TIEN'S PLACE EXPRESS Fresh Oriental & American Cuisine — Restaurant in Columbia Falls

So this review is a little different than what you would expect, but fitting reading the recent reviews of this supposedly great local fusion restaurant. In fact this review is so different I never needed to enter the restaurant in order to know I will never EVER be attending nor recommending this place to anyone EVER:) For context: I work for a company that repairs lighting and signage on buildings for busineses. Think billboard accents, big signs with interior lighting, accent lights around a building, gooseneck for softer effects, even small cabinet lights we'll fix. For that you need people to patrol a route at night, as to report outages, so that they can be moved to marketing, and then to our repair department, once a price is agreed upon. To be fair, it's not a job that many people think needs to be done, but someone has to go around and take pictures, right? Tien's...lovely... establishment has an old reader board cabinet signage, with discolored lighting, that I've reported every time I've done my Columbia Falls route. In fact, he's called us back to confirm which signage is his and which is the Casino's next door (very Montana themed, hence the two stars for atmosphere. Very authentic). So, tonight, I ran my route as normal, until I pulled out of his parking lot after reporting his discoloration outage. What surprised me was the three Columbia Falls Police Cars pulling me over in the Glacier Bank parking lot because apparently he has them on speed dial and thinks my 2014 Green Soccer Mom SUV is "suspicious" and I've been "around his building for two days". Neato:D A little much I'd say, but what do I know I'm not supposed best chef winner for multiple years in a row, just a night patrolman. After calmly explaining everything to three separate officers for about 15 minutes (hence the timeframe selection) they believed that I was just doing my patrol duties and taking pictures of his signs like he asked us to, but not after having to call my mother (the title holder of my car. Long story short I paid for the car but it's from her old job yadda yadda boring legal stuff) and verify every little detail of my job to get to go free. Oh, and yes Tien, I'm quite aware my back plate is not displayed, it was ripped up and left beside my car:D Real shameful experience all around. Truly deserving of a 1-Star Review. Disappointing though, I really looked forward to trying your food one day. The awards I saw while patrolling had me planning to visit one day, but now you're blacklisted from our company and my personal restaurant list. Very...

Quite a unique place. If you want to dine in, this place is not for you. There is a maximum amount of people per table at 4 persons. You’re not even allowed to pull up a chair if you have a fifth person. The food will come out in take out containers and paper plates. Go and get your own water from the fountain. Very strange!

The food was mediocre at best. My daughter was very unimpressed with the combination rice, she felt as if it had no flavour. I felt the same. The vegetables weee undercooked and the big chunks of onions made my eyes water and nose drip like a kitchen faucet as they were barely cooked. My daughter also ordered sweet and sour pork, and she couldn’t find the sauce. She also found most of the pork was covered in a lot of flavourless batter. She found the sauce in a small container later on. Not very impressive to say the least.

Portion size is small to medium. Good if you’re on a diet. Wait time almost 30 minutes and there wasn’t a lot of people in the restaurant.

We’ve had much better, but I guess there isn’t much in the way of Oriental cuisine in Columbia Falls, I suppose. Doesn’t at all compare to the excellent Vietnamese and Chinese places in Alberta.

Overall, I’ve had much better oriental food in Alberta. Oh I forgot, you have to take out your own disposable plates and throw them in the garbage. (Service is virtually nonexistent). They might as well eliminate eat-in and make it...

I slept on this before writing. My boyfriend and I were visiting GNP from NY. After “wall-to-wall burgers” in Flathead as another reviewer accurately put it, we were thrilled to find such a well rated Asian restaurant on our drive back to Bigfork after a long day in the park.

For the first time in my life eating Asian, I threw out my meal after a few bites. Glacier Pork—lo mein had a bizarrely sweet, unnatural taste, fried rice woefully under seasoned, ditto on the “sweet and sour” pork, which was dry, bland, and deep fried in corn dog batter. Glacier Shrimp—dry, rubbery. Salad—a heap of raw cabbage and cilantro with no dressing. My boyfriend, typically a BBQ pork fan, was appalled at the appetizer—quarter inch thick slices of gray, tasteless pork with a thin pink border (presumably the BBQ sauce, but I couldn’t tell it apart from food coloring).

How this place is rated the best restaurant in Flathead three years and counting is beyond me. Tien’s story is very inspiring, and it made us want to like the food. Some other comments suggested that Tien is no longer the owner/chef—this is the only reason I can think of that explains why our experience was so much worse than the numerous five...