China Bar Swanston — Restaurant in Melbourne

I have to say I really love this place. It’s a regular favourite and I usually go there alone and kind of late but I’ve always been offered a seat, been treated well, and had great food. The only time things didn’t work out as expected was actually when I brought my family in for lunch but that was post COVID when their order-eat-pay plan flipped to order-pay-eat, unexpectedly. In fact I still find that a little odd but considering the location, understandable. Not that the location itself is bad, quite the opposite I recommend lunch and early dinner there anytime; it’s just that the entire area tends to degrade in the early hours of the mornings with the usual bunch of wandering drunks; to which I sometimes might also (embarrassingly) be counted. Such is the reality of living in a metropolitan city I suppose. Anyhow the food is absolutely amazing and the entire reason I go there - sometimes walking for miles to get there- the staff always friendly, polite and helpful and as for the atmosphere - that largely depends on the people eating there at the time but mostly good. I simply love the duck and the lemon chicken and because I can never decide which I like best, I more often than not just get both. I used to grab a beer with my meal but they seem to have stopped that so I go a decent pot of tea instead. Well worth...

Got a brisket wonton noodle soup here, it literally had 5 pieces of small meat in it, I complained to one of the waitresses and said my bowl is untouched you can check the camera, she looked confused and went to grab another male worker, who basically looked at me like there’s nothing he can do I also explained to the guy that I haven’t touched the food & this isn’t acceptable, he basically gave me a look like, there’s nothing I can do…

Anyways I watched my family eat their dishes they had ordered, they finished up & when it came time to pay for the meal, I refused in which the guy at the register was okay with.

This all could been rectified if they just went back and put some meat in the bowl I would have been happy.

Just because of the fact above I had usually been ordering extra meat as the meat quantity isn’t consistent at all, sometimes I would order and it would be as if I ordered extra meat, then other times I would order “with extra meat” and it would come as if their wasn’t…

I’ve stopped going to china bar now & have been a loyal customer to “Bowltiful” down the road in which they are consistent with their brisket dish & they also have fresh hand...

Easily, the worst place I’ve ever eaten at in Melbourne.

I went there on a Friday night with a couple of friends.

Staff were rude and inattentive.

To top it all off, I went to wash my hands in the washroom and witnessed a female staff member coming out of a toilet and directly going back to serve customers without washing her hands.

Food took a long time to arrive and all 3 meals arrived separately (over 15 minutes apart). Weirdly, the side of rice ordered arrived first (close to 25 minutes prior to the dish it was intended for).

The meals looked unappetising and tasted much worse. My friend could barely eat half of his Chicken Fried Rice before he gave up. The other one said his Sweet & Sour Pork was very oily and truly disgusting. The Beef Brisket in my Soup was very chewy and hard to swallow.

The whole place had signs - some said minimum eftpos spend is $20 and others - $25! No split bills. Surcharge on eftpos irrespective of spend. Minimum consumption $13 per customer. Surcharge for takeaway containers. All of this while being served with zero customer service.

It baffles me that this place is in business. 1 Star is far too...