Old Thousand Ii Dope Chinese - Austin

To be honest, I visited Old Thousand II without the highest of expectations. I knew that I wouldn 't be eating traditional Chinese food and that it would be more Americanized. However, I was really pleasantly surprised with the menu and the food here! The servers were also very accommodating because I brought my dog, and they seated us outside and brought water for her. I came on a Sunday morning, so we had some items from the Sunday Brunch special. My group ordered the Mala Fried Chicken, Brisket Fried Rice, Cantonese Scramble, Chicken and Waffles, and General Tso 's Chicken. The Mala Fried Chicken was really good and reminded me of the crispy fried chicken you could get from a more traditional Sichuan Restaurant. The brisket fried rice was also good and a favorite among my group. The General Tso 's Chicken wasn 't remarkable but wasn 't bad either. The two standouts from my meal were the Chicken and Waffles and the Cantonese scramble. The waffles part of the dish were bubble waffles that you would find from a Hong Kong style dessert place, and they were honestly amazing. The waffle was crispy but had a soft interior, and they were a perfect, sweet complement to the fried chicken. I was surprised by how much I loved the Cantonese scramble. The people in the group I came with were Cantonese, and they had no idea what that was. But the egg was scrambled really nicely, and eating it with the rice and the chili sauce that was provided was a perfect sensory experience. If I come back, I would need to order this again!

Holy hell, across the board, AMAZING food. I can't emphasize enough how good the mapo tofu was especially! It's different from the norm because it uses crispy, fried tofu cubes rather than soft. It's spicy in a way that's more flavorful than hot, with plenty of mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns. Plus, it's loaded with meaty mushrooms rather than pork; that makes it vegan by default! I need to get back out for happy hour, ASAP.

Every dish I’ve had here is amazing. I grew up eating Chinese food all the time, and this is the only place in Austin that has really hits the mark. I’ve been getting it once very two weeks since moving to the Hyde Park area.Their general Tsos chicken is the perfect combo of sauce, crispiness, and breading. I recommend getting their mustard vinaigrette with it. Their dumplings are wonderful. Their Buddha bowl with sweet potato noodles is so so good and I love their side of vegetables. If you get the wheat noodles dish, it pairs amazingly with the general tsos chicken sauce.I think they also recently upgraded their rice which is huge. That was my only knock on them for a while.One recommendation for the restaurant add more of the granny apple pieces to the general chicken. It’s such a great pairing with the chicken. And kick up the spice on the dish a pit. I love the chili peppers but some of them really mess you up so they’re harder to eat.Also, I’d love it if you took off the staff gratuity for to go orders. Gratuity and tips should be given for waited service in my opinion.

Visited mid-week, partially to try them out, and to watch Cocaine Bear that they were showing. It was pretty empty around 7PM and we sat on the patio since that's where the TV was. We got a couple of different items to get a sampling of their food, including the fried chicken, mapo tofu, and fried rice; along with some drinks, which I found too sweet, I found the chicken and mapo tofu way too salty, and others at the table agreed. The fried rice was ok but a bit dry. The service was great and they were really nice and prompt, it's just unfortunate that their food wasn't very good. I know they have another location south but I think I got a good enough of an idea of their food.

Overall Old Thousand was an okay experience. The staff was really kind and very informative. The food was okay. For price to portion it was a bit off. The best thing was the chicken and waffles. The bubble waffle was a different touch with the popcorn chicken bites and Asian herbs. They did advertise mama fried chicken but didn't get much spice. The Hong Kong French toast had a weird tangy taste I couldn't get over. I wasn't a fan. The chili wonton are fine as the crab Rangoon's.