The Square — Restaurant in Hong Kong Island

Wow, I was super psyched to eat at The Square for dinner after reading the reviews about them on Yelp and Google, but after my dining experience this evening, I am most definitely not going back. It's no wonder they lost their Michelin star. There are WAY BETTER places for authentic Cantonese cuisine, for a more reasonable price, and that won't "sell out".

We made a reservation at 7pm but was running late. At 7:05, we get a call from the front desk asking where we are because if we don't show up, they are going to release our table for other waiting parties. I tell them 5 minutes, and I show up in 5 minutes. No problem.

First impression, this restaurant is LOUD. It's crowded, it's LOUD. Chairs and tables are right next to each other, it's hard to get between tables. You would expect that at a formerly Michelin restaurant called "The Square" at Exchange Square in Central, would be relaxing and nice, and somewhat quiet. It was quite the opposite. While the seats were a little more upscale and comfortable, the atmosphere felt like a zoo.

The tea menu was confusing - there was a standard tea/water charge of HK$18 per person. But if you ordered a "premium" pot of tea, the pp tea charge would be scrapped and you'd just pay for each tea pot. Not sure if they were going to charge you that fixed amount every time you refilled with hot water... But we didn't bother as we didn't want to drink tea at night.

The edamame and mixed nuts snack that they provide on the table at the start of the meal is NOT complimentary. It's not free and they charge you for it. HK$28 per bowl. How sneaky. We only found at at the end when paying the bill. There were two bowls of it on our table, so we were charged HK$56. It's not a large sum of money, but to misguided your customers like that? Not cool. Strike one.

By the time we were ordering our food, at least half of our desired selection was already SOLD OUT. I say this is poor ingredient planning on the food manager. If you are expecting some dishes to be ordered more than other, be sure to have more stock of those. It's that simple right?! The roast goose was sold out, char siu (barbecue pork) was sold out, the classic Cantonese dish of minced pork meat pie, also sold out. At this point, I wanted to just walk out of the restaurant. Why stay if they can't offer the best food? We asked if the set menu was available, the manager said they couldn't serve it because some of the dishes were "out of stock". Strike two. Or maybe it's three at this point. They also sold out of the fried red bean pancake for dessert when I tried to order it. Definitely a strike three now.

When we asked for hot water refills, the servers kept trying to put a pot of tea on our table when we hadn't even ordered tea. What kind of BS is this? I hand you one pot of water, and you return with the water plus a pot of tea we did not request? The same thing happened twice, with the SAME server, with the SAME kind of tea! Unbelievable... Strike four.

Customer service was meh. Food tasted average, and not worth it. At this point, they're...

翠玉軒 is a tranquil and elegant dining spot in the busy Central district of Hong Kong. It serves excellent business lunches as well as upgraded home-style dishes that always impress and satisfy.

The menu highlights include:

Crispy jellyfish balls with green onion aroma Salt and pepper tofu cubes - crispy outside, soft inside Angus beef char siu with a rich, sweet sauce Detoxifying vegetable soup with fungus and figs Abalone and burdock in oyster sauce, with a nice mix of textures Fresh grilled and pan-seared squid Steamed sea eel in fragrant black bean and tangerine peel sauce Rose rock salt steamed local Caamembere chicken Signature fried rice with distinct, aromatic grains

They excel at classic Cantonese home-style dishes, executed with care and high quality ingredients. It's a great option for both weekday meals and weekend gatherings, satisfying both the stomach...

Really rude hostess at the front desk called Jenny Leung. She was so aggressive when I asked to order dim sum, for some reason and practically threw the menu down 😂 Then after she gave me the bill she became really angry because I politely asked her why a portion of kale cost 3 times as much as the most expensive dim sum that I ordered. A valid question! .. but she was so angry she was shaking. I have arranged several large lunches at this place for work events in the past but won’t be coming again. The food also had a cheap taste to it this time (maybe Jenny Leung spat in mine 🤣) despite not being cheap at all. Completely agree with another reviewer that this is a pretentious place operated by a fast food chain (maxims). Restaurant decor and ‘chandelier’ lighting is like something out of the 1970s 🚀

Lai Garden and Tasty Congee & Noodle in IFC are a lot better...