Lulu L.
Yelp
TLDR: 0 STARS. WORST restaurant experience I've ever experienced, given a plate of onions as "chow mein" and manager was incredibly rude and disrespectful. Waiter Ricky was very kind, we are so thankful for at least 1 person being kind to us so we gave him a big tip. I RARELY give poor reviews, unless I think they truly deserve it.
O STARS. If I could give this 0 stars, I would. I have NEVER been treated like this before by any of the many restaurants I've visited and/or reviewed.
We ordered vegetable chow mein. After waiting 45 minutes (2 tables that came in after us had their foot served 10 minutes before us... but fine, wasn't planning to mention that if the rest of this experience hadn't happened), we received a plate of onions (see picture). We kindly let our waiter know this wasn't what we ordered. The waiter Ricky was so kind and apologetic, but when the manager (short woman, short hair, hot temper) was called over she rudely asserted this was chow mein, we would have to pay for it, and she would let us "get away" with this again. My boyfriend has eaten chow mein a LOT since he was little, in America and India, and has never ever seen it like this. We showed on Google what ALL pictures of chow mein look like. She then argued this was "traditional" style and we should've known that (it is not written anywhere on the menu at all, all it says is "something familiar"... good lord, you think anyone can assume what that means?! Of course it's familiar, it's an American favorite! To think we'd "assume" it "something familiar" meant "traditional" is frankly idiotic and self-centered).
The ignorant, ill-mannered behavior of the manager was shocking and disgusting. I have rarely, if ever, sent food back in my entire life. A plate of onions is NOT CHOW MEIN. I have asked my friends who live in various parts of China and Taiwan, they agree that the manager was trying to pass off some sham plate that wasn't chow mein. Even if you look up "traditional chow mein" online, NOTHING looks like this. We had to argue for 7 minutes until she finally agreed not to charge us for the chow mein (we had ordered other items, too, those were fine), but she told us off again and warned us she wouldn't let us do this again next time we came in. NEXT TIME?! HA!
Also, the Thai iced tea is extremely watered down, and the pan fried noodles barely had sauce. I was going to actually give a good 4 star review if she had behaved nicely, but her crass attitude towards us was disrespectful and revolting. I have friends who own restaurants I spoke to about this: every single one said even if the manager had been right (she wasn't), you still don't charge for something a customer didn't expect to order (or even order AT ALL), ESPECIALLY when they've ordered other items they are paying for.
We had been debating whether to try a new place, Mandarin Gourmet, or go with an old strong classic. This is DEFINITELY not worth it. Next time we'll go to Golden Temple.