If I could give zero stars I would. On mothers day for a crowd of people an order was placed 2.5 hours before it was needed and upon arrival to get my order they could not find an order for us. The manager was no help they told us they were busy and thats why our order wasnt there, our order was for 5:00 and people with orders for 6:00 were getting orders before us(at 5:30). They did not lose our order just decided to make everyone elses orders for later, first. The staff were incredibly rude.
Upon first walking in, I was greeted by a very relaxing atmosphere, and friendly wait staff. Needless to say, I was impressed upon first entering. The atmosphere was nice, clean, comfortable and very relaxing.
At first glance, the menu seemed large and bulky, but after opening it and looking it over, everything was very well organized and put together. So, up to this point, I was highly impressed. It was time to eat.
The first worry I had, was the fact that food only took minutes to arrive at the table, after ordering (4 to be exact). The presentation on the plates was a bit sloppy, but still managed to look fairly decent.
So...Let's get to the real interest of diners...The food.
PLUSES:
1) Egg Roll - VERY nice. The outside was great, though slightly over-cooked in places, and the inside was very well done.
2) Chicken Chow Mein - There's two parts to this, so I'll point out the positive first. The Chow Mein was nicely salted, tasted decent, and was very good...At first.
3) White House Wine - The white house wine was a very nice surprise. At only $5.50/glass, it was very smooth, crisp and nicely chilled. Went down a lot easier than I ever expected a $5 glass of wine to go down.
DOWNS:
1) Chicken Balls - The chicken was very dry, and the batter-chicken ratio, was not sufficient. The taste was very similar to that of a typical chain style restaurant. Not very appetizing.
2) Spring Roll - This was very hard to finish... I actually had to fight with myself to finish it. The outside was very rubbery, the inside was disgusting and it reminded me of frozen food. Not impressive.
3) Chicken Chow Mein - Though the start of it was very nice, the truth soon came out. The chicken was very dry and the amount of salted water that drowned out the chow mein, was not very nice. Overall, I was unimpressed with the Mein, after having a great start to it. It does have a lot of potential, but this particular dish was not done very well.
SERVICE:
I felt very welcome being there. The wait staff was very friendly, sparked up a few conversations and was efficient taking care of all our needs. VERY friendly environment, with a great set of employees.
THE TRUTH: (Careful)
Well, after the meal, I decided to have a conversation with someone who worked there. I soon found out that the chicken was brought in (Frozen), and was microwaved... This, alone, would help explain the dry, tasteless chicken that I was served.
With this being said, it made me believe that the majority of the food there is pre-packaged and heated. It would explain any and all problems with the food, and definitely explains the VERY fast time from order to service.
SYNOPSIS:
The atmosphere and friendly staff, was unfortunately over-shadowed by the mediocre (at best) food. I recommend that customers avoid the chicken (due to it's lack of flavour), and the spring rolls as well. Avoiding these two, may help enhance your dining experience.
It's not all negative though. I do recommend that you try the Egg Roll. It was, quite simply, one of the best Egg Rolls I have eaten in Halifax.
For the price, you can't go wrong. Give it a shot, see how you enjoy it. Would I recommend it? Hmmm... If your budget is low, and you're looking for something quick, then yes. However, if you're looking for a fantastic dining experience, I'd recommend looking elsewhere.
Thanks for reading.
Take care of yourselves, and each other.
--PhoeniXxX--
Excellent food - wonderful meat egg rolls - I have never had a bad meal at this restaurant. The food is consistently good and the staff are always pleasant.
