Sunflower Chinese Restaurant, Columbus OH

Previously had a positive experience here but today for lunch there were roaches on the counter and will never return again. The owner was aware because I saw him swipe one away.

The service was really great, very fast and friendly. The decor was neat with a lot of cool pieces on the walls and placed in the front entrance area. The food was mostly good. We ordered crab rangoon as an appetizer, and the flavor was very good. I wished there'd been more filling.my firned had General Tso's chicken, and he said it was really good. I ordered the chicken with broccoli lunch special with egg drop soup and a spring roll. The egg drop soup was excellent! The spring roll was ok. Not to my liking because it had mushrooms, but if you like mushrooms, you would probably like it. The chicken and broccoli was very disappointing. I was expecting there to be sauce on the dish, and there wasn't anything. It was a plate of minimally seasoned chicken pieces and broccoli. I will definitely still go back. Everything else was very good. Now I know not to order the chicken and broccoli.

This place used to be really good, but has gone down hill over the past few years. My mom wanted to eat lunch there today, so I agreed. I had the General Tsoas Chicken. It tasted bad- salty, soggy, no spice, just bad. I only ate half of it (a rarity for me). The waiter never inquired if are food was ok. One hour later I was dizzy, vomiting, and severe diarrhea. I had to call in sick from work. This food poisoning issue last about 3 hours. I called the restaurant to tell them so they could avoid making other people sick. The owner was nice and apologetic, but hardly makes up for being miserable for 3 hours, using a sick day, and losing a lot of money.

The dim sum is INCREDIBLE and very well priced! The service is also great, they’re so kind. Wish I could leave four and a half because the bathroom left a little to be desired, cleanliness wise. Regardless, I’ve been back a few times and will continue to be back!

Always looking for a good chinese restaurant close to home, but it can be hard to find. Food was over salty and soggy. Honey chicken was nothing like I expected. And my husband's general tsos wasnt even spicy. Fried rice was sticky with a few dried peas. Even the fortune cookie was stale. Not good Chinese at all. Seemed cheap and for their prices I expected better. My meal was almost $19 alone. Unfortunately, I threw my food away before I even ate 2 pieces of chicken. Just don't want others to waste their money on this place.

Take out lunch order. Food tasted like it was left over from the night before and reheated. Take out Chinese place down the street has better food for less.

Anyone saying the food at this place is good should try other restaurants. Never again.

I've been eating here for over 20 years and this is the first the food was just lousy. Lunch on Friday.
Ordered Kung Pao Chicken. They need to rename it to Kung Pao Water Chestnuts. Had to dig to find any chicken. But a big heaping plate full of water chestnuts.
Also ordered their Combination Fried Rice. I love this stuff. Except the rice was like mush. Cooked way too long - or was sitting in a steamer way too long.
Waiter never bothered to stop by to see how the food was.

Very disappointed.

This place is disgusting. We were greeted at the door by a very rude girl, that should’ve been our sign to walk out.
The horrible service was only outdone by the gross food. Oh, and the place was filled with flies! I will never come back here

I ordered takeout from here, placing the order at the front desk. I was pleasantly surprised that the wait wasn't that long. The waiting area was clean but kind of awkwardly placed. I ordered General Tso's chicken, shrimp toast, and their house Lo Mein. Honestly, I did not enjoy most of the food. I will say that the shrimp toast was amazing. Other then that, I feel let down by the taste of the food. Though I didn't dine in, the restaurant has a very nice ambiance to it, and was overall very well decorated. The other problem with this restaurant was that it was difficult to get out of the parking lot once I had my food due to heavy traffic. Overall I'd be 50/50 on returning.

Very good food wished it had been hotter though. Large servings plenty of leftovers to take home. Very nice waitress.

The general tsos chicken was soggy and the flavor and seasoning was unlike any I've ever tried. My egg roll was the best thing I had. I fried rice had no seasoning and I had to put alot of soy sauce in it, something I'd rather not do because of the amount of sodium in it but I was desperate. My dinner was overpriced and not tasty. I won't return nor would I recommend.

Columbus doesn't have many Chinese restaurants that serve dim sum, so we are glad to have discovered Sunflower Chinese Restaurant. Even though it's outside of the city, it was worth the drive! They don't currently have push carts, but they have Chinese/English Dim Sum Menu with accompanying photos.

Our dim sum spread consisted of Baby Clams (with Black Bean Sauce), 2 orders of BBQ Pork Pastry, 2 orders of Beancurd Roll, Beef Chow Fun, 2 orders of Beef Meatballs, 2 orders of Cha Shui Bun (Steamed), Chicken Feet, Chinese Sausage and Chicken Hot Pot Rice, Chive Dumpling, Deep Fried Dumpling, 2 orders of Egg Tarts, Har Kow, Shiu Mai, Shrimp Cheung Fun, Sauteed Choy Sum with Garlic, Steamed Ribs, Turnip Cake, Water Chestnut Cake.

Among the things we ordered, my favorites were Baby Clams, BBQ Pork Pastry, Beef Chow Fun, Beef Meatballs, Chicken Feet, Egg Tarts, and Water Chestnut Cake.

Next time, we will have to try other dim sum items including Beef Cheung Fun, Fried Taro, Juicy Pork Dumplings, Shrimp Stuffed Trio, Sticky Rice Bowl, and Sticky Rice Dumplings.

