Alex B.
Yelp
I heard so much about MOFU shoppe over the last two years, and finally decided to give it a go with my wife for a date night. We both came out of the experience generally satisfied with the food, but also underwhelmed by the service. A mixed bag, though more positive than negative by the end of the night. If there were such thing as half ratings on Yelp, it would be a totally solid 3.5.
The date night started off with us being seated late despite having a reservation. Typically, no biggie. I am a very low maintenance guy, and I always give a HUGE benefit of the doubt to most places that I go to. It usually takes multiple mistakes during an outing for me to determine an experience should be a firm 3 star or lower rating, and I can back that up by the fact that the majority of my reviews are 4 or 5 stars. I always make a strong effort to only remove multiple stars based on consecutive poor efforts that truly have an affect on my experience, and that goes for the highest end places, or McDonalds, it doesn't matter. My criteria is always the same.
We were seated after about 20 minutes of waiting with a reservation, but where they lost me is the fact that they didn't promptly come give us menus or even apologize about the wait despite there being tables available. Once we ordered our wine, it took an additional 15 minutes for them to bring it out. So, from entering the restaurant to getting our first drink order took about 35 minutes for a place that was not even in peak hours yet.
Now here's the thing, all of the food delivered! For a place that is rated 4.5 stars and had this much hype behind it, I started genuinely worrying that we were in for an all around poor experience, but once the food started coming out, the night was definitely redeemed. The chicken wings and tots were fantastic and the perfect appetizers. We then ordered sticky short ribs, Thai basil noodles, and dumplings, all of which were delicious, but it's the dumplings that stole the show! The short ribs were good but surprisingly the most "average" plate of the night.
All in all, night saved by the food. I still feel the need to properly rate this experience because it definitely started off rocky, but I don't believe my singular experience should deter you from giving it a try yourself. I even remember speaking to my wife after the meal, and we both said we were willing to give the place another shot. It's very possible we were here on an understaffed day, or one in which they had an off customer service day, but it's definitely forgivable due to the food living up to the hype.
Verdict: MOFU Shoppe offers a unique fusion flavor, with a very cozy atmosphere, and a good selection of drinks, but underwhelming service .. at least during our initial visit. The experience was more positive than negative, so we will be back!
Rating: 3.5