Hakka Garden — Restaurant in Calgary

I'm a believer in honest reviews. I've been going here since they opened (both dine in and take out), so my review is based on my overall experience.

My most recent experience though was TERRIBLE. And unfortunately it was the owner who made it terrible. Her staff actually solved the issue but the owner then turned around and started putting words in my mouth. I'm going to leave photos of the issue in this review and then I'll update with all the other lovely photos later. This requires attention.

I ordered some of my favourite dishes and specifically asked for "no bell peppers please". Upon receiving my food, unfortunately there were bell peppers in one dish. I called and spoke with staff, and they solved my issue and were compassionate about the situation. About 5 minutes later I received a call back, this time from the owner who begins to tell me she reviewed cameras and they didn't add bell peppers to my meal. I acknowledged that maybe it was cross contaminated (sighting the red bell pepper perhaps was in the carrots or with the sliced mango) and it was just in error. The owner comes back at me saying "okay so you called me to tell me you don't like the food, there is no peppers in it, what do you want?" She unfortunately called me a liar and I said "I love your food and have been coming here since you opened, I bring my family here, I eat in, take out. That's not the issue. We just can't enjoy the food if there's ingredients added that we can't eat." She says "then you shouldn't eat out at a restaurant." Essentially I'm the customer being blamed for making a request that to me (is reasonable) and they've had no issue accommodating in the past.

Staff are great, they have great customer service skills and the chef makes excellent food. The owner on the other hand may need some guidance with handling customer concerns.

I'll happily change my review and add the rest of my photos and fab review of all the different dishes I've had, but for right now, I felt I had to share this.

Thanks...

My girlfriends and I went to this restaurant Saturday night and were extremely disappointed by the service. The food was okay but overshadowed by the regrettable service and staff. We understand that Saturday night is a busy time and we don’t mind waiting for our food to come however it was very odd that we received majority of our order but then had to wait an additional 15 minutes to get the last dish in our order, we had to remind the server of our last dish for it to be brought out. In addition our server never came back to refill waters or check on the group a single time. When we went to speak to the manager and let her know about our experience to hopefully provide feedback so that the establishment could improve their service, the managers response was unexpectedly rude. She told us that we should have told our server we wanted our dinner dishes to all come together, which makes no sense because this common knowledge that all dinner dishes come out at the same time. Managing that timing is the restaurant’s responsibility. Then she proceeded to tell us “don’t come back again”. This is just ridiculous behavior and clearly the restaurant does not care to improve their poor service. To make matters much worse, the owner has responded to some of our reviews by blatantly making up lies that we tried to ask for a discount! The owner gaslights people and then proceeds to call our community scum. I warn all Pakistani and Muslims in the community about the poor treatment you will get and the negative attitude you will receive due to this owner’s and staffs inability to right their wrongs. What kind of owner speaks about her customers like that? Calling the community scum. Let’s be clear, THIS community you call “scum” is what helps drive your business. We will NEVER return and urge others to not waste your time...

We recently visited Hakkaa Garden while in Calgary, having heard great things about their food. Our order included chicken corn soup, a mix of vegetable and chicken spring rolls, Hakkaa chicken, sizzling pepper beef, beef chow mein, and egg fried rice.

Unfortunately, our experience didn't live up to the hype. Compared to similar Hakkaa Chinese food spots in Toronto, the food was just okay. A particular letdown was the Hakkaa chicken, which had nothing Hakkaa about it and lacked the authentic flavors we were expecting.

The ambiance was also underwhelming. The furniture is very old, and the place has a rundown feel. Having visited the same restaurant 12 years ago, it's disappointing to see that nothing has changed in terms of decor and upkeep.

Service was below standard as well, adding to the overall disappointing experience. While some dishes were decent, the lack of authenticity and poor service make it hard to recommend this place.

It's standard practice for waitstaff to check in with diners to ask how everything is, inquire about the taste of the food, or see if we need anything else. Unfortunately, none of this occurred. We had to constantly keep an eye out for someone passing by to ask for anything we needed. To make matters worse, when we requested boxes for takeout, the waiter accidentally knocked over a can of pop, spilling it all over my wife. Despite this mishap, the pop was still included on our bill. Without us having to ask, they should have removed the charge as a matter of good service, but I had to explicitly request it.

We had high hopes but left feeling unsatisfied. There are definitely better options for Hakkaa Chinese food, even...