SUMMARY: The more "honest" staff was unfriendly, and the rest tried to cheat us of more money with "a calculation error." The food was mediocre and definitely more expensive than it used to be.
I have been eating in Flushing almost every weekend of my life, and we used to frequent the place about 6 years ago when the price of Peking Duck used to be $16 (it has now DOUBLED to $32).
My family and I were craving Peking Duck and this restaurant was in the vicinity of the event we attended. Since the event ended late, we arrived at Yun Tian Lou at 9, and the restaurant was fairly empty. The waiter who served us at the beginning was curt and unfriendly, though you would THINK with so few customers on a Friday night (only two other tables were occupied), they would be eager to treat the customers well (possibly to get more tip and to also have them come back?). Wrong.
The duck was delicious, BUT it had doubled in price without much improvement in taste, which was a disappointment.
At the end of the meal, my dear old dad tipped generously as he always does, but my brother noted that as we walked away, the waitress who served us towards the end had a particularly gleeful look on her face. She also whispered to the cashier as we walked out, who chuckled as well. My brother thought it was because of the huge tip. However, as soon as we got in the car, he realized that no matter how much the tip was, it should not shoot a $65 meal to almost $90.
My mom quickly called the restaurant again to ask for the details of the bill. The lady who received the call announced the cost of each dish before realizing that yes, they had charged us more than they were supposed to. "The new girl," she stuttered, "she made a calculator error, she's new..." Okay, whatever. Because that explains why the staff was feeling so smug as we left. Right.
When we went in to fix the error, they offered to return us $10...which was less than what we were supposed to get back, anyway. The cashier became all anxious (not laughing now, are we?). This dishonest behavior is plain disgusting--no wonder nobody is here, even on a Friday night. My mom demanded that the restaurant void the first payment and asked for a new receipt.
Needless to say, we won't be coming back anymore. The food isn't worth all the trouble and the cranky or conniving attitudes of the staff. read more