Asia Cafe - Callahan Drive — Restaurant in Knoxville

Not sure if it was just a bad day, but oof. This was bad.

We ordered the veggie rolls and gyoza for an appetizer, and the Roast Duck and Lo Mein w/ Chicken for mains. I did not try the rolls or Lo Mein (they did not get high praise from my mom), so I will focus on the gyoza and roast duck.

Issue 1. Gyoza - the gyoza were deep fried, and the wrapper on 3/6 came unsealed. Not a big deal for a couple of them, but one was literally filled with oil (a couple of tablespoons came pouring out). The wrappers were thicker than I’ve seen before, and while the filling was fine, the texture of the wrappers + the oil was a miss.

The timing - while our waitress was attentive, the roast duck came out well over 10 minutes (probably closer to 15) after my moms noodles. The waitress apologized and let me know the duck took longer to prepare. Honestly I was expecting it to only take a few extra minutes, assuming it was just being fired off since the prep for the dish would have to be done in advance. (I have eaten at restaurants that served carved Peking duck, and they timed it within minutes of my dining companion’s entree). It would have been nice if they had delayed the noodles a bit so my mom wasn’t almost finished by the time I got my meal, but not the end of the world. The bigger issue was that it appears the extra time was used to mummify the duck under a heat lamp or similar, bringing us to…

How do you make duck that dry? Roast duck isn’t the quickest or tidiest thing to eat since it isn’t deboned, which I was expecting - but usually it’s juicy and tender. Honestly most of the duck was so dry the texture was like pork floss. There were a few pieces of skin a couple of fattier pieces of meat, but most of it was inedibly dry. I understood after the fact why the dish was served with an abnormally k arge bowl of sauce

First time I have gone home to eat after a meal in many years. Maybe I was unlucky, but I would not plan to return - even if someone else was...

Unfortunately, we were extremely disappointed this time. We go here atleast 5 times per year (for each of our family members birthdays), but most times even more than that. Normally, it’s really a wonderful experience all around…the food, the entertainment, everything….but this time was different. We were there on October 5th, 2024. We had a reservation for 7pm for 7 people. The waiter was okay, but when the cook came…he had