Family dining review: Chang Jing in Richardson

by Grace Phipps of Phipps Feeding Fiasco

RICHARDSON — I have been thinking about this "new" Korean restaurant in Richardson where many of my other favorite Asian restaurants are, so when Ogre and Mina brought up Korean food, it immediately came to mind. Ogre suggested some other restaurants in Dallas, but Benji has been a bad mood ALL day, so I thought better to stay near home. So, we trekked down to Richardson and made our way to Chang Jing.

Unfortunately, as we walked up to the restaurant, Ogre mentioned that we have been here before (I hadn’t remembered), but it slowly came back to me and I realized that I was not a fan the first time … probably why I didn’t remember … it just wasn’t that memorable. Oh well … we headed in.

We were seated right away and the host who sat us was an older gentleman who was probably part of management. He seemed very tickled to see our kids and laughed and petted their heads while seating us. They offered us a booster and we kindly declined.

We looked over the menu even though we knew what we wanted. While we waited to have our order taken, Ogre showed off this new app he has on his iphone. It’s a big lightning bug butt that flashes when you touch the screen or shake it. The kids loved this app and took turns activating it. Apparently, somebody wants to try to synchronize the fireflies.

The banchan comes out well ahead of the meal. I can’t eat the stuff without rice and meat, but Ogre dug in. The kids had no interest in this at all, but by now had their chopsticks out to entertain themselves.

The kal bi came out first, which was good because Ogre needed to cut up pieces for Mina, who declared, “All I want are Korean short ribs!!” Benji only wanted rice, which was fine with me, so I gave him some rice -- he insisted on using his chopsticks until he saw his sister using a fork.

Next out came the bulgogi and once Mina saw that, she remembered that she actually liked that also and asked for some for her plate … and more rice. She was actually eating pretty well tonight!

The tempura came out last and this was Benji’s meal. He likes to eat off the breading, nibble on the shrimp and then wants to put it back for another “big one.” We said no. Ogre gave him a breaded sweet potato instead. He took it.

Overall, the kids were very well behaved, which surprised me -- particularly Bad Mood Benji. There were a few times that he wanted me to “Moob” so he could get out, but I wouldn’t let him and he did not throw a fit. Mina needed to be reminded to sit down a few times and whined about her leg hurting (growing pains), but overall a good night at dinner.

Mina said she wanted ice cream, but they didn’t have any here. She decided she’d eat some at home. Since they’re in bed now, it’s safe to assume she forgot about the ice cream!

The food

Korean food. We ordered the bulgogi and kal bi. The bulgogi was not awesome, it wasn’t bad, but on my personal spectrum of bulgogi, it’s on the below-average side. Note, though, that Ogre disagreed with me and thought it was good. Here’s my beef: I don’t like it when the meat is super grizzly and all tangled. I also don’t like it when it’s a more watery sauce. It gives the meat less flavor and it makes it so the meat seems steamed. Nope, not a fan of this one.

The kal bi was better. The meat was very tender, but the ribs were not very meaty and I like for my kal bi to have a slightly stronger flavor. Again, Ogre thought it was great!

We also ordered the shrimp tempura, which also comes with some tempura veggies. We both liked the tempura -- nice breading that wasn’t too thick or hard and the veggies weren’t too hard or too soggy.

The banchan here did not have any of my faves. They had kimchee, which I like but don’t love, and it was good. Other than that, they did have some stuff that I haven’t really seen other places but did not look to appetizing to me. Ogre thought it was all great (his theme for the evening)!

After dinner, they serve a chilled ginger and cinnamon drink, which was super sweet. The kids did not like it. I thought it was okay, and you guessed it, Ogre thought it was great!

The service

Average. They were very nice to us. They kept wanting to give us plasticware for the kids! Our kids use chopsticks like nobody’s business, but they had good intentions. Food comes out pretty quickly.

The kids

Not the most kid-friendly restaurant, but not kid-unfriendly or unwelcoming. They don’t have kids' menus or kids' activities, so hopefully you can find something on the menu that your kids will eat. (Our kids love short ribs and tempura, so we were cool.)

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