China Pasta House is a family-owned restaurant from the city of Dandong in northeastern China, near the border to North Korea. 

The restaurant’s website states, “We believe in freshness. We make all our noodles and dumplings from scratch every day! Moreover, all our ingredients are all natural. No MSG. No food coloring. Just healthy, hearty, real Chinese food.” 

After seeing all these promising statements, the chance to try out this eatery gave a glimmer of hope for delectable, inexpensive and authentic Chinese food in Tucson. 

The restaurant is located right across Sixth Street from campus near the Wildcat Cafe and NextCare Urgent Care. 

Although the walking distance is short, the high expectations for China Pasta House became a complete disappointment in the end. 

Upon arrival, the interior of the restaurant was small but tolerable. 

The artwork of large Chinese characters mounted on the wall was the only eye-catching piece in the restaurant; the rest of the surroundings were lackluster. 

Unfortunately, inside felt muggy with little to no air conditioning circulating. 

The menu consists of appetizers, dumplings, soups, noodles, beverages and specials with a variety of choices in each section. Pictures are displayed for convenience.

After perusing the specials, the curry beef rice and cabbage and pork wonton soup seemed not only filling, but tasty as well. The wait wasn’t long before the orders were served, hot and steaming.

The cabbage pork wonton soup looked presentable consisting of wontons, seaweed and diced green onions in a bowl of broth. 

On the other hand, the beef in the curry beef rice did not taste like beef at all, but rather like chicken with beef-flavored sauce mixed in. This certainly became apparent after just a few bites in. 

In the description for this dish, the rice comes with potatoes, carrots and beef. 

Being a potato-lover in all its glorious forms, I found this dish an utter letdown with not an ounce of the potatoes or carrots that were promised on the menu.

In fact, those ingredients were substituted with some chopped onions. Nothing else was added in for texture or appeal. 

The portions were generous but did not dismiss the fact that the ingredients were lacking and toppled over a spread of plain white rice. 

What really became the icing on the cake of disgust was finding two pieces of short, wavy hair in their glazed sauce. 

Immediately repulsed by this, I no longer had an appetite to finish the rest of the cabbage and pork wonton soup. 

The owners were insincere and rude, quite frankly, after I notified them of this find. 

Even after an apology, their offer to remove the curry beef rice off the bill did not make up for the fact that their attitude and customer service were distasteful. 

The only things that felt “all natural” were the hairs the cooks dismissively included before serving their customers.

China Pasta House is not a charming gem for authentic Chinese food.

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