Carbon — Restaurant in Ixelles - Elsene

I saw this place on YouTube amongst the best places to eat in Brussels. They caught my eye because where I live. I can’t get good Chinese food better yet Szechuan style Chinese food, which is my favorite. Without a reservation, I decided to give it a go I figure if there’s a bar I can sit there. I’m just one person. I was lucky I was able to sit at a counter at the front window facing the outside. I could leisurely have my dinner and watch the world go by. it took me about a minute or so to get seated, but after that, it was 15 minutes before anyone came to me or brought me a menu. I’m not exaggerating. I sat for 15 minutes without a thing. Finally, a server asked me if I had ordered yet and I said no I haven’t even gotten the menu and then they bolted into action after cruising the menu. I knew I wanted some wontons and if they had it, I was gonna order Dan Dan noodles. They did have Dan Dan noodles, which is a very traditional Szechuan dish. I would’ve been shocked if they didn’t have it. I ordered a glass of house wine and a bottled water first the dumplings arrived shrimp dumplings with a nice Yuzu soy sauce on the side. they looks good and we’re delicious then came my Dan Dan noodles. Oh my God I was so excited I started digging in before I took a picture. I do that quite a bit. The Dan Dan noodles were delicious just like I had remembered them at all the places they were really really on point I wish though the portion was a little bit bigger because I was really hungry so I had to order an additional dish, which was fine with me. It was a delicious pork belly bao bun. The staff was nice and cordial and asked me if I was visiting. I told him yes and that I saw their place on YouTube and I knew I had to come. In my mind, I was expecting something a little bit more upscale kind of like Nobu. Nobu it definitely was not not in anyway as classy or visually inviting. It definitely felt more like your better than average Asian restaurant without all the photos of food up On the wall. But then again, it’s not really about the atmosphere. It’s about the food and the food hits the spot. The weight staff was good. Also once they Acknowledge me and got their act together. I would definitely recommend this place. It’s good for small groups because the restaurants not that large. I don’t see them really doing anything for more than eight people, but...

Bad service, very average food and cocky attitude. Three staffs were working at the dining area in a busy work day evening, two of them are new who obviously aren’t trained properly. The new girl who served us wasn’t professional at all and getting chatting over nonsense. We waited 1 hour for our food, the table who arrived before us unfortunately waited more than 1.5 hour to get their food. While we were waiting they had a lot of deliveries being picked up. I mean aren’t you suppose to prioritize the clients actually in the restaurant? Food was really average, nothing amazing. When we were getting the bill I asked the manager/old staff if she can give us a discount considering their service is very slow today, she said she can’t and she even got an attitude as if I was asking something so unreasonable. She didn’t not apologise for their service instead she was giving me all the excuses that doesn’t concern me. She said as you can see the staffs in the dining area are new (so it’s normal it’s a bit slow), I said that’s not my problem. She also said she prioritized our order that’s why the other table who arrived before us had to wait longer, I said that’s also not my problem. She said all I can say is next time when you come I can try to bring the food in less than 15 mins, I said that’s just standard not a compensation if you are not doing anything about our experience today I might never come back, then she said: that’s ok no problem. Even if she can’t not give a discount at least she can have a little gesture or at least be humble and apologize about it, but she clearly doesn’t understand that....

Here used to be my favourite Chinese restaurant in Belgium, but I got a really disappointed experience tonight due to very salty food and their ignorance to my feeling.

The bad experience I had is about the Côtelette sichuan, which apparently went deep frying for too long and looked very dark. Besides, it tasted very salty, comparing to what I ordered multiple times before.

I told the lady at the counter how I felt when paying, and she literally replied “Excuse me”, even without looking at me. This made me feel that she didn’t care about my feelings at all, and I should have just eaten what they cook. And I’m strongly suspicious that she treated me this way because I’m not an European.

I’m not a picky customer and I paid the bill without requesting any discount or reimbursement. All I expected are descent food and being treated properly.

Generally speaking, they are not as good as they used to...