Weather most foul in Lower Hutt.
Icy rain falling 'sideways' !
Hot lunch for two, we spied the Forbidden City.
Quintessential mom n pop Chinese restaurant, 'northern' cuisine, says google reviews (nada on yelp, maybe we FIRST?)
Cantonese lingo coming from a loud ladies' table as we we entered the welcoming warmth at 2pm,
Not busy,
3 tables out of twenty occupied with food / people.
Seated quickly, no staff as yet.
7 minutes past the hour, a teenaged young woman staffer appears:
'place a take away order' ?
"We are closing".
hmmm.
I related how cold we were, and ascertained that in fact 2 : 30 was 'closing time, and could we dine in, please if it suited the kitchen?
(I'll find out, she says, no Cantonese spoken it's all in Kiwi English).
It IS ok,
Menus arrive, we quickly order rice noodles chicken fried which came out quickly.
Delicious, flavoursome example of Chinese fried noodles, decent quantity balanced, enough protein, crunchy sprouts, green onion, slight taste of the hot wok / fire = competency in the Cuisine Chinois genre.
Four+ star dish
Clearly chef KNOWS how !
No offer of HOT tea !
No condiments, chili oil, we found that ourselves.
We asked for HOT pot of tea when food arrived, it was NOT monitored for top up boiling water.
Entrusting one's business to most teenagers IS risky in our experience.
CAN be all right, but in most cases, THEIR agendas, and what's good for biz are mutually exclusive.
Pleased with the quality of our edibles, we paid, ( +4 bucks for the tea),
braved the wicked weather and set off for the parked car on Queens St, Lower Hutt.
As 1st Yelp reviewer, I'd like to be kind to this family business, but fairness dictates 'no cheer leading', just relate the ACTUAL experience.
Food was 4.0, as was tea when it got there.
Tidiness / comfort of dining room is a 3.
Value is a 3.5
Service / attitude below par earns a 1.5.
We love mom n pop stores and seek them out.
THIS one could be VERY good IF front of house professional hospitality was present.
Over all 3.0 on the yelpmeter.
pics will follow read more