You can avoid temptation all you wish, but our advice is to not shy away from partaking in TemptAsian — a delightful new restaurant in American Fork.

We had TemptAsian Restaurant on our radar for a few weeks, since its opening earlier in June. We were actually walking toward the restaurant — located in a strip mall directly in front of Costco — this past weekend when we were approached by two friendly women asking us if we’d like to peruse the menu. Heck, even if we hadn’t been going to the restaurant right then we might have been tempted to, so enthusiastic was their sales pitch.

We were immediately impressed by the sleek, contemporary look inside the restaurant. Less certainly proved more in decor, and the most intriguing decoration was a display of hanging light bulbs that was illuminating in its simplicity.

One of the cool, modern factors of TemptAsian is that you can place your order at one of three touch-screen TV monitors featured prominently in the main lobby. Our server explained the process and then we proceeded to take way too much time figuring out what we wanted — everything looked so good. We were taking so long to decide, in fact, that two different times employees approached and asked if we needed any help. The process wasn’t really difficult at all, we were just being choosy. One question arose when we wondered how to get sweet and sour sauce on the side — there was no option for anything like that on the screen — but one employee behind the counter said he would simply remember that when our order came in.

After completing our order, we found a table and breathed in the enjoyable aroma wafting in from the nearby kitchen. One thing we immediately noticed about TemptAsian — everything was so amazingly clean. Now this may primarily be because the restaurant was only several weeks old, but it seemed more than that. Even the bathrooms, for example, were immaculately spotless. The whole restaurant was the same way.

We started off with a pair of appetizers and both were fantastic. The Pot Stickers were some of the best we’ve had, and we really loved the accompanying dipping sauce — so much so that we readily added it later to some rice and noodles dishes. The Honey Chicken Wings were extremely good, just as good, in fact, as some of our favorite offerings from area wing joints that specialize in such things. We would go back just for the wings alone, but there was so much more yet to enjoy.

Both appetizers were served on nice plates, with a shape I couldn’t quite identify. My 15-year-old daughter put her finger right on it, though, noting, quite correctly, that their shape reminded her of guitar picks. That, indeed, was why they struck a familiar chord.

As for the entrees, one favorite was the Baked Chicken Breast With Fried Rice, featuring juicy chicken marinated and baked in a special house sauce with tomatoes and onions, topped with grilled cheese and served on a layer of rice. This was a definite hit at our table.

The Sweet and Sour Chicken indeed came with the sauce on the side, as mentioned earlier — which is how my daughter prefers it. Those of us who sampled the perfectly breaded and fried chicken with the sauce, as normally intended, however, were in for a treat. This dish rocked.

We also tried the Mushroom Chicken, which included onions and zucchini in addition to the main ingredients. We enjoyed this order as well.

The main entrees all come with your choice of an added Side Kick (sides), or you can get the Half and Half, which is a combo of two different ones. We tried the Jasmine Rice, Chow Mein, Fried Rice and Rice Noodles, and were pleased with all of them.

There were many more items on the menu we would have loved to try — there’s a full complement of beef, pork, seafood and vegetable options as well, and will definitely visit again. For a first visit, TemptAsian scored very high in our book.

If we had our druthers, our taste buds could succumb to TemptAsian time after time after time.

TemptAsian Restaurant

Where: 987 W. 500 North, Suite 101, American Fork

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Prices: Entrees $6.49-$8.99

Info: (801) 756-8888