Eest Asian Bistro — Restaurant in Avondale

We were there for Valentine’s Day to try a new place and because my husband saw they served Peking duck. We walked in and it was a little unclear if we were to seat ourselves or not. There was a sign to wait for a server, but it was pushed to the side so we just awkwardly stood at the door for a few minutes till someone gave us some attention. Didn’t seem like they were very busy, about 8 tables were occupied. There looked to be three servers, one knew how to hustle, one moved like a turtle, and one kept disappearing. It was 20 minutes before we put our order in and they told us the Peking duck would take 45 minutes. We decided to wait, and they brought us out a small plate of fried noodles to snack on. We also ordered a plate of their firecracker fried rice and added combos to each order. With our combo we had the wonton soup which was wonderful, as well as the typical eggroll, and rangoon. Our rice was brought out in a huge mound and was delicious. When our duck showed up I was underwhelmed. Even at first glance, it didn’t look right. They had overcooked it. It was so dry and tough. I’ve eaten beef jerky that was easier to chew. My husband was so disappointed, he really wanted this dinner to be special. We did like the sauce that was served with the duck, and it helped to eat it, but we really should have sent it back. We just didn’t want to wait any longer to eat. After we were done we had to wave down a server to get their attention. They didn’t wait on us beyond taking our order and receiving it. We even had to wave them down for utensils before we could eat after they gave us our food. We aren’t demanding people, but basic customer service is necessary. I don’t know that we will go back. There’s so many other Asian places in the area. They did seem to have a lot of takeout orders. Maybe that’s the way to do it....

I'm still sitting in the restaurant and felt the need to write this review. To say the service was slow would be a poor definition of slow. This was sloooooooooow. We waited almost an hour before the only waitress in the restaurant took our order. It wasn't that crowded. It's not her fault that she's the only one on the floor, but it was ridiculous. Then we had a long wait to get the food. When we finally got our food, I will say, results were mixed. I got Steak Q, which was delicious. One of my dining partners had pork egg fu yung, which was average, at best. My other dining partner got calamari in black bean sauce that was just awful. When ordering, they asked if we wanted white or fried rice. One of us got fried. When we finally got our check 2 hours after arriving, there was a surprise upcharge of $3.99 for the rice and an additional mystery $1 charge the waitress said was also for the fried rice. No one mentioned this when they asked at ordering time. At several points during our meal the restaurant was so smoky every person in the restaurant was coughing, covering their nose and mouth. The ventilation system needs work. They had to keep the doors open in December. I was originally going to give this place 2 stars, but I changed my mind. The more I think about it, the more I disliked it. Please just...

Today was my first and last visit to this restaurant. The food we ordered was average. I had cashew shrimp that had maybe 10 shrimp and a pound and a half of vegetables. My husband ordered sesame chicken and probably had a pound and a half of chicken. So the portion sizes are kind of ridiculous. They had a help wanted sign on the door and there was one server for six tables plus she was answering the phone and assisting customers who came in for takeout. As a result we went without drink refills and one of the items we ordered never came to the table although thankfully we weren't charged for it. But the thing that irritated me most of all was we asked for fried rice instead of steamed rice. She did tell me there would be an upcharge but I have never heard of a $4 per person upcharge. I feel that that is ridiculous. A lot of restaurants will give you the fried rice either for free or maybe a dollar or two per person. As you can see from the receipt I have uploaded we spent $12 just to have fried rice. That's ridiculous and I won't go back to this...