John L.
Yelp
READ EVERY REVIEW, BECAUSE SOME 1-STAR REVIEWS ARE JUST JOKES.
Thumb-ups: taste of most food, price, service, accepting Amex.
Thumb-downs: some food too salty, confusing menu.
This place does not deserve 1-star reviews. It's even hilarious reading some reviews saying the reason of 1-star is cash-only after they used 50% off coupon or whatever. Come on dudes, you save 50% and the restaurant doesn't deserve a little rules? It's called promotion (for their long-term profits), not charity. Don't like it? Don't go. There are tons of restaurants taking cash only without any discount. If you don't have better things to do, go report them all.
Other false accusations include:
- slow service: not true, they are pretty fast. It's BBQ not Chipotle, meats need time.
- smoke smell: not true, the restaurant does not stink at all, surprisingly. Was prepared for the stink, but nothing at all.
- rude service: not true, the female server at front desk is friendly and serves ice water fast.
- small portion / overprice: for the price it's good amount generally. Someone says oh the lamb skewer is too small! Yeah, if you order the "small lamb skewer" against the regular one. What do you expect when "small" is in the name?
- bad taste: well, it's really personal preference, but to me most food tastes alright, not fantastic but definitely not terrible.
What's really not good:
- confusing menu: I read Chinese so it was fine. But I can imagine how confusing the menu reads to a non-Chinese speaker. The menu needs a redesign and proper English translation.
- items to avoid: some dishes are too salty, and some just don't taste very good, and some are not worth it. The lamb stomach in a hotpot is over tender and soft, and somewhat over priced for the portion. Some vegetables are over salty.
Anyway, I have no idea whether this place has a new owner or management, but even if some of the reviews were true as of sometime before, they are not anymore. This place is way better than its current Yelp score, and I hope it gets the owner's attention so that she/he does something.