. The kids (Satchel, 9, and Jiro, 7) were given coloring sheets, but they ignored them in favor of trading pokemon.
Warren was busy coordinating the next day's practice and competition with his teammates on the phone. I decided to tackle the ordering. First up, a most impressive kids menu.
Satchel opted for the fried rice with chicken and Jiro chose lo mein with no carrots, double broccoli, and chicken. I was thrilled neither went with the chicken nuggets. They both also wanted miso soup. I didn't notice that they got a free drink until later--when I ordered them milks--so I started them off with water. Warren in an all time speed record, decided on udon plus a side salad. I went with a szechuan stir fry, and then immediately was sad that I didn't notice the bi bim bop special on the board.
The soup and salad came out right away. The kids did not like the addition of sesame seeds to their miso soup. I made an attempt to fish them out, but it was futile.
Jiro also discovered that they added soba noodles. He ate a few bites, but didn't seem to like the change from what he usually thinks of as miso soup. (Sekisui is his reference point.)
Warren's side salad was nothing fancy, but he liked it.
Once our salad was done, the rest of our food quickly arrived. Doc definitely does not skimp on portions. Behold the udon.
My beautiful Szechuan stir fry with tofu and brown rice. (Which was not at all spicy--must be what the Sriracha was for. They also had furikake on the table.)
The kids' meals came in the same size bowl as Warren's udon, but was a slightly smaller serving.
Satchel was not very happy with his fried rice, not because it tasted bad, but because he really wanted Jiro's noodles. Jiro shared with him a bit, but he was actually interested in eating it himself, which is unusual. He held out a piece of broccoli and said, "Here Mommy, try the broccoli. It's juicy and delicious."
Yes, Jiro.
While we ate, we enjoyed looking at the various animals painted on the walls. We soon realized that they represented the Chinese zodiac. We then wracked our brains trying to remember who was what.
Eventually Warren took pity on Satchel and switched bowls with him for awhile. Despite all of our sharing and eating, we still had a ton of food left over. I was super happy to see that instead o styrofoam they used old school paper cartons.
Even though Jiro is a monkey (according to the Chinese zodiac too) I had him pose with a rooster. He's got a rooster in his name--Jiro Oster, get it?)
Our total bill was $39.58 plus tip. Not bad considering we had sake, salad, and two soups.
Now for the funny part--the next day I took the monkeys back for lunch. (Warren ate at the competition with his teammates.) We NEVER go to the same restaurant two days in a row, especially on vacation, but Satchel would not shut up about the "delicious broccoli. He actually gave me his best puppy dog eyes and asked, "Don't you want us to eat healthy?"
Then the clencher--he made the "slurpy noise." The slurpy noise indicates that he thinks something is delicious and he is craving it and won't stop with the sluroy noise until he eats it. I caved.
We soon discovered that at lunch time, you order at the counter. It was no problem since the kids knew what they wanted and we beat the lunch rush. I planned to get the bi bim bop special I overlooked the night before, but it had been replaced with another one of my favorite dishes--Thai beef salad--so I ordered that. Our lunch total came to $24.08, plus a few bucks thrown in the tip jar.
We filled up our drinks at the soda fountain and had a seat. We were given a card to hang on our table and were told they would bring our food out when it was ready. In the two seconds we had to wait, I snapped a picture of the monkeys with the awesome condiments, sriracha and furikake.
A nice waitress brought our food over and as you can see, Satchel was very happy.
Soon his bowl was too.
Jiro only picked at his, so Satchel ended up having lots of leftovers to get him through our next two days in Atlanta. Thankfully we had a fridge and a microwave in our hotel room!
Oh, my Thai beef salad? YUM. It was actually spicy without me adding anything, and the noodles, peppers and cabbage were a nice touch. I ate every bite.
Before we left, I made a quick trip to the restroom. It was a one top. Clean and replete with a changing table.
Despite it's semi-chainyness, I think overall Doc Chey's is very kid and budget friendly. The food is good and the service is great.
1 comment:
I did my grad work at Emory and Doc Chey's is one the things we miss most about Atlanta. If you didn't try their spring rolls, you really missed out. I never liked spring rolls until I had theirs. My wife loved the Thai coconut soup that she figured out how to make it. The same folks also own a pasta/pizza joint nearby called Osteria that has the same mix of affordability and simplicity.
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