老高烧烤达拉斯店 Gao's BBQ and Crab Allen — Restaurant in Allen

Food: 3 stars because what we actually got was fine when it finally arrived. Not amazing. Not worth an hour wait. Service: 1 star. Totally absent. Even pressing the call button did nothing. Atmosphere: 3 stars. It's very neo cyber futuristic, which is a cool vibe. Music didn't quite match though. Tables were pushed together so we could hear our neighbors business. Not good for conversation.

The details:

This was chaotic. None of the servers communicated with each other and it shows. I came here on a Tuesday at 6:45 and was told to sign in on the waiting list, which I did for my party of 4. I was fourth in line. I watched other parties walk in and be seated, including a party of 3, which I imagine would require a 4-top table just like my party, but I didn't say anything. I didn't see anyone else get seated, so I'm not sure what happened to the other parties in front of me, but my party was sat after about 15 minutes which isn't too bad.

When we were seated, we were asked if we'd ever been here before and we said no. We were told to scan the QR code (that's fine) and order through the app (also fine) and the server walked away. This was kind of a bummer though, because there was a bar and I wanted to order a cocktail (gin and tonic) but there wasn't an option for that on the mobile menu. OK, fine. My party ordered 2 cokes, a lemonade, and I opted for the plum punch. It's not plum. It's prune. Just FYI.

At the same time we ordered drinks, we ordered 2 cold dishes and 5 skewers.

It took 20 minutes for our drinks. Just drinks. Two of which were metal cans that just needed to be pulled out of the cooler. My plum (prune) punch arrived in a carafe, with no cups. Still determined to have a good meal, I quickly finished my water and used my water cup for the plum (prune) punch.

A little while later, our cold dishes arrived. They were placed on the table and the server swept away.

I sat and looked at the cold dish. I looked at my party. I looked at the cold dish. I looked at the table. I realized we had no eating utensils. No chopsticks, forks, napkins... nothing. Cool, fine, still no big deal, so I pressed the button to call for a server. And waited. And waited. And looked over to the bar where I could see two servers chatting together. One of my tablemates with less patience than me waved them over, since the call button didn't seem to be working. We asked for chopsticks.

And then waited.

Enough time had gone by at this time where I sat looking at my cold dish and was unable to eat my cold dish that we tried the call button again. Another server came over and asked what we needed, and we again said, please, some chopsticks would be great.

Are you seeing where this is going?

After asking a third time for some chopsticks, we then told the (yet another) server we were ready to go ahead and cancel our order and just pay for what we'd received (even though we had no way to eat the cold dish...) They offered to get a manager. Wonderful.

We never saw the manager.

Instead, we talked to another server who confirmed on her smart phone what we ordered, and we said yes that was our order but after over an hour now, we were ready to just go ahead and cancel our order and leave. We agreed to pay for our four drinks and two cold dishes, and at this time, one order of skewers appeared, so we agreed to pay for that too. It tasted good, I guess, but wasn't worth waiting quite that long for.

This was a wildly disappointing experience. The service wasn't just bad, it was simply non-existent. There was no one in charge, it seemed like all the servers were doing all the jobs (running food, taking orders, bussing tables) for all the tables which seemed to translate to no organization and knowing who was doing what. There certainly didn't appear to be any sections or dedicated staff for a particular table, so it must be hard to know who is taking care of what and when. If this was the experience on a Tuesday evening, I'm really concerned what a dinner rush on a Saturday would look like, but I won't be going back...

1st time I went to this restaurant, which was in mid-November of 2024, I had great and friendly waiter. He told me about free Chinese🇨🇳 snacks near entrance, and he even helped me w/ my order because I was new there. I wasn’t rushed or anything mainly because I arrived like 4 hrs. before closing time.

