Chinatown

12/8/2015

This place is good. And I'm from L.A. and am picky.

The free dumplings were yummy. And not just kuz they are free haha.

We loved the shrimp rice rolls.

Sweet and sour chicken is crispy and not greasy. Liked it.

Seafood fried rice is expensive. close to $20 but at least it has scallops and wasn't overgreasy. It was good but I admit I was surprised by the price considering it is fried rice.

Free green tea with fortune cookie. Cute.

Party of 4 and they listed a tip amount. Didn't pay what they listed because we aren't required to pay that amount. We all found that strange.

Overall: food is good. Place is underrated

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  Free green tea ice cream

  Free green tea ice cream
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  Egg rolls

  Egg rolls
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  Shrimp rolls. Yummm

  Shrimp rolls. Yummm
• See all photos from Patricia K. for Chinatown

4/10/2016

First off to start off we got here ordered our food took forever to get there, then FINALLY got our food, some plates of food were cold, food had no taste, 3$ for nasty tea? No thanks !
If I could give this place no star I would !
Horrible place to eat, waiter never checked on us, flagged her down and she said one minute and never came back didn't ask us if we needed refills or anything. Very disappointed didn't see our waiter until we got our bill. They didn't even apologize for their horrible service.

Will never return there. Lady stopped us at the street and since we were hungry we ate the nasty food.
Big thumbs down

3/5/2016

My boyfriend and I came here despite their horrible reviews because we were staring and almost everyone had stopped serving dim sum for the day. A lady on the street corner flagged us down and showed us the menu, and we decided to just go with it.

Upon arriving, we weren't greeted by anyone other than the street corner lady showing us to our table. After about 10 minutes sitting there, a woman came and took our order. We noticed that most of their traffic was coming from the street corner lady, and consisted mostly of tourists.

After ordering some dim sum (pork bun, shrimp dumpling, and shrimp with rice noodle), we asked for hot tea. It was really low quality, with loose tea leaves in each sip. Most places offer hot tea complimentary with a meal, but they actually charged us $3!

The food arrived and it was very low quality. The shrimp was hardly deveined, and the dumpling and egg noodles over cooked.

For these 3 things it ended up being close to $25. Such a waste of money! Do yourself a favor and skip this trap. Bad service, gross food, and way over priced.

2/27/2016

WILL NEVER EVER EVER EAT HERE AGAIN. I was in a party of 3, we sat down and were just handed menus and were never asked if we wanted any drinks. About 20 minutes later I had to ASK if we can order drinks and place our orders. 10 minutes later we received our soda and still did not receive the other 2 waters we ordered at the same time. After placing our order 30 minutes ago, we received one of our orders.. Not all 3 but ONE order. 15 minutes later we received our 2nd order.

Now during this time of waiting our waiter NEVER came to check up on us or give us refills. As the other two people were almost finished eating I asked again where my food was and they said it was on its way out. 20 minutes later I received the wrong order because they had forgot what I ordered. It was not busy at 8pm when we arrived either. So 15 minutes later I received my order after almost an hour an a half of waiting and watching my group eat.

The food was actually decent but I was so distracted by the service we recieved I couldn't even enjoy my food. We asked for the check a few minutes later.

We were given the check 30 minutes later and we were over charged almost $20. When I asked why they said the tip was included because we were there past 10pm. Even though we got there at 8 and I waited almost 2 hours for my food to come out. I told our waitress I didn't want to include the tip and she gave me attitude and took my check and went to the back. She came back later and only took $7 off. I asked what the rest of the over charge was and she said it was taxes.

My bill was only suppose to be $48 with tax and they wanted to charge us $66.00. We decided just to get it over with and pay our over priced bill so we could get out of that awful place.

Not only were we waiting but there were also 5 other groups waiting and it was so bad that a few people who were still waiting on their food or already recieved their order and their party didn't actually got up and left or canceled their orders because no one checked up on anyone or let us know where our food was unless we bugged them and when we asked they would just say it's coming right out.

WE WERE THERE FOR ALMOST 2 1/2 hours. We didn't leave till almost 11pm. AWFUL SERVICE and they try to add unexpected charges to your bill hoping you don't notice. I highly recommend never going there. And I'm not one to say anything if I get bad service or even say something to the waitress but it was seriously so bad I couldn't believe it. The party I was with couldn't believe it.

