North China Garden Restaurant

Reviews 4

JO

john doe

Restaurant cleanliness about at 6 out of 10 Restaurant Food about a 5 out of 10 Restaurant Service about a 7 out of 10 Restaurant Menu about a 8 out of 10 Restaurant Quality about a 5 out of 10 Soup warm, Hot Spicy soup below average, General Tsaos Chickent average and sweet and sour plus kung pow chicken average and lower. Tacoma has very poor chinese restaurants compared to King County as pride doesnt seem to be there as most owned by koreans with there own version. Same says the same with teriyaki restaurants in Tacoma. Unfortunately value and quality dont mix in tacoma as there are a few ok places in Tacoma but just OK if that. Now I will mention a few good places but about a 8 out of 10 only. Bullseye in spanaway has very good general tsaos chicken and kung pao but teriyaki and mongolian beef average. Another place in Fred Meyers on Pacific Avenue is about a 7 to 8. I have maybe eaten at 20 chinese restaurants in Tacoma. Now my favorites is China House in Auburn which was the very best for years for szechuan style food but marginal on cantonese like sweet and sour not so good. They sold ownership about 7 years ago and it is about a 8-9 now last I ate there. Now the very best Cantonese Style in Washington State possible the NorthWest US is Red Lotus in Auburn a 10 as order 2 Red Lotus Specials at around $15.00 each and you get enough food to feed 4-6 people. Infact they have the very best Sweet and Sour Pork I have ever had. Even my Asian Father in law said "Very Good" and he is the most picky eater I have ever met. This is just my observation as I have maybe eaten at atleast 250 different chinese restaurants in my life in china and the USA plus other SE Asian Countries. Now my observation is partial because I was introducted to Red Lotus as a Kid plus my Late Teenage years to Sezchuan food by China House but the Cook there Mr. Wong was just Awesome and very shy but friendly. His Wife Maggie was I think the owner but the were humble to tell me so as I found out later when they moved to Redmond, WA to open a bigger restaurant I was told by the new owner of China House. I wish I could find out where as he is like a Iron Chef and would just terriorize Bobby Flay or anyone the Food Network could throw at this Chef Mr. Wong. T

JE

Jerry Jones

Upon entering the restaurant, I would not want to eat there. There are no booths, just an open floor with tables. Very sparse decorations. But that was not a problem because I just wanted take out. I ordered the Honey Walnut Shrimp. The food was cooked very fast, in about 10 minutes. However, I was terribly disappointed when I got home and tasted the food. It looked delicious, but the taste was absolutely horrible. You know that gross smell that is often in very old restaurants that smells like old stale grease? That is how the food tasted, just like that. I can only guess that they have not changed the fry oil in a very long time. That is probably why some of the reviews on here have complained about rancid tasting food, and yet other reviewers find it excellent. The reviewers who find it excellent either went there when the oil was fresh or they ordered something that was not fried in the fryer. They are probably too cheap to change the deep fry oil more than once every 6 months. Its too bad because if the ingredients and oil were fresh it would probably be excellent food. The shrimp themselves didnt taste rancid, just the oil that it was fried in. I only choked down about 1/8 of the dinner and just couldnt eat any more. I feel a little sick now, and I still have that old stale greasy aftertaste in my mouth. I would definitely not go to this restaurant. It is in an old run down building and the food tastes just like the building looks. I think it was one of the worst meals of my life and Im 45 years old and have had many. If you are a local and want this place to be good again why not show them this review and let them know they need to change the oil more often? Its such an easy fix. Its so ridiculous, trying to save a few pennies on oil and in return driving away your customers. I live too far away to care, but you locals aught to tell them how easy it would be to fix their problem.

JU

Judith A Rowland

I have eaten authentically prepared Asian food since childhood. It is served tastefully with grace and courtesy. Todays experience?.....Neither. This afternoon a friend went to North China Garden and picked up a dish I ordered. It was incorrect and tasted awful. I called and spoke with an older woman. Her first comment was to tell me in an offensive tone, to have the "friend," call her. I said it was not necessary as I had the receipt. She continued with an onslaught saying that "I had only been there once". Where did this come from? She couldnt see me over the phone and I had yet to give her my name......and to CRITICIZE me for calling. Apparently in her world, it was acceptable to serve improperly prepared food to certain people....... I told her that I had been to this restaurant many times over the years and refereed friends frequently. She exacerbated her rebuke. I ended the conversation. Insulting customers?.........AND without even looking into a situation? Really? She was snide, insulting and officious. There is no excuse for rudeness in any hospitality setting. Had I heard her speaking in this manner to anyone, were I her employer, I would have fired her on the spot. Restaurants depend on satisfied customers. The food truly was terrible and I called within a half hour of their preparing it. It should have been obvious that something was wrong which could have easily been corrected and won them continued patronage. It is offensive when anyone criticizes a customer....... particularly unjustly.....Her attitude was reprehensible. I strongly recommend that no one eat there. It is a shame because this once was a very nice place to go. Perhaps this is an ongoing practice of North China Garden........as she had no qualms about treating a customer so poorly.

SA

Sarah Trautman

My mom and I went here for dinner today to try something new and we ordered five different things including appetizers...we literally didnt like a single thing we ordered. We had the almond chicken, lemon chicken, pork fried rice, sweet and sour pork, and mongolian beef which came with a side of egg rolls, white rice, won tons and your choice of soup...honestly the soup was the tastiest of anything the rest of the $70 meal bought us. Everything tasted like nothing and we left very displeased but they didnt even bother to ask us how the meal was so we didnt say anything. The two stars are only for how fast we got our food and the mediocre service we received...I am six months pregnant and had to drink the rest of my moms water glass because they didnt even bother to check and see if we needed any water the whole meal..i think the server came over a total of two times..once to take our order and the second time to bring us the check. Probably would only come back here if I had a craving for breaded meat of all varieties with a little sauce on top.