Royal East Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

Dismissive and unsympathetic short male manager who did not take responsibility for his own staff’s mistake. A few of us had arrived early and asked two staff members if our friend could bring her puppy. We decided to eat here on the one condition that the puppy was allowed seeing as she was very young and easily distressed when left alone. We had sat down, ordered, the soup had even arrived, before our friend with the puppy came. A staff member came to pet the puppy and all was well until that manager came out and told us we had to leave or leave our dog in the car. We explained what had happened yet he failed to empathise or offer any sort of apology for the lack of communication between his staff and ultimately their mistake. He shifted the blame to us saying that we should have known, well clearly not because some places have allowed us and his own staff didn’t even know better. What makes us angry is that we took the initiative to actually ask before even bringing the puppy but he questioned it and didn’t believe us initially that someone had permitted it. He rudely asked us who allowed us before investigating between the staff, concluding that it was another manager (it’s essential that you remember it was a manager) who had already gone home. Ironic because he initially said well if it was his staff, they don’t know anything, only he as a manager(!!!!) would know. I even explained that we understood why we couldn’t have the puppy BUT he needed to acknowledge and take responsibility for his staff member’s mistake. He inconvenienced US yet he acted like it was purely vice versa. Our friend felt pressured to leave and take her dog home because she lost her appetite and did not want to ruin our other friend’s celebratory dinner. If you are a manager, you represent your staff. Any other normal person would have said “Sorry for the inconvenience, it was our fault for not communicating with each other. I will teach the policy to my staff members.” We are not unreasonable people, we would have understood, taken the dog and it would have all ended there. Please note that we are not angry at the workers who misinformed us. We understand a simple mistake. We are fuming at the manager who responded poorly and escalated the situation. Do better; we will not be returning with or without the puppy. I am truly upset we spent money...

I have given up with this particular business, and it's a real shame because the food is actually really good. Twice this year, I had attempted to make phone orders on a Saturday, for a pick up. I got told on both occasions that they were closed, but yet on your opening hours info both on Facebook and on your website and Google, it very clearly states they are open. And why on earth would you answer the call anyway if you are "closed". Last time I checked your closing day is Tuesday, not Saturday. If you actually are closed on a day that you state are open, then maybe post it on your FB page or something. Then yesterday on Mothers Day, I private messaged your FB page to ensure that I could place an order over the phone for pickup. I was told by one of your employees that I could and that I should call ASAP to secure my order. So I called the restaurant that second. It was 5.01pm, you guys had just opened at 5.00pm, but yet I was told I couldn't place a pick up order because you were "too busy". Sorry but what sort of customer service is that?? I understand it was Mothers Day but I was advised that I was able to phone up an order. Also, why wouldnt you just make a note of it on your FB page? Would have saved me the energy. What a waste of time. Luckily we were able to order a pick up at Minh-Ky in Springvale South. They were crazy busy yet were able to accommodate for pick up customers. Oh and they were still able to maintain excellent customer service.

Big thumbs down, from a customer service...

Overcrowded table seating, couldn’t move in and out of your own chair. Had someone bumping our chairs every few minutes to get up and down. Portion sizes were small for the amount we were paying for - for example we ordered sizzling beef which had half broccoli on one side and 9 small burnt pieces of beef on the other side. All the other dishes were also very small portions. No presentation either. Too much msg and too much salt. We ordered “special fried rice” which had 6 little tiny shrimps, old stale little char sui pieces, no corn or peas, tiny amount of egg - absolute rip off. Looked more like rice mixed with stale meat. That dish was almost $30 as well but wait we were also Charged $3 per bowl of rice for a table of 10, each bowl had 1 small scoop, enough to feed an infant. They brought us 10 small bowls of rice when we asked for rice to share. We have never been charged like this for rice, usually get a bucket brought out to us for much less price but we got charged $30!! Also charged for tea per person, when only 1 person wanted tea. The rest of the table had tap water. People were smoking ciggerettes at the entrance of the door and the restaurant smelt of ciggerette smoke. We came here based on the previous reviews but cannot believe we were not served anything as close to what others were receiving. Stay away, don’t waste your time and money. Definitely wouldn’t recommend...