Brenda C.
Yelp
It really pains me to write this as I truly never thought I would give a business two (2) stars. I wavered between three stars (it's average) to two stars (below average) I am trying very hard to believe the reason for their multitude and consistent egregious mistakes is in part, due to the pandemic and businesses are struggling to stay alive. I hope the owner will read this and try to correct the mistakes and get better. I truly want them to succeed.
Firstly, let me begin by stating, we have frequented this restaurant several times during the COVID pandemic. Each time, the service and their food have gotten a little worse for wear. We kept giving them a pass and making excuses but after a while, I would not do anyone a favor if I didn't tell the truth. Let me press on.
This time around, we decided to order lunch from them instead of dinner. Perhaps the great chefs are working in the daytime instead of the night. We settled on L23 Kung Pao Shrimp with Peanuts and L29 Fish with Black Bean Sauce. For our lunch specials, they included soup. I had their wonton soup recently and believe me it was horrible! The wontons themselves were delicious but the broth was ladened with nothing but soy sauce and copious amounts of MSG thrown in. Today, I decided to go for their hot and sour soup and my son wanted egg drop soup. We've had all their soups prior to the pandemic and knew they were excellent. We had hoped my wonton soup was just a gross blunder.
Taking my first bite, sadly I must confess, the kung pao shrimp was average at best. I've had better from them, once upon a time. This time the shrimps were fine but considering Sichuan is their specialty their sauce was not very good. Authentic Sichuan cuisine is supposed to incorporate a balance between sweet, slightly spicy and nutty taste. The balance was not there and their sauce was also a bit glutinous. On a positive note, they did have a pentitude of peanuts for the nutty flavor. The sauce reminded me of Panda Express' kung pao sauce which is not where it should be. Overall, a dissatisfying dish.
Their fish in black bean sauce was the better of the two. However, the fish was watery which means the fish was frozen and they did not thaw it completely when stir frying. Instead the fish was getting steamed while the rest of the vegetables were being stir fried in the black bean sauce. The sauce was too oily.
Finally we get to the soups. Both our soups were viscous. They used too much cornstarch to the water and it had no flavor. My son's egg drop soup was also a bright neon yellow. The time before, when we ordered dinner from them, I had wonton soup. The broth was practically 50% soy sauce and water with overloaded MSG for flavoring. I'm not knocking MSG. I happen to believe we need MSG in our cooking IF done correctly. Woefully, this was not done properly.
Exceptionally disappointing on all ends. I understand times are rough for small businesses and that's why they have to scale back. Maybe cut out the eggrolls with the lunch specials or give smaller portions. To find food just suffering is just disconcerting. They were truly a better restaurant before the pandemic. Did they change ownership? I honestly don't know because I haven't seen the regular lady who used to man the desk. Overall, I'm not sure I'll be giving them my business until after the pandemic ends and restaurants are allowed to have customers dine in at full capacity. Between the lack of customer service and the average to subpar taste of their dishes, I have to reluctantly give them two stars. It was their soup that sealed their rating. They couldn't get the simple soups correct? That boggles my mind! If they had only worked on their customer service, at least, I would have given them a solid 2 1/2 stars which I would have bumped it to three stars. They need to step up their game. I am still rooting for them.
