Red Bowl Asian Bistro — Restaurant in Florence

FOOD IS VERY GOOD. CUSTOMER SERVICE COULD BE IMPROVED.

Found Red Bowl a few months ago when moving back to the area, just as I learned I'm gluten intolerant, and as it's one of the few places that will cater to this need. Well, partly anyways, as I now explain. I usually get my meal to go, and whenever they package it, it also includes soy sauce in it. I've nicely mentioned before that they don't have to include it, as I'm ordering from their gluten free menu, though they still do it. Now I get that this is just standard procedure, as the majority of folks may be okay with soy sauce, but it's still a lack of attention to detail. The last time I ordered, I told her I was gluten intolerant, and implied soy sauce (aka, gluten) didn't need to be included with gluten free orders, and that I hated for them to waste it, and to please remove it. She agreed. Well, imagine my surprise when later opening my takeout order that there were SIX PACKS OF SOY SAUCE! ... SERIOUSLY?!?! That is most definitely not gluten free, and is insulting. Additionally, another time I ordered a GF item there apparently was cross contamination, as I got sick less than two hours later. At first thinking it was coincidence, I later confirmed it when eating leftovers a couple days later as those same symptoms came over me shortly afterwards.

This is a problem from the top down, as management apparently doesn't care that much about it. Wait staff have generally been nice and helpful, even if a couple of them have been less attentive on this matter. When I explained it to the manager the other day, showing the six packs of soy sauce put in my previous takeout, he just blithely nodded, and that was it. No real apology or attempt to say thank you for being a customer (and I've eaten there a lot), such as offering a complimentary meal or menu item. When I worked in this industry, we ALWAYS were encouraged to build or repair the bridge with our customers by offering a tangible expression of thanks for continued patronage. And having a gluten free menu as they do should mean properly training your staff in the preparation of the food (separate from wheat items) and that staff know better not to inadvertently offer wheat-containing items with a gluten-free meal. For some customers, this is merely a preference to help keep weight down. For others of us, it's a serious health issue and cutting corners is not an option....

Let me start off by saying how much we used to love coming here...not sure if there has been a change in management but the service has definitely gone down hill. Visited with my husband and 10 month old baby today, we walked in and received no greeting from the host. A second lady walked up to the hostess stand and and asked how many we had and then stood there for about two minutes and asked the original host where we should be seated. She then took the menus and started walking, unsure we followed behind her. She then took us to a booth set down the menus and walked away, I then followed her and asked for a high chair, I would have thought she would have offered one, she obviously doesn’t have kids or just didn’t care. Considering it was just us and two other tables in the whole restaurant I figured the service would be very quick....WRONG. I waitress took about 5 minutes to get to our table. We ordered our drinks and some egg rolls. She came back to our table very quickly with egg rolls. We ate all of our egg rolls, looked at the menu, and decided what we wanted which took about 15 minutes. Our waitress came back to our table and we ordered three sushi rolls and stir fry. Once she took our order I asked if she could please bring the drinks because we still had not gotten them. She left the table and brought them back within about a minute. We waited for our food for about twenty minutes, she then brought us our stir fry. I was upset because we ordered our sushi first, and didn’t understand why our meal came out 5 minutes before our appetizer. We ate our sushi and by the time we had finished our stir fry was cold, so we didn’t even eat it. We asked our waitress for drink refills and that also took out 10 minutes. When we got the check I gathered up my child, cleaned his mess and stacked the dishes for our waitress while waiting for her to bring the check back after we paid. I grew impatient and took my son out to the car walking by the hostess stand with the two young ladies standing there, no good bye have or good night. I wouldn’t say the service sucked because I’ve had worst but I know I won’t be back. I wait tables so I know how service should be and that was not...

I just got a takeout order from Red Bowl and the experience was extremely frustrating. I was picking up an order for myself and my sister. Two people greeted me when I walked in. I said the name for both orders and they couldn’t find the one for my sister initially. Both orders were on the shelf, but my sister ordered hers through Door Dash instead of the website. I remained calm and respectful the whole interaction but both the guy and the girl went out of their way to let me know how annoyed they were. When the order was found under the Door Dash pickup shelf the girl felt like she needed to say “ Why would you spend extra money on an egg roll and some beef lo mein.” I’m a firm believer in not going where you are not wanted, and respected. I understand the frustration they go through with customers but, I was not being difficult or out the way. Also, I spent fifty dollars on my order. The very least they could have done was afforded me a...