Chez Xue — Restaurant in Foster City

Chez Xue: Sit Down, Shut Up, and Stay Quiet

Tonight was the night Chez Xue broke me.

We had a 5:30 reservation, right when they opened. We were the 5th table seated. We placed our order at 5:40. By 6:15, not a single table had been served, while takeout bags were flying out the door.

I asked a waiter when he passed by, “Excuse me, when can we expect food to start coming out for dine-in? I haven’t seen any dishes served yet.”

The waiter, the one man running reservations, phone calls, seating, and orders, snapped back: “The people before you didn’t even ask, why would you?” Then: “Everyone else is quiet, you’re the only one asking. If you can’t wait, come back next time.”

I explained again that I just wanted an estimate so I could manage expectations.

Then, the part that truly gutted me, he turned to my 65-year-old mom and told her to “contain me."

I’m 38, sitting in a restaurant with my mother and my own kid, and I was told to be silenced like I was the problem.

Later, the older Chinese waitress came by quietly, almost whispering, “It was good you asked. We’re not allowed to question them.” That broke my heart more than the rudeness to know even the staff are silenced, expected just to endure.

Chez Xue has been part of my life for years, my go-to for hosting friends, grabbing takeout, and family dinners after school. I’ve forgiven the highs and lows because the food always drew me back. But tonight proved something food alone can’t fix.

Turns out, I’m just not obedient enough for Chez...

Mr. You You Xue: I frequent your restaurant in Foster City, and I was so disappointed to see you there this evening. Dining there in your absence the past month was a peaceful experience. My wife, children, and I ( whom just like you we are all fully fluent in Mandarin) ended our meal early as we were sick to our stomachs, not from the food, instead from the way you persistently yelled at the servers and screamed orders at the kitchen staff from the dinning section of the restaurant. Shame on you for upsetting my family with your flagrantly arrogant, and totally uncalled for, loud rants and demeaning tone when speaking to your hard-working employees. Are you aware of the Golden Rule? It certainly makes me wonder about the household, culture or environment in which you were raised where talking to anyone like that is ever acceptable. I manage over 40 employees, and I wouldn't DARE speak to them the way you did your employees today in the restaurant. I will not ever be dinning at either of your restaurants again because of the way you acted and present yourself. As well, I highly discourage anyone to dine here based on what my family and I observed this past evening. It was as if you forgot you had any customers in the restaurant. Such a terrible thing to observe from a seemingly educated adult Asian American. I pity you, Mr. Xue, and I am calling you out for subjecting your employees, my family, and the customers in the restaurant, to your unacceptable and completely...

Every review you read about the manager, YouYou Xue, is true. This was perhaps the worst kind of environment to work in. Just look up his yelp reviews and you will see the racist sign he put up earlier this year. I was brought in for a training shift and as soon as I greeted my two coworkers, they said “welcome to hell”. I laughed it off thinking they were exaggerating. The entire time of YouYou training me, he would constantly demean his workers in front of me such as “Ian, is it your first day too? Why are you so slow”, to “Nyon, we are supposed to pour water like this, not whatever Dascha is doing”. This went on for 5 hours straight. It’s not just him, his father (Chef Xue) was like this too. He would even talk bad about the customers to me behind their back and say “can you help out the girl with the long nose”. Or “help her she is the kind to leave a bad review”. The worst part is they pride themselves on cleanliness but we are told to save napkins that customers lightly used for togo orders so we save money. Do not ever support this business or his other business ‘wonderful’. I cannot believe someone like You You was in government once. Horrible person and...