Red Ginger Dimsum & Tapas — Restaurant in Asheville

My friend and I are Asheville locals and have been coming to this place since they had opened. Today, we had lunch and one of the food items we ordered was Gua Bao. It was always served hot. When it arrived, it was cold. I told our waiter Leo that it’s cold. He carried the food with him; then a moment later he came back and said he could not take the food back and he couldn’t take it off our bill. I told him I didn’t ask to take it off our bill but want it warmed or replaced because I wanted to eat what i ordered. So he replaced the food afterwards, (the food was warmer but not as warm as it usually is). From then on, he would not talk to us. So I asked another waiter if we could change waiter but he said we would have to talk to our waiter. Our waiter didn’t come back for some time. Then I asked another waiter again if we could change our waiter but he said he would tell the manager. The manager didn’t come to us. Our waiter came back with our bill. He didn’t ask us if we needed anything else. He wouldn’t talk to us either. We waited for him to come back but he didn’t so my friend walked towards him at the order counter to hand him the bill and the credit card . He still didn’t talk to my friend. He processed the payment and delivered the card and the receipt back to us. After that, the manager came to us at our table yelling that I’ve harassed his waiter accusing me that I called his waiter stupid. He didn’t even asked us what happened or what’s our side of the story. He was yelling at us in front of many other customers. He was extremely loud and everyone in the restaurant could hear him. He wasn’t professional at all. He told me that we are trespassing at this point and demanded that we leave and walked us out. He was yelling to us all the way to the door. I felt embarrassed and harassed by what he did. If the manager had come to our table at the beginning when the issues began, this situation most likely would not have escalated. I wish the owner was present. She has always been professional and nice. She always comes to our table to say hi given we are steady customers.

As a side note, the manager who yelled to us is the same manager who yelled at Natasha as she posted picture of him 8 months ago on her previous review (select “sort by” then “lowest” then 1--2 reviews away from mine, you would find a review from “Natasha” whom I don’t have connection with).

Review update 7/2/24:

I’d like to commend Mary (one of the owners) for handling this situation with such professionalism. As soon as Mary learned of the incident, she called me right away to apologize and took responsibility for what happened. About a week later, she emailed me to inform me of the actions she had taken to improve the dining experience at Red Ginger such as:

1. solicited feedback from several of their regular customers to identify specific areas for improvement.
2. Overhauled and restructured their management team, not only but including terminations of some employees, including their manager, who did not meet expectations.
3. Had serious and positive discussions with all members of the Red Ginger team, emphasizing the importance of creating a positive experience for all who enter her establishment.

With these changes, I’m looking forward to more success for Mary and Red Ginger! ...

We’ve eaten here a couple of times, and the food is always very good. There are some dishes that are standouts, and some dishes that are simply very good. Having lived in cities that have the rolling carts, I really prefer the rolling carts, because you get a wider variety, but on Red Ginger’s website they note that “In contrast to the more traditional dim sum experience, wherein guests choose dishes from a rolling cart, Red Ginger embraces a dynamic and interactive dining experience.” Personally, I feel that rolling carts are interactive and dynamic. But I understand that that is not their m.o.

The first time we came was when they first opened, many years ago. I just now returned in February 2025 with a large group. I remember the first time I was a little disappointed with the menu selections, because I really wanted more dumplings/dim sum options. And it seems that this is the same menu. And I miss some of the offerings at traditional dim sum houses, which don’t seem to be anywhere in Asheville. I know of no place where I can get chicken feet or bean curd or egg tarts or the wonderful custard desserts or congee. I understand that there’s not a big demand in AVL for chicken feet, so I don’t expect red ginger to have it. But if any place was going to have it, it would be red ginger, as they seem closest to a traditional dim sum house that we have in Asheville! As to dumplings at red ginger, I know there’s a mushroom dumpling that some of my friends enjoy; I had the shrimp and chives dumpling, and I also had the crystal shrimp dumpling. They were served in traditional bamboo steamer baskets. And they were cooked perfectly. But the presence of those dumplings only makes me wish that Red Ginger did a Sunday dim sum. And offered just a full dumpling menu!

My friends ordered various items, but the standout is always the green beans. In addition to my dumplings, I also ordered some bok choy, and it was nice and garlicy. I make a great deal of bok choy at home, and this was cooked well. It still had a bit of crispness, while also having the softness without being too limp.

The stirfry string beans are exceptional and, in my estimation, are the best thing on the menu. They come as close to truly authentic Chinese string beans as I have had in AVL. The spice level is perfect. They are crispy. The string beans hit all of the right notes.

The only other disappointment is that as dim sum restaurant I wish they offered more tea selections, and it would be lovely if they had tea by the pot. Instead we are brought a hot cup of water and a teabag. It would be very easy for them to do Jasmine by the pot or green by the pot, and charge a bit more and the pot could be shared among two or three people to enjoy with our dumplings. Red Ginger does not promise Yum Cha, which is dim sum with tea, but they could easily expand their tea offerings and teapots would be a wonderful compliment to any of their dishes. Since they have dim sum, the opportunity to have yum cha would be there if they just added a tea by the pot.

I would return tomorrow for the green beans. They are...

I came here once before and had an amazing experience im not sure if todays PRIDE events caused some sort of annoyance to this restaurant or what but I requested the same waiter I previously had, he already seemed stressed we ordered our food I ordered fried pork dumplings and my friend ordered shrimp dumplings they brought steamed ones which they took back after we stated it was misunderstood and we apologized to the waiter a bunch about the miscommunication in the fried food and he informed us of the right correction which he could have done at ordering but it was ok we ate the rest of our food no problems I then waited over 20 mins we finished all of our food and the waiter walked by giving dirty looks and didn’t return to our table until he brought the check which I then asked where the dumplings were he then brought cold dumplings to me with an attitude, I asked about why there where shrimp dumplings on the receipt and he said thats what we ordered, I stated to him he didn’t even give us the food, he said we had to pay for it anyways I told him I didn’t want the cold dumplings when he stated he would not even remove the shrimp ones we NEVER RECIEVED! We asked for a manager who came out and immediately started screaming at us that the menu is the menu and we can not change anything and we will pay for it regardless whether we got it or not! We told him we would pay for what we got and ate and he said no and said he would call the police! I contacted law enforcement who stated it would be an hour before they could arrive, we paid the large bill and I took photos showing that no dumpling bowl was on the table and that no fried ones were eaten due to being given to me almost 30 mins later and were cold I also included the waiters picture and owner or manager as well they were rude and disrespectful to us and we are both women! He also was petty and spoke to us as children and kept pacing the table taunting saying the police are coming the police are coming and telling other customers we...