Lotus Cafe at Boca Chica — Restaurant in Brownsville

The only good thing about this place was the service of the cashier. Interior was old and dingy, had a funny smell.

Four Seasons - bland, lacked any seasoning, vegetables overcooked to mush and the meat was coated in a pasty wrinkly flour or starch? Meat super tough.

Beef Chow Fung - super greasy, weird beef, very bland, no seasoning.

Kung po chicken - guess what? You got it! Weird coated chicken in a very sweet beige sauce with burnt spring onions. No salt and no spice at all! Pretty horrid.

Peking duck - as dry as a flip flop on a beach! Duck jerky!

Egg rolls & spring rolls - super greasy, soggy, tasteless.

BBQ Ribs - tough & tasteless

Steamed meat dumplings - thick and gummy, tasteless and dry.

Steamed shrimp dumplings - dry, pasty, flavorless, gummy

I have eaten a variety of Asian cuisine in my life. Ranging from authentic to westernised. This is by far the WORST oriental meal I have ever had. The person cooking the food has zero palette and needs a new profession! Their cooking skills are outright offensive. How dare you charge people for this. Even if the food was free (which it most certainly was not) we wouldn't eat it. We read the reviews, 4.2 stars it said. LIES! Huge waste of time and money. Actually so disgusted that we cannot even be bothered to call and complain. DO NOT RECOMMEND!!! We made a very costly mistake, trust our feedback,...

This was my first visit. It was a late ish dinner. There were a few other diners in the restaurant. I didn't see anyone Asian, eating or working, in the restaurant.

I am trying to avoid wheat flour, so I rejected the complementary chips. My waiter was pretty attentive. I was happy that they have an extensive combo menu for one, and the prices are very reasonable. The hot and sour soup was okay, maybe not the freshest. The waiter recommended the Tripple Crown, which I had never heard of before. It was well portioned with assorted meats/shrimp/veggies but had way too much sauce, as you can see in the photo. The meats and veggies are swimming in it. The shrimp were especially tasty. The filling of the egg roll was okay, l left the casing to avoid the wheat flour. The fried rice was pretty awful, I'd probably choose steamed if I return. Overall, the portions were generous, so there is value for the price.

I'm guessing the decor dates back to the 80's when they opened and is now dingy/depressing. I think, if they can afford it, a refresh is in order.

There was enough staff on hand that if they worked together (instead of playing with their phones) they could have served by hand instead of using the rather unpleasant looking cart.

Other reviews suggest Panda Express as an alternative, I highly prefer table service on reusable plates/cutlery over...

Ok it is good. BUT, when your use to the main cook on the other location by expwy I've eaten there since the origional owners and thier loyal cook mr. Manuel which took over his restaurant it was always EXCELLENT. By saying that well this location was good but the taste that I look for when I order the chicken almond plate still needs some work plus this dish here they add suchini which chicken almond does not have that its just other ingredients. Overall it's alright the presintation of the dish was good.but the sauce was quite a bit overempowering the flavor of the dish itself. I couldn't really get the flavor of chicken nor the mushrooms. Fried rice was good and the egg roll was meh! I guess I will go again, give it another try since I already know this isn't the same cook from where I was accustomed to. Maybe this time I'll try a different plate but for sure the Chicken Almond taste didn't do it for me. The service was good even though they are way understaffed plz be patient with them sometimes its only 1 person and the whole restaurant. Yet I feel the others that are there should be cross trained if the waiter/waitress needs a hand....