Ying Chow Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Adelaide

I've been going to Ying Chows now for over 10 years. Was always a nice place to stop in and grab some Chinese food late on a weekend night.

Last night at 10:50 pm I walked in there with my friend (with the sign saying Open and having googled the closing time, 1 am) looking to grab a table for two and order some food. As we walked in, I noticed there were plenty of tables free so assumed there wouldn't be any COVID issues from stopping us from sitting.

As I walked in, the familiar face of the owner (well I assume he's the owner because he's always there) walked up and I lifted my fingers up saying "Table for two?" and he said "Oh we're closed now". We stopped abruptly and awkwardly went "Oh.. ok" And we turned around and left. I looked back at the door expecting him to walk up and change the sign from Open to Closed. And he didn't. We both thought this was a bit weird but decided we'd walk around looking for some other places to eat (which annoyingly there wasn't, since when did Gouger become a ghost town that early?).

As we walked back pass again 2 hours later, we noticed the sign was still open and there appeared to be people who were sitting in there who weren't in there before. This of course was a bit perplexing to both of us.

I have no idea why we were turned away. We weren't intoxicated and we were both dressed in clean decent attire. My friend who is of Arabian heritage said she thought we were turned away because of her skin colour. Now I don't think this is true but I'd be VERY curious to know what his reasoning was.

A shame because I've eaten the E-Shand chicken there more than I can count, but this kind of experience has soiled my opinion of the place and I don't think I'll be returning any time soon. Would love to hear the reasoning for why we were turned away....

Edit their opening hours on google have since changed since this review. Perhaps a subtle way to avoid the comments in this...

Let me share what I found but I was completely 'underwhelmed' and disappointed, despite the great writeups on Tripadvisor and other 'Best Chinese in Adelaide' lists where this restaurant figures. I went there on my birthday, this week.

Food: I ordered the Chefs Recommendations (Deep Fried Shredded Beef) thinking that they at least could not get that wrong. It was after all a Chef's signature dish. But this was just a dry version of a routine 'sweet and sour'. Nothing great. I had it with steamed rice and the combination was just dull, sweet and dry. Washed it down with Coke Zero. 1/5, generous Quantity: The E-shand Chicken that I ordered for takeaway, was half the quantity that I would expect for 20 bucks, so not a great vibe. :( Haven't eaten it so not sure about the taste.

Service: The female server was fine, but the male server who came by gave me an impression of being stand offish. Maybe his English was poor, not sure. The next table had new people join and he needed my spare chair and asks me "Mate, may I take this?" Having been a server, in the past, I would have used "Sir, may I take this chair" not mate. I wasn't his mate but a paying customer. On the wall I saw a notice "Customers can sit at a table for 1hour and 15 minutes because our restaurant is small". Maybe this makes sense in the CBD during lunch hours, when they don't want customers to dawdle. But in the evening??? I wasn't paying fast food prices, was I? Overall, I paid 50 bucks for a crap meal with crap service. 1/5, generous. Ambience: My table was in the center of the room with space for servers to pass by on both sides, so I had patrons and servers passing by, making my dining experience disconcerting and annoying. 0/5 for this.

Too bad, you live, and you learn. This was my first in a Chinatown Adelaide eatery. Never again at this place despite the overall...

This can be a personal review,

I have been to this restaurant as a customer many time for a long while, surely I haven't been very often but was consistant with my friends, family blah blah..

Food is great as always which I appreciate for, however the chubby lady with the glasses on, I find her very cocky. It seemed to be understandable few times in the beginning but its bothering me more and more as time goes.. she always acts like I'm annoying her when I ask for something from her.

Today I went in there as a uber eats driver as I recently started to kill some of my spare time, take it as a little side job. As soon as I went in the restaurant, she straight up said your order is not ready.. like I barely even looked at her and haven't even said anything. Because if what I've seen her few times, it really annoyed alot this time like I kinda felt offended. And then I was like sorry? And she goes, uber? And just went into kitchen and came back telling me it's ganna take whatever time it's going to take. I didn't even get the chance to say anything I felt really bad and frustrated.

The lady if you are reading this, I wanna tell you something. I have worked as a waiter, chef or even operated a food restaurant but from my perspective and experience, I feel like you are not really that ready to be a waitress.

You seem like a boss or a daughter of the owner but I can say at least you have one person that is getting quiet frustrated at your service. Hope you can...