Formosa Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Amherst

Ate there early (5 pm) last night. The place seemed different since I'd last been in several years ago. When I asked the server if the restaurant had changed hands she didn't know and I didn't pursue it. Service was slow even though there were very few tables occupied. That should have been a clue that there was new management. Food was nicely presented, but unremarkable. The spring rolls were different. When I got my moo shi vegetables the pancakes were dry & not wrapped to prevent further drying. The veggies didn't taste the same as before. In my own mind it was pretty clear this was not the AmChi that I'd been going to since the 80's. When it came time to clear our table we asked the server to pack up the leftovers. She was pretty flummoxed when it came to gathering our plates, actually placing one plate of food on top of the other plate of food. Literally on top. Bottom of my husband's meal on top of mine. Seems kind of gross--since I've never actually checked the bottom of plates for cleanliness, as one might with glasses, silverware and the parts of plates & bowls on which food is placed. Anyway, maybe I'm a little fussy. It occurred to me to call today and ask about the ownership. The woman who answered either did not understand the question or didn't want to answer. She asked me if I wanted an order to go. I told her no that I actually had a couple of questions. Rephrasing the ownership query I asked if Mr. Chang (spelling?) was still the owner. She repeated twice more if I wanted a to go order. I gave up on that and told her I had a question about the menu. Are the moo shi vegetables vegetarian? Order to go? No. I have a question. Order to go? I have a question! She hung up on me!! I called back. No answer. This took place before 4 in the afternoon on a Saturday. Judging from the small crowd at 5 on Friday, I would imagine the place wasn't hopping. About 20 minutes later I got a call from Amherst Chinese Food. The call was for someone else, but noting the caller's more fluent usage of English, I asked her the questions I'd asked previously. It took 2 or 3 phrasing a to get confirmation that it was indeed a different restaurant. She answered the moo shi veggies question also. It has eggs in it. Phew! Given the weird evasiveness I got a little paranoid & worried that there were tiny pieces of chicken or something mixed in (I should mention that what prompted my call in the first place was that I as going to reheat the leftovers). She apologized for my disastrous experience and said she'd speak to the person who hung up on me. So, like I said, the food was fine, the service was so-so. But the phone call? Atrocious!! I'm not a rude or impatient customer. I worked at WholeFoods for 20 years, so believe me when I say I KNOW about good, thorough and polite customer service-- and there were many demanding customers. Say what you will about prices, but their customer service is beyond reproach in my opinion (as an employee and as a customer). This phone call was worse than talking to "Gary" or "Todd" or "Marie" from the cable company. Secondly, I'm not a native english speaker myself, and the older generation in my family still speaks the native tongue. So, I get it when someone doesn't speak English well enough to understand/respond to a question, so: 1. Why is this person answering the phone? 2. Why didn't she pass the phone to someone who COULD respond. Obviously, there was someone there who may have been able to help me. Interestingly, if I hadn't received the mistaken phone call there would have been no resolution whatsoever to my pretty simple and basic questions. Therefore, I will definitely NOT...

This is clearly a declining Chinese restaurant.

The décor looks like it hasn’t been updated in at least 20 years—very much the style of an old-school Chinese restaurant. The tables and floors felt a bit sticky, and there was a faint but persistent smell of old grease lingering in the air.

The service was particularly disappointing. The servers appeared to speak with a Taiwanese accent, and once they heard my mainland Chinese accent, their attitude noticeably shifted toward being cold and condescending. (I’ve written many reviews before, but this is the first time I’ve felt the need to mention this kind of issue.)

We went at lunchtime, and the restaurant wasn’t busy. Still, we had to wait an unusually long time to place our order, and then again to get our food. One dish was even brought to the wrong table.

Here’s what we ordered:

Beef Roll: ⭐️⭐️ The pancake wrap was warm and tasty, but the beef inside was cold, likely taken straight from the fridge and not heated through.

Stir-fried Mixed Vegetables⭐️⭐️⭐️ Extremely salty, and everything was coated in a heavy soy sauce glaze—this applied to nearly every dish.

Chicken with Green Peppers⭐️⭐️ Also extremely salty, with the same overpowering soy sauce flavor.

Yu Xiang Eggplant⭐️⭐️ Again, overly salty and drenched in sauce.

Shredded Pork in Beijing Sauce:⭐️ Same issue—too salty and too much sauce. The first time it came out, it was missing the essential julienned scallions and pancakes. When I asked, “Shouldn’t this come with scallions and pancakes?” the server didn’t say a word—she just picked up the plate, took it back to the kitchen, and returned with the scallions added. Then she gave me two pancakes. The menu clearly said four, so I asked, “Should there be two more?” Her cold reply: “We’re heating them for you.” Really? You have to heat four pancakes in two rounds?

Overall, this was a very disappointing experience.

As someone who regularly eats Chinese food, I found many of the issues here to be basic, avoidable mistakes that any experienced Chinese diner would notice right away. I hope others can read this and make informed choices...

Call Lynn and order two nights ago I asked for Berry basic crab or go hot and sour soup mushy chicken. I got home which is about 30 minutes away the Mosi chicken and the pancakes looked OK but they did not have the prune sauce which makes the whole meal so then I try to drink or use the Hans sour soup. There was so much white pepper in it I lost my voice and I was so sick. I couldn’t go to work today. The crab or go was burned on the top so you we got to dip it but the top part of I can’t explain it to parts that are full over just breaking off and hard as a rock and they’re all brown Call and complain and they said they would refund me, but the sour soup was almost like poison. I can’t even talk. I lost my voice because of that stuff. It’s almost like to put the whole bottle of white pepper in a little serving hot and sour soup. Nobody in my house could touch it or drink it. It burns everybody’s Throat And they said they refunded me, but I wanted to return the soup to make sure that cook try what he gave me, but I could not even get up more today. I’ve been throwing up all day. I’ve always had good service at this restaurant but the other night the service was so bad. Whoever is cooking in the kitchen. Shouldn’t be...