Paper Lantern Asian Grill & Sushi — Restaurant in Ellicott City

First, I want to say I am one who hates to leave bad reviews, but as a business owner myself, I know the importance of it. That being said, this was my second time at Paper Lantern. My family and I were treated very poorly by a waitress, who was also very nice to other tables. We were seated by a very nice gentleman. After that, we waited about 15 minutes and were greeted with a waitress. Not with a hello or anything, but a rude “what do you want to drink” my daughter then asked if they had strawberry lemonade. Again very rudely, “no we don’t have that” while just looking at her note pad. She then ordered a sprite and we ordered our remaining drinks. Received them and that’s it. We noticed she was going to other tables smiling, laughing, and being friendly. About 15 minutes pass again and she comes back to our table again with zero personality and says “what you want to order” My husband proceeds to order honey sesame chicken and asks if he’s able to get half lo mein and rice with an upcharge being fine. She says “no we can’t do that.” So he asked for the lo mein with a small rice on the side. She said “So, chicken and rice” He says “No I would like the chicken with the lo mein and a small order of rice on the side.” Again “no we can’t do that.” No explanation, no accommodation, nothing. He politely said “I feel like you’re rushing me. I’m trying to ask a questions to better understand and you’re rushing me.” She then rolled her eyes and said “What do you want me to do” At that point I spoke up and said we will take the check and that we no longer want food. She said no it’s ok and stormed off. The original man who seated us was very kind and did offer help and to serve us but we said no thank you. I understand people have bad days in service, but this was unacceptable. We did nothing to be treated that way while other tables were treated with kindness. My family and I will never patronize this...

Let's start with the positives: the food was good, generously portioned and priced lower than comparable places with comparable quality. Unfortunately, the way the ordering process was handled (at least the take out process) was clunky and amateurish. When I ordered, I was informed the wait would be 20 minutes. It turned out to be at least 35 minutes even after I talked to the counter person and he said he would ask the kitchen to rush it. Most restaurants inflate their waiting time and it's generally for these 2 reasons: 1. You feel better about your waiting because it turned out to be faster than you expected. It's called managing expectations. Disney and other theme parks, for example, use this technique all the time. When you see a sign which says something like "you are 20 minutes away", that number is always exaggerated. 2. It gives the customer the information to make a decision. For example, since I was in a hurry, had I been told the accurate waiting time, I would have not ordered and left. When I complained, staff was more interested in getting defensive than apologizing for the long wait. They weren't rude but they didn't want to be accountable either. Also, I ordered my food extra spicy but it was not very...

We wish we had this in Marietta, Georgia, but at least we got to enjoy it once in our lives. It was a great distraction for us from the monotony of driving home. I've not been to a Asian fusion(Japanese, Chinese, and sushi food selection selection of food) restaurant in years, so I have nothing similar to compare it to. It's nothing at all like a typical Chinese take out either.

We got an order of crab filled fried wonton - or something like that - aka fancy crab angels/rangoons(sp?), and they were delicious, crispy, fully-filled pockets of heaven(pun not intended).

We also got sweet and sour chicken to split between the two of us, which can be hit or miss from the typical cheap Chinese places. It was vastly different from them. It was all solid white meat the was battered and fried to have a firm consistency inside and light crispy outside. It had a tiny bit of steamed broccoli, pineapple, and one cherry, mostly for garnish I assume. I don't eat the normal onions, pineapple, cherries and/or green peppers that tend to come with Chinese take-out sweet and sour anyway. It was divine, and would get it again if we lived here.

It was still decently priced dinner at just under $20 for the meal...