HOT SHOCK Americano Bistro 哈燒庫美式餐酒館 — Restaurant in Taichung

⭐ 1 Star — Because zero stars doesn’t scream loudly enough

If culinary disappointment had a capital city, Hot Shock Americano Bistro would be its downtown.

I placed an order at 13:30 for a 17:30 pickup and very clearly requested that the food be freshly prepared at 17:15. What I received instead felt like someone had reheated leftovers from a week-old staff fridge.

Let’s start with the chicken cheese gratin pasta: the smell alone was enough to make me question my life choices. It had all the charm of a hangover-induced accident in a back alley—overpowering, sour, and offensive. The taste? Even worse. Like curdled cream and despair.

Then came the beef burger, which deserves a eulogy, not a review. The bun was rock-hard, stale, and had a musty odor, like it had been on tour with a traveling circus. The patty? Dry, crumbly, and tasted aged—but not in the good, artisanal way. More like forgotten meat defrosted in a microwave apocalypse.

Finally, the fried fish burger. I wish I could un-eat it. The fish was dry, rubbery, and tasted like guilt. Honestly, the fish would’ve been better off staying in the ocean rather than ending up in this disgrace of a sandwich.

I rarely write reviews, but this experience was so appalling it felt like a public service to warn others. Hot Shock Americano Bistro served me a masterclass in how not to run a kitchen. Avoid this place like you would a bad Tinder date: run fast, and don’t look back.

PS: to add insult to injury, after telephoning the establishment to lament about my sheer disappointment. Hilary, the staff member I spoke to assured me the owner would give me a refund that never...

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The pizza and mojito were not bad. The owner allowed us to pay for the food by transfer to a card, since we did not have cash. The room is beautifully decorated, the service and maintenance are good. It is better not to order onion rings for those who do not like fatty foods, these are not the onion rings that you are used to at Burger King, these rings are the size of a baseball and have a lot of oil in them. It wasn’t bad at the moment, but upon returning home we felt an unusual weakness from such food. We realized that American cuisine does...