However, 2nd time I went there, which was towards late November, I arrived like 40 mins. before closing time and ended up w/ horrible waiter: kinda tall, skinny Asian guy w/ medium-length black hair, which is best that I can describe him. It was good thing that he warned me that kitchen would be closing 10 mins. later, which is fine according to their policy, and I already knew about that. However, even though I was really close to 1:30 deadline, he rushed me to finish ordering and waited right next to me 2 mins. before kitchen closed (where I can’t order anymore). After I finished ordering, he also warned me that place closes at 2 a.m. (in which it was good thing that I already knew). I finished getting all my food sometime btw. 1:40-1:45. Yet, at 1:50, I was reminded that place is closing in 10 mins. Then, right at 2 a.m., he told me something like, “Hey, we’re closed by the way.” At that time, I was kinda almost done eating and had already brought to-go container (from home) w/ me. Ever since I got there that day, I was only customer there and apparently surrounded by several busboys, waiters, and possibly managers, where only sometimes I was being watched. Even so, for some reason, only that waiter I had was only 1 who rushed me!! For instance, lastly, at 2:10 a.m., I had to do something pretty quick on my phone, and I was nearly done w/ my food in order for me to put it in my to-go container, but then that same guy pressured me to leave by saying something like, “Hey, we’re already closed! You need to leave!” Ok, so I immediately stopped what I was doing on my phone and quickly put remaining food in my container. However, overall, that guy/waiter was insinuatingly rude to me by pressuring me to eat quickly and never once asked me how my food was!!!! He even made me pay before my food even got there, and I gave him ok tip, but I highly regret doing so!!! It was even worse that other staff, employees, and employers there didn’t defend me/do anything at all!!

Last/3rd time I went there, which was sometime in December, I was again hungry at night, so I decided to go there again but in hopes of not getting again that same rude waiter 2nd time I went there. But because of what happened to me previous time, I decided to show up 50 mins. before closing time (which was 10 mins. earlier than before), so I would have little more time to order and eat. Unfortunately, 1st moment I entered there that same terrible waiter was even worse than usual by immediately telling me, “Hello, our kitchen is closing soon, and your food can get there at like 1:40, and you’ll have to leave by 1:50, so you’ll only have like 10 mins. to eat. Are you ok w/ that??” I told him, “ya,” but I mean, what else could I have told him?? He probably woulda kicked me out or told me to order to-go (not my preference) if I instead responded to him that his behavior was impolite and rude to customers! Here’s catch: I wasn’t only customer there that time! At 1:15, I was almost done ordering, but still, that guy asked me if I’m doing fine in my ordering, which actually sounded quite cordial, but it also felt like he was implicitly rushing me. I wonder if he remembered me from previous time. Luckily, because I finished ordering close to 1:20, I received all my food kinda earlier than before and left at like 1:40, so I wasn’t rushed anymore by that waiter. However, he still made me pay before I even got my food, and because he was rude from before and even that last time, I decided to not leave him any tip! Still, that time he never even asked me if I enjoyed everything.

All in all, this restaurant has quite tasty free snacks and food even if it’s little overpriced for its quality and quantity. I also like karaoke🎤 there! However,...

First off, majority of these reviews are 5* because they’re bought through free drinks and $5 off your tab for providing positive reviews, something that I believe at the end of the day is dishonest as bribed reviews aren’t real ones. So here’s my personal experience and honest review:

First impressions of the place were pretty poor, my party of two walked in and stood there awkwardly with no greeting for a solid minute, keep in mind it was 10 pm with only one other table seated at that moment. We noticed and made a comment about the staff being busy chatting in the back until someone finally decided to help us and sit us. After being seated, a waiter hovered over us going back and forward while we scanned the QR code and started looking through the menu. Not a big deal but felt almost like a “hurry up” type of vibe.

As for the menu, it’s the only positive thing I can say, you simply scan the QR code and you order through the website and the food comes out minutes later, something I have to admit is pretty smart, BUT it’s only pictures of the food. So if you’re wanting to read up on the ingredients you’re out of luck. All I can recommend is zooming on the pictures and pray it’s something good.

As for the food itself, three of my items (cabbage, squid and sashimi) tasted as if they were marinated with the exact same sauce, so if you weren’t a fan of the taste of one, then once again you’re out of luck. Our white rice was dry and had a funny taste, definitely wasn’t fresh. I understand it was 10 but it’s white rice and yall close at 2 am… I will say the fried shrimp was great and the egg rolls were yummy, and the strawberry lemonade I ordered was made fresh so I appreciate that.

Price wise it was ok, majority of the stuff seemed fairly priced for being Dallas, but as someone that works in seafood I was absolutely shocked for the price of snow crab and frozen crawfish.

Environment wise, it was quiet and chill but the walls were splattered with grease, and the fence had nothing but dust on it showing it’s rarely ever cleaned, exactly what I want next to my food...

Overall I couldn’t recommend the place and would stay clear of it as the prices on some items and service were disappointing. If you do go I hope you have a better experience than we did but first impressions matter, it sucks that as a tourist that was trying to enjoy their final dinner in Dallas has to end on a negative note, but this is just ones person...