Blue Chopstix — Restaurant in Guelph

WOULD NOT RECOMMEND. The food itself tasted mediocre, but the undercooked chicken was unacceptable. Tried to get a refund, was told they’d handle it, but a week went by and they never refunded me. I was then told I had to go through Uber eats when I called back by which point they couldn’t do anything. Called once more and talked with the owner, at which point he assured me he’d talk to Uber and get me a refund. I’ve given up at this point trying to get my money back for what was already an overpriced $45 meal. Just hope this saves some people from having to deal with the staff and the food.

Edit regarding Blue Chopstix’s response:

There are a number of other reviews also stating they had issues with either the freshness or the doneness of items they ordered. You may want to reconsider just taking your chef’s word as true. In regard to the 7 day rule, that is what they said when I called them. You supposedly talked to Uber but decided not to call me back at any point after you spoke with me to clarify anything. When I called back the night that I received your food I was immediately told by the manager that was there that I would be refunded. And you absolutely reassured me that you would “deal with it” after I spoke to you on the phone, which you didn’t. I am not exaggerating anything. I hate writing reviews and it takes a lot for me to be dissatisfied enough to do this (as you can tell by the fact that I’ve only written 1 google review ever). You were beyond unprofessional and I wouldn’t even accept a refund at this point.

Second edit to owner’s response:

Unfortunately I cannot add a photo to this review, otherwise everyone would be able to see the screenshot of the email from Uber that clearly states that they couldn’t make an adjustment for order placed more than 7 days ago, which I will be emailing to you just to confirm that you are making up lies at this point to cover up you mistake. If your manager didn’t tell me that I would be refunded through you I would have gone through Uber immediately and there would be no problem. I understand that mistakes happen when making food for a large number of customers, the issue I have is when the restaurant messes up and doesn’t fix their mistake.

In the absence of a screenshot for anyone reading this example of poor food-service etiquette, here is the direct quote from the email, along with the customer service representatives name:

”Thank you for getting in touch, Scott.

We have reviewed your order details. However, we are unable to make adjustments for orders if the order was placed more than 7 days ago.

Moving forward, if you have an issue with an order please contact us as soon as possible after the order was completed in the app.

That said, we take food safety reports seriously. We will review the restaurant and take the appropriate actions.

We appreciate you taking the time to contact us. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. Sent by Azael on Thursday, January 30, 2020...

Ok so this is Hakka food, no pork served due to Halal offering. Hakka is a hybrid of Chinese and Indian food however this restaraunt has more of an Indian influence. The Chinese component is Northern China cuisine nothing like true Cantonese Hong Kong cuisine so don't attempt the comparison. The positives. Rice and noodle portions are huge. Hakka style noodles were tasty and give you that spicy warmth in your mouth. We upped the flavor by adding our left over sauce from other dishes. The spicy chili garlic fish is amazing. Lots of fish in the dish and the sauce is flavourful and delicious. Prices are good and the smell of other diner dishes prompts me to want to return to try them. Some negatives..Spring rolls are tiny. One bite wonders. Chicken in black bean was ok however the sauce is a far cry from true black bean taste. The chicken content while plentiful looks like slabs of meat cut off the breast. Should be sliced smaller however it was also still super moist and enjoyable. Ordered a sczhezuan beef to go and it was orange??? That was unexpected and the beef was a little chewy. Not sure we'd order it again. Waiter could not identify an ingredient in a dish which should be a requirement for a server and we had to ask for water even after being seated and having ordered. No attempt to even offer the sale of drinks. ?? Still curious if I ate plantains for the first time. Enjoyed the mystery vegetable. Also as posted in another review possibly frozen carrots used with a strange taste. For limited patronage the food was super slow from the kitchen, definitely fresh made to order and I might hazard a guess there was one chef on this Tuesday night based on the speed. Not a huge negative. All in we enjoyed most of the food and will return to try different dishes which smelt and looked great. Decent value to portion and quality. Unappealing frontage in a drab strip mall however the inside is cosy and clean with a limited number of tables so the weekend might be a challenge to get seated. We enjoyed the Indian music in the background as we dined. Keep an open mind that you are not dining on tradirional Chinese and you should expect more Indian spice in the food. Not over...

Date visited : Friday December 04, 2021

Overall Rating for experience : 4/5

Comments : First time visiting this resto. Group of 4 eaters.

Service : 3/5 At the time of our visit, we were the only customers dining in. Only 1 person working the dining area. Vaxx passport required, which is fine with us. They do have a QR Code for accessing their menu, but they also have a folding paper menu available as well, but it seems the QR Code accessed menu is more up to date than the paper version.

Food : 4/5 for our group of 4 we ordered : Chili Chicken (gravy) $13.49, Ginger Beef (gravy) $14.99, Thai Crispy Chicken $16.99, Shrimp Pad Thai $11.99, Szechuan fried rice $12.99. Something odd I noticed is that if you wish for a dish without gravy/sauce, they will charge you extra $1.50. Which kinda caught me off guard to be honest. All of us enjoyed all the dishes. The Chili Chicken had quite the kick of spice for us. I wasn’t able to taste the Ginger beef tho, since I have gout so is off-limits for me. But the others enjoyed it, nothing left of the Ginger beef at end of meal. Thai Crispy Chicken was the favorite dish among the group, tho there wasn’t enough of it for a group of 4. The Shrimp Pad Thai, seemed kinda lacking in ingredients? Didn’t seem like a traditional pad Thai. Was expecting crushed peanuts and they put whole peanuts instead. Szechuan Fried rice was also a favorite among the 4 diners.

Drinks : we didn’t order anything fancy, we ended up consuming 3 bottles of cold water to go with our meal. Water came served in chilled glass bottles from Ikea if I recall.

Portion Size Value for Money Spent : 4/5 most of the dishes were reasonable in price for the portion size, except for the Thai Crispy Chicken, for $16.99 was kinda expecting more. The dishes that the Szechuan Fried Rice and the Shrimp Pad Thai were served in were deceptive to the eye, more food than we thought, we ended with those 2 dishes as take away.

Worth repeat visit : Yes we shall likely be returning again. Looking forward to try...