United Chinese has two locations, although the one in Thornton sports a bit more ambiance.
The pleasure of going out for Chinese food often lies in its comforting predictability — the menu will generally have your old stand-by favorite Chinese dishes and it won’t take a huge toll on your bank account.
United Chinese, which has locations in Broomfield and in Thornton, fulfills those expectations and offers a couple of surprises. Both locations are in suburban areas and are nice enough for a regular night out for dinner, but the Thornton location offers a bit more ambiance, including a fountain at the entrance and a sushi bar.
The extensive menu at both restaurants includes all of the standards: egg rolls, won ton, hot and sour soup, kung pao chicken, General Tsao’s chicken, and sweet and sour pork.
Also on the menu are a few Thai options including Thai basil chicken and pad Thai.
Along with wine and beer, the drink menu includes cocktails such as the mai-tai, Singapore sling and scorpion. The restaurants aren’t exactly bar-hopping type of locales, but perhaps such tropical drinks can accessorize a meal.
From the appetizer menu, I tried the scallion pancakes, which were pleasantly crispy and chewy. They are parenthetically called “Chinese pizza” on the menu, though I might first think of it as Chinese fried flatbread. There’s no cheese or pizza sauce, for example, and I’m actually quite glad that there isn’t because it would be an unwelcome combination of flavors.
On one of my visits I ordered the boneless duck with vegetables and found it to be not unlike many other Chinese dishes — meat and vegetables heavily doused in strongly flavored sauce, served with rice. I then decided that I like duck to be treated with a bit more reverence, so if you’re like-minded, the roast duck or Peking duck might be better options.
As a soup lover and a noodle soup aficionado, I often find that soup-as-meal options can be a surprising treat at many Asian restaurants, and United Chinese was no exception. The seafood noodle soup bowl was huge, fresh and filling, piled high with noodles, crisp vegetables including broccoli, snow peas, mushrooms and bean sprouts, along with shrimp, scallops and other seafood in a clear broth.
It’s a lighter option than many of the other dishes and still left a lot of food to take home.
The Thornton location offers a sushi bar, sushi entrees featuring California rolls, spicy rolls, Chirashi and other choices, along with Japanese lunch specials and some Japanese appetizers such as hijiki, or cooked seaweed. So you can have your kung pao chicken and eat sushi, too.
United Chinese
Chinese. 4150 E. 128th Ave., Thornton, 720-977-8888. 12161 Sheridan Blvd., Broomfield, 303-469-2230. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday 12 p.m.-9:30 p.m. $1-$19.95.
Front burner. Excellent seafood noodle soup, wide variety of Chinese dishes plus a few Thai selections, as well as Japanese food and sushi bar at the Thornton location.
Back burner. Many dishes are typical Chinese fare.
– Kelly Yamanouchi
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