Jade Garden — Restaurant in Helena

So my wife and I were out in town and decided that we should treat ourselves to lunch. We chose the Jade Garden because I had eaten here before back in 2019 and it was good. I cannot say that now. When we entered the lobby the host showed us to our our server but all the tables were a mess, I get it low staffing service suffers and we all just deal with it. This wasn't the case as I observed there was a host, three servers, and a manager(?), I say this because of how he held himself and later reprimand our server at another table. The host asked if we would wait to be seated while she went to clean the two booths, there were 6 other booths that weren't occupied and clean. We obliged and said that's fine, it was awkward but you know we didn't want to put them out. We got seated a few minutes later and we ordered. After a few minutes of battling flies I ordered the Rangoon, and the happy family, a dish with cauliflower, broccoli, water chestnut, celery, carrot, peppers and onion with three proteins chicken, scallops, and shrimp. It came with a choice of steamed rice or fried rice, I chose fried. My wife chose the wonton soup, and tempura fried shrimp. The food was out within 10 minutes our initial course was the shrimp and the rangoon. While nothing was over cooked but it was thrown onto the plates and served. With both things being fried we expected crispy but got soggy fried food. We both ate and forgave the instance of either the fryer being too cold or just frozen food. Soon there after we got our "main" course. I got the happy family and it was in a bowl of some very bland sauce/soup base with wilted vegetables and boiled proteins. Once again very bland, wilted soggy/just limp food. None of the proteins were seared off had any color or flavor it might as well have been boiled tofu in water. While I was picking through the soup dish my wife asked if she could have some of my fried rice, I said yes. She begins by spooning out a portion onto her plate and she exclaims to me that there is a bug in the rice. I looked over and there was half of a fly in the middle of the dish, not on top but in the middle. I asked for the server as she was passing and she apologized and took it away. A very short time later she comes back with a bowl of fried rice and it was warm but it wasn't off the wok or what every pan they fired it in but it was congealed rice non the less and we are almost certain that it was the same bowl of rice. We tentatively picked through our food and an incident happened in the booth in front of me with another couple patrons. The server, maybe they didn't know the menu that well maybe they just didn't care, was explaining the lunch special. It was a spare rib/ baby back rib and she described it as just ribs as, I can only assume the manager, came up and said "Just ribs?!" as incredulously as one could only then to explain the ribs as they were on the menu. I manage a business and I'm not gonna lecture my employees in front of a customer much less a dinning room of them.

We decided that it was time to leave after that because the dinning room became very awkward after that and the mood for eating was done. We requested the check and I found that it was $47.25. I don't care about the price or the fact that I left a $5.00. But if the owner reads this it is August 12 2023 at 3:35 and we ate at 2pm or a little after, you should definitely get some quality control because I could have spent 50 dollars at Panda Express and got better food than what your staff is serving. I was going to set up a date for Peking Duck, but...

I tried them 3 years ago & was appalled at how bad they were. We gave them another chance & here's how they stack up today.

If you've never been outside of Helena, I suppose you might think this was good Chinese food. Since I HAVE been outside of the state, AND my family is Chinese, I feel more than qualified to say that this is HORRIBLE Chinese food.

75% of their menu is just awful. Like the Yin Yang Shrimp. Do NOT waste $31 on this dish. The shrimp is overcooked. There is hardly any salt/pepper flavoring on the shrimp & the honey walnut shrimp is over sauced in a thick mess. The Lo Mein hardly had any noodles & was mostly filler. This is probably how they save money. The WonTon Soup seemed promising; I mean how can you mess up such a simple item??? They did. The broth was just a bouillon beef broth. Not authentic at all & the wontons weren't prepped properly. They were too thick.

The fried rice is ok. It had a decent cook but was bland as hell. The only thing we had that was half way decent, and even delicious was their Ma Po Tofu. This is probably because they use the Lee Kum Kee mix. My only criticism is that it was advertised as being "spicy" & there was no spice. It was rather mild enough for kids to eat. I will say they do seem to use fresh veggies so that earned them an extra star.

Jade Garden is pretty dissapointing & not worth the high price tag that comes with eating their food that promises to...

Jade Garden pursues the fine Chinese-American dining experiences for their customers in Helena area. However, their dishes are questionable depending on your previous experiences. Quantity of food they offer is more than plenty and you can still see many customers come back and enjoy what Jade Garden can offer. However, if you have experienced and enjoyed authentic Chinese or even good Chinese-American dishes, you will be disappointed with Jade Garden dishes. Their interior and exterior décor are very good compare to other local Chinese restaurant in Helena. That should be one of the attraction points why customers dine here. Hostess and waitress are friendly but during busy hours (sort of expected) they need to improve how to provide their quality service to customers.

• Service: Slightly below average (a bit slow and less responsive) • Price: over average (compare to dishes they offer) • Atmosphere: Good (interior and exterior décor are done well) • Food Quality: Below average (large quantity but less tasteful) • Parking: Good enough (They offer their own parking lot) • Avoid factor: If you are looking for authentic Chinese food or even good Chinese-American food, you may get disappointed. • Recommendation: Call ahead of time and make a reservation since they tend to get busy...