Peking Garden (Admiralty) — Restaurant in Hong Kong Island

If I could give a minus one for the food, I will not hesitate. You really need to HATE Chinese food that much to go there. My friend and I went there by mistake, and we were utterly disappointed.

Peking Garden used to be great and a household brand in the 80s. Unfortunately it isn't the same restaurant it used to be. Perhaps it's Maxim group's wrong doing (honestly speaking whatever Maxim touches, it's bound to turn to sxit). You can roll dog sxit in glitter and it is still dog sxit.

We ordered two signature dishes (so to speak), one was the pot stickers, the other was half a Peking duck.

None of the two dishes satisfied. Perhaps our expectations were a bit high, perhaps the quality of the food didn't justify the price on the menu, they just didn't deliver.

The pot stickers were soggy at most on the top, while having just a tiny bit of crisp on the bottom. The temperature was just luke warm and the dippy sauce was watery and tasteless. It was there for no real purpose besides presentation. Strike one.

Then the Peking duck came. All the drama and presentation. There was a candle light and a steamer basket to keep the paper thin but very sticky wrappers 'warm,' and a pathetic looking plate of 'duck.' Having waited for a good ten to fifteen minutes for the duck to be presented, one would naturally expect a bit more. The 'duck' has no crisp on the skin, no juice on the meat and zero taste. It was that BLAND. Again, the plate of hoi sin sauce didn't help either. It was literally flavorless, it has to be illegal to serve that. Funny enough with the candle light and steamer basket to keep the wrapped warm, the wrapped gets cold almost instantly when it's taken out of the steamer. In a nutshell it's style over substance and a total waste of effort. Strike two.

I honestly enjoyed the atmosphere and table setting of the restaurant. They apparently spent a lot of money to design impressive dinnerware and napkins etc. If they could spend half as much effort to make sure the quality of food is up to standard, it'd have been a much more satisfying experience.

By the way, I know it's a long tradition for most Chinese restaurants to make 'quick' money for zero efforts, e.g. Leave a plate of pickle on the table whether you like it or not, or right away bombard you with questions like 'Chinese tea', 'Chinese tea?'

What happens is they will then charge you an arm for such items. It isn't acceptable for such manner in a more upscale restaurant such as this. Besides, what is 'Chinese tea?' Are you offering Jasmine, Iron Buddha, Pu Er, Monkey Pick, Lychee Red, or Chrysanthemum? Strike three.

I honestly don't see a return visit...

DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE. If zero star were an option, I would have given zero star. Please don’t go to this place if you want a pleasant experience- definitely not with your client, or with your date. Here is why. Four of us had dinner at this place and whole experience was just terrible. We called to reserve a week ahead, and when we called, we made sure to check if we need to book the duck beforehand so we don’t have to wait for too long, as they said no. We showed up on time, ordered our food right after we were seated, and guess what - we waited TWO HOURS for the duck. We finished other dishes long before the duck got here, and were just awkwardly staring at the empty greasy table. Yup - no one came over to check if we needed another beer, or if we needed more water. No, the restaurant was not busy, and tables around us were getting their food timely (sorry for spying on other tables, but what else can you do when you are starving and forced to sit at a greasy table and stare at each other?). We had to wave over the waiters many times to check on our food. Someone did come though, and asked if we can pay. We were like - we didn’t get our food yet, what do we pay for?! And it seems that that’s when they realized we are still missing two main dishes. Then there was more waiting. And more. And finally the food came - the duck was so so, and the braised pork was just terrible - but I’m not here to complain that, as other people might find it tasty. We complained for the long wait and requested free desert as a complement. They agreed, which was cool, except that they made us wait for another half an hour for the gifted desert… I’m just in shock for they way they “apologize” - by making us wait longer?! The dinner took us THREE HOURS, and throughout the whole night no one came over to check on us, except for the lady that asked us to pay for the check before our food was served. I understand stuff happen and orders get mixed up, but I would think if you messed up, at least acknowledge that, and apologize for...

The WORST service I’ve ever had at the restaurant in this price range! I understand that customers service in Hong Kong is unique, but what I had today is…….

1. asked to refill the water for the teapot, they forgot
2. asked for a second complimentary dish as they served 1 for 4 people, they said they ran out while other tables were receiving it
3. asked to refill the teapot closer to the end of the dinner, they took it and never brought it back
4. asked for a bill, waited for 10 min while trying to get staffs’ attention, nothing. I just got up and called the waitress, she looked at me, turn around and kept walking. I had to tap her on the shoulder and ask for a receipt. She looked annoyed, brought the machine to the table without the actual receipt for us to check the bill.

Duck is pretty good, but for that price, the quantity is questionable. Also ordered a cucumber as an appetiser since they ran out of complimentary cucumber dish, it was just a plain cucumber with some sweet ginger sauce for 104 HKD + 10%.

Overall,...