Lotus Garden — Restaurant in Dr. Phillips

Negative stars if possible. Worst Chinese food I've ever had. In fact, one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had. I took a day to fume, thinking I was overreacting, and that I should reflect a little. Not so. From the moment we walked in to the time I finally walked out, I was looking for something to like. My wife threw up all night and I had stomach pains from this terrible excuse for Chinese food. Abysmal quality food. We ordered the Five Flavor Chicken and the Chicken Fried Rice. Rice was horribly dry. Chicken was probably the worst quality you can get (provided that it was, in fact, chicken). Very gummy and chewy. The food had absolutely no flavor. If you have to add salt to Chinese food, you know something is wrong. I also ordered Egg Rolls and Wonton Soup, two things that are almost impossible for a Chinese restaurant to ruin. What luck it was to find the one Chinese restaurant in Orlando to completely botch two staples of American Chinese Cuisine! Egg rolls were overdone, dry and tasted burnt. We ordered three of them and each one was worse than the other. The Wonton soup broth was almost bitter, like it was microwaved or stayed too long in a pot, and the wontons were overcooked and incredibly over-saturated. We couldn't finish a quarter of the meal, we didn't even want boxes, we were so repulsed.

The service. My God, the abhorrent service. Our waitress wore a black #Blessed t-shirt. She acted anything but. She didn't acknowledge us, didn't greet us or make us feel welcome. In fact, we felt like we were the biggest burden in her world. Mind you, we were the ONLY customers in the restaurant. She was cold, ignorant, unkind, unfriendly, and quite inattentive. She didn't speak to us, but she was quite chatty with the older employee in the booth in the back. I thought maybe it was a language barrier, but her English was perfect with the other gentleman in the booth. She was probably the worst waitress we've ever had, and I feel like we're some of the easiest people to wait on.

I don't understand those who have said they've been going to this place for years and they have the best food. Either you have no developed taste buds or they reserve the best service and foods for specific days. We've been here multiple times, since we live in Dr. Phillips, thinking maybe it would get better. It has not. They've only gotten worse and worse. We will not be back. There are many, many other Chinese restaurants to waste your money on. This place...

Avoid this restaurant if you have any dietary restrictions or allergies. We have ordered takeout from this restaurant before. I would say that the food was average, but the location is convenient. Every time we order, we ask about allergens; we have a family member who is allergic to nuts. We ordered several simple items and was assured that there would be/could be no exposure. Minutes after beginning his meal, my son started to have an allergic reaction. You cannot tell when a reaction is occurring whether it is an allergic reaction or food poisoning but the speed of the reaction suggested exposure to an allergen. He needed emergency treatment, which thankfully worked, but was frightening and will need several days of post emergency medication. I contacted the restaurant the next day, expecting to receive even some basic sympathy, and to point out the risk of cross contamination, but the manager was completely dismissive....at first saying it wasn't their food, and later even denying any possibility of cross contamination. He was not willing to recheck anything. The reality is, that if a cook did not use 100% clean utensils, or pots, have a clean counter, or even clean hands....that is all it takes. Or if they have had a change in their sourced ingredients, or if something was made outside the restaurant as opposed to being made onsite with ingredients that we/they could check. Again, anyone with food allergies knows that there is some risk when eating out, but most people find that by checking with the manager ahead of time (instead of a server) you can be safe. Whether they are sloppy in their practices or their kitchen used unchecked premade ingredients, I don't know-but we will never order from...

Ordered the food first time and asked since I am vegetarian and that’s the first thing I said if there is any oyster sauce in the vegetable lo mein and she checked and said yes so I told her to just give me steamed and then I asked for Vegetable spring rolls and she never mentioned that they only have vegetable egg rolls with shrimp inside. Amazing when I am asking all these questions, why did not she use her brain to say that they don’t have spring rolls and egg rolls have shrimp in it. I took a bite and felt some strange flavor in my mouth and forced myself to throw up to get it out of my system and my face is swelling up because I don’t eat any meat and now I know that shrimp definitely is deadly for me. I called and asked why did she not mention that shrimp is in the vegetable egg roll, she commented vegetable egg rolls always have meat in it so I said I ordered vegetable spring rolls, she said they don’t carry it so why not say it when I was ordering… she was absolutely rude with no class whatsoever… never ever putting my step in that place again !! She was the owner and with such bad service that she hung up on me when I asked to speak with the manager, this restaurant does not even deserve 1 star, absolutely HORRIBLE...