A quiet little place in Provo’s Riverwoods, Shoots restaurant is a fabulous place to eat. I’ve been several times now, once with a business group, once with Joe, and once again with my family. I have to say that this is one of the two best Chinese restaurants in all of Utah County (the other being Four Seasons Hotpot and Dumplings). The food is fantastic, the restaurant is always clean, and the staff are very welcoming. In fact the owner, Gary, is also usually waiting on customers and making sure everybody is happy. He works hard to make his customers feel at home in his restaurant, and I think it really shows. He is a wonderful and charming person and I appreciate his friendliness. The last time I was at Shoots, I brought my wife and our three kids (all under 5) with me. My two-year-old was not feeling very well at the time, and was a little fussy. Gary came out several times, making a big fuss over the children and won smiles from each of them. It sure made them happy, and helped their parents to not be too stressed out about their kids behavior in public.

Okay, so now that I’ve told you about the atmosphere, let’s move on to the cuisine, shall we? As I mentioned before, their food is fantastic. It always tastes much more fresh than almost all of the Chinese food that you can get in Utah. They have the usual assortment of traditional Chinese fair, but Gary has added a few things to the menu that you don’t usually see. He has some delicious salads, Honey-Roasted Walnut Shrimp, and a Salt and Pepper shrimp or chicken that are just fantastic.

To start your meal at Shoots, I’d recommend the Po Po Platter: a appetizer combination of egg rolls, two kinds of fried wontons, fried shrimp, barbecued pork and beef skewers that are served on a platter with a flaming brazier in the middle. You can roast the meat over the brazier before you eat it, so that it will be very hot, with a nice charred crust. If you like hot and sour soup, Shoots’ is some of the best I’ve had.

As for the entrees, take a look at the menu on their website. You really can’t go wrong. Because of the quality of ingredients that they start with, the beef at Shoots is so much more tender and delicious than you would expect to find at a Chinese restaurant, so definitely try the Mongolian Beef, Tangerine Beef or Beef with Broccoli. I have tried several of their shrimp dishes, and haven’t found one I didn’t love. The noodles there are fantastic too.

For beverages, you have the usual choices you’d find at any good restaurant, but they also serve green, oolong, and jasmine teas. Something you might want to try, however, is the boba. It is hard to find in Utah (in fact, I think that this is the only place in Utah county where you can get it), and most people here don’t even know what it is. Boba actually refers to an ingredient in the drink (largish tapioca pearls), rather than the drink itself. The drink originated in Taiwan, and was first made with tea. Nowadays, however, you can find boba served in smoothies, milkshakes, and other beverages. Shoots serves theirs in several flavors of smoothies. The drinks are served with a straw that’s about a half an inch in diameter so that the boba can be sucked up with the smoothie. The first time you try this chewy beverage, you will probably be a little surprised by its texture, but you will soon become addicted. It’s definitely something that you should try.

A final recommendation is Shoot’s shaved ice dessert. This is not your typical snow-cone — it is served in a bowl and will feed several people. Their dessert is a small hill of shaved ice in the center of a large bowl, over which is poured some strawberry syrup, heavy cream, and then your choice of up to three fresh fruits. It’s truly beautiful. The next time I go, I’ll try to take a picture of this (and our entrees) to get your mouths watering.

So, to sum up: Shoot’s is a fabulous restaurant with fresh ingredients and an exceptional staff. Try it once, and I guarantee you’ll be craving it fortnightly.

–Jason

Where do I start with Four Seasons? This place is one of my very favorite restaurants in all of Utah. Run by one of the cutest couples I have ever met, this is a family business in every sense of the word. The restaurant, for the most part, serves two things: hotpots and dumplings (did you expect something else?). The hotpots are cooked in the traditional way, at the table by the customer, and the dumplings are made fresh to order by the owners. I love watching the couple that run the place make their dumplings. They so obviously enjoy each other, it is a joy to watch them work together.

