King Harvest Chinese Restaurant and Tavern — Restaurant in St. Catharines

I’m a fair and reasonable person but this was the single worst experience I’ve ever had at a Chinese restaurant. We called an order in for NYE at 11:30am today and I arrived at the time we arranged for which was 5pm. Our normal spots weren’t picking up for orders so we needed to try a new place. When I arrived I asked how long is the wait time going to be…there was literally 7 other people waiting around for their takeaway. The lady actually said to me “I have no idea.” I should have walked out right then and there.

I understand New Year’s Eve is an extremely busy and demanding time of year for restaurants so I just decided to stay and wait it out.

1 HR 45 MINS LATER sitting around in what they call a dining room... while she brings each order out one at a time. Like 20 mins between each one. I had already paid when I got there and was determined to get my damn order.

Maybe if the food was amazing we could’ve laughed it off but the food was literally terrible. It was ICE COLD which makes no sense whatsoever. Even the rice was ice cold. Worst chicken balls we’ve ever had. The noodles portion was small and bland. The beef lacking in taste and spice. Red sauce runny and gross. Just so disappointing after the most insanely long wait. My wife just threw her plate in the garbage.

I should’ve known when I got there and saw all the weird hand written signage everywhere about slow wait times and there was an office workstation with stacks of papers in the middle of the restaurant haha. Just a completely miserable experience start to finish. Totally messed up our evening as I had people waiting for me back home. Even the fortune cookies were stale. Ugh. Hard to believe this place can stay in business. Shameful. The owner is clearly dillusional…where there’s smoke there is fire always. Read the other reviews. This place is...

I called at 4:16 pm and ordered 2 egg rolls, 2 wonton soup, chop Suey, chicken fried rice, sweet and sour chicken balls, sweet and sour pork. I asked to have it delivered and how long it would take. I was told she didn't know how long it would take. ( How do you not know how long it will take, you know how long it takes to cook the food, how many orders are in the kitchen). You called back to tell me the cost was $100.85. I called back at 6:01 pm to find out where my food was, you said it was on the way the delivery guy just picked it up. You also said you called the delivery company every 5 mins ,3 or 4 times total. I told you my food better not show up cold, I'm not paying for cold food. You told me it was kept under a heat lamp( which don't keep food hot) you then told me I can microwave the food if it wasn't hot. I told you I'm not paying $100.85 to microwave foid.then tried to put all the blame on the delivery company. At 6:17 the delivery guy showed up I asked him to step in I wanted to check the food to be sure it was hot. I handed the driver the bag with the egg rolls which were cold and asked him if they were hot he replied no, at which time I handed him the bags back and told him I am not paying for cold food and asked him to leave. I found you to be very rude on the phone, I have been a chef for 40 years you are not professional with your customers. You own the restaurant you offer delivery service you are responsible for food arriving in a timely...

My only regret is not trying this earlier. I’ve lived around the corner for 6 years and I’m sorry I waited so long to come in. This is quite possibly the best Chinese cuisine I’ve ever had! I walked in and placed my order at the counter for take out and had a bit of a wait. It was well worth the wait! There were three of us at dinner and we all felt the same way about the food. Fresh and clean tasting. Sauce was actually sauce and not some cornstarched gluey goop. The chicken fried rice was delicious and had a nice hint of smoky char, I’ve only experienced this once before at another quality restaurant. Nothing was over seasoned. The sweet lady at the front was very pleasant. The owners obviously take pride in their food, as it seemed carefully prepared. Once I got the food home the containers were still piping hot. I was not dissatisfied with any part of this meal. Thank you King Harvest....