OK Chinese Restaurant Offers Cultural Dining Experience

The Scene

OK Chinese Restaurant is touched by beauty everywhere. From its award-winning cuisine to its gorgeous setting, OK Chinese Restaurant provides an unrivaled dedicational to cultural Chinese food.

This amazing eatery first broke ground at Fayette Square, Oak Hill, West Virginia in 1996. OK Chinese Restaurant covers over 4000 square feet and can serve 134 customers at a time. While spacious, the restaurant is also quite beautiful. Consisting of over twenty small pieces of paintings, a surprisingly long Chinese masterpiece decorates the walls of the dining area. Besides the striking painting, Peking opera masks, Chinese calligraphy and four-season paintings will greet you as you step inside. Undoubtedly, there are few places in the United States where you can be immersed in such an authentic Chinese cultural setting as the one lavishly presented at OK Chinese Restaurant.

If all these ornaments are essential to making a location feel authentic, ultimately the music is what makes the setting perfect for dining. The owner, Steven Li, only plays Chinese light music and folk songs to comfort and relax the guests. In addition, he will adjust the lighting to create an appropriate atmosphere. Everything is designed to present the patrons with a wonderful dining experience.

The Owner

Steven Li was only fifteen years old when he emigrated from Fujian Province to this daunting country in 1978. In those early days in the United States, the Li family ran a small takeout restaurant in order to make a living. Naturally, while studying in school Steven served as a busboy to help out in the establishment during the busy hours. As time went by, the idea of running his own business emerged in his mind. Soon after that, he received support from his parents and relatives, and a takeout café was born in New York in 1986. It’s common knowledge that running a business in the Bronx is challenging. However, over time Steven accumulated experience and the restaurant endured for ten years.

In 1996, while considering how to provide a good education for his two boys, a new plan dawned on Steven: he decided to launch a buffet restaurant in a suburban area. The result of that idea is OK Chinese Restaurant, located in a shopping mall near No. 19 Road. The area is quiet. More importantly, the neighbors and guests are friendly, kind, unsophisticated and warmhearted. They did many favors for the young Li family when they first settled down in the area. In return, Steven has always been dedicated to offering perfect food to his beloved customers. Once a customer commented: “I love OK Chinese...my husband and I eat there at least once a week if not more. We've eaten there for about 5 years now…the food is great...the employees are friendly…and the restaurant itself is very clean and cozy!” One customer claimed that the restaurant name is unjust; it should be called “Excellent Chinese Restaurant.”

In Focus

The OK Chicken is “our signature dish.” Steven smiled and said confidently. The popular dish is simple to make: cut the chicken leg into cubes, and then deep-fry until golden. Next, fry the golden cubes with mushrooms, carrots and scallion. The last and most important step is to shower the concoction with a special OK sauce. The dish is strongly recommended by the boss and will never disappoint.

Another crowd-pleaser is the Chicken with Broccoli. The cooking process is rather easy. First, boil the chicken in the water, and then add the fried broccoli. After that, pour the OK sauce on top.

When talking about healthy dishes, Steven brings up Steamed Broccoli without hesitation. The chef initially heats the water till it is dancing in the wok, then places broccoli in it for a few minutes. Once again, the finishing touch is the OK sauce. Such a cooking technique maintains the original vegetable flavor surprisingly well. As Americans become more aware of healthy living than ever, these steamed dishes have become increasingly popular.

An astute person may notice that the above recommendations share the same vital element—the unbeatable OK sauce. The sauce adds distinguishing flavor to even the simplest of ingredients. Steven admits that he got the recipe from one of his friends. The innovative sauce is created with only three materials: soy sauce, sugar and wine. However, what separates it from other common sauces is the subtle proportions of each.

Besides the top-quality food, Steven focuses his attention on the freshness of the ingredients as well. Running a buffet restaurant, there are definitely few leisure hours in a day, but how to make the items last? Steven has his own operational plan to keep the items as fresh and appetizing as possible. He insists on a “No Pain, No Gain” mentality. In this vein, once the dishes begin turning dry or the dish color starts fading, he will dispose of them for the sake of offering customers the freshest dishes possible. “…If I don’t pour those stale dishes… it will make me lose more profits since the customer traffic is declining because of the wrong tastes. I just want my guests feel their payment is worthy,” he said.

What’s more, the owner is strict towards sanitation. He never allows any spot to be left in the washroom. In order to make sure every area is decent, Steven requires his people to clean the washroom after every meal is served. Furthermore, in order to make a cozy atmosphere, the washroom is adorned with some evergreen plants. The boss emphasizes sanitation in every detail: “If the dishes in front of the house are pretty good, but the washroom is smelly, then no matter how impressive the delicacies are to the guests, their dining experience will be totally destroyed.”

Through twelve years of operation, Steven persists in maintaining an honest relationship with his customers and does not haggle over price and trivialities. Due to these efforts, Steven leads his team to winning a steady stream of accolade from the public. In two successive years, his establishment has been selected and awarded the Best Chinese Food in West Virginia. Nevertheless, Steven would rather attribute all the honors to his dear wife, May, who he said is the soul of their business and family. It is May who has always been working hardest at accommodating the guests and it is she who has set an example of how to serve a customer sincerely.

The patrons have responded to the Li’s kindness by sharing their own. To his surprise, Steven received many Christmas gifts from patrons in the first year he resided in Oak Hill. One year, some customers surprised Stephen and brought him a birthday cake to help celebrate his birthday. It is moments like these that make it clear that the community loves the OK Restaurant.

As the restaurant is now running smoothly on its own, Steven now has more time for his interests, which include writing Chinese calligraphy and reading books. He and his wife take turns administrating the café everyday, and his eldest son always helps in the restaurant with the hope of one day taking the helm. If you are in Oak Hill, West Virginia, you can thank the whole Li family for bringing delicious, authentic Chinese food to the area.