Credit: Ryan Chase

WSPN’s Tina Su, Bella Schreiber, Ryan Chase and Jeffery Zhang compare local restaurants China Rose and Jindu.

A well-composed Chinese restaurant can be difficult to find. Some restaurants are plagued by inauthentic and flavorless food, as well as expensive prices. In Wayland, there are few options for where to find Chinese food. However, we’ve found two different Chinese restaurants in Wayland to compare: Jindu, located along Boston Post Road, and China Rose, located along East Plain Street next to Dunkin’.

Our orders:

To best compare the two restaurants, we’ve ordered these three staple dishes from both restaurants: dumplings, scallion pancakes and fried rice. From Jindu, there were several different types of dumplings and we went with the Beijing Pan-Fried Ravioli with a pork filling. We also wanted to test gluten-free accessibility and ordered the chicken fried rice from the gluten-free menu. As for China Rose, there weren’t many options for dumplings, so we ordered the fried Ravioli. China Rose also didn’t have a gluten-free menu, but given that their fried rice was already gluten-free, there was no need for an extra specification. For reference, our entire Jindu order of three items cost $40.66, while the China Rose order was only $31.94.

Flavor:

Jindu started off strong, impressing us with their dumplings. At first taste, before any sauce was added, Jindu easily dominated China Rose with authentic tasting dumplings, crispy scallion pancakes and delicious fried rice. The filling of the dumplings incorporated chives and pork, while the China Rose dumplings felt one-dimensional and slightly greasy. The sentiment remained the same for the fried rice. After one bite into the China Rose chicken fried rice, nothing stood out to us and the food lacked creativity and seasoning. There was hardly even salt in the rice and the chicken tasted like it had been grilled with no seasoning. Each element of the fried rice lacked cohesion, and we would’ve loved to see the ingredients work together more. However, China Rose’s specialty sauce helped push its food to compete with that of Jindu’s. China Rose’s food tasted immensely better with its sauce, and we even added its sauce into the Jindu dishes to add an extra kick of flavor. For that, China Rose deserves some praise.

Texture:

Biting into the China Rose scallion pancakes gave us that signature crunch we were looking for. The outside was crisped to perfection, while the inside was chewy-goodness. Jindu’s pancakes weren’t as crispy as we would’ve liked, but they immediately made up for it in their pan-fried raviolis and chicken fried rice. In both the dumplings and fried rice, China Rose’s food was much heavier and denser in comparison to Jindu’s food. The rice was heavy and felt like it was soaked in water before it was given to us. Overall, Jindu had the best textures for what we were searching for in Chinese food, but if a customer is looking for the perfect scallion pancake texture, China Rose is the place for them.

Ambience:

Entering into each restaurant was like entering a different world. China Rose opens to a narrow hallway leading to either a bar area on your left or a dining area straight ahead. The dining area was a small room with a sushi bar and ordering counter. The lights were bright and the walls were decorated with paintings. On the other side of the spectrum, Jindu was dimly lit in order to ease consumers’ eyes upon entrance. It featured two bars, a dining section and a fish tank all in the same room. Jindu’s design was much more modern and had a calm feeling floating through the restaurant. We all felt more at peace and pleased to be in Jindu over China Rose.

Gluten-Free Accessibility:

For anyone with allergies, specifically a gluten allergy, it can be difficult to find good gluten-free chinese food. When asking about gluten-free options at each place, we felt immediately reassured at Jindu. Both hostesses knew what we were looking for and immediately pulled out a gluten-free menu. We asked them about their cross-contamination policies, what they could safely make and what they recommended, and they had sufficient answers for all of our questions. When asking the same questions at China Rose, it took longer for them to confirm that the rice we wanted was actually gluten-free and free of cross contamination. They did not have a gluten-free menu, but eventually we ordered and were on our way. Overall, both restaurants had a gluten-free option and didn’t get anyone with a gluten allergy in our party sick, but if you prefer more options and an actual menu, Jindu is the way to go for gluten-free choices.

Overall winner:

In the end, Jindu overshadowed China Rose in almost every possible way. China Rose had less and worse flavoring, worse overall texture and the worst ambience. Jindu had a higher overall food quality, including their gluten-free options, but they fell short to China Rose when it came to sauces. When we added sauce to our food, both restaurants’ food was good, but had things to improve on. Although the price of our meal at Jindu was almost $10 more, we believe that it was worth it, given Jindu also tends to provide bigger serving sizes for to-go orders.

Our final rate for Jindu is an 8/10, while China Rose only gets a 5/10.

Gallery • 9 Photos

Credit: Bella Schreiber

China Rose has family-style seating next to the sushi bar, in a separate room from the bar. The far wall displays intricate paintings with the Great Wall of China and different symbols of their culture.