In a viral TikTok, a man shared his hack for finding the best Chinese food in America: the 3.5-star rule.
TikToker RocketJump (@rocketjump) posted the video on Tuesday and explained how he narrows down Chinese restaurant choices.
TikTok says that if you live in a city, go to Yelp and “look for restaurants with 3.5 stars.” He says the restaurant’s rating should be “exactly” 3.5 because that rating is “the sweetest place for authentic Chinese food.”
If a restaurant has more than 3.5 stars, “a lot of white people love it,” which means “the service is great,” so “the food isn’t as good as it could be,” according to RocketJump.
“Cultural expectations are different in Asia. [Servers are] Not as active, they are not going to come to you,” RocketJump says in its TikTok, which was viewed over 7 million times on Thursday. ,[People on Yelp are] Due to poor service, there are dinging in all these restaurants. However, food balances it. So you have that 3.5 stars.”
@rocketjump Why do I only go to Chinese restaurants with a 3.5 star rating?
Original Soundboard – RocketJump
Commenters on RocketJump’s video shared their tips and tricks for finding quality Chinese food in their cities.
“I look for quality chairs,” commented @fascinatedbyfungi. “If they have those faded pink feather chairs and a lot of Chinese movie posters, the food’s gonna be [fire],
“I use the ‘welcome’ rule. If you walk in and they greet you just leave because the food will be the middle,” wrote @oldtaku. “I want them to ignore me like I do” [high school] to nuke.”
“I use the menu rule,” commented @emm4cla1re. “If there are super faded pictures of food on the wall above the register it’s going to be on fire.”
Others shared that RocketJump’s rule checks for restaurants in their area.
“I just checked and my favorite spot has 3.5 stars,” commented @lukeg.v.
“I just checked out the top 3 places in my city,” wrote @iflipsidei. “3.5.”
“Several 3.5s where I’ve done very well, commented @carbonatedcheeseburger.
Daily Dot contacted RocketJump via TikTok comment.
*First published: September 15, 2022, 4:32 pm CDT
Tricia Crimins
Tricia Crimmins is the IRL Staff Writer at Daily Dot. She is also a comedian from New York and an assistant professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Previously, she has written for Mashable, Complex Networks, and Moment magazine. She can be found on Twitter at @TriciaCrimmins.