So if they try to hand you coupons as you're walking past and try to bring you in please just say no and find a better place to eat. I hope this review helps. Don't want anyone else getting ripped off.

4/1/2016

We were HORRIFIED!  After reading all the reviews, I see I won't have to write the essay I was planning on.  The "meh" food, the pushiness of the staff (outside the restaurant and in), and the DECEITFUL tip practices were our experience, too. I chuckled at the tip thing on the bottom of the bill when it finally came, but bristled when my credit card was actually charged that amount (18% for this miserable experience?!?) After a discussion I was returned the "tip".  

And here is the kicker: I put the bills in my wallet, but left the change on the table.  The server FOLLOWED us out of the restaurant and called me on the 50 cents I left.  He offered to bring it to me, saying I didn't need to tip. (Why he didn't just grab it off the table while he was still downstairs, I guess we'll never know.) Well, I used to serve and actually loved my job for a long time. So now I usually overtip, unless the service is meager. An 18% tip in a non-gourmet restaurant says "Thank you for a lovely experience" in my books.  I told him all this (rather calmly - I'm proud to say) and he said he understood and wished me a good rest of the day.

I can't believe this restaurant is allowed to continue this SCAM practice.  'Cause, yeah: aside from the nearly day-ruining experience, it's nothing to write home about.

9/1/2015

Ah...Chinatown Restaurant.  I seemed to fall into the same trap as so many others. Walking around Chinatown we were hungry and not thinking rationally.  My wife had made fun of the non-specific sign/name  (Chinatown Restaurant?  In Chinatown?  Creative!), when I remembered seeing them mentioned in either a guide book, or on the hotel's tourist channel (probably both). The source said it  was a "must try," so we decided to give it a shot.

The woman handing out coupons and ushering people inside was quite happy to have a couple that seemed to go inside willingly.  We went up the stairs, and the first thing that I noticed was that the only people eating in the dining room were white. Not a good sign for a Chinatown restaurant.  

We opted for a seat outside. They have a very cramped balcony and we were placed under the aforementioned sign. This we actually enjoyed because we had a nice view of the  street below.  

While waiting for our server I pulled out my phone and checked Yelp. Oooops! I had checked every other place before even considering going in, and  just by chance we ended up in the place with the WORST reviews.  However, we decided to try to not pre-judge and let the overall experience speak for itself.  At the very least the food couldn't be worse than the one Chinese place we have (had; it finally closed) in our town.

I liked this place more than most other reviewers, which is why I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1. The wait staff was actually friendly with us. I did order a water that never arrived, but looking at the other reviews, that is a good thing because they charge for water.  The tip was not automatically included on our bill for two, but that would not have mattered either way because I was prepared for it; but I was glad to see it was not on there this time. We also were not overcharged for anything. Yes, the prices were too high for what we received, but they matched the prices on the menu.

It is true; the food is not good. The free potstickers were flavorless, and the dipping sauce was inedible.  The Combination chow mein was not horrible, but all of the meat in the dish was dry and stringy.  We also tried the General Tso's chicken...  The batter smelled a little of fish, but otherwise it tasted all right. Yes, you could have slightly better food at Panda Express, but it  doesn't come  with the cool  balcony.

Oh, and  the Green Tea ice Cream was actually pretty good.  But we were feeling a bit ill, so we gave it, along  with half our leftovers, to a nice homeless woman across the street.  At least we knew  she'd appreciate it.

Definitely a tourist trap.  I don't imagine many people go there more than once.  I'm very disappointed I didn't try another place in Chinatown that day, but fortunately there  will be other opportunities.

8/17/2015

Free potstickers and ice cream . But you pay for it at the end when they add 18% gratuity for just a party of two . Glad I read the yelp reviews after sitting down because I would of tipped an extra $10. So if you think about it , they are making a lot of money !! They would of made almost $19 tip ! They do not label the gratuity on the check either - so look after your total
And you will see the extra $ !

Sitting outside was great - food was fine . No water - must buy bottled water .

I normally check yelp for reviews but this one almost slipped - I would never go to such a low rating restaurant . But sitting outside upstairs was my tourist trap!

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  They add tip for themselves . It's under the total and not labeled correctly . Party of two not a party of 6 or more .

  They add tip for themselves . It's under the total and not labeled correctly . Party of two not a party of 6 or more .

8/9/2015

This place has roaches

Bullshit restaurant.. Stay away. They make sure you don't leave after they get you to walk on through that door.

