My friend and I were walking up Decarie street looking for new place to eat lunch where we eventually decided to walk into Phenix D'Or. Maybe it was the fact that the place was nearly empty during lunch hour but something bothered me after I sat down. After eating here, I only wished that we kept on walking.
The esthetics of the place looks nice enough initially, suitably themed for the type of cuisine they offer. Their lunch menu is quite simple, ranging from a few types of "Asian" cuisines as well as being very cheap.
$8 for a lunch menu consisting of soup and a main plate? That's a good deal... maybe too much so!
We were offered warm tea and were promptly served. I went with the no thrills General Tao, not wishing to be too adventurous and my friend went with their Chicken Stir Fry. The tea was very good and we chatted while we waited for the food to come. In less than 10 minutes our food was served and honestly it didn't look very good looking right at it and after my first bite of my General Tao, I quickly came to regret my decision. Whether it was ordering this easy simple dish or the fact I walked into this resto, I don't know.
The General Tao tasted like rubber and left a lot to be desired. It seems to me everyone seems to make their General Tao sauce completely different from one another these days and the sauce had the weird molasses consistency that "felt off". It felt flat, sticky and with little taste. The rice ball was decent enough and the roll which was the best part of the dish was actually quite tasty with their sweet sauce.
My friend's meal came to him almost like a super spicy soup goop, which completely impressed him on how clearly bad it was. He left more than half of his meal in the plate.
When it comes down to it, Phenix D'Or is more like Phenix Aluminum. Instead of the prestigious metal such as gold, you get a very mediocre experience like a common metal like Aluminum.
When it comes down to it, the overall experience just needs to be better. We deserve better. read more