Fan Tan Cafe — Restaurant in Victoria

I had ordered through Skip on Easter Monday (April 1st) I’d ordered combo B (pork fried rice, cashew chicken gai ding, S & S chicken balls and a spring roll). It was phenomenal HOWEVER I wanted to order again April 4th. I had called the restaurant for this order as I really want chow mein and sweet-and-sour chicken balls along with two other choices but I was told that is the one rule the restaurant has “no substitutions whatever”… I mentioned I’d pay more but nope, sorry. Having realized I wasn’t gonna get the chow mein and chicken balls that I was looking forward to I happened to go over to DoorDash and there on DoorDash was sweet-and-sour chicken balls, and chicken chow mein. Go figure?!? why the menus between the two food delivery services are so radically different I have no idea…. I Ordered box No. 5 on DoorDash which was sweet-and-sour chicken balls, and chicken chow mein which was exactly what I asked about when I called the restaurant before ordering. I don’t understand why one menu on Skip is much more elaborate and in-depth, and in a different container and much more to eat than the DoorDash skimpy little brown box. Yes, it’s cheaper but I’d rather pay the $22 than the 17 on DoorDash and have lots to eat off for the next couple days. I also ordered the vegetarian spring roll which is great. The first order through Skip I found gigantic portions and I ate off of it for two or three days - lunch and dinner - so many chicken balls with lots of wonderful tasty house rice, so many cashews in the chicken gai ding it was amazing. So that’s why I ordered today however, on the DoorDash app, they’re called boxes and I ordered box number 5 and that’s exactly what I got was a little brown box nothing like the portions served Through skip nothing other than two items. There was a lot of chicken in the chicken chow mein, but the sweet-and-sour chicken balls were quite soggy and basically you had to shred them because they’re so soggy they lost their crisp and would disintegrate. I’d also requested a side of sweet-and-sour sauce so instead of actually giving me sweet-and-sour chicken balls they just put the chicken balls in the box and I had to use the sweet-and-sour that I offered to pay extra for so I Poured it on the food. The sauce was freaking cold. I was so disappointed that I had to microwave my meal when I could already tell the chicken balls were soggy. As a matter of fact, all the good food was on the bottom of the box I had to dig through it to find it the chicken pieces for the chow mein AND the sweet-and-sour chicken balls were down there. It was just a bit of a mosh pit if you go for the menu, I paid basically the same and I got a lot more food THROUGH SKIP . If I’m judging by today I probably never would’ve ordered from them again. Hope next time...

Well...This isn't Chinese food. An edible attempt, but not Chinese food. Food is meh. Decor is extremely questionable for an Asian restaurant, even an 'eclectic' one. Staff was accommodating and nice. Food came out with reasonable speed, with effort on presentation. Portion sizes are large, but it's still very pricy, especially for mediocre food.

Description says they specialize in bubble tea but there was no bubble tea on the lunch menu (I looked). We ordered the ginger beef combo, one wonton soup, and the daily special (which is the same every day, by the way). I believe that was pork, fried noodles and fried shrimp on bean sprouts.

Wonton soup broth tasted exactly like chicken broth with more salt. Frozen wontons. So, so, disappointing. There might have been beef in the Ginger Beef or maybe it was just skinny strips of fried batter dunked in sweet sauce with ginger chunks. The fried shrimp had bland batter. Bean sprouts no flavor at all. Saving grace is sweet and sour pork as well as fried rice were were fine.

The staff came over to ask us if everything was OK... Well yeah, it was OK. So that's what we said. I didn't think asking for home made broth simmered for hours, or more meat would be very feasible for the staff.

About the decor... The ceiling is literally spray painted black with extra holes punched in the ceiling for lights to look like stars? Maybe? But it looks bad in the daylight. The art is OK on its own, honestly, it just makes the whole thing look like an attempt at an avant-garde nightclub. Seats on the wall have tiny thin cushions to sit on. And it's kind of dirty. There was a napkin and crumbs on the floor left by a customer who ate there and left. No one cleaned it up, just started moving the tables for the next guests. Snapping the fan...

As much as I love the food here, their lack of customer service is enough to make me give them 1 star. This establishment will be closed on random days or they will decide to close early because the owner decides he doesn't want to keep it open during the listed open hours. They often do not pick up their phone or just turn it off so they will no longer have to take orders. The right thing to do would be to pick up the phone and just tell the customer you have decided to close early, rather than ignoring them. I live and work in the area and would love to order their food more but they are simply unreliable.

One evening when I was finishing up work I wanted to order some takeout. Their scheduled hours listed they closed at 9pm, I attempted calling at 7:50 and the phone just went straight to voicemail. I called several more times over the next 20 or so minutes and still no luck. On my walk home I passed by at 8:20 to see that they were still open but when I walked in the server told me the kitchen was closed. I approached the owner behind the counter and asked if he was closing at 9. He didn't make eye contact with me but instead turned his back to me and said they were closing early because they were really busy. I've heard of establishments closing early due to a slow night but you are refusing more business because you feel like you made enough already? Does not seem like a great business model to me.

I have been let down too many times by this establishment and will no longer rely on them and as a result will no longer give them...