We walked in they sat us in the back of the restaurant took our drink order. Tried convincing us of getting sodas instead of water cups(didn't work) we put our food order in and sit there. We're a party of 12 all family. My niece looks down and there by the side of her chair one cockroach is crawling next to her (eeeeuuuuwww) my cousin looks down and there goes the second. These roaches are alive in the restaurant. My cousin gets up and walks to the front pools the owner/manager to the side and shows her the pictures we took. She comes over with her little server to pick them up says she is going to knock off $40 from our bill.

We sit there uncomfortable trying to eat. Then the table next to us, lady gets up with her plate and walks to the front. Manager comes over we can't hear much but we know they found something. We hear the manager tell her they will give her a 50% discount. Our bill comes and it's about $270(bullshit)

*food sucks
*place has roaches
*people are complaining

These people added a $40.85 tip to our bill. Really that is straight bullshit. We gave them $200 and walked out of that place. This place deserves 0 stars

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  Two cockroaches on the side of my nieces chair

  Two cockroaches on the side of my nieces chair
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  $40 discount for bad service $40.85 tip Bullshit

  $40 discount for bad service $40.85 tip Bullshit

10/10/2015

Food is not good. I'm pretty sure you would know what that means.
Also service is bad food takes long n if your a tourist they'll take your order first but if your local they don't care about you. Some food are serve cold.

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  Cold as North Pole

  Cold as North Pole

2/23/2016

Worst Chinese food. Over priced. And they will help you add the 20% tips secretly(party of 3). Be sure not to double tip.

11/22/2015

No. No. No. if people are handing out coupons for a restaurant don't go!

We thought this place looked alright but the food sucks and service is HORRIBLE!
I went with my boyfriend and visiting family.
When they asked what we wanted to drink we said water, everyone else has cups of water at their table. The lady tried to convince us to buy water bottles for $2 and we said NO. she came out with bottled water and we told her AGAIN we want cups of water. She thought she would fool us because his family were tourist.
We ordered shrimp friend rice. There was only ONE PIECE. PIECE. not even half a shrimp. I complained to the manager and in front of us she shuffled through the rice and couldn't find any herself but that one orange piece. She claimed the pieces we cut so small we can't see them. Yup, and that was the manager. I had never been more disappointed at any restaurant ever.

2/14/2016

I'd have to agree with most that the food is subpar. Got suckered in by the coupon. I think it could have  earned more stars if the service wasn't so shi**y! Example: we were trying to box up our leftovers (large amount) and the waitress refused to give us more than 2 boxes. And the plastic bag she gave us had a white sauce at the bottom; obviously used. Will check Yelp reviews before deciding my next meal in Chinatown. Smh.

7/30/2015

RUN AS FAR AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN.   This place is insane.  They lure you in with the promise of free potstickers and free macha ice cream.   They allow you (apparently) .6 free potstickers per person.  For three people we were told we would get two potstickers.   Next, the lady that took our order was nice, but took it wrong and argued with me about it later.  When you order a drink you get a can or bottle and a cup of ice.  If they see your glass getting low, they just come pour more out of your can or bottle against your will.   No more ice.  

They also do things like ask you if you would like fried rice instead of steamed while not telling you it costs double.  If you ask if you can get plain fried rice without the chicken or veggies in it they say SURE no problem and then still charge you $8.95 for a plate of plain rice with some egg and soy sauce that was tossed on the grill for two minutes.  If I had known it was going to cost so much I would have just gone with plain rice.

The food itself wasn't bad.  But it wasn't anything special either.  It's all Americanized.  

If you want water they don't serve tap water so you have to buy a bottle of water.

We had the sweet & sour chicken (no rice), the "free" potstickers, three drinks, an order of pork steam buns (3), and a plate of pretend fried rice, and four wrapped shrimps was $42.20   and they wanted a $7.55 tip (18%).  

I adjusted my tip down for the poor service (they brought someone else's food to our table and set it down and we had to ask them to take it away and they just set it on the right table).  Plus it irks me to pay tip on tax.  So I gave 15% on amount before tax.

Overall this was a horrible experience for our vacation.  This is NOT what you want.

