Oriental Jade Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Bangor

Back from college for break, I decided to take my mother out for lunch. This is my first time returning since their renovation. I’ve read all the news stories and the reviews with everyone flipping out that the buffets gone, but coming from Queens, NY, I’ve grown accustomed to a new standard of classy Asian dining and after seeing it pop up on “OpenTable” a popular dining app, I was excited to see what changes were in store. The buffet area was replaced by a nice sushi bar, and the setup, at first, was appealing. Our waitress came with the new menus which I was eager to peak at, and she was very kind and courteous. The new options were nicely laid out, easy to read and had a very clever wording to get your tastebuds tingling. I ordered the Stir-fry pork and my mother ordered an orange chicken lunch combo. Our drinks along with some crispy noodles, daikon radishes and a salad came out quickly, and then we waited. The small starters were good except I found the salad dressing had a rubbing alcohol tinge to it (it could have just been me). As I gazed about my surroundings I stated to realize.... the place was rather empty, the busy lunch times I used to remember with people buzzing around the counters was gone. The new fancy sushi bar was dark and completely dead, and less than half of the dining tables were filled. When I turned to look at the back wall I got flooded with memories of choir fundraisers with us kids serving customers in a beautiful back room, but the back room was gone. It was replaced with a bland wall and an industrial exit door with a shabby sign of the beer company shirts we saw up front. It was obvious they were renting out, which as a businessman I understand, rent is high, the government Is killing small businesses with insane tax rates (hopefully not much longer). So I while it definitely changed the place, and not in a good way, I let it go. After some good catchup conversation with mom, I realized our dishes had been cleared away and about twenty minutes had passed.....still no food. I thought, it’s this dead, what’s taking so long? Finally we see our waitress coming and we get our food. It’s now when the sad realization hits me on what the place had become. In front of us on these fancy plates, costing fancy prices was the most typical takeout Chinese food you could find. I took the first bite and it wasn’t by any means bad, but it was not the fresh Asian fusion Stir-fry I had come to expect from a place like this (idk I guess NY spoiled me). The place had literally turned from a “$12 all you can eat hot spot” to a “$12 pick one take out item on a fancy plate” I was so disappointed. Mom took one bite and her face went sour “it’s cold”! she exclaimed. I called our waitress over who immediately apologized and rushed the food back in saying “I’ll have them remake it for you”. Now I got to sit there and let my food get cold waiting for hers......Not Happy. To my surprise, less than 3 minutes went by before she came back out with what I saw as the exact same plate probably just thrown in the microwave, (how else if it took 20 mins to “make” the first time). I didn’t want to make a scene so I kept my mouth shut. As she laid the plate on the table she said “sorry it’s been really busy with take out”..... What? You have a restaurant with people dining and your first concern is take out?!?! Enough to let a diners food to get cold in the kitchen? What has happened here!?!? I kept eating my takeout Chinese on a fancy plate. Even mom complained that what she received was not that fancy picture with fresh veggies in the menu, but rather a bunch of chicken and a couple peppers smothered in sauce.They’re whole idea of “Modern Asian Bistro” is not what I experienced. It’s take out Chinese food on a fancy plate in a fancy setting that costs $4 more than it should. I’m really disappointed. And I think the change is a 1 million dollar mistake that Happy China Buffet down the road is...

This is by far the best Chinese food experience we’ve had since leaving our hometown in California 10 years ago. First let me talk about the food, then I’ll talk about the service and then the Atmosphere then I’ll give my conclusion. The food was so good it literally brought tears to mine and my wife’s eyes; being both so nostalgic as it reminded us of home and was just so delicious. It is possibly the best Chinese food I’ve had in the last 30 years! You can tell that not only is the cook knowledgeable but that you can taste that they are passionate about their food and that they really care and want you to know how good Asian cuisine can be and just how complex the flavors can be. The food was so good and fresh and there were genuinely high level cooking skills being used. As an example: we ordered the tangerine beef as one of our dishes. Beyond the sauce being hand made, as was the batter, but the beef was perfectly thinly sliced and, in a feat that I have never seen mastered before, the meat was fried enough to make the batter perfectly crispy while cooking the thinly sliced beef perfectly. The meat was still pink and juicy and just wonderfully tender! Next, the service: It was phenomenal! Everyone there was not just polite, they were welcoming and really nice and incredibly helpful you could just tell that they really enjoyed being there. Our waitress not only knew the menu but she was proud of the food and was a fan herself of eating there. She was so warm and funny, not once did we feel pressured by her and she was so patient with us asking her for so much as we not only ordered a large dinner, but we also had appetizers and we put in a large to-go order as well. She took care of us perfectly. I don’t know if she wants her name out publicly so in that regard I won’t say it, but if she’s reading this we were the heavier set couple in dark clothing, my wife had a Pug hat on. So from us to you, Thank you, you were amazing! If her boss is reading this, she is the waitress with curly hair and glasses and she’s amazing and deserves praise. Now the Atmosphere: The restaurant itself was beautiful and well designed. The lighting was excellent the seating was comfortable. It didn’t feel too claustrophobic nor was it too spacious and empty. There was a good flow to the place and the colors and aesthetics were pleasing. However, if I were to have one complaint it would be the music was just a bit too loud where we were sitting. Being that I am nearly deaf and have to wear hearing aids it did cause some difficulties at first with hearing my wife across the table and conversing with the waitress. I’m privileged enough to have really good hearing aids that I can adjust on the fly and I was able to eventually adjust my hearing aids to accommodate the scenario but it was an issue that I did run into. In conclusion: This was wonderful experience that we are going to be returning to soon and as often as we can. My wife and I don’t go out much because of our work and honestly we haven’t really found much in our area that excites us enough to get us out. Well, that has changed. We were just driving by on our way to another restaurant as it had been a long frustrating day and we were hungry. We decided to take a chance on this place instead and we’re just blown away! If you want great flavors, wonderful textures, terrific service and just a great night out, come here. If you want the boring old single note experience that you’re use to then go literally anywhere else.

As a side note: I never write reviews, but this place just really deserves to have as many praises sung about it...

This place used to be good; however, it has gone significantly downhill over the past year. Our experience last night was definitely the last straw for us. After an evening of mini golfing and go-karting, we decided to go to Oriental Jade for dinner as we were all in the mood for Chinese food. We went in at about 8 p.m. on July 4th for the buffet. As soon as we got up to the buffet, we immediately saw that it was almost completely empty and what was there were clearly leftovers that had been sitting there for hours as nothing was very fresh. Our waitress was nowhere to be found. We then overheard who was probably the manager yelling at our waitress for still offering the buffet after 8 p.m. The manager then came out and apologized to us for the mixup and offered us anything from the takeout menu to compensate for their our experience. She explained that they stop stocking the buffet after around 6 pm and told us that we should have been informed of that when we first came in. She then left and never came back. We waited for a good 20 minutes and I finally had to get up and go to the front desk to ask where our waitress was. At this point, we didn't have time to wait to order food from the menu as we had to be somewhere for Fourth of July festivities. Our niece is up visiting form New York and we had many other things to do and other places to be. They went and got our waitress and she finally came with our check. She didn't even ask if we had decided to order anything from the takeout menu. She didn't even mention it. Needless to say, she did not get a tip and the 3 of us left very frustrated and angry and still hungry. I just sent them an email demanding that a refund be sent to us. We will...