Wild Ginger Bellevue — Restaurant in Bellevue

Holy cow! I’ve been coming to the Wild Ginger since it was near the Pike Place Market and my experience at the Bellevue restaurant was by far the worst I’ve had. We went in for my son’s 19th birthday and the hostess just looked at as blankly and said “for two?”, no smile, no welcome, no enthusiasm at all. We were sat in the window, table 203, and the pm bartender served us. When he approached us again no smile, no greeting, just looked at us; we thought it funny at first that he was so bland. We ordered lunch and drinks and let home know we’d be ordering to go items at 3pm off the dinner menu. Lunch was uneventful, there were only two other tables of two in the restaurant, food came by way of food runner who did not describe the food or give instructions as servers usually have done over the years. Very little interaction with the bartender, no new drinks, no water refills, etc. when the other tables left their dirty tables sat for a long time. dirty plates were left on our table uncleared until the end. When 3pm came we ordered an additional appetizer and the to go items, Appetizer came but then everyone disappeared. Shift change I imagine, we didn’t see our server for almost 30 minutes and when we did he was at the host stand with the manager. I turned around in my seat to get their attention. When he came over he was surprised we had not received our order so went looking for it. He came back and told us it was there and he did not know why it was not brought out. It was another ten minutes before we received the to go order and the check, so over 45 minutes! So after all this time we had to pass on a birthday dessert not knowing how long that might take. Disappointing. I gave him back the check and said something should be done. When the male manager with longish curly black hair came over he said there was a problem with the printer and I said “it was 45 minutes”, his response was “I’ll take the Duck off but THINGS HAPPEN” and walked away. When I turned back to my table the two people next to us looked wide eyed and shocked too, and said “sorry you had to go through that”, I thought “right? How rude”. He was so dismissive and certainly not apologetic or respectful. Guests at 2-3pm should receive the same quality and friendly service as any other time, and we spent $200. The staff at the Bellevue store needs a talking too and some training. Hope the other WG are better. And when we got home there is no rice in the to go...

Not the best meal I’ve ever had and I would not recommend this place to anyone who asks. If you want good Thai or Chinese food, don’t go to Wild Ginger. You’ll find other restaurants with better tasting food for a much better price elsewhere. The staff were very nice and sweet though. Super helpful with everything. I have no hate towards the front of house staff. It’s the food I did not enjoy.

I tried to remember everything that was ordered and listed it below…

*Glass Gimlet cocktail was too overpowered by the Thai basil. It was sour and bitter and not in a good way for a cocktail.

*Kickin Mango cocktail was just melted mango sorbet with some hot sauce added and a Thai chili for garnish. Nothing amazing.

*Siam Lettuce Cups - I like sea bass, but I did not like it in this dish cause there was barely any in it. It was pretty much all shredded jicama. No flavor.

*Singapore Wagyu Beef Satay - just steak cut up and put on skewers. The wood from the skewers was cheap or not the right kind of skewer because little sliver bits of the wood would come off and stick to the meat.

*Green Papaya Salad w/ Prawns - the prawns were ok. The papaya salad was not. I had to pour extra peanut sauce from the wagyu dish in order to eat the salad. No flavor except a lot of sourness.

*Pineapple Prawn Curry - NO. JUST NO. Do not get this. The pineapple chunks looked like potatoes in the curry and it was nothing but sweet. You could not enjoy the prawns cause they tasted like pineapple. I’m sorry, but I don’t enjoy my seafood tasting like tropical fruit. There were also way more pineapple pieces than prawns in the dish.

*Sea Bass - This was ok to eat. But it was overly salted and needed to be eaten with plain rice cause it was so salty.

*Chinese BBQ Pork Ribs - If you want proper ribs go elsewhere. This dish was overly sweet and you couldn’t enjoy the meat.

*Nam's Lamb Chops - Again, really sweet and you can’t taste the meat cause the sauce is so overpoweringly sweet.

*Pad Thai /veggies - I love pad thai, it’s one of my favorite dishes ever. In a proper dish the flavors are nice and balanced and it tastes amazing…this pad thai was SOUR absolutely sour tasting and gross. DO NOT GET. I repeat, DO NOT GET.

*Thai Noodles - These were decent. But I’m sure the only reason I liked this dish is cause it reminded me of beef chow fun.

Sichuan Green Beans - These were ok. Still too salty, but at least the beans were...

If you’re reading this in Google and use their maps to get here, you’ll be fine; Volvo GPS sent me to their old location, which resulted in a long-ish hoof over to the actual location, as I had already paid to park (Bellevue parking is astronomically expensive!!!). Lucky for me, it wasn’t raining today, or it would’ve been much less pleasant. I had been to the downtown location about 2 years ago, and was looking for something interesting today after a rather disappointing experience at P.F. Chang’s yesterday... there are really very few similarities between the two, and therefore there’s little to compare, except that PFC (Alderwood Mall) has free parking, while Wild Ginger does not. The pricing is a bit high, but actually in line with what I’d expect to pay for upscale, very fresh food. I had the Mongolian noodles with added flank steak, and it was AMAZING... very fresh, wonderful flavors, & I’ll definitely be back for this dish again. The staff was friendly, efficient, & accommodating, and I hope they survive the Covid downturn... with half of the restaurants empty, it can’t be easy to bank a profit. The restaurant observed all appropriate precautions, and I felt as safe as it’s currently possible to feel. I think I would come back for takeout more often than dine-in to save the cost of parking, which adds a lot to the cost of a meal out if you’re flying solo.

UPDATE: with the reopening of Washington, I took the opportunity yesterday (07/01/2021) to revisit this favorite, and it’s just as good, if not better, than I remembered. Service is friendly and efficient, and the food is FRESH! Best place to park? The (free) Bellevue Square garage, as far south and East as you can get. Right now, they have some “Soul Cycle Outside” bikes set up in there, & this limits spaces, but it is the closest free parking I found. Anywhere in Bellevue Square is good, though, if you’re able to walk 2-3 blocks, and there is paid parking for $6-15 closer than that. I hope this update is helpful… seriously, GO TRY IT - you...