Hong Kong Garden — Restaurant in East Hempfield Township

This place was in a shopping center on Columbia Ave. The good reviews were probably about the food only. That was the only thing good about this place. The atmosphere was horrible. For a place that was clearing out from the earlier dinner crowd, and only had 4 tables left to serve for a later dinner crowd, we expected better. We were told it would be 20 min until we could get a table. We should have left at that point, but, we decided to stay and give it a try. We felt ignored the entire time we were there. From sitting down until we left after dinner, the service was terrible. We were sitting with water and tea that wasn't even hot in the metal containers they put tea in to keep hot. The tea was barely warm. The server took our order 15 minutes later. We asked about the steamed dumplings and ordered a large order. Then we ordered our dinners. The dinners come with soup, egg roll, and dessert if you get the full dinner. We both ordered the full dinner, and then we waited about 5 minutes for the soup. When the 2 egg rolls came out, there were no dumplings. The server only had one table that was the next table behind us. My booth seat was actually right in back of the booth behind me with a table of 3. He had 2 tables to serve with a total of 5 people-3 at that table and our table with just the 2 of us. He couldn't even remember the dumplings and we only ordered 3 things-steamed dumplings and 2 dinners. We were eating the egg rolls, and a few minutes later, the table behind us got their dinners. At that moment, the hostess came by and asked if we wanted new water with ice. We asked her about the dumplings that never came out. She told us she would go check and then never came back to tell us what happened to the dumplings. Oh, well. Right after that, the server brought out our dinners. I have to say the Orange Beef and the Steamed Salmon was actually really delicious. Too bad the service stinks and we probably won't be back because the experience was horrible. When we received the check, the hostess ran out as fast as she could to get the payment, but while we were sitting trying to enjoy dinner, or even before we got seated, she was slow and made us wait almost 35 min to sit down when the restaurant wasn't even crowded after the earlier crowd left. ...

Absolutely the best Chinese restaurant in Lancaster and would do fantastic anywhere, NYC to San Francisco – the food is that good.

But it's the service, care for customers, and pride the owners have which truly stands out.

20+ years ago my now wife and I would go on dates to Hong Kong Garden, we were poor kids, only ordering hot and sour soup and egg rolls. We'd always try to visit when coming back to Lancaster after moving away and the owners always remembered us – pretty incredible. Fast forward and we ended up moving back to Lancaster... and here's where the story begins...

During the pandemic we were finally able to order from Hong Kong Garden, we were super excited, and A LOT of other folks had the same idea. The restaurant was super busy and take-out took longer than expected (really no big deal at all). When I made it home with the food I got a call from the restaurant. I figured I forgot something, but it was the owner calling to apologize for the wait. I was floored just getting a call – talk about incredible pride in what he does and simply caring about customers – but he wanted to give me a gift card.

So incredibly thoughtful.

I never asked about the gift card when going in this past year, they have treated me so well over the years and the gesture alone meant the world.

But this past weekend when I went in to pick up an order the owner was at the front desk. He said "you know you have a gift card waiting for you" – I tried to pay for my order and he said "this one is on us". I was really touched.

For anyone looking to start a business or learn more about what separates the great ones, take note to how the owners run Hong Kong Garden. They take great pride in what they do, in caring for their customers, and ultimately create an incredible experience for so many over the course of several decades.

And my wife and I still order hot and sour soup and egg rolls for...

I'm rating this place 3 stars and I will explain why. I love Chinese food and honestly I'm not usually picky where I order from. They all taste about the same to me no matter which meal I pick (I have 3 or 4 go to items). I was looking for a chinese place in between where I was and home. This place was just the spot and convenient since it was close to home my food would still be hot. I ordered beef and broccoli for pickup. When I got home and started eating it and it had a weird taste and extra ingredients. After looking at it closely I saw it had what I believe were water chestnuts and something else. I stopped eating and ended my evening. The next day I was still confused because I've had this meal from many Chinese places and it's always the same. I asked what was in their beef and broccoli and hard to understand but they did say more than just beer and broccoli. I didn't complain or ask for a refund but I wasted money o something that wasn't remotely good and makes me not want to go back to this Chinese take out. If I do order again I will make sure to update my review however, I will not be ordering beef and broccoli from here again. I feel like any chinese I order from now on I need to ask if they put extra ingredients because it...