Royal Garden — Restaurant in Cornwall

I have loved Royal Garden for so long. Born and raised in PEI, I have many cherished memories with my family at your restaurant, and always appreciated the quality of your food and service. However, I have recently experienced some issues that I hope can be addressed to improve the overall customer experience.

For the past few Sundays, I have attempted to place a takeout order by phone around 5 PM, calling over 15 times each occasion, only to find that the phone line was disconnected. This has been incredibly frustrating, especially since I live 45 minutes away and rely on the ability to place orders by phone to avoid unnecessary trips.

This past Sunday, after numerous unsuccessful attempts to reach you by phone, I decided to drive to the restaurant to place my order in person. When I arrived, I placed my usual order and asked if you do not take phone orders on Sundays, as I had been trying to reach you for over an hour and a half. I was informed that “once we receive, I think it is 45 orders, the phone is unplugged.” Though this was my first time asking about the issue, it had been going on for a long time. Unplugging the phone instead of addressing customers’ concerns seems dismissive. I would hope instead, you would communicate that information over your social media. We understand the demand is high, but simply unplugging the phone is not the best solution.

While I understand the challenges of managing a high volume of orders, I was quite surprised to find that the dining room was not full, and there were no visible takeout orders sitting behind the cash register when I approached. In fact, there was only one other customer walking out as I was walking in, picking up a single sandwich-size bag order, and there were multiple empty tables in the dining area. This discrepancy between the perceived demand and the actual situation was confusing and frustrating.

Additionally, when I arrived at the register, I had to wait a few minutes as the employees were engaged in a conversation and didn’t notice me standing there. After placing my order at the register, because they were backed up with at least 45 orders, as per what the girl at the register said, I was prepared for maybe over an hour wait which I was completely okay with. Instead, she said it would be 10-15 minutes, which was great and efficient. However, if they were so backed up in the kitchen that the phone line was still unplugged, a 10-15 minute wait didn’t reflect the reason I was given to why the phone was unplugged, as I was calling from the parking lot as well just to be extra sure. My point being, they could have answered the phone to take the order.

I appreciate the hard work that goes into running a restaurant, and I understand that busy periods can be challenging. However, I believe there are several ways to improve the customer experience. Clear communication of your policy regarding phone orders, particularly on busy days, would be very helpful. This could be done through your website, social media, or a recorded message on your phone line. Keeping the phone lines open and providing accurate wait times, even if the wait is longer than usual, would allow customers to make informed decisions about whether to place an order or seek alternatives. Ensuring that in-person customers are attended to promptly, even during slower periods, helps to maintain a high standard of customer service and prevents unnecessary frustration. I hope you take this seriously and that there is an effort to address the issue of just unplugging your phone, as confirmed by one of your workers this week.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I truly did value your service for a long time and hope to continue being a loyal customer. I trust that you will consider these suggestions to enhance the customer experience and ensure a more consistent and transparent ordering process...

Used to be pretty good food. We ordered our usual, 2 for 2 extra egg rolls, extra sauces, and extra rice. 73 dollars. Since this restaurant has changed hands, the food quality has been on a steady decline. Tonight's order was wrong they gave us twice the amount of sauces, which cost even more than expected. I will not be returning to this restaurant as everything was overcooked and judging on the amount of heat it didn't have once plated it was sitting on the pick up table more then the 15-20 minutes they said it would take to be ready. Ribs were so dry, the egg roll skins crumble if you could bite through the shell. The diced almond chicken was cold 1 minute after plating. Normally, things would still have heat for about 8 minutes, but not today. I'm pretty sure this food, if you could call it that, has been ready at 8 am this morning sitting under a heating lamp... I always clean my plate, but not tonight. I should have just thrown my money...

I picked up my order and went home (30 minutes away). Opened up to start and about 3/4 of the chicken balls we ordered are pink/red inside. The manager/owner argued with me on the phone. I went in and asked for a refund and a new order of chicken balls as this cost me an hour drive to correct their mistake. The manager hid in the back and made the younger staff handle it running back and forth. We finally settled and I left to go home. Opened them up and of course there were still uncooked chicken balls. The manager on the phone argued that they were cooked and he won’t do anything about it. So save your money. I will NEVER darken their door or recommend them. Also if you are ordering for pickup, just no the second your food is ready it is then brought up front to sit on a table with no heat lamp to keep it at a safe temperature. When I went back I was there for roughly 10 minutes and there were bags there from before that were still...