Cryster Asian Diner - Topeka

Changed their business model and to me it is not customer friendly. It is pretty much self serve. I do not like it. Food was acceptable, but not exceptional.

My two sisters and I tried Cryster Asian diner for the first time tonight based on the good reviews online. I picked it as the place for my birthday dinner treat by my sisters. We arrived to find that the only dine in option was with take out boxes which was not a big deal to us. The staff working at the front counter were friendly and efficient. I rated the service as three star because we primarily served ourselves due to the takeout service for dine ins. The diner was generally clean and well lit including the women's restroom except one side of our table top was sticky. Food portion sizes were more than adequate. The menu variety was commendable with Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Korean options. The dinner pricing was reasonable. However, we would have paid more for better tasting food. The food quality left a lot to be desired and we were disappointed with our dinner choices. The fried rice that we all ordered for a 1.50 additional charge each was bit mushy and very tasteless from a lack of seasoning. We each ate less than a third of our cartons and discarded the remainders; none of us thought the fried rice was worth taking home for later reheating. Because the fried rice wasn't any good at the diner, we didn't think it would be any better as a leftover at home. My youngest sister's 12.99 chicken teriyaki was not tasty at all and it had a weird aftertaste. She took one bite and she said there was something wrong with it and asked me to taste it. I really couldn't tell it had teriyaki sauce on it and I couldn't place what the off taste was from (whatever it was it was not good). My youngest sister ended up throwing most of her meal in the trash. My other sister ordered some chicken on a stick and it was very dry and stuck to the stick. She said she was not impressed and she didn't like it. After being told they were out of the stir fry pork and onions, I had ordered the 13.99 orange beef which was mostly sweet instead of spicy sweet and there was no garnish of an orange slice as is often typical of the presentation in other Asian restaurants. My youngest sister and I agreed the orange beef was the best of what we ordered (I shared some with her because the chicken teriyaki was a no go) but it was still mediocre in comparison to the orange beef served by the competitors of Crysters in Topeka; it consisted of small pieces of beef swimming in a dark brown sauce with three small pieces of broccoli to the side. The amount of sweet, dark brown sauce overwhelmed the beef. I wouldn't order it again. We also ordered some crab rangoon which came as a three piece appetizer and, although it was nothing to write home about flavor wise, it was crispy and acceptable with a standard sweet and sour sauce served on the side. My sisters both said they will not be coming back to Crysters for dining again after our disappointing experience. If you are looking for tasty Asian food in Topeka, my recommendation is to go elsewhere. I certainly wish my sisters and I had.

Passed by Cryster Asian Diner on a road trip. The owners were very friendly, great food and atmosphere. Will stop by next time!

Tried Cryster Asian Diner and keep returning. I would recommend them to everyone. I order chicken lomein and chicken fried rice both are delicious. Go early cause they get

Very good. General Taos was very hot but delicious chicken fried rice had lots of chicken and beef lo mein was very