Melanie's Kitchen Asian Cuisine Hays — Restaurant in Hays

Typically I don't make reviews. We're not nitpicky people and let go of things easily but this was BAD! And deemed it necessary.

This was the worst dining experience we've had in Hays. Ever. We arrived about 4:45pm. There were maybe 5 or 6 other occupied tables. We ordered right away. We had to ask the waitress for kid friendly options since there were none on the menu. She offered breaded chicken that they use for some of their dishes but just not dressed, we agreed on that. My husband ordered crab ragoon, Mongolian beef, and a soda. I got the beef pho. We waited and waited. My husband's food came out 1st, then my kid's, and they told me my pho would be out later... my husband waited so we could eat together. When my pho arrived the fixings were in it already and a chili paste on the side and no thai basil or hoisin sauce. I had already eaten a third of it before I was able the catch the waitress for some hoisin sauce. There was a large group that was next to us and a couple people ordered Mongolian beef too. Theirs had baby corn and probably bell peppers while my husband's contained no veggies - just beef SWIMMING in sauce with green onions, that's it. My husband asked the waitress about it and she argued that we did get the Mongolian beef even though it really just seemed like Teriyaki. I got the milk tea "bubble tea" which was no standard milk Boba tea from anywhere. Flavor was off, not sweet and the tapioca pearls were very gummy as if not made properly. Best things of our meal was my kid's plain battered chicken and the crab ragoon. My husband was never asked if he wanted a refill on his soda. We were finally ran a ticket to pay and a container for my pho but not for our other food. I tried several times to go to the counter to pay but everyone else took priority over me. I waited in line and was finally next when a couple walked in and stood off to the side. Instead of letting me just pay, the gal grabbed menus and went to seat this couple, she ran around and realized there were no bussed and clean tables. At this point my husband went outside to the car with our kid since they were getting restless at this point, especially with how noisy the restaurant was. I went back to the table and bussed our own table and set our leftover food off to the side. Several workers passed by me and no one asked if I need help or any containers. Finally I was able to knab a young gal and kindly asked for a container for the chicken she said of course and even asked if I wanted a bag, I told her that would actually be so helpful. She came back with a bag, opened it and helped me get the containers inside. Which was the best costumer service we had this entire time. She then went back to finish cleaning another table. I got out a $5bill to give to her but never saw her come back out even after waiting back in line to pay again for another 10+mins. FINALLY got to the counter and the gal had the nerve to ask how was our experience. I told her it was a disappointing experience and we would not be returning or recommending it to anybody. She argued with me about the Mongolian beef again and I told her that's not even all that we are upset about. We weren't given even basic customer care standards of a restaurant despite the problems with our food. She said they were short staffed. I told her we run a hotel so we understand being short staffed having to deal with much larger amounts of people but we seemed to pull the short straw on Every Single Aspect of dining at a restaurant. I also told her I have been trying to pay our bill for the last 30mins but was blaitenly ignored time and time again. Could've easily dined and dashed with how long and how many times I really tried to pay and was not given the time of day but of course was not going to leave without paying even though the prices were blown out of proportion for non-authentic white people Asian food.

Very very disappointing experience. Will not ever recommend unless there are some serious changes made. Maybe we'll try again in a few years if...

Melanie’s kitchen is a great place to eat. Their staff is friendly, upbeat, and courteous. Our server was Lourdes and she was very attentive, informative, patient with questions, asked us if it was our first time, made suggestions from the menu, allowed us to ask questions and was very welcoming overall! We had the Chicken Pho, Sesame Chicken, Coconut Shrimp, Matcha Green Tea boba, and we had crab Rangoon as an appetizer. I saw other people had crab Rangoon as an appetizer as well. The coconut shrimp was the perfect hint of sweet and was very well cooked, the Chicken Pho has a lovely broth and if you like spicey they will give you spicey, it was very pleasing to the eye, the sesame chicken was the perfect mix of sweet and salty. The crab rangoons were folded in a way I hadn’t seen before and were the perfect soft and crunchy and the dipping sauce was great. The boba was really good too, nice portion size/price and had plenty of boba balls. The restaurant space was very open and clean feeling and felt good to sit in. There is a cool Asian market inside the restaurant as well. We will definitely...

I love the food at Melanie’s Kitchen. If you want fresh Asian food, this is the place to go. More so, they serve delicious Filipino dish. Their sizzling Filipino pork adobo is my new favorite, and is highly recommended. Of course they serve traditional adobo with rice, pansit (Filipino rice noodles), and my all-time favorite - lechon kawali (roast pork) with rice. People should try these food, and I am blessed to have this restaurant in Hays which is a rare gem in Kansas. Wichita doesn’t even have a Filipino restaurant. The Filipino food served at Melanie’s Kitchen even beat those served at restaurants in San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego, New York City, Dallas, Phoenix, Atlanta, Jacksonville and Chicago. The ambience is great and great food plating. Excellent service provided the greeter and servers. The management is great at seeking feedback...