Is Business Dead in Eagle Mountain?

Yum-Yum and I decided to try a new restaurant last night. We chose one in Eagle Mountain, for a couple of reasons: 1. my neighbor had just been raving about the food and 2. it's close enough that I could leave Show-Off to babysit.

We went to China Express in the Ranches and I was really excited. We haven't had Chinese food in a while and my friend's descriptions left my mouth watering. I'm pretty picky about Chinese food because I come from California, where there's lots of diversity and lots of real Chinese people (as opposed to fake ones... thanks Shannon, that's a great line!).

There was one person waiting for his take-out when we got there and one other person came as we were leaving, again for take-out. Did I mention that it was a Friday night? Needless to say, it was pretty slow.

And that got me thinking. If we want businesses to come to Eagle Mountain (and it seems that we do, since business is a common platform for our local politicians), then we need to make a greater effort to patronize the ones who are here. I'm sorry, but empty stores and restaurants aren't very good advertisements. Think about it from a business perspective. Would you open a bricks-and-mortar business here?

That being said, nobody's going to patronize something unless the offerings are good. I wasn't as impressed with China Express as my husband was. I got the sesame chicken and he got the Mongolian beef. The chicken was a bit sweeter than sesame chicken I've had in the past and the chicken tasted old and dry. The fact that the food was done super fast made me think that maybe they just re-heated some leftovers. I was super hungry though, and it was "good enough". (If it makes any difference, Shannon loves it.) My husband's dish was more flavorful, with thin strips of beef, carrots, onions, cucumbers and a few chili peppers. We also ordered pot stickers and they were pretty good.

I thought the restaurant was a little pricey, although they have some excellent lunch deals. You can get your choice of 26 different main dishes served with 2 pot stickers and ham fried rice for $5.50 or $5.75. Not bad. Maybe I'll go back and try something else. I recommend you check it out... for lunch, that is. It's served between 11 AM and 3 PM.

What type of businesses would you like to see in Eagle Mountain?