Take a Bao — Restaurant in Arlington

Let me start this with I never leave reviews, or ask for refunds. Ever.

This was one of the worst dining experiences that I have ever had. I went in with my best friend, and her little brother after a long day at Six Flags. We came in to a sign greeting us that they could not afford any waiters or waitresses at the moment, which struck as odd because they seemed to be somewhat busy, but it didn’t bother us. Ordering our food for 3 people total, came to about $100, we ordered three Chicken Miso Ramens with No Egg, one of the ramens was asked to be extra spicy, one bulgogi bao and 2 orders of chicken spring rolls (which was crazy expensive for only 4 egg rolls total) The service ordering wasn’t the best, she did not seem very familiar with the menu and it took quite a while for her to put in our orders. Our food took a little while, but not crazy long.

When the food arrived, we firstly noticed egg in all of our ramens except one, the chicken was WHITE with absolutely zero seasoning and flavor, and the miso broth was clear. The extra spicy ramen only had a few chili flakes on top and was far from spicy. The broth was flavorless and dull, just tasted like hot water with a little salt. I normally love miso, I’ve worked in restaurants that has made miso. This was not quality at all. The spring rolls were subpar, nothing special, but it’s hard to mess up a spring roll. My bulgogi beef was pretty yummy to be fair, and I enjoyed it, still felt a little overpriced for the portion size, but the flavor was there.

Our ramen was so terrible that we collectively asked very kindly to the owner if we could get a refund on just the ramen, or a replacement. She refuses and rolled her eyes many times, stating that they have had the same recipe for 4 years and no one has complained. She kept saying “What do you want me to do?” and snapping at me, coming at me with “We don’t do refunds here.” I have worked in the food industry, I know times are tough here, but the food was barely touched and we paid 15 per bowl. She then refuses to talk to us and turned around and pretended to be busy so that she wouldn’t have to discuss with us.

It felt so awfully being talked down to so much, when I was so kind in the beginning. Ramen was awful, service was even worse, Take A Bao is awful. Don’t come here, pretty sure they refuse to pay their employees a living wage too judging by the fact they are so...

Usually I have zero issues with this restaurant. But today I was highly disappointed with the service and experience I received. I placed an order online for pick up. Something happened unexpectedly at work and I needed to call the restaurant to see if I could have my order delivered at my expense. The phone number listed on their website is for a mail box that is not even set up. I had no way of contacting the restaurant regarding my order that has been already paid for. I managed to leave work to get my lunch about 10 minutes late. When I arrived there was one person ahead of me. The cashier never greeted or acknowledge us at any time. She was too busy getting a order together for dine and the other lady was working behind the counter on something else still ignoring their paying customers. The cashier went to take the food to a table and was at that table for about 5 minutes with the guest. The other lady never acknowledge us and tried to get the cashier back to help us but failed to do so. While I was there waiting to pick up my order or at least be acknowledge I noticed the cook (lady) had her mask under her chin while handling FOOD!!! The signs on their doors are lying to you! A cook wearing a mask under chin is not protecting their customers or keeping their customer safe. This makes me wonder if they even sanitize or clean after every guest at the tables. It gets worse, because when the cashier finally came back to the counter she took the order of the person in front of me and never washed or sanitized her hands before handling cups, silverware, etc. It was finally my turn and before even checking on my order should told me it would be ready in a few minutes. I had to point out an order sitting on their counter and asked if that was mine and they handed it to me. The service was non existent but the lack of responsibility when it comes to wear a mask, cleaning, washing your hands, there is no excuse! I would not return to this restaurant until after the pandemic or when they are fully staffed. The attention to...

The girl who works the front register is absolutely clueless. I stopped by after work, I ordered one order of chasu bao buns and the girl thought she heard me say 200 and went on to charge my debit card over $1600 without confirming the price with me. I only had $1300 in my checking account and I was over drafted and she tried inputting the order again but my card didn’t go through when she correctly input my order the second timer . So I had to transfer over $400 into my checking so I could get a $8 order of chasu buns... When I got the food it was so bad I spit it out and left it on the table and left.

This isn’t the first time she was extremely rude. My wife and kids went to eat a couple months ago and that same girl was there.

My 4 year old daughter asked the cashier what is in the dumplings and she told my 4 year old to “read the menu”. She is 4.. she still spells her own name incorrectly sometimes. Just incredibly rude to my family. I’ve never had an OK interaction with that young lady, it’s always a bad experience with her and she is always there.

This business and their incompetent cashier (who looks like she doesn’t care about the job, she looked miserable trying to communicate with the mostly Asian kitchen workers that it was only 1 order not 200) cost me almost $2000! For LUNCH! And it SUCKED! I got my money back 9 days later but what if I wasn’t in a position to lose $2000 for almost half a month.

In my two decades of being a major foodie I’ve left less than 10 reviews. I’m taking the time out of my day, my career, and my family to write this review because my experience was so bad. Seriously, how can you charge someone 200 orders without confirming it or saying the price out loud to the customer? They even repeat your order back at McDonald’s when you order a cup of water. Do better.

If anyone has a family or wants a decent dining experience, stay away from this...