Noble House Seafood Restaurant Eastwood 文华酒楼 — Restaurant in Sydney

The reason I give this place 3 stars is because of dishonest marketing and attitude on part of the owner/manager (not sure who the man is).

I went today (Friday 29/09/2023) just after 11am with my mother. As we entered the restaurant, I saw a sign saying that Mon-Fri 10% off if paying by cash, public holidays excepted. When we walked in, my mum even asked a staff, a female, that they offer a 10% discount on weekdays and whether they have it today. She must have said yes or confirmed it in some way because mum decided to go around the corner to the ATM to get cash while I sat down to start ordering. After our meal and when she finally went to pay, she was told the 10% off does not apply today because it's a public holiday... In China.

HOW MISLEADING IS THAT? I can report you to Fair Trading for this! It might be the mid-autumn festival in China but this is a Chinese RESTAURANT ...in AUSTRALIA and it is NOT A LEGAL PUBLIC HOLIDAY IN AUSTRALIA. Are you paying your staff public holiday rates?!

To add insult to injury when we questioned the man sitting at a table near the door on a laptop in Chinese, who I assume is the owner or something, he said "special days" are exempted from the discount and mum said then why didn't you put a sign outside and he said there is a sign, referring to the part that says "public holidays excepted" as if it was OUR fault for not having seen it. Mid-Autumn festival is NOT a public holiday in Australia and you CAN'T JUST MAKE UP RANDOM PUBLIC HOLIDAYS AS YOU WISH TO ELIMINATE THEIR ELIGIBILITY FROM THE DISCOUNT.

I am not after the small discount, the food prices was quite reasonable, $35 or so dollars for 2 people including tea, so the discount would have been less than $4. It is the DISHONESTY and misleading signs and made up rules that is UNACCEPTABLE. A non-Chinese person wouldn't know it is a special day in China just as if you were a restaurant serving food from any other cuisine, we'd similarly have no idea if it's a "special day" in Timbuktu or anywhere else!

UNACCEPTABLE! It's a total scam!!

Also I can't say the man was dressed for work, other yum cha places I've been to had the heads of house dressed in management clothing (hospitality black) and badge, whereas this man was dressed in everyday ordinary clothes. This combined with the nonchalant smile and the "oh sorry, the weekday discount doesn't apply today because we say so" makes him/the business appear like they are there to scam you. I have a good mind to even rate it 2 stars. Only your food saved you.

If it were not for that, I'd have given this 4 or maybe even 5 stars since there are only 2 yum cha places in Eastwood and the other place is fully upstairs while this one, even though it also has some stairs, is a much shorter flight of stairs and has a chair lift and the chicken feet and beef tendons were very tender, the steamed scallop and prawn dumplings weren't that good, the scallops were tough and small as if they were dried and rehydrated rather than one whole fresh one like other restaurants yet you are a "seafood" restaurant (and it has coriander in it, a very weird addition I've never seen in any yum cha elsewhere), and it is literally right next to the shopping center carpark entry. Ambience: ground floor tables next to fish tanks, one tank had a dying eel in it that couldn't move, it was lying on the bottom of the tank and getting pushed around by the other fish and could only open its mouth. Bathroom not the cleanest. The waiting staff were also all very nice too but the dishonesty is unacceptable and I will not be returning! Shame on you! 3 stars is too generous!

Response to business' reply: Regarding why I only posted this now: Google sometimes refuses to publish negative reviews. Seems they published it now, I can't control this. I'm sorry but if this is your business' attitude then you should work on customer service, which many Chinese restaurants...

2.6 - Service was quite poor - arrived upstairs to find own table and have to flag down somebody for tea. Once it was placed, a trolley lady spilt sauce all over the teapot, seeping into the tea. It took another 20+ minutes to flag down a new pot of tea. It was chaos in there. Staff were run off their feet and it was obvious they were understaffed hence terrible service. Food was mediocre - although the Eggplant was nice. I have to remember not to get the Beef Balls or the Bean Curd Rolls (they're not tender and was just basically chicken with no sauce).

Noisier atmosphere than other places.

• Previous 3.3 - I liked how there were little menus stating what food is available. However, a lot of items were not found, even when I wanted to order (I asked for Black Sesame rolls Coconut Jelly, Tofu Dessert, Red Bean Pastry but none)!

Beef Balls are larger than normal but may have been pre-treated as it was abnormally soft. Beef Tendon was nice, Egg Tart was crispy. I like the size of the Teapot and cups as it was larger which helped me enjoy the tea.

Atmosphere was way too rowdy for me - lots of shouting from staff to each other surprisingly! And customers also shouting to be heard. Trolley ladies have hard time hearing but also shout over you and conversations are interrupted and forgotten so you sit there wondering whether it will be brought to you.

Couldn't enjoy the experience - not good for proper chats or relaxation. Good for groups who like more rowdy catch-ups,...

I decided to go here because of the location and for somewhere different. I found this place disappointing on so many levels. Salt and Pepper squid with no salt and pepper, dumplings that were Luke warm and others that were hot. Gristle in Sui Mai, squid not cleaned properly, big chunk of fat in BBQ Pork Roll. The steamed BBQ Pork roll was still tasty.

The staff kept asking if I wanted anything after I said no thanks, all good. (No listening.) The place needs paint and a clean along with new furniture.

In general the dumplings lacked flavour and were very sticky. The Egg Custard tarts were divine and that is where it ended. Quality Eggs.

I sent the Salt and Pepper calamari back and after four attempts to get it off the bill they finally did. The Calamari went around on the trolley as they tried to sell it to someone else. (The same one I sent back)

There is no shame in this Restaurant, and the food just goes round and round and is served cold, hot or luke warm.

I have had way better yum cha and for a yum cha in Eastwood out of all places where there is a large Chinese influence, this was so disappointing.

This place is not on my return list. 1 star for the egg tart and BBQ taste in the steamed buns.

(Receipt to prove...