It’s a small place with only a couple of dozen tables and booths tightly packed in two side-by-side rooms. We’ll call it cozy. But the vibe the restaurant gives off is one of those family owned Chinese places in your neighborhood that everyone raves about – the kind that you order take-out from and scarf down every bite because it’s so good.

The menu is traditional but expansive with dozens of appetizers, poultry, beef, seafood, rice, and noodle dishes available. If you’ve ever been to a Chinese restaurant you won’t find anything on here that will confuse or shock you – orange chicken, Mongolian beef, etc. But in a city full of restaurants that seem to go out of their way to include dishes that make you go “huh?” a familiar selection like this can be a comfort and it certainly expands your ordering options.

We began with a pu-pu platter, partly because our server suggested it and partly because we enjoy saying pu-pu platter. It was practically a meal in itself with eggrolls, chicken and beef skewers, heavily battered and deep fried shrimp, barbecue pork ribs, and won tons plus a tangy plum sauce and hot mustard for dipping. With the lone exception of the tough to eat ribs everything on the pu-pu platter (heh-heh) was delicious and in total it extended way beyond the concept of appetizers.

For our meal we ordered the Mongolian Beef (tender chunks of beef and veggies sautéed in a slightly spicy soy-based sauce), Moo Goo Gai Pan (chicken, mushrooms, onions, and more with a traditional stir-fry tang), and chicken fried rice, plus white rice on the side. After the pu-pu platter (stop me) it was way too much food, with each dish containing enough to feed probably one and a half people so if you happen to know a half-person just order one dish and split it.

Of course that didn’t stop the two of us from attacking everything with gusto and continuing to eat way past the point of rationality. But that’s less a commentary on our waistlines and more about the quality of the food, which was in a word delicious. Mongolian Beef is one of my all-time favorite Chinese dishes and not everyone can do it right. Ming does.

A full dessert menu follows and yes we ate some of that also – carrot cake and chocolate cake if you must know. And yes they were good and yes we had to be carried out of there on wheelbarrows so keep your snide comments to yourself.

On the long list of truly great things about Ming are the prices. Almost every entrée was under $10 and the two of us got three glasses of wine, the pu-pu platter (no really, stop me), Mongolian Beef, Moo Goo Gai Pan, chicken fried rice, white rice, hot tea, chocolate cake, carrot cake, and tax for $55. You’d have a hard time getting half of that for $55 at most other Strip restaurants.

The service also belongs on that “great things” list - efficient, friendly, and extremely patient with the odd fellow that was sitting in the booth behind us.

If you want a terrific traditional Chinese meal on The Strip and don’t want to pay a fortune for it we can’t think of any better place to visit than Ming.

Oh… and one more thing… pu-pu platter.