Zhen Bang Noodle & Sushi — Restaurant in Atlantic City

I had an unpleasant and unprofessional experience recently on Tuesday night 9/10/2024 around 8-9pm. I don’t know the name of the host but it was very unprofessional and I felt discriminated and uncomfortable. First of all, I love this restaurant and I am a regular there which I often came to AC twice a month or more and this is a must stop by place. All the waiters were hardworking and super friendly, i understand during busy time they are busy running around and wait time maybe a big long but I really appreciate their service and the food and I always tip them well. The host I recently encountered was very unprofessional I don’t know she is treating me this way due to my appearance which I am Asian American wearing a hoodie and short pants for my comfort , I called the restaurant from my room which no one picked up I thought they must be busy to take online order so I walked in to make the take out order. When I walked in atmosphere was filled with a decent amount customer not as busy as on weekends. I caught her on her phone then I asked “hi, can I make a take out order? She looked up and glance at me and do u need a menu, I said no I know what I want. then she point at somewhere and tell me to go stand over there. I asked where? And she said go stand next to the computer pointing at the computer there and then went back to her phone leaning against the host cabin. I Normally dine in but I wanted to save the food for later and I prefer to take out this time, normally the host will greet customers nicely with a welcome face and guide customers or at least would say “can you please wait by the counter there I will send someone to take your order” but she was very rude pointing fingers Two TIMES impatiently and throw me off there; does she expect me to know where or how to make an order? I am paying for my food and I am not there to beg for free food. I felt discriminated and racist by her behavior. I would understand if she was busy with other customers or other things but she was busy on her phone and gives a poor service to customers who love this restaurant, that ruins Zhen Bang’s reputation. I was also once a host in my early age and this is not how I would treat customers no matter what they are or how they look. I believe Putting personal things aside and performing a good work ethic is very important. I felt very uncomfortable and disrespected. but the waiter greets me well and take my order nicely, he said it would be ready in 10 mins and I told him I will come back, I m glad he remembered me coz I just ate there two times last week. Eventho it is an Asian restaurant I am happy to see diversity in the work place and everyone is so friendly and hardworking. I could not stand to see the disrespectful host so I left and told my Indian friend to pick up the food for me. he also said the same thing that she was on phone and barely greet him and just standing where she is and pointing at the bag that’s already packed at the counter, he has to go and get the food bag. Normally the host would bring the food bag to us or at least nicely guide us where to pick up the food. I don’t know how many customers faced this unprofessional behavior and customer servicing of a host last night but as a customer who loves to come back to this place again in the future, I hope not to encounter this kinda of...

UPDATE: We have been back for our second time and have gone from 4 to 5 stars here. Sushi was excellent, fried rice was plentiful and portion sizes were nice along with great service. We will continue to patronise Zhen Bang, they are doing it right. This was the first visit for my wife and myself and we will be back again. Our server Chris P. was exceptional, taking the time to answer all of our questions, providing suggestions and making sure that our dining experience would be a good one. He is very energetic, extremely personable and an asset to this establishment.

For the most part the food was full of flavor. The helpings were generous and served hot. We really enjoyed the wonton soup, that will always be on our order in the future.

I was a little puzzled on how the Peking Pork Chops were served. They were in an item that was a cross between a bowl and a plate. They were served with a sweet sauce over them and I was not sure if I should eat them with my fingers or ask for a knife. So I asked for the knife but it was a butter knife and the plate/bowl design made it very hard to cute the chops. They did have nice flavor but were not that tender so it was a bit of a struggle. Maybe Zhen Bang should consider a different plating and sharp knives when serving meat dishes like this one.

My wife had Seafood Pan Fried Noodles and we both tried the scallops that were in it. We both disliked the taste of them, it was a taste that we were not used to. But the rest of the dish was tasty and it was a very generous portion that was served.

All in all they do have flavorful food, excellent service and reasonable prices. We will be back and next time we will try the sushi...

Disclosure- we’re on vacation, eating many fabulous things, so this review may have can different if we hadn’t been eating other delicious things constantly. Overall, we thought this place good, but not great; everything we got, we feel that we could have gotten in any other city, in any other state that serves Asian food.

We ordered Mai Tai’s and they didn’t exactly taste like a Mai Tai. They weren’t BAD, per se, and they weren’t overly sweet, so we drank them. I also ordered hot tea, which was as expected.

He ordered a wonton soup, which he described as “good; not great”.

We ordered 2 sushi rolls- the Crab Rangoon sushi, which we were excited to try, and the Avocado Tuna roll. The Crab Rangoon was good, but didn’t taste like “Crab Rangoon”, and the tuna in the Avocado Tuna roll was unusually dark colored, but still tasted fine. We didn’t get sick, so maybe the tuna was just supposed to be that color? Neither was exceptional but they were decently good.

He ordered the General Tso’s chicken, which was described as “the highlight of his meal”: it wasn’t too hot in temperature, but he stated that he enjoyed it more when he ate the leftovers back at home.

I had the Shrimp Dumpling Noodle Soup, which was good but not great. The dumplings themselves were tasty, but the broth was fairly bland.

For what it was, it was good, so if you’re looking for a comfortable meal, you’d most likely be happy with...