Food is not the same like it used to be anymore. Prices are higher, smaller portions and doesn’t taste the same. Meat was so dry and had a weird smell to it. I asked for 2 steam rice with my entrees and got one steam, one fried rice. I ended up throwing the food away because it was so bad. They also always seem to have a hard time understanding on the phone when calling in to order.

This place is gross. Ordered from seamless, process was not seamless had to wait longer than quoted, kind of awkward standing area for to go orders, in an out dated lot right off the freeway which was really contested to get to during rush hour.

Food: got a vegetable spring roll for $3.25- a single very small spring role for $3.25! Totally overpriced and they should clarify on the menu that it is just a single spring roll!

The pan fried noodles were extremely soggy with a bunch of filler vegetables that are t very healthy. The orange chicken was kind of cold and soggy texture. A lot of sauce. Like too much, not enough chicken and not a good ratio.

Pot stickers okay and dipping sauce for those was pretty good.

Appreciated that they mostly used more biodegradable packaging- only one co gainer was styrofoam and they didn’t use a plastic bag- thank you!

Probably won’t return but I honestly don’t know of a better Chinese restaurant in Columbus!

I ordered the vegetable lo mein, crab Rangoon & veggie egg roll. The egg roll was nasty to say the least the veggies are all very mushy. My crab Rangoon is burnt and not tasteful and the lo mein is just not it…. Very disappointing

Service was hard to get through. And the food was way over priced. I only got 1 bite in before I realized the sauce was just warm mustard and honey. Just not my cup of tea. I tried my partners dish to and both the veggies and chicken were under cooked. Just not a place I'm going back to. I didn't complain because everybody has there own taste buds.

I happily patronized their former sister restaurant (Lotus Flower) for several years but when I moved I switched to Sunflower. I didn't regret doing so until fairly recently. The food preparation has changed significantly for the worse since the pandemic. I've received several dishes that were undercooked, bordering on raw. My favorite (ma pao dow foo) was downright gummy and the pork undercooked. More recently I ordered the shrimp toast and crab rangoon as appetizers. The shrimp toast was tasteless and literally dripping in leftover oil. The crab rangoon had a hint of the crab that was supposed to be in there but it was mostly lost to the tough, dry, cardboard-like wrappers. Not even remotely flaky. I also tried a chicken dish that was supposed to feature breaded chicken in a deep fried batter with mixed (unspecified) vegetables in a brown sauce. The chicken was altogether missing from the heavy batter covering (overcooked) and the veggies resembled the discards from other prepared dishes (a hodgepodge of crudely cut bak choi and other greens). Pretty much inedible. The worst part though was that I'd ordered from the online menu and was anticipating a charge around $20. I was rudely informed by a younger staff member that they can't afford to post their menu online and the menu pricing I'd used was not theirs.
(And not reflective of the huge price increases they've implemented.) Consequently, my order came to over $32. The staffer was aggressive and argumentative and directed me to a paper menu for future orders. Given my treatment overall I don't believe I'll be placing any future orders.

Their menu says lunch everyday until 4pm. We went at 12: 30. They gave us the lunch menu, but charged dinner menu prices. They also wouldn't let me take the itemized receipt. I believe it was intentional. Look at your check!

Old 5 star review: Looking for an amazing Chinese dim sum experience in Columbus? Look no further than this fantastic restaurant! Not only are they happy to explain any unfamiliar dishes to you, but their commitment to traditional dim sum service means that dishes are brought to your table as they're available, creating a leisurely, social dining experience.

Don't let mediocre reviews from the past discourage you from visiting now. This restaurant offers some of the best dim sum you'll find anywhere, comparable to the offerings in larger cities like Boston, Chicago, or LA. Some of our favorite dishes include the sticky rice dumplings (be sure to discard the wrapping), spicy crispy ribs, XO Cheung Fun, and the Congee with fish and 1000 year egg (a must-try for the more adventurous eaters out there).

But what really sets this restaurant apart is its friendly and welcoming staff. While some may struggle with accents or communication, the kind and attentive service more than makes up for any potential language barriers.

One word of advice: don't over-order! With so many delicious options, it's easy to get carried away. Trust us, you won't regret giving this amazing restaurant a try.

I've never done a negative review like this - I generally don't because I never think restaurants are bad enough to deserve that. But in this case, I feel obligated to warn others to prevent having to deal with going here.
1. Food - I had General Tso's chicken and my wife orange chicken. Both were made up of the worst "chicken" I've ever had the displeasure of eating - chewy, grisly, raw in parts and.somehow fishy (?). Portions were an average cheap takeout size, not a $17 per entree size. Neither of us could stomach finishing even half of our food.
Atmosphere: Although there's some nice decor, the place has a very odd vibe that made us both sort of uncomfortable. Partly this is caused by a strange odor throughout the building - my wife described it as the smell of "old, " but I was honestly thinking it was something far worse. I don't think the place is unsanitary or anything, but it just feels like it's stuck in a 90's time warp. If you find liminal spaces uncomfortable, this place will do it. Some updates would really, really help.
All-around, a very bad food experience for us. If you do go, just don't order anything chicken. It's questionable at best and actively repulsive at worst.