Joujou N.
Yelp
I have always been an honest and transparent yelper so brace yourself for a review that contains the good, bad, and the ugly.
Let's start with the service, 5 stars. Welcoming host, informative waiter, and a big shout to the latino fellow wearing a cap for being attentive and providing us with extra napkins. The food was prepared promptly and was set on our table hot. This was great.
The decor is very nice, spacious, and clean. The restaurant has a nice vibe to it-the colors all come together and the utensils and facilities were spotless-5 stars.
The availability and ease of use of a Groupon was a great marketing strategy because it welcomes new patrons looking for asian cusine in Hells Kitchen so kudos to whoever put that in place-it helped put this restaurant on the map. 5 stars.
The food-5 stars.
The veggie dumplings were pan seared and filled with flavorful veggies-nicely seasoned.
The rock shrimp was nice and crispy and not too spicy.
The veggie lo-main was delicious and had a variety of vegetables.
The kung pao chicken was not too spicy and the chicken was nice and juicy not overcooked.
The sweet and sour pineapple chicken was delicious and the pineapple was fresh and beautifully displayed.
The white sticky rice was perfectly cooked.
The tangerine steak was good but honestly it was our least favorite dish-perhaps the sauce
was a bit too sweet for the steak?
Overall, the food was bussin'-the portions were big and they really didn't skimp on any veggies or meat.
Here's where it get's a bit crazy (and remember this is NY so we see alot of things but this was a bit over the top)
The dining area is somewhat divided between tables/chairs and the other side has tables/booth seating. But, nonetheless both sides are visible to each other.
Explain to me why, the employees thought that it would be acceptable to SLEEP on the booth seats at 4pm on a SATURDAY during BUSINESS HOURS. And not like sleeping on the chair with head back, NO fully laying down on their backs.Who thought this would be acceptable??? Who approved this??
Mind you, not 1 but rather 2 employees-one towards the back of the restaurant, and one in the front of the restaurant.
It gets better because we hadn't notice until 2 older women walked in and ask for the back booth table, the waiter proceeds to take them to a middle booth until they spot the sleeping employee and ask " is someone sleeping there?" to which he replies " yes, well this section is closed but since you asked for booth seating... or perhaps you would rather sit on this side" and he points to the table/chair seating. I can't make this stuff up folks.
Here is a message to the manager-please refer to article 81 of the NYC health code-§81.17 General requirements: design, construction, materials and maintenance-"and no part of any food service establishment shall be located in any rooms used for dwelling or sleeping purposes".
Please DO NOT ALLOW THIS EVER-above all else, this was unprofessional and inappropriate.
Having said all that, will that stop me from coming back? No, like I said this is NY afterall and we all work hard-plus the food was too damn good.