China Palace serves up copious portions of food and drink that do a body good

Moo Goo Gai Pan, with crab rangoon and pork fried rice. (Rochester Voice photos)

ROCHESTER - The China Palace has been around for more than 50 years, and there's a reason why.

Good food, great prices and man-sized cocktails.

Martha and I don't usually get an adult beverage when eating out; sometimes the price doubles the meal tab.

But $6.95 for a planter's punch, $7 for a pineapple Margarita (both come in big glasses) forced us to make an exception.

And like many Chinese restaurants, looking through the menu takes about half that drink.

Oversized China Palace drinks reduce the need for refills.

I decided on a Moo Goo Gai Pan with medallions of chicken breast meat, bok toy, peapods, mushrooms and water chestnuts. While I'm not a big bok toy fan (next time I'll just say hold them), the mushrooms were tender and the peapods and water chestnuts were crunchy and delicious. The chicken was also super tender.

Martha chose the Moo Goo Gai Pan as a luncheon plate that came with pork friend rice and crab rangoon.

Our waitress was a riot and took great pains to explain the gluten free options.

We chose to go smack dab in the midafternoon on Saturday hoping it wouldn't be crowded, and it wasn't. A perfect time to relax and enjoy a fine meal in downtown Rochester.

My guess is they'll be here another 50 years.

Service ★★★★

Atmosphere ★★★

Food ★★★★