Purple Garden Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Saanich

I ordered a super combo meal for 4 with an additional pork bbq foo yung.

My combo meal consisted of: -beef chop suey -shanghai noodle -ginger beef -ginger chicken -beef fried rice -curry spring rolls

I ordered this with the intent of freezing it and feeding me through the weekend until i can take the time to shop for groceries.

The ginger beef, chicken, and spring rolls were acceptable since theres nothing to it: its meat and sauce. Theres nothing to fudge there.

However, my issue stems from the shanghai noodle and beef chop suey.

The shanghai noodles were advertised as spicy and previous orders with them had them coming with a respectable amount of beef?/pork? The dish i got with my order literally had 2 strips of meat. 2 strips. I counted. Not to mention that there was literally zero heat in it. No madam. Im not exaggerating. Im not “maybe too used to hot foods”. I can taste the black pepper i added to this dish.

Same with the beef chop suey. I got what looked like a pile of vegetable trimmings, and a pathetic amount of beef, amounting to less than enough to feed 2. When i say vegetable trimmings, i mean it. There was literal root strands in a slice of carrot. Keep in mind that the Super Combo for 4 comes with regular sized orders and their regular sized plates can easily be enough for 2-3 people.

I didnt even get to start to describe my issues with their bbq pork foo young yet. BBQ. Pork. Why in the name of MSG do i see strips of chicken mixed in with my BBQ. PORK. FOO YOUNG?

This problem was compounded by their customer service. When i called to complain about this, i called to simply ask whats going on. Did they make a mistake? Are they interested in making this right? I even told the lady who took my call, “im not interested in stirring stuff up, or getting a freebie. I just think that paying 70 bucks for a plate of stir fried vegetable trimmings with a sad couple of pieces of meat is not fair.”

This lady was more interested in gaslighting me into thinking that i might have already eaten the meat portions of the dish without thinking about it, and that unfortunately they cant give me an all meat dish because “f0oD co$t”.

No madam, that is not what i was asking for. Clearly i wanted to eat vegetables, because otherwise, i would not be ordering a damn vegetable dish. What i simply wanted was a clarification, maybe a promise that you will do better next time. When you sell people a dish advertised as one thing, you simply cannot take the cheapest option, charge premium prices for it, and declare that you have met the standards for that dish.

By that logic, does that mean i can throw slop at your building’s exterior and now call it a “slop house”. Does that mean that i can now start selling crispy battered beef products with a side of tomato emulsion, when in reality, its just corndogs and ketchup? Dont even bother answering that, its a rhetorical question. The answer is no. Full stop.

If the price of ingredients are becoming too costly for you, then raise your menu prices and keep cranking the food that people have expected out of you. My household have always depended on you guys for emergency meals, same with my workplace when we want something quick, filling, but still somehow nutritious.

To explain it in words you would want to understand: thats easily 2-3 thousand dollars in revenue every 3-4 months over the past God knows how many years. Sure, that may be small potatoes to you and you wont miss it. But this experience of severe drop in the quality of your food, and extremely abhorrent customer service will spread amongst everyone we know until we get clear evidence that you guys are ready to start dealing with your customers honestly again, and that you have learned your lesson in showing more effort in valuing your loyal customers.

I always tell people, support local. But support...

We grew up in Cedarhill & Gordon Head and have both frequented Purple Garden since our youth; having taken a few-year hiatus after finishing our degrees and purchasing a home in View Royal it had been a few years, maybe four since we had visited Purple Garden.

Yesterday we decided to give them a try qnd ordered $70 worth of takeout; it was a pleasent surprise to see the pricing had not jumped as dramatically as many restaurants have..

Unfortunately that satisfaction was short lived when we got home and realized the foil containers were less than half full; not "packed to the brim" as they once had been (and are still at the spots we frequent closer to our home now)..

I understand infation; etc.. but to pay $16.95 for a container of sechuan chicken that contains less than 1/4 of a chicken breast, six slices of carrot and half an onion is insulting. An entire roast chicken is $9 at Cosco.

The Pork Chow Main contained a grand total of eight small pieces of pork, which was extremely tough and dry.

The Beef & Broccoli was good as ever - but the container was MAYBE 1/3 full if I'm beimg generous; a slim 4 year old girl should not be able to eat $17 worth of beef & broccoli in 2 minutes, a third of a $15 portion of chow mein and still be hungry afterward.

I'm told the Wonton Soup was good and I enjoyed my Ginger Beef but again; container was half full at best..

We may try the buffet in the future but with the 20 minute drive each way and miniature portions we can't justify another takeout order.

TL;DR? : Food = Good :...

One of those interesting “hole-in-the-wall” type of places. Blink and you’ll miss it when driving by, but once you’re in the mall parkade - access is super easy with great covered parking options.

Service was very friendly, although a bit on the slower side. My table was happy to chat and hang out though, as the servers were good about stocking us up on drinks and everything else, in between them bringing out our dishes and also handling all the delivery orders that steadily came in.

I’m mostly writing this review because of their pork and prawns though. The pork was SO tender, came in big, meaty chunks, with a yummy sauce that wasn’t goopy or syrupy. It’s been a loooong time since I’ve ordered sweet and sour pork, and then NOT seen any pieces that were just empty breading doused in gelatinous sauce. The quality was really surprising for both the portions and the prices.

The prawns were also huge, so fresh, and very flavourful. Perfectly cooked, and hefty portions of these were also served. Same with the vegetables. All fresh, colourful, flavourful and not under/over cooked. The value is definitely solid on their combos as well as the entrée dishes. Was really nice to not feel skimped out on, and be satisfied with every dish we tried.

All-in-all, we spent about $20-25 a person, went home totally stuffed, and each had takeout boxes for leftovers too! Thanks for a great girls night out,...