Hot Food Express is an Asian-fusion restaurant, most known for their fried rice and seafood dishes. One of their most popular dishes, the bang bang shrimp, is how I first learned of this restaurant. After reading countless reviews, both good and bad, I finally decided to give this place a try and of course, give my honest review.
The energy of this restaurant was very homelike and relaxed.
The walls are painted a bright green and yellow. Various CDs decorate the wall closest to the entrance, while another is filled with magazines, news articles and newspapers (mainly The Daily Advertiser), proudly showcasing the success of the restaurant. A small television rests on the top of the wall in the dining area, along with a picture of famous Jamaican musician, Bob Marley.
Hot Food Express’s menu consists of a variety of meals such as lo-mein noodles, chicken tenders and wings, toasted wraps, po-boys, burgers, fresh garden salads and Zee’s fried rice. For hot food plates, patrons can order dishes such as fried seafood and chicken, fried pork chops, barbeque pork steak and popcorn chicken and shrimp. The prices are very affordable, with pretty much everything ranging between $9.00 and $14.00.
After reviewing the extensive menu, I finally decided to order the Crack Shrimp Fried Rice, which consists of bang bang shrimp, chicken and crack sauce. The presentation of the meal was very appealing to the eyes. The food was placed neatly into a plastic lunch plate. Golden shrimp and chicken sat on top of the rice, with bright yellow scrambled eggs, mini shrimp and a thick drizzle of the crack sauce. Onions and scallions garnish the top of the seafood and chicken.
The fumes from the meal penetrated my nostrils. My mouth watered as I snapped a picture of the food for my review. I just knew this was going to be delicious. I hurriedly opened my plastic utensils and began to dig in. The first bite was pretty good. I tasted a lot of shrimp and the rice was heavily coated in crack sauce.
However, as I delved deeper into the meal, I realized that the food was very bland and flavorless. The shrimp and chicken had more of just batter taste and no real seasoning.
The crack sauce had a very strong mayonnaise after taste that I feel threw off the taste of shrimp and chicken. I had a lot of eggs on my plate, yet I didn’t taste them at all, they were pretty much just there. The onions and scallions were also very overpowering at some points in the meal.
Although I didn’t particularly enjoy this meal, I feel that it has a lot of potential. For one, everything needs more seasoning. I will say I loved the amount of seafood that was given in the portion. Normally when ordering seafood plate lunches, you tend to not receive that much. With more flavor, this meal would be really enjoyable. As for the sauce, I personally found it to have too much of a mayonnaise taste. Maybe if the sauce was drizzled more lightly on the rice, I would have enjoyed it more.
For my last review, I ordered 6 pieces of fried scallops, which were just $2.99. This was the best part of my meal. The scallops were fried to a crispy, golden brown color. They were very tender, and rich in flavor. I would definitely go back just to order these.
The customer service was very friendly. Even though the restaurant was busy with people and different orders coming in, the cashier made sure that we understood the menu and called out our order to make sure that she was ringing up everything correctly.
Hot Food Express is located at the address: 3013 Cameron St, Lafayette, LA 70506. Their opening hours are Monday – Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. If you’re ever in the area, make sure to give them a try.