EAST GOURMET — Restaurant in Hollymead

Over the past 5 visits, I've noticed a sharp decrease in quality each time. Tonight did it for me--I'm not longer getting food from here (this was a second try after concluding the same thing last time).

I had the order home and started eating it 35 minutes after ordering it, so it shouldn't have been done cooking for more than about 20. For Chinese food, with its fat/oil content that retains heat, that should mean it's still piping hot. Not this order.

I kept trying to bend the facts in my head to try to justify it having cooled down naturally (despite it not being opened)--but then I realized why I didn't believe this myself--it was cold on the INSIDE, but very warm on the OUTSIDE. When food cools down, it cools on the outside first.

On the other hand, when food simply isn't cooked enough (or reheated), it is still cool on the inside as my food was. This was the sesame chicken and Kung Pao. I kept a piece of it frozen in case I needed to identify food poisoning later.

I've seen restaurants that pre-fry their chicken and then toss it with sauce right before briefly heating and serving. I avoid those restaurants like the plague...no, like the food poisoning. There are few prep techniques more dangerous than frying chicken and letting it sit out, and then not properly heating it back up to a temperature to kill bacteria.

The chicken wasn't even close to being crispy, and the meat has been getting grosser and grosser.

The peas in the Kung Pao chicken weren't cooked. They hard as if you took a bag of split pea soup and soaked it in warm water for a few hours but didn't cook it.

The customer service has gone down hill too. When I placed my order, instead of repeating the order, taking my name, saying thank you, or giving a time estimate, the lady simply said "okay" and hung up. I was half expecting my order not to be there when I went in to pick it up.

Oh, and it was about 15 minutes after my first bite that NOTHING could get in my way while running to the bathroom. I had not eaten anything else for 8 hours prior and even that was plain cereal I eat almost every day...so I don't wonder why I had to shotgun soup into the bowl. This never happened with these dishes before, but then again, I had never noticed them to be undercooked/under-reheated. Just waiting for my 7 year old daughter to get sick too.

As a more moderate grievance, they cut the lo mein noodles as if serving a small child (NEVER DO THIS FOR CUSTOMERS!) and messed up the order with the type of rice.

Finally, the two people preparing the food, both before and after cooking, were not wearing masks...I...

Heavily regret doing this for dinner. We used to eat here regularly when we first moved out here and it was like $70.00 to $75.00 every time. I have refused to go here for many months now because of the insane prices. I broke today because none of us wanted to cook and it was a special night. Almost $100.00 for a meal that was MOSTLY rice, brocolli and very plain bland chicken. Egg rolls are different and taste like they are from the WalMart frozen section, crab rangoon tastes like it's been made with Great Value cream cheese and ONLY that. I will NEVER go to this place again. Absolutely terrible. 2 of 4 of us are not feeling to well right now. Barely finished the meal and we are fighting over bathrooms. I understand that our fiat currency is worthless and that is a huge part of this. It is getting to the point where people are going to make smarter choices with money and paying almost $100.00 for the meal that we just got is unacceptable. I predict this place will not survive through 2024. Don't waste your money on an "easy" meal. If you want to do that, the McDonalds right next to this is much more appetizing and as terrible as THAT place is, it''s better than paying $100.00 for 75% rice and brocolli. Ooh, and WalMart...

I ordered beef with broccoli (S), pan fried wontons, 1 pork egg roll, and wonton soup (S).

First, when I asked for beef and broccoli and they said small( 10$) or large ($14), I chose small. It's the same exact size as the lunch portion and during lunch time, they charged me 2$ more just because I didn't specify lunch.

Food quality and taste, yes all the other reviews are accurate. The beef and broccoli was OK at best, the beef was chewy, the broccoli was cooked well, and the taste was very, very bland. My soup was barely above room temperature, I don't think it was safe to eat to be honest, and the wontons were not pan fried..they were reheated and tossed in some sauce. Even the crispy strips to go into the soup were very, very stale.

The egg roll was the best part and even though it was mediocre, I couldn't even tell the filling was pork and cabbage/ veggies..

Nothing smelled off but true to everyone else, I'm not feeling great and my stomach is starting to hurt. I regret everything.

Also, this meal was $23 and change. Soup, small Egg roll Pan fried wontons Beef and broccoli, small

This is the 3rd or 4th try I gave this...