Thai Manao — Restaurant in Fredericton

Lovely wait staff, fast service, but that was pretty much it. I was shocked and disappointed by the food my mother and I ordered this evening. I have been to countless Asian restaurants and I have never been so discouraged about the inauthenticity and bland-ness. I have also worked in an authentic Asian restaurant in the past and worked on a line. Let me elaborate my experience for you:

Firstly, my mother and I placed our order. I ordered KATSU DON which was described as "Deep fried PORK with sweet sauce, vegetables and egg on a bed of rice." I was absolutely astonished by the lack of flavor. The rice was overcooked, watery and mushy with no texture at all and it was very starchy. Growing up on rice as a kid, I instantly recognized the taste of "Uncle Ben's Rice" from eating it for half of my lifetime. The meat was NOT PORK and was in fact chicken. Battered "chicken' nugget. Not real chicken, but processed compacted chicken. The pieces were soaked and soggy from the sauce. Nothing would have confirmed that this was in fact Katsu Don. I called over the server and I asked her how they made the rice. She said they used "plain fried rice and mix it with the sweet sauce", which is not how you make Katsu. If you need a reference, the rice (sticky rice or calrose rice) is plain at the bottom, the protein is fried and crispy, and the sauce should be drizzled on top. When I asked about the meat, she said it was chicken. I questioned WHY it still said Pork on the menu, and she explained "they haven't changed it yet, and we changed it because not a lot of people eat pork" You've gotta be kidding me. That is not a real reason. IF I HAD AN ALLERGY TO CHICKEN I WOULD HAVE BEEN HOSPITALIZED. There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for this. It is false advertisement and VERY dangerous. 100% inexcusable.

Secondly, mother ordered the Beef Udon Stir Fry. It had no seasoning whatsoever and the sauce had no taste. The udon noodles tasted like the plastic package it usually comes in. The taste was a mixture of cardboard and preservative. My mother unfortunately could not push it aside and wait to inquire the staff, since she was so hungry, and chowed down like a champ, despite the bland taste.

Lastly, when they took my Katsu Don away I ordered something else small just to fill my stomach up a bit because I was still starving despite my recently lost appetite. I ordered some chicken dumplings and fortunately they were in fact chicken dumplings, but the taste was oh so familiar, sans the undercooked taste and pasty texture. It tasted like something I had eaten before. After a moment of pondering I had a lightbulb moment: they were Costco potstickers. The dipping sauce was mostly what I imagined was red wine vinegar and it was sour and atrocious. That was the last straw that we had to leave because I was starting to get a little bit of second hand embarrassment for the wait staff. I grab my water glass to wash it down a bit, and I noticed a smidge of something stuck on the glass. Ok, time to go.

In conclusion, my heart is broken because the wait staff were sweet and apologetic and I felt bad because this wasn't their fault at all. I would have left a tip, but I know that many restaurants share tips, and I didn't want them to share my tip with the kitchen staff.

Something needs to be done immediately. The menu REALLY NEEDS TO BE UPDATED. This is a lawsuit waiting to happen. I find this very suspicious and very shady.

Not worth the price, inauthentic, and I hate to say this, but I don't think I'll be going back. I have a receipt in case you...

Update Aug 2022: ordered several dishes from the Very Chinese menu and is quite satisficed with the quality and authenticity of the dishes. The new chef and owners have successfully revamped the food.

Update May 2022: Visited again and menu have changed, with some items eliminated. Overall quality is good and service is agreeable, much better compared to original visit. A reminder that the restaurant does not have many seats and if you wish to dine in, you should reserve in advance.

Update Jan 2022: Visited again and have noticed improvements: Potato and beef was done just right, with beef being very tender with good flavor. Green beans with garlic had good flavor. Scallion pancake was somewhat inconsistent. One serving was done well, very soft and aromatic. The other serving was charred on one side, with a burnt taste, obviously over-cooked. Again, the flat rice noodle wasn't done well, with a sweet and sour taste, which is rather unusual for this style of cooking. Overall, reasonable price and some good dishes, but still have room for improvement.

Pleasant, modern décor; good service. Unfortunately it seems the chef does not have a handle on Chinese cuisine. The chef uses excess grease and does not provide the balance of flavors expected. green onion crepe: slightly burnt, too oily. Lacks the crisp texture and did not bring out the aromatics of the scallions. char kway tiao rice noodle: supposed to be "dry" stirfry, but was too wet instead. Lacked bean sprout. Used a sweet sauce instead of the traditional soy+dark soy combo. black pepper beef: overwhelming pepper flavor that buried the savories of the beef. Excess grease. ma po tofu: satisfactory with the appropriate texture. delicious eggplant: excess grease, again masking the aroma that should've been brought out from the sauce. I believe oyster sauce was used, which would've been an...

Went there as a family to celebrate a birthday. Shared many dishes. Food was quite good but not memorable.

I think the night we were there they must have been extremely busy: constant stream of Skip the dishes orders and other pick up orders which meant those seating were no priority. Also, as you can read below, I think they may have cut corners a bit.

Areas of improvement:

Asked for two appetizers but the second one (dumplings) came more than 30 min after we sat and basically at the same time as our main dishes.

Takoyaki could use more tako (octopus) and veggies (like those one can get out of the subway stations in Tokyo) as opposed to mostly dough. Also, they should be spherical, not half spheres.

Although good tasting, the yellow currie could use a little more currie and less starch (or whatever thickening agent they use). The Shanghai noodles had good consistency but could use more flavour.

The areas to keep:

'Spicy' beef was very good. Not very spicy for it being in the Chinese portion of the menu but again quite flavorful. The dish was well served and the meet was very tender.

Katsu with chicken was good as well. We also had he sweet and sour pork. I also quite enjoyed it but had mixed reviews from others...