They serve several different kinds of dumplings: boiled and steamed Jiaozi, tasty Xiao Long Bao, and my favorite, fist-sized Baozi; all served with their special dipping sauce. You can choose from a variety of ingredients for the dumpling fillings. You can choose vegetarian dumplings, or you can choose from pork, chicken or beef. Once you’ve chosen a base, you can choose several from any number of vegetables to add to the fillings. The dumplings will then be prepared for you by the proprietors as you wait. These are seriously delicious dumplings. The Jiaozi are not unlike what are commonly called “potstickers”, however they are steamed or boiled, rather than being steamed and fried. These are very light and tasty. The Xiao Long Bao are like small purses (about the size of a walnut). These are then steamed to perfection. These are also very light and fairly healthy. The Baozi are much larger, about the size of a fist, and are a different animal entirely. Made from a raised dough, and filled with a larger quantity of fillings, these are not as light as the other dumplings that you can find here. They are, however, very good, and I highly recommend ordering one per person to eat with your hotpot.

Now, for the hotpots! If you are having a hotpot for your meal, you first choose a broth. You can choose from a chicken broth, a Chinese miso broth (great with seafood), or my favorite, the hot and spicy broth. If you can’t make up your mind, they have a special pot with a divider down the middle that will allow you to have two broths in the same pot. Once you choose a broth, they make it in the kitchen and then bring it, boiling, to your table. The pot of broth is then put onto either an electric or gas burner at your table to keep it boiling. Once you have your broth, you can go to the ingredients buffet and choose from a wide assortment of ingredients to put into your hotpot. Included in the array are the standard pork, chicken, and beef (all raw), as well as some other, more exotic ingredients. You can choose Chinese meat or fish balls, tofu skins, shrimp, eggs, a wide assortment of vegetables, noodles, and much more. Dinnertime has an even wider assortment of seafood, including mussels, fish, whole jumbo prawns, and squid.

Once you have your plate full of raw ingredients, you bring it back to the table and begin to cook them in the broth. Everybody puts a few ingredients from their raw plate into the broth, and as they cook, you remove them. You will have a second plate on which to place the cooked food. There you can dip it into the house special dipping sauce, or as Joe calls it: Awesome Sauce, and then eat it. It’s a really fun meal, and as you cook as you go, it’s great for socializing with those at your table.

Once you have eaten what you like from the ingredients bar, your broth will have become fantastically seasoned. Now for the best part: take some noodles and put them into a bowl. If you like, add some vegetables or other ingredients (choose ones that cook fast), and ladle in some of your broth. Now, eat one of the best soups you’ve ever had!

After your meal, the host or hostess will invite you to help yourself to the ‘dessert freezer’. Inside the freezer is an assortment of ice cream sandwiches, popsicles, and other frozen treats. It makes for a pretty good bargain as meals go, especially since a drink is also included.

I just can’t say enough good things about The Four Seasons. The proprietors are so warm and inviting and the food is just excellent. Also, while not the most kid-friendly of meals, the restaurant itself is very kid friendly. Joe and I brought our families once, and our kids were treated to plastic cups and plates which had fun Asian cartoon characters on them. The kids loved them, and it was obvious by their kind words and doting attitudes that the couple that run the place were very happy to see them.

I’ve gone back here many times, and will continue to do so. I feel it is important to support small businesses like these, especially when they are so fantastic. Please give this restaurant a try, I’m sure it will become one of your favorites as well!

–Jason

Nestled in the seedy underbelly of Provo, Saigon Cafe is a restaurant worth avoiding. The name, and its listing in the phone book under “Vietnamese Cuisine” lead us to believe that this was a Vietnamese restaurant. Not so. This is a very dirty and greasy Chinese restaurant that happens to serve a couple of Vietnamese dishes.

Between the four of us who went, we had a plate of gỏi cuốn (uncooked Vietnamese spring rolls), two bowls of phở, a bowl of bún thịt nướng (a Vietnamese vermicelli dish which is usually quite tasty), and a plate of Singapore-style noodles. It should be noted at this point that nobody was able to finish their meal. I am usually fairly adventurous when it comes to food, but this was bad, even for me.

The noodles in the gỏi cuốn, the bún thịt nướng and the phở were very mushy and overcooked. The gỏi cuốn had very little flavor, except for that of the greasy grilled shrimp. At this point, you should be getting the picture. I don’t want to turn this into a rant, and I also feel sorry for the very nice woman who waited on us, so I’ll stop describing our experience here.

Needless to say, we won’t be going back. We also urge others to skip this place.

–Jason