China Lotus — Restaurant in Hammond

Wow! First, I would like to say that I am NOT the person to leave reviews, however, this must be addressed. I cannot even to begin to describe how HORRIBLE the service is at this place! I went in and stood at the counter waiting to be seated for several minutes and no one was to be seen. I could hear someone rumbling around in a room behind the counter. After several minutes, I called out “Good Afternoon.” Still no one. Finally, a lady emerged and asked if I needed to order. I then stated “No. I would like a table please.” She said “Ok, give me a minute.” At this time, a gentleman entered and she then began having a non-work related conversation with him asking if he was able to get what he needed out of her car, what he was doing, etc. He then told her that while he was there he was going to get an order. She continued the conversation and finally said “Hang on and let me get her seated.” As she was walking me to my table, I could tell that there were exactly two other tables occupied in the entire restaurant. One was a table of three and the other was a table of two. So, not busy. As she was showing me my table she handed me my menu (before I ever sat down- but not a problem) and asked what she could get me to drink. I told her and she left. She never returned. I sat for just over 20 minutes waiting for her to return. The couple sitting across from me kept saying to each other “I really wish she would come through because I need a refill” and “I wonder if she is coming back” and ‘“We need to go. I wish she would bring the check.” Again, the restaurant had exactly 6 total patrons at 3 tables. So being busy was definitely not an excuse. Just very poor service! I finally got up and began walking toward the door. She was engaged in conversation with the same man that came in for personal matters when I was leaving. She saw me walking out and said “Oh! I forgot! I am sorry!” I said “Ok. Please go check on the other table too as they are...

We went to China Lotus 04 Feb 2024 to try it out as I saw it on Facebook, and it appeared to be a fun place to try. After spending almost $80.00 on (2) meals, an order of Crab Rangoon and (2) spring rolls we got home, and the food was not edible. I rarely leave bad reviews as I understand establishments have bad days and the food service industry is tough, but this was an exception to the rule. First issue was when asking the staff what the flavors were in certain dishes as they were not the 'normal' Chinese dishes, we were left with blank stares and "This is only my second day' comments. We ordered anyways in hopes they were good. We got home and pulled the food out and though it was large portions, there was NO sauce. Basically, dry chicken and a weird steak meat that was over some dry noodles with no sauce and that dish was $20.00 alone. We also ordered sesame chicken and that was dry as well and completely flavorless. The Crab Rangoon tasted like a big ball of cream cheese with no crab rolled up and fried in a wonton and the spring rolls had little to no filling and were overcooked to say the least. Ultimately, I was very disappointed to have wasted almost $80 on dinner to just throw it in the trash. I even thought of repurposing the meat into another dish but couldn't get past the blandness and overall weird texture. I hope they get better at their craft as last night's experience was...

It was the first time I’d been there in over a decade. My fiancé and I stopped in for dinner. We started with an order of fried wantons and they were just perfect. Them he had the sweet and sour shrimp, which he said was very good. I had the mandarin chicken with the gravy served on the side. The chicken seemed a bit over cooked, to me, and was slightly hard to chew. When our server asked how things were, I told her it was good, but I was a bit disappointed in the doneness of the chicken. I wasn’t even trying to send it back but she immediately picked the plate up and returned it to the kitchen. Within minutes, she returned with a fresh plate of chicken, lightly fried, and it was amazing…just the way I remembered it from years ago. The pork fried rice was better than any other restaurant for miles around. I had forgotten how similar China Lotus was to Trey Yuen, a Chinese restaurant that is no longer open in Hammond, but was a favorite of many when it was (I miss it so much!!). I can honestly say I’ll be back but I’ll order during lunch hours instead of dinner because the dinner menu is a little pricey. Well worth it, but pricey. The service was excellent!! I couldn’t ask for a more polite, attentive server. The entire experience was way beyond our...