Maya H.
Yelp
Hurts my heart to write this because C.Q. was our favorite restaurant in the city before they closed. We went multiple times a week and they even knew our orders lol. We were SO excited to find out that they were soft opening again and were there on their first day to support. We were trying to give them the benefit of the doubt because we knew it was their first day but we pretty much immediately knew that it wasn't the same.
First I'll talk about the service because this is easily fixable. They were all new, none of the original people, which is fine. New ownership, new staff, not a big deal. But then they brought us the wrong food 3 different times and couldn't understand each time we'd try to correct it. They brought us the wrong dumplings and when we corrected them, they still charged us for both. I was again trying to just be fine with it but eventually my mom finished her entire meal and they still told me "5 more minutes," just for them to bring the first incorrect dish they brought ... again lol. My eye was twitching at this point but I was still just so excited to be eating there again that I got over it.
But now onto the food If you have been to the old C.Q., the broth was so flavorful, rich, and savory, the shanghai buns were perfectly crispy and juicy, and the noodles were very clearly hand cut (they were extra chewy and not uniform so you could tell they were truly knife cut). This time, it tasted like a completely different dish. My friend said it was 20% of the flavor they used to have and I agree. The broth had no flavor, the noodles were perfectly uniform and tasted pre-packaged, and the shanghai buns were not even slightly crispy and tasted frozen quality. We left so sad, feeling like the old C.Q. will only live on in our memory
I would love to see them turn it around and bring it back closer to the glory that it once was. I am truly rooting for them because again, we were DEVASTATED when they closed at first. They said they're open to feedback since they're just soft opening, so hopefully they get more constructive feedback. We'll probably come back in a few weeks once they iron some stuff out and boil the broth down for longer or something lol. Hopefully we have positive updates!