By Donna Price

dprice@americanpress.com

Story, photos by Donna Price

dprice@americanpress.com

If a restaurant could be graded on its ability to adapt to changes brought on by the pandemic, Jo Jo’s China Bistro would surely get an A+.

To begin with, the folks at Jo Jo’s at 1732 W. Prien Lake Road did not mess around when reconfiguring the interior to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Walk in the door to pick up an order, and you are confined to a rectangle of space sectioned off by dining chairs and tables. Is it pretty? Not particularly. Is it functional? Absolutely.

There is no dining in for now. All orders are call-in/take-out only. Service is quick, though, and the food is consistently good. The new setup at Jo Jo’s is simple. It’s effective. It’s efficient. And it’s working.

Jo Jo’s has been around awhile, but I had never tried their food before this spring. One Friday evening, when my husband and I were missing our occasional shared meal of long life noodles from Peking Garden, which was temporarily closed at the time, we tried Jo Jo’s.

Our call-in order was ready for pickup within minutes and once back home, we were both surprised at how good it was. The food exceeded our expectations. So we tried it again. And again.

And when I came home from work last Friday night, I enjoyed an unexpected treat. My husband had visited Jo Jo’s once more, bought us dinner and had it all laid out on the table.

There was Happy Family (a combination of shrimp, scallops, beef, chicken and veggies), egg rolls, fried wontons and chicken lo mein. It was a wonderful meal to come home to.

True confessions: I had to drop by Jo Jo’s the next day to ask what the lo mein was for the purpose of this review. When my husband ordered it, he simply asked what they had that was comparable to long life noodles and he was given the chicken lo mein. An employee named Bevin saw the photo of the lo mein on my phone when I went in and he quickly solved the mystery.

Jo Jo’s chicken lo mein is not long life noodles, but it is good in its own right. The thick, warm noodles are an excellent pandemic comfort food. It is very good. I would definitely get it again.

We both ate, our daughter ate, and then we all finished it off for lunch the next day.

So, yes. Ordering from Jo Jo’s was a Friday night win.

Jo Jo’s is open 10:30 a.m.– 8:45 p.m. every day. Call them at
337-562-7810.