Juan Siao — Restaurant in Johnson City

I have eaten at Juan Siao many times, but my lunch there on December 26, 2023 was nothing short of terrible – from service to food. We seated ourselves and a gentlemen walked by us several times before even acknowledging us – finally he can and asked us if we wanted something to drink – we ordered and then he still never offered menus. So, after a wait he brought the drinks and still never offered us menus – we have to stop him and ask for menus. We made our choices, had to ask him to take our order and were told hold on he would be back in a minute to take the orders. He finally came back and we ordered an appetizer (Chorizo Fries), two lunch orders Birria Tacos w/cheese on the side and Orange Chicken, no peppers, white rice and a spring roll. The Chorizo fries came out and they were amazing – but it was difficult to get the fries out with any of the toppings (cheese, chorizo, green onions) so I asked for a spoon (from our waiter) – he never brought it but he walked by out table multiple times and still never brought it – I asked a server that walked by for a spoon, finally he said he would have to walk downstairs for the spoon and then after a while another person brought the spoon. As you may guess, the appetizer was cold by then. Before the lunch choices came out the waiter brought us more drinks – ever though we had not finished the ones we had. When our lunch choices came out we notices the Birria Tacos had cheese on them and my Orange Chicken looked very dark in color. The waited came by again and asked if everything was ok – at this point we had not ever tried the food yet, but he proceeded to bring us another drink, so the table was covered in 6 glasses of pop and one glass of water. We proceeded to eat and I realized the chicken was over cooked and there was no hint of any orange flavor and the Birria Tacos, really did not have any flavor either. I continued to stir it around hoping for come flavor and it never happened. After we had finished eating (what we could) we had to finally ask for the check. When he brought the check, he placed it on the table in a huge wet spot from all of the sweating from the glasses, we then had to ask for a napkin to wipe off the table. I proceeded to tell him about the meal and all he said was – I wish you would have told me sooner – he never ever said he was sorry – we paid the tab and finally lunch was over. I was super disappointed because this was the first visit for the person with me and she will not be going back – based on this meal. The service and food were both...

I was born in Johnson City. In fact, my grandmother was the first Miss Johnson City, and she loved Downtown! So wonderful to see Downtown revitalizing and vibrant again. I wanted to take my mother out, as she goes to the same restaurants over and over again, so I thought we would try something downtown. My college-aged daughter was with us as well. I booked a place a couple doors down and mom thought it was too loud! So we walked in here by chance.

First, I like the concept. Fusion cuisine is so fun and often it will mix elements from one cuisine to the other and produce some really interesting dishes. This didn’t seem to be fusion so much is it just seemed to have a bit of a split personality, but that was OK. If I want an Asian, there was Asian. If I wanted to have tacos, I could have tacos.

All three of us had Asian dishes. This was mostly due to the disappointment that they had no corn tortillas on offer. I would’ve loved to have tried their taco offerings, but not on a flour tortilla.

Two of the three dishes were really quite quite good. My mom had a simple veggie stirfry with the extra shrimp sauce, which she just loved. The portions were huge and she had lots of leftovers.

My pad Thai was very good as well. The shrimp were huge and delicious, and I love the fact that they had a lot of egg. Some pad Thai skimps on the egg. The flavor was also very good, not as Traditional as some pad Thai, but certainly not that sweet red ketchup-taste often found at cheaper Thai restaurants!

My daughter’s drunken noodles were the only disappointment. Yes, we had Thai aupairs when I was in grad school, both of them were excellent cooks, so perhaps we are a bit spoiled, but we also have eaten Thai food in restaurants all over the world, and drunken noodles usually have a wonderful flavor profile with a lot of umami and some lovely spice. This one was just a bit bland. I wonder if perhaps a regular drunken noodle spice level/flavor profile would be a bit odd for the area? I’m not sure. But they were a disappointment. The chef also had a really heavy hand when it came to onions and sprouts. See the photo of my mom picking them all off.

Overall, I would be back. Because the portions were quite generous, and shrimp were huge and excellent, I would just avoid the drunken noodles and try something else.

Would love to try the tacos if you all would consider corn tortillas in the future!

Also, our server was attentive, and our booth was tucked away in the corner, and was really quite cute and we were able to have a...

Didn't appreciate being told by the host when making reservations that there are only 10 steps to the dining area - she needs to know the number of stairs...we told her a member of party has physical limitations... she still was way off in the number of steps. She also said 4:00 reservations were not needed... there was a wait when we arrived - she should take a reservation w/out question. The male and female host gave 3 in our party really nasty looks and eye rolls (they didn't realize I was part of the group they were disrespecting) when they began up the steps ahead of them - my group started early due to the PROBLEM W/STEPS - that we were mislead about - they were trying to help the host out by saving them time... The Grouper was small and tasted of nothing but PURE SALT. The noodles were also salty. My food wasn't bad but nothing to talk about as I don't even remember what I ordered (had a few bites and pushed it away...) Our server was - informative but so phoney in her service - U could tell that what mattered to her was a tip and not the guest's satisfaction - she never returned to ask how food was... Also, we ordered wings for an app - over half an hr later, we still didn't have them. Someone did "fly by" dropping chips and queso on the table and was gone without saying a word - we all gently yelled toward her back (as she was immediately gone) that we didn't order this app -- but we spoke to her back and the air - she could have cared less as there was just gone. The thing that got me was - juan saio BLEW UP MY PHONE with msgs basically telling us to LEAVE THE TABLE!! GET OUT!! WE HAD BEEN THERE LONG ENOUGH!! they needed our table to seat new people. It was after 6p - there were 5 or 6 other empty tables all around us - COULDNT HAVE BEEN MORE TACKY. And they were made aware that it was going to be a long seating as we hadn't seen our guests for over 2 yrs - I was told when making the reservation that our holding the table wouldn't be a problem. Good thing I left phone at home or they would have definitely heard my complaints about our experience -- so would have everyone else at the door. We would not consider returning. I will say one positive - nicely decorated. Even with this - the atmosphere of place was certainly not comfortable - this was due to the lack of professionalism of your staff. We would rather have not been misled about the steps, have had good food and respect...