Hong Hua Fine Chinese Dining — Restaurant in Farmington Hills

Yesterday we celebrated my Mother's 70th Bday here. This is where she wanted to go. I'd never been there before. I was happy to ride the 35 minutes it took to get there with my husband and two children to show her the love she so deserves as well as see precious family that I hadn't seen in two years due to satin's curse known as covid!

Things started out great. We were the first to arrive from our group/party. We were pleasantly greeted and shown to our seats. I was very pleased with the lovely table displays, elegantly folded napkins, decent place settings, a table for gift and a table for the cake all in a semi private area of the restaurant. Things were clean which I greatly appreciated. While I didn't like the fact that there was only one paper menu allowed per table, our server was a very pleasant woman. She was not fluent in English but I promise with her wonderful spirit and good energy, this didn't matter. She was very kind, attentive and patient. You could even see it in her eyes! She also went through the trouble of writing separate bills for all my siblings and their families. She got each bill right! The food was also very delicious and we all enjoyed each other's company.

So why 3 stars? Why not five?

Now, for the stain on what was almost a great experience. My daughter, who is an extremely picky eater) ordered sweet and sour chicken. That's simple, right? Something easy and safe, right? Nope! What we were unaware of was the fact that at this particular restaurant they dump the sauce right over the chicken. She hates the sauce but loves the chicken. We have eaten at many Asian establishments and they usually place the sauce on the side this way we can avoid it all together (a smart thing to do even for people who prefer to dip and not eat completely soggy overly moist breading on their chicken! Uhm...Yuck!)

To my dismay, it arrived in the way not preferred. As I stated we had never been to this place before that day! The person who brought this dish to my daughter was not the server assigned to us. If she had been, she would have just been kind enough to take it back without being impatient, irritated, mouthy and rude! This other person was probably lending an extra hand with all the orders. However, when I explained to her that my picky child would not eat her meal with it sauced, she became annoyed and very mouthy. She wanted to argue with me saying it always comes like that. I let her know I had never been there before today and other restaurants do serve the sauce on the side. As she angrily grabbed the dish from the table she said in nasty, impatient demeanor, all while walking away. "Next time say something about it when you order!" Excuse me? Next time? There will never be a next time! Rude!!!

If it's not right, just take it back and bring a corrected dish back! Don't argue with the guest! She obviously has never heard of customer service! Is this a dead concept, now? She was quite foolish! If I am treated unreasonably, I will no longer support that business. This was an issue with a meal for a child with a very limited list of foods she will actually eat. Why no patience?

What mother won't try to have a meal right for her child? Picky or not?

Our actual server did understand. She was very apologetic and soothing and made sure the order came back the only way my precious baby will eat it! I appreciated that. She also took her drink off the bill...a very kind gesture! However, I have been slighted and I am done with Hung Hua! Zai ye bu!...

I would give this 0 stars if I could. I've been to this restaurant a number of times as my parents and their friends have often heralded it as "the best Chinese restaurant in the area" but really it's just the most hyped and most expensive. Most of the dishes you can find equivalences in other restaurants for significantly lower prices. The food itself isn't bad but is subpar as someone who has eaten a lot of Chinese food in their life both in the US and China I think it's just ok. Most of the things on the menu have the same underlying tastes and are just super oily and that's why it tastes good. So the food is like a 2/5 being generous. It's not bad, but not really good.

Service though, that deserves a -5/5. My family came here on Lunar new year, a day that's obviously busy. However we made a reservation at 8pm for a party of 7. Not only did we have to wait almost an hour, but we were repeatedly brushed off and given the side eye by the hostess when asking how much longer it would take. They kept saying that the people beforehand wouldn't leave and it would be "rude towards them to ask them to leave" but what about my family and me? If we hadn't had a reservation I would see no problem with waiting but if you are going to make people with reservations wait then you should just say you don't take them. What peeved me off even worse was that multiple parties that had later reservations than us were seated before us. Finally we were seated (never got a sorry from that hostess) but to make everything even better we were rushed out. The food came at uneven intervals making the dining experience very poor and when we asked about the COMPLIMENTARY pudding dessert the waitress pretended she didn't know what we were talking about in an attempt to get us to leave earlier. I'm sorry you seated me so late that now it's almost closing time and you want to go home. The manager, an acquaintance of my mother, apologized for half a second and said he wasn't prepared for the holiday and he knows better now. I will never go here again out of pride but also never again on lunar new year as this restaurant has been open for years and I guarantee he didn't learn better and they will still overbook their restaurant in years to come all for the sake of...

Is Hong Hua restaurant really fine dining? I have not been there for years and was disappointed at how much it has changed. The reception desk hits you as soon as you walk in, with the space to the front door being only one person deep, perhaps to maximize dining space? The place was dimly lit and not in an aesthetic way. I have never had soup with a metal “western” dessert spoon. The spoon and the tiny bowl looked odd together. It was an assault to the senses to see this faux pas. It is a Chinese restaurant, for Pete’s sake! Perhaps it was for convenience and/or economic reasons since Chinese soup spoons break or chip? The serving plates were substantially smaller than the dinner plates! Serving sizes were small and unappetizingly displayed. I felt I had consumed more brown gooey gravy than anything else. The leftover Peking duck was stir fried with so much over-cooked bean sprouts that we could hardly see the meagre pieces of duck meat. That had put me off ever eating bean sprouts again. There was no decorum in dining. Some of the diners were loud and made such a ruckus, jumping up from their seats and shouting like it was a contest perhaps to see who can toast the loudest! And as for the bill…. it certainly added salt to my already wounded senses. The server was a sweetheart though. She made my dining experience somewhat bearable. To sum it up - what a shame. I had such fond memories of the place. Hey, be more adventurous. Travel outside your comfort zone. You might be pleasantly surprised there are authentic Chinese food out there that are legit...