Chef Lee’s Peking Palace in Columbus in top 100 in overall excellence

Want to eat at a Chinese restaurant that has consistently been one of the top 100 overall excellence winners in the U.S.? Chinese Restaurant News has been compiling the top 100 list for six years, and Chef Lee’s Peking Palace in Columbus, about 100 miles south of Atlanta, has been on that list every year. Last year it was on the top ten list. It is the only Georgia restaurant on the Top 100 Overall Excellence list released at the awards ceremony in Las Vegas earlier this month. This, by the way, is the sixth year of the awards, and the sixth time that Chef Lee’s has been on the list.

Offering both Szechuan and Peking style food, Chef Lee’s has been in Columbus since 1984. Several years later, owner Joe Lee opened a second location at 6100 Bradley Park Drive. (The first location eventually closed.) The new restaurant is beautifully designed. Patrons cross a glass bridge over a koi pond inside the lavishly decorated lobby. As you would expect from a top 100 restaurant, service is quick, efficient and courteous. And the food? Inexpensive, but artfully presented and very good.

Alas – Chef Lee’s does not have a web site. You will find the restaurant at 6100 Bradley Park Dr (see map) in the north part of town. They are closed Monday, open from 11-10 Sun., Tues-Thur and 11-11 Fri-Sat. Families are welcome.

There are plenty of other reason to visit Columbus – among them some really interesting museums, a linear Riverwalk park, theater, a cool geo-caching program with the CVB and proximity to Providence Canyon State Park.  I’ll tell you more about these places in future posts.

Meanwhile, if you can’t make it there – you can eat at Georgia restaurants on some of Chinese Restaurant News’ other top 100 lists, including many in Atlanta. (Note: the common phone number is a call center for many of these restaurants. Also, few of these restaurants have websites.)

On the Top 100 Best Value list, is Panda Chinese Restaurant, 4024 Lawrenceville Hwy #16 in Lawrenceville. Phone: 510-870-0394.

Four Georgia restaurants are on the Top 100 Local Favorites list: Peking Garden Chinese Restaurant, 2526 S. Cobb Dr., Smyrna, phone 770-432-7853; Chopsticks Near Emory, 2088 Briarcliff Rd., NE Atlanta, phone 510-870-0394; Ming Moon, 32 S. Morningside Dr., Cartersville, phone: 770-383-3388; and Little Szechuan, 5091 Buford Dr., Doraville, phone: 770-451-0192.

Five are on the Top 100 Buffet list: Peking Chinese Restaurant, 1046 Hwy 19 N., Thomaston, phone 510-870-0394; Jade Palace Chinese Restaurant, 2641 Cobb Pkwy., Atlanta, phone 510-870-0394; New China Buffet, 2529 Redmond Cir. NW, Rome, phone 510-870-0394; China Star Super Buffet, 3657 Atlanta Hwy., Athens, phone 510-870-0394; Royal Buffet, 3268 Inner Perimeter Rd, Valdosta, phone 510-870-0394.

Top 100 Takeout list: Chopsticks II, 4639 -G N. Shallowford Rd., Atlanta, phone 510-870-0394; Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant, 2775 Cobb Pkwy.,  Kennesaw, phone 510-870-0394; Chef Wang II, 4995 Friendship Rd., Buford, phone 510-870-0394; China Wok II Chinese, 2129 Bemiss Rd., Valdosta, phone 510-870-0394;  China 1, 4295 Old Hwy 76, Blue Ridge, phone 510-870-0394; Oriental Grill Express, 853 Shannon Mall, Union City, phone 510-870-0394; and New China in Rome (also on the Top 100 Buffet list above.)

There are two on the Top Rising Stars list: Peking Garden and Sushi in Warner Robins and Peking Gourmet in Augusta.

Two are on the Top 100 Regional and Specialty Chinese Cuisine: Lin’s Chinese Restaurant, 5805 State Bridge Rd # R, Duluth, phone 510-870-0394; and Phoenix & Dragon Chinese Restaurant, 164 W Wieuca Rd., Suite 5, Atlanta, phone 510-870-0394.

By the way, Chef Lee’s is also the only Georgia Restaurant on the Top 100 Best Decor list.

(Photos: personal collection.)