Cheap Lunch: Hong Kong Ruby & Pot of Love

Cheap Lunch
One Woman's Relentless Search For Great Lunches

Hong Kong Ruby
Beaufort Farms Plaza
2027 Linglestown Road, Harrisburg
717-541-1378

We have found the ideal Chinese restaurant for lunch. Out on Linglestown Road, tucked between a hair salon and Rite Aid is Hong Kong Ruby. Whether you eat in their full service restaurant or take lunch to go, Ruby’s offers amazing lunch specials from 11a.m.-3p.m. Monday through Saturday.

This lunch deal is almost too good to be true. For the tiny price of $3.99 you can pick your ideal lunch from a list of 27 Chinese specialties. These lunches are hot, fresh and large. Not only do you get an entrée, but the specials also include Pork Fried Rice and a Shanghai Egg Roll. If you decide to eat in, hot Chinese Tea and ice water accompany your meal.

Here is an example of some of the 27 lunch choices: Chicken or Pork Chow Mein, Pepper Steak with Onions, Shrimp with Broccoli, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Mixed Vegetables, and Kung Bo Chicken. My companion and I both decided to have tangy chicken dishes. I indulged in the Spicy Chicken and he had Orange Flavor Chicken.

The portions at Ruby’s are extremely generous. I began with the egg roll, and moved on to my entrée, which I could barely finish. The dish was piping hot and filled with tender chicken, peppers retaining the appropriate amount of crunchiness, and water chestnuts that perfectly complimented the dish’s spiciness. It was delicious, but so large that you should definitely plan to save some for an afternoon snack.

My companion was careful to pull out the extremely hot Chinese peppers from his Orange Chicken before diving in, but according to him, they left enough of their spicy character behind to perfectly flavor the chicken and baby corn. He said that, considering he has Chinese often, this was some of the best Chinese he has had recently.

Hong Kong Ruby also offers a variety of soups if you are not hungry for a large meal. A pint of any of the 11 soups is $3.25 or less. You can even get a quart of some varieties for under $5 such as: Egg Drop Wonton Soup, Hot & Sour Soup, and Assorted Vegetable Soup. If you choose to couple a pint of soup with a hot appetizer like Vegetable Egg Rolls ($2.50) or Fried Wontons ($2.85) and you can have a lighter lunch for under $5.

Hong Kong Ruby has an extensive menu and is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. So, for a great Chinese lunch at a low price, make a break for Linglestown Road and Ruby’s.

Pot of Love
6003 Jonestown Road, Harrisburg
717-671-9155

Yet again I, Betty the champion of cheap lunch, have sifted through the Harrisburg area’s lunch spots to bring to your attention a superb and cheap lunch treat. This time, it is a cafeteria style restaurant that serves homemade food. Every item on the menu at Pot of Love is under $5.

Pot of Love is located in the New Love In Christ Church Building behind the Festival Foods on Jonestown Road. Although an unlikely place to have a restaurant, Judy and Skip Simpson have had an extremely favorable response to their chicken pot pie and other freshly made goodies.

When my lunch partner ventured in to pick up lunch, all lunches are take-out, Judy was in the middle of making dough for pot-pie noodles. So, they are not kidding when they tout their ingredients as being fresh. A pint of chicken pot-pie, with its potato chunks, noodles and large chicken pieces is $2. A quart of pot-pie is $3.95. For a homemade, healthy meal it doesn’t get any better than this.

However, Pot of Love doesn’t only serve pot-pie. They also serve subs. You can choose from meatball Parmesan, grilled chicken breast or steak and cheese – all of which are presented on a homemade roll and are $2.25 each. The steak and cheese was accompanied by lettuce, onions and tomatoes and I found it to be incredibly tasty. My lunch companion said that the meatball sub was fantastic, the meatballs having a nice consistency and the perfect amount of flavor.

The menu has a variety of sandwiches to choose from, all under $2. A cheeseburger is $1.60. A grilled ham and cheese is $1.65. Pot of Love also offers eight-ounce containers of hand picked homemade barbecue. You can choose from either pork or beef at $3.50, or ham or chicken at $3.00. A four pack of homemade sandwich rolls to accompany your barbecue are $4.

I know that this is Cheap Lunch with Betty, but I have to tell you about Pot of Love’s dinner specials. On Wednesdays, they have an all you can eat buffet featuring their chicken pot-pie, for $3.99. According to Judy, they serve between 300 and 400 people on Wednesday nights. In addition to this, on Mondays there is an all-you-can-eat dinner of beef pot-pie, spaghetti and meatballs, vegetables and applesauce for $3.99.

So, for an unique and cheap lunch treat try Pot of Love. They are open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30a.m.-1:30p.m. A hidden and delicious treat, this church-based restaurant will not remain a secret for long.