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  Watch out - they add gratuity when you're not looking

  Watch out - they add gratuity when you're not looking

11/8/2015

This place is dishonest. They added 18% tip to the bill without label(luckily I caught it but still felt disgusted). Overly priced food came in a much smaller portion compared to a regular Chinese restaurant. In conclusion, this place will make you feel like you are being tricked after dining. Shame on them!! I hope you can avoid a bad experience by reading this review.
Pick up any other place in Chinatown!

1/17/2015

Out of all the times we've passed this place, we were starving and finally gave in. Sure this place is historical but they need to revamp it!

There's a menu out front on the building with no prices. Then they give you a menu when you get in. Then the actual menu in the restaurant has higher prices. I asked about it and the lady said those were take out prices. I'm guessing price changes here. They are desperate for customers. They really need new owners. This place is also VERY expensive.

There were many different people that were serving us. We were given a plate of kimchi and gyoza. The gyoza we knew for sure was complimentary but we thought they added the kim chi as well. We start eating and talking. A waiter comes by and takes our plate away. We tell him we weren't finished with the kim chi. He says but you didn't order it. I feel as though we didn't, we were already eating it so why take it away? There was a lot of confusion. Let's just say that waiter didn't come back up again. He knew he made a boo boo. This place is poorly organized. I supposed they aren't used to having so much traffic.

We were then served our combination chow fun. So good! One critique is onions to big and raw.

The honey prawns were amazing! Big crunchy and Cooked at just the perfect amount of time.

I really wished this place would get a new owner. Such a prime destination with high prices and few customers. Such a waste.

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• See all photos from Lynn C. for Chinatown

4/22/2015

After so many flyers being handed to me on Grant St, and after admiring their fire escape patio dining from (the sadly now-closed) Empress of China, we finally gave Chinatown Restaurant a try last weekend. It was a solid middle of the road experience.

We sat outside on the patio. Service was slow despite the restaurant being barely full, but at least they brought the hot tea out quickly- which was nice for a cold day. We ordered the beef noodle roll, the pork dumplings and the lotus buns (because they were out of steamed pork buns, BOO.). The food tasted OK, nothing particularly stood out. The bill was around $35 which seemed fair. The only two things we really liked about our meal was the view of Chinatown from the patio and the free dessert of green tea ice cream topped with fortune cookies.

Chinatown Restaurant wasn't an amazing experience but it got the job done. We'd probably go again.

9/26/2015

We had 24 people and this was the only place that could accommodate - first red flag. They give us potstickers on the house because the wait to order was so long - sweet!! We pour the soy sauce for dipping and there were 5 fruit flies, ONE STILL ALIVE!! We tell them and the response was "We can't help it if the flies get into the soy sauce. I can get you a new one but that's all we can do." WUT. The waitress is also a total B. We already ordered for all of us so we're still sitting here waiting but WTF. NEVER AGAIN. AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS.

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  We poured the soy sauce and 5 fruit flies came out. One of them was still alive.

  We poured the soy sauce and 5 fruit flies came out. One of them was still alive.

3/19/2015

I highly don't recommend this place only because it is a tourist trap. I would rather eat at Panda Express than this place! The shrimps smell pretty vulgar and taste pretty sour; Its as if it were the shrimps were frozen and thawed out in a toilet.

Please save yourself time and money and try other dim sum places like around Jackson street. Or go down to a mom and pop resturant because you will definitely have a better experience than here. I tried giving benefit of the doubt here.

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  Bleh, way to sour. Do not recommend

  Bleh, way to sour. Do not recommend

8/24/2015

I'm going to keep it as shorts as i  possibly can,

The Costumer service here is the worst you can ever experience anywhere.
After receiving my bill and carefully doble checking it, as i always do at any other restaurant, i noticed it a little too high for a party of 5 people, $189.
I doble checked what we order and they were overcharging  us $53 plus $33 tip, wich they did not deserved, we did not even get extra napkings nor anybody ever asked us if we needed anything else.

When i complained to the manager wich is always sitting down at the entrance on the second story and  ask her to doble check my bill, all of the sudden she did not speak English, and started speaking mandaring to me, she then direct me to my waitress , she went back to the kitchen and brought a new lower bill but still inlcluding Tip, wich i refused to leave.

* bad costumer service
* dirty, unhealthy place
* DOUBLE CHECK YOUR BILL BECAUSE THEY OVERCHARGE

NEVER COMING BACK HERE TO EAT !!!!!!!

11/26/2015

The food is excellent and the services.. Contrary to others , I will recommend this Restaurant..