I honestly don't understand why they are still in business. I've came here about 10 times ONLY because it is close to where I work, but I promised myself I won't go back anymore. I haven't wrote a review because I usually don't write reviews, especially negative ones, but I honestly dislike this restaurant with a passion.
What pushed me to write a review:
They have lunch specials (which cost $7 after tax, the norm is $5 for other places). They let you choose egg rolls or BBQ pork as an extra with w/e lunch special you order. I like their BBQ pork over the egg roll, but they always put the BBQ pork in the rice box (with a lot of BBQ sauce), and the BBQ sauce mixes with the lunch special dish. The sauces mix into an awkward salty yet sweet taste which I really don't like. Knowing that, I asked them to separate the BBQ pork from the lunch special and put it in its own container. To my disbelief, they said they can't do that. I paused for a second thinking there might have been some miscommunication, so I explained to them how the sauces mixing makes the lunch special taste weird. They said they understand, but they can't separate them, and recommended me to just have the egg roll instead. I asked why not, they said they don't know, but they just can't do it. This is what pushed me over the edge with them. Only explanation I can think of is that they're trying to save some rice boxes? Needless to say, no more Happiness for me!
Food:
I have tried 10+ different dishes from them (mostly rice box) and the ONLY one that I actually think is decent is the Mapo Tofu. All the other ones I've tried are garbage. They are 100% Americanized Chinese food. They give you a ridiculous amount of sauce with anything dish that requires sauce. So much sauce that you'd think you ordered some sort of stew/soup. If you order Beef and Broccoli over rice, you'd get Beef and Broccoli stew. It's just disgusting. I personally like traditional Chinese food, but you may like the extra sauce.
They are CHEAP:
Don't be fooled by the sauce, the actual food content they give you is sparse for the price. Everywhere else, the lunch specials are in the range of $4 - $5.50, this place is $7. Their regular rice boxes (which are about $5-6) are the small cube paper ones that is about half the size of a normal rice box that cost the same. And if you want to order the normal sized rice box, it's $9-11 (once again, it's $5 elsewhere).
In addition, they are the ONLY Chinese restaurant I have ever seen that actually CHARGES you for TEA! On their menu, front and center, says "Additional $1.00 for pot of tea". I laughed pretty hard when I saw that. Anywhere else they give you a pot of tea just like how American restaurants serve water. You can tell from some restaurants the the owners are skimpy out on content while emptying customers' pockets.
Service:
Their service is slightly above average for a Chinese restaurant. Their front desk girls are underage (probably daughters), and they don't usually show any emotions. Kind of just a blank face taking your orders.
Conclusion:
What else can I say? This place simply sucks. I think I've been pretty unbiased towards them, it's just that I never actually got a good experience from this place. I'm theorizing that the only reason they are still in business is because they are the only Americanized Chinese "restaurant" in the neighborhood. There are some other Americanized Chinese places around there, but they are more of a "Pick up to go rice box" joints, no waitresses. Potsticker House is the only Chinese restaurant with waitresses, but they are traditional Chinese and not Americanized. read more
