Asia Nine MD — Restaurant in Gaithersburg

I’ve been a loyal customer since your restaurant opened in our area. I’ve always enjoyed your food—both Thai and Japanese dishes—and have even recommended your place to friends, including Thai friends who were also impressed. However, I was recently very shocked and disturbed to see the War Criminal Flag displayed in your newly redecorated restaurant. This flag, while it may be familiar to some through manga, anime, or video games, carries deep and painful historical trauma for many people across Asia, including Koreans, Chinese, and even Americans, due to its association with Japan's imperial military during World War II. Under that flag, countless atrocities were committed—including against my own family. As a Korean, my grandpa was taken to Japan during the occupation and forced to serve the Japanese military. He later witnessed the killing of fellow Koreans and was never able to live peacefully after the war. My grandma could only speak Japanese until we became independent from Japan because speaking Korean was forbidden under threat of death. The trauma is real and still lives with many of us today. Displaying this flag in a public space—especially in a multicultural country like this one—is deeply offensive and hurtful. To many, it is no different than displaying a Nazi flag in a German restaurant. Symbols have power, and they must be used with care and awareness of their historical context. I shared my concern with one of your servers, who kindly informed the manager, but unfortunately, the response I received—laughter and no action—was extremely disappointing and dismissive. I urge you to please educate yourselves on the meaning and impact of this symbol and to consider removing it from your restaurant out of respect for your diverse customers and the painful histories many carry. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I truly hope you take this...

Asia Nine charged us for services, then gauged us with a hidden fee after we paid full price, and then did not even deliver the food we ordered!!!... Shameful behavior. I would not trust this business in any way, and would be concerned about their health practices when it comes to COVID-19.

We have nothing to show for this transaction besides a lot of frustration, wasted time, and an empty belly. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Unbelievably bad experience.

We just came back from the hospital, as my father who has dementia had to be taken to the ER twice this week, and then endure a hospitalization. He came back in terrible shape, and we had to nurse him to health. In the process of rehabilitating him, we decided to order food instead of cooking, because it has been an extremely stressful week.

We placed an order with Asia Nine, and as we were waiting hungrily for an update, we get a call from the business that we have to come pickup the food, or pay an additional $5... What?!

We specifically asked for contact-less delivery, because we are in quarantine after returning from the hospital. The restaurant person said that it is because they charge extra if you are more than 3 miles away. Well, we have ordered from them a few times in the past, and they have never called us after we paid for an order to ask for more money.

I asked why this wasn't transparently charged in advance, and she dodged the question. I told her to cancel the order, and she agreed. Five minutes later, she calls back to confirm that I am cancelling, and I said yes. A few minutes later, we get an additional charge of $5 on this order by email. They never cancelled the order, either.

The worse part?... they never even delivered the food that we paid for....

To preface this review, I am leaving a 1 star due to the fact that a gratuity charge was added for a party of 3 adults + 1 kid, during non-peak hours or even a large group. They are not notifying customers before hand and it looks like they charge gratuity to any party size.

The food was okay, we visited August 20th and ordered several dishes, 4 drinks and a side of udon noodles. The staff was friendly and attentive, considering we were the only patrons at the time, it makes sense.

The orange chicken was sliced very thin, almost like jerky once fried. I ordered a barbeque type chicken. Apart from the flavor of the spicy sauce to dump over the chicken, the chicken charred flavor was heavily prevalent. I didn't try the chicken green curry, but was told it was great.

When we got the bill, I paid like normal, not really looking it over assuming the server got it all on there. When I got it back, we were discussing a cash tip amount, when I saw Gratuity charge. I waited for the server and asked if this gratuity charge is normal and they said yes. While I prefer to leave a tip on my own accord, it was decided for me, without notifying me.

I acknowledged this and did not leave a tip, as they tipped themselves on a party of 4. My mom and sister regularly eats here and it was my first time. After I realized that, I asked them and they were also upset because they paid AND tipped, not realizing this restaurant charges gratuity on all orders. Several other posts are indicating this, but not nearly as many as you...