QI Austin: Modern Asian Kitchen — Restaurant in Austin

On August 9, 2025, four of us visited Qi in downtown Austin for an 8:30 PM dinner reservation booked through Resy. We arrived on time, but our experience was marred by consistently poor service and rude behavior from the staff, which left us feeling disrespected and unwelcome. Upon arrival, we noticed a table with a couch and preferred to sit there. I approached the manager at the entrance to request the change, only to be met with a dismissive and rude response: “I know why you’re walking up to me; you can sit anywhere you like.” This set an unpleasant tone for the evening. Our server, Nana, was inattentive and passive-aggressive. She took our orders incorrectly twice, and when I politely tried to correct her, she reacted by storming off without explanation. Additionally, when we needed to place a follow-up order, Nana was nowhere to be found, forcing me to approach the manager again to get service. The bartender’s behavior was equally disappointing. My friend and I ordered smoked old fashioneds, which were prepared tableside. The first attempt lacked any visible smoke, so I politely pointed this out. The bartender returned and aggressively over-smoked the drink, repeatedly saying, “Do you see the smoke now?” in a condescending tone. He also made an inappropriate comment, comparing the restaurant to “Olive Garden” and implying we were being difficult. When I addressed his rudeness, he brushed it off as a “joke,” which felt insincere and dismissive. Throughout the evening, we couldn’t help but notice a stark difference in how we were treated compared to nearby tables. The staff’s interactions with other guests appeared warm and professional, while we felt singled out and disrespected, which made us question if this was racially motivated. There was no provocation on our part—we were polite, on time, and respectful. While the food was of good quality, the hostile service from the manager, bartender, and server overshadowed any enjoyment. This wasn’t an isolated incident; I’ve experienced similar rudeness from the manager during a previous visit. It’s disheartening because the food has potential, but the overall experience was frustrating and upsetting. I strongly urge the management to review their staff’s conduct, perhaps by checking CCTV footage from that evening, and address these serious customer service issues. Based on this experience, I don’t plan to return to Qi, and I caution others to be aware of the inconsistent and unwelcoming service. A restaurant with good food should also prioritize creating a respectful and enjoyable environment...

Firstly, let me highlight the positives. The food and drinks were phenomenal! I could personally eat those soup dumplings for the rest of my life. The cocktails were inventive and tasty as well. Unfortunately, the service was severely lacking. We had called the day before to make a reservation for my best friend’s birthday, as we had never been and of course wanted to accommodate the restaurant, there was only 4 of us and we were planning a fun day out in Austin. We had heard such amazing things about this restaurant and had to check it out. When we called to make a reservation we were told that we were unable to make a reservation, and just told to walk in. When we came in we were greeted by who we assumed was the manager, he asked if we had a reservation, we told him we were told we didn’t need one, to which he replied, “And you’re still trying?” Implying that we shouldn’t have even tried to walk in. We were then sat outside and told it was our only option, it was pouring rain and freezing. Our birthday girl asked us politely if we wouldn’t mind waiting for a table inside instead. Of course we obliged to make her happy and went back in. We then met the manager again and he told us that it would be an hour and a half wait and that we could wait in the adjourning lobby. We sat for about 10 minutes before he came back out and asked if we were planning on eating quickly. We were confused and replied that we wanted a nice birthday dinner for our friend, to which he replied, “As long as you don’t sit around for a long time we can get you sat.” We said sure and were sat quickly. We noticed a lot of empty tables around us and shrugged it off. Our service wasn’t any better, unfortunately, our waters were empty the entire meal, and we were not offered another round of drinks. When I asked for soy sauce for our dumplings our waitress replied, “You can use the dumpling sauce.” We also had asked when the bill came if we could do $200 in cash and the rest on a card so we could tip. Our waitress said yes and brought the book back with all our cash still in it and the whole bill charged on our card. Again, I can’t rave about the food enough, from the lobster cheese rolls to the sesame chicken. However, we had such frustrating service it was hard to see too many positives. I would go back for the dumplings, but I might sit at the...

The really bad, untrained and plain rude service may have clouded my opinion of the food but will try to stay factual as much as a taste review might be.

The chicken gyozas were absolutely delicious...and that was the least expensive item in the menu. The tofu in meat sauce was also good, though could have had more flavor, i.e. garlic or other seasonings. The lobster dumplings did not taste very much like lobster so wonder if the spices or fillers might have taken away from the lobster. Finally the soup dumpling was nowhere near as good as say NYC's Joe Shanghais. Lets just say it was edible.

The worst part of the experience was the EXTREMELY RUDE waitress. We were wondering if we had done something to insult her but looking at our interaction we were as friendly as anyone visiting town and restaurant for the first time. When we said we could use a few minutes she walked away rolling her eyes and not even responding. When we asked for tea she did not even respond and just came back with the pot which was too hot on the handle to be safe. Then she brought the tofu dish and just dropped it on the table almost knocking the other dishes, she also dropped off the chicken dumplings as if she had no patience for telling us what it was and walked off. To finally put a cap on the rudeness she had another waiter drop off the bill without asking if we were done or if we wanted anything else. We knew the kitchen closes at 2pm, which we were quite aware and finished our meal by 2:05. Yes I was watching my clock. We could have ordered another drink since there where two tables with other patrons relaxed drinking wine.I finally had to say something and decided not to tip the waiters and mentioned it to the head waiter..or at least the only one who had any manners or politeness when he delivered the receipt. I will never go bak to this restaurant or recommend any affiliated restaurant. This type of consistent bad service is embeded in the management. Fly to nyc and go for real Chinese dim sum and at least there rudeness is part of...