China Kitchen — Restaurant in Austin

LONG POST My family and I went to China Kitchen last night 2/25/19. We placed our order with a very pleasant lady and took our sits to wait for our order to go. I realized I did not order additional sweet and sour so my husband goes back to the counter to order it. Before the sweet lady could say anything, the Manager/Owner comes from across the room snaps at my husband and says "IT'S $2.00"! As if she thought he wasn't going to pay for the sauce. My husband tell her "Lady, we know how much it is". My point is, we weren't even speaking to her, and we were being assisted. So I said, "Oh my goodness, you are so rude". Surprisingly, my tone was very calm when I stated this. So while we took our seats again and waited for our food the Manager/Owner sat across the dining room watching us and she finally says to me "Have I ever talked to you, you call me rude, have I ever talked to you." I said "Yes ma'am, you have. You have been in this spot for over 30 years and I have been coming here for at least 20 years. When I call in my order, you always interrupt my order to say "Is that it", and I can never finish my order before you hang up the phone"....she interrupts and says with an attitude...you know the one that everyone has witnessed when they go there "that's how I talk and I am not going to change". I say to her...again, I am talking with a calm voice "ma'am, please let me speak, you asked me a question and I am trying to answer it" and I used the incident with my husband that had just happened. She says as she is acting like she is sweeping "I run a fast food business and I don't have time. I don't have patience and this is how I am and I am NOT going to change it". So I stated, "and that is where the problem lies. You are in service for the customer, therefore customer service is important." She interrupts yet AGAIN and yells "its my culture and its how I am and if you don't like it why do you come here"! I stated, "I come here because the food tastes pretty good and the lady at the counter is extremely nice to my family". She yells "Well you don't have to come here, you just care about the food". I tell her, "that is not true, I work hard for my money and where I spend my money is important that I receive good customer service or I won't spend my money there". Then she decides to throw some shade and INSULT me and says, "Why you come here, you can go some where else, that's why you are so BIG". At that point my son leaves and stands by the car, my husband steps in and I get him to calm down because she or the business is not worth it. I explain to her "not to ask anyone their opinion of her and her tactless attitude if she didn't want the constructive criticism and if she was just going to insult the customers." This lady is EXTREMELY DISRESPECTFUL and EXTREMELY RUDE! She asked ME a question and when I responded with what she DID NOT want to hear, she began to insult me. I WILL NOT SPEND ONE RED CENT in her establishment EVER AGAIN and I ENCOURAGE you all to stop spending your HARD-EARNED MONEY where it is NOT appreciated.The world has gotten away from good Customer Service but it is needed and expected, especially if I am one of the reasons you are STILL IN BUSINESS! Your money is important and worth a TON to the business who appreciate it. SHE/CHINA KITCHEN DOES NOT APPRECIATE ITS CUSTOMERS and you can believe that she TALKS ABOUT US LIKE A DOG when we are not around! She showed me LAST NIGHT exactly how she feels about me with her insults and rude demeanor. The place does NOT SMELL GOOD, that Carpet is the reason, it has been there for as long as the business has been there....over 30 years! It all matches her personality and what she thinks of ALL of her customers. I will NOT RETURN! We don't deserve to be treated like second class citizens in a place where WE ALL BELONG! She has been here in this country over 30 years and hasn't learned Customer Service YET! Guess what, she said "She is not changing the way she talks to any of us". Spend your...

I have patronized this restaurant for over ten years due to good service and the wonderful food. My rating would have been been far better than today. Ms Dean needs improvement with customer service. Two weeks ago they had given me an incorrect order as well as omitted food from the order. This ordeal had not happened before so I telephoned China Kitchen and asked to speak to the manager. I spoke to Ms. Dean and told her about my food order and not pleased with the food. She then told me not to return the food but I could place another order and pay half price. Normally, they will replace your order. However, I agreed. On 3/27/24 I came into the restaurant, identified myself as the person with the incorrect order and reordered what I wanted at half price. Upon picking up my order, she had stated I wouldn't be getting an egg roll. Then I realized I had not gotten my soup again that comes with the order. I went back into the restaurant and was instantly given the soup. I arrived home expecting to enjoy my food and no steamed rice and less patties received. In addition, the sauce was salty. I telephoned again and explained to Ms Dean about my order and she states previous order I had already gotten the rice, etc. that's why they are not in current order. Why didn't you tell me that in the first place instead now over the telephone. Her reaction was "I don't want to talk to you anymore." She hung up. Please check your food before leaving to make sure you are getting what you're ordered because the outcome could be worsed than my case. I certainly won't be giving this restaurant my...

I ordered before reading all of the negative reviews, so I was pretty worried, actually. My expectations were super low.

Surprisingly, it was alright! Ordering on the phone was a chore, and you could tell the background was very chaotic. Judging by the other reviews, sounds like the manager/owner runs a chaotic ship. Not the fault of the folks who work there.

When we tried to order online it wouldn't let us, even though the provided map showed us within the delivery area. That's why we called. After convincing them to deliver we were told they would if we "tipped the driver". Of course we would! We tipped well, over the phone.

We got the food pretty quickly and it was warm and the delivery driver was nice. We realized they forgot the appetizer we ordered so we called back. You could hear them yelling across the room at each other with the phone very close to their mouth still. They weren't being very nice to each other. Rather than offering to credit the account they offered to drive the appetizer to us. We didn't feel like arguing so we agreed.

It was also delivered pretty quickly and the lady who delivered it was apologetic.

THE FOOD: It was actually pretty good! Definitely nothing to write home about, but standard strip mall/basic delivery Chinese food. You can tell they use cheap ingredients but the flavors were good.

Overall, would def order again on a night that we really just want some cheap Chinese takeout. I hope that the manager listens to some of these reviews and makes things less chaotic for their employees, they seem ed nice and like they were...