Glorious Cuisine

Glorious Cuisine

When you arrive at Great Wall Chinese Restaurant, you’ll first be awed by the neat and well maintained exterior decor and environment. Outside of the restaurant you’ll see a huge painting called Huang Shan Mountain and Cranes which was given to the owner Jacky Cheng by one of his best friends. Another side of the restaurant’s exterior wall is decorated with a painting of the Great Wall, further helping ready customers up for the feast awaiting them inside.
 

Great Wall Chinese Restaurant is down to earth restaurant with a homey and cozy environment. “To create a family-like environment, one must truly respect the customers,” Jacky says. He also believes that in order to succeed in business, one must have a professional staff. And in order to excel in the local restaurant industry, the restaurateur must constantly innovate and create high quality dishes. These guidelines have steered Great Wall to over a decade of success.

In 1990, Jacky Cheng came to the States. To earn a living, he had no choice but to work in a Chinese restaurant where he first worked as a busboy before clawing his way up to become a chef. Two years later, in 1992, he arrived in Marion, Virginia and started his first business, Great Wall Chinese Restaurant.

Standing on the side of the customer, a buffet restaurant is a great choice when you are trying to decide where to dine out because it offers a smorgasbord of items to choose from and you can fill up your plate as many times as you’d like. Yet, for a restaurateur, running a buffet restaurant is a real challenge because the food must always be kept fresh while minimizing waste. When a buffet restaurant also provides both dine-in and take-out service, it means that you have to be prepared to produce lots of different entrees in a very limited time. Great Wall Chinese Restaurant is up for the challenge—offering buffet, dine-in, and take-out service.

In the very beginning, Great Wall’s business was quite slow, so Mr. Jacky doubled his efforts by spending more time studying the customs, practices, dining habits and preferences of the residents. Little by little, the restaurant’s authentic food was tweaked, appealing more to the locals and increasing sales. His extra efforts were noticed by diners and Great Wall Chinese Restaurant was awarded “Best of Smyth Country Area” in 2004 and “Best of Washington Country” in 2005 by the local media.

Those awards were really a great affirmation of Jacky’s hard work and dedication to serving the community. However, he realizes that competition in the restaurant industry is always increasing so he can’t rest on his laurels. “I know there is still a long way to go to success, and the only way to achieve my goal is to keep moving and improving,” Jacky says.

Great Wall Chinese Restaurant mainly offers Chinese cuisine and handful of American items to cater to its eager diners. Instead of boasting about his restaurant being an all-you-can-eat buffet with a wide range of choices, Jacky would rather be humble. “There are only three food bars, providing no more than 70 items in total at my restaurant,” Jacky says. To him it’s not about how many buffet bar items he offers, but rather how good each of them taste. “As long as we keep doing what we are good at and provide what customers are looking for, then that is enough for me.”

Jacky told ARN that the demand for chicken dishes is high at his restaurant. Southerners prefer sweet & sour flavor so the restaurant’s Sweet & Sour Chicken is the most ordered dish. Besides that dish, Jacky recommends Sesame Chicken, in which features juicy chicken chunks are coated with a delicious batter then deep-fried. It’s famous around town for its crunchy outside and the tender inside that will have your taste buds jubilating over the remarkable flavor. In addition, Peanut Chicken is another original dish which Jacky has spent a long time researching and adjusting. If you like those dishes, you’ll want to try other signature dishes like the Chicken w. Mixed Vegetables.

 
The fried rice and Lo Mein selection have been well received by the customers. Some have even told him that his restaurant is the best in the state and that they travel long distances to dine here, especially for the fried rice. The fried rice at Great Wall is extraordinary because it is made with white rice that the chefs ready the night before. “Only when the rice is cool can it give the fried rice the best texture. And I add a little wonton soup base into the rice to enrich the savor,” Jacky says, revealing how he is able to turn fried rice into a true taste sensation.

The chefs utilize a variety of cooking methods including deep-frying, steaming, grilling, and many others. But stir-frying is the most common method of preparation, as Mr. Jacky and his kitchen crew believe this method is the best way to give customers full-flavor dishes while also keeping them healthy. The chefs always use the freshest ingredients; they get food deliveries at least three times each week and fastidiously choose from which suppliers to order from.

“Stir frying is the main method of cooking we use here”, adds Jacky. “It is a method that infuses taste while keeping nutrients in the food.” Americans have a wide range of culinary predilections, and a large number of them have become experts in Chinese cuisine. Nowadays, more and more diners are becoming health-conscious, which means they want a nutritious and tasty meal low in oil and salt and also free of MSG. Instead of deep-fried foods they want stir-fried vegetables like green beans or other greens, with little or no sauce. Jacky also makes sure the quality of to-go orders does not suffer. “We use quality microwavable meal boxes to prevent leaking and keep the food at the right temperature.” Jacky says, emphasizing that the preparation of buffet dishes is different from to-go ones.

“Our chefs are flexible and inventive enough to come up with startling combinations that appeal to even the most finicky eater,” Jacky boasts. His staff is sometimes able to predict what a certain customer wants. Other times they will recommend specific dishes based on how customers answer questions regarding food preferences. All in all this makes for happy customers who walk away from Great Wall Chinese Restaurant with full stomachs and smiles on their faces.

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Name: Great Wall Chinese Restaurant
Location: 1133 N Main St. Marion, VA 24354
Phone: 276-783-8818