New Red Bowl — Restaurant in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

I wanted to give a HUGE shoutout to everyone who was working on Christmas Day this year, specifically to the hosts and servers I interacted with throughout the night.

I was at the restaurant multiple times that evening- not as a customer, but as a third party delivery driver. Due to the holiday and the fact that this restaurant was one of the few places that was open, they were absolutely SLAMMED. Any sensible person who is going out, getting delivery, or placing a to go order should understand that wait times are going to be longer on holidays…but people were being horrible to the employees. They had a restaurant full of people. Online, phone, and third party delivery orders were flooding in. There was a line out the door. Wait times were long. AS EXPECTED.

While I was waiting for my delivery orders to be ready, I saw so many customers yelling at and being incredibly rude and disrespectful toward the employees. Every single worker did an AMAZING job with keeping their composure, even while being yelled at for things that were far beyond their control. They tried to reassure customers and help as they could with resolving issues. They were great about keeping customers and delivery drivers updated about wait times, too. They checked in often to make sure that everyone had been taken care of to the best of their ability.

Of course, you could tell that it was a stressful work day, that they were overwhelmed by the number of people, and that none of them had planned to spend the holiday getting screamed at. But. They did it all with such grace and had wonderful customer service.

I truly hope that each employee knows how valuable they are to the restaurant and that they are appreciated so much. I was talking to one of the hosts while waiting on my orders, and I tried to remind her that not everyone sucks and that she absolutely did not deserve to be treated so poorly. She literally had tears in her eyes while I was basically apologizing on behalf of all the rude people and telling her that she 1000% deserves to be respected and that she was doing a great job. I could tell that she’d spent her day dealing with unreasonably angry people with very unrealistic expectations. She was fantastic though.

You all are doing GREAT, and you are lucky to have such sweet and dedicated employees.

My suggestion moving forward for holidays would be this: if you choose to be open, please consider being open for reservations only, only doing online/delivery orders, or turning off the online/delivery orders for the day. I fully believe that customers would be more satisfied with the services this way, and it would be much less stressful for all of your incredible and...

This apparently is a chain that is in the former Peking in Green Acres Shopping Center. Don't know what happened to Peking, it was an Eastside institution, but truthfully, it had become a little tired.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, even though a chain, it is a cut above any other Chinese-Asian place in Athens. Don't expect the standard Chinese "Anything drowned in duck sauce."

The menu contains some unusual Chinese items if you want to expand your culinary horizons. Among the items we noticed on the menu were several dishes with intestine, pig ears, and a Chines staple pork belly.

A good vegetarian menu, several dishes with tofu.

There are many dishes with more mundane items, but the dishes are unusual for Athens. I had the twice cooked chicken, which I have had before elsewhere, but never in Athens.

My dish was lightly sauced, with a good garlic and ginger background. The portions are generous. Prices are moderate, probably a couple of dollars more than the usual strip center establishment but entirely reasonable for a full meal.

We had two appetizers, and they were adequate. I had steamed pot stickers (which surprised the waitress, who expected us to order them fried). They were nicely done and not all gummy like you usually get. My SO had the egg roll, and it was an egg roll, nicely done, and not all greasy like a lot of places.

One thing I really appreciate. Most of the Chinese places marked their dishes "hot" and it's a joke - no heat at all. New Red Bowl brings the heat, but in a good way, it's not overwhelming like you run into at some Thai places.

We were one of the first people there and there were few tables, so the service was almost overwhelming.

There is a full bar, a decent wine list, and 4 draft beers.

If you knew Peking, you won't recognize the interior. All the faux imperial Chinese red and gold is gone, and the decor is sort of plain. There is a good long bar and 6 TV's so I see some cocktail hour competition for Locos and Depalmas.

All in all a definite plus for the Athens dining scene. We wanted to wade in before we jumped, and I can't wait to go back and try the chef's special sliced pig ears.

Truth is for dining in Athens tends to be dominated by pretty plain Standard American cooking (check out Red lobster, Olive Garden, Logans', Outback on a Saturday night), I hope New Red Bowl makes a go of it, and doesn't scare off too many of the locals with it's more...

I really want to give 0 stars to this restaurant. My son graduated from UGA today and we went to this restaurant to celebrate! They had a sign for graduates to call for reservation so they could take good care. We called and asked for immediate reservation and since they were not busy they took us in right away. It started normal, we were seated, drink order taken, drinks served and shortly we placed our orders. No one returned to our table for an hour with any food or update! Finally, the waitress returned and informed that since the kitchen is back logged the food is delayed. We were starving after the whole day's graduation and photo sessions. I asked how much longer and she said 10 more minutes. Our order of szechuan chicken hot sauce style and mixed seafood in clay pot finally came. Ingredients were swimming in a watery consistency. It looked more like soup than main entree! The fried rice served was half cooked! No one returned to ask how food was. I tried to gain any cleaner or waitresses attention but in vain. Finally I walked up to the reception and complained about the state of food. To my utter dismay, I was told no one had complained about rice and that the flavorless food was prepared by the lady's husband and that it is her favorite! My husband refused to eat his food and his plate was removed. I was brought fried and pain rice in small bowls along with the bill! I asked if instead of rice I could be served noodles. Waitress returned and said the manager said if I wanted noodles I'll need to pay! They were rude. Did not apologize, brought the bill immediately after the issue was brought to their attention. It took over an hour to bring the food to the table and it took them no time to bring the bill once improperly cooked rice issue was addressed. She also tried justifying by telling me how fried rice is cooked!!! Very unpleasant, impolite, unprofessional, rude staff. While playing the bill, as I had no intention of winning free meal, i paid $100+ for apathetic service of poorly cooked food. Half cooked fried rice and watery main entree! I told the lady at the reception about my disappointment on my very first visit, she ignored and turned her back to me. I will never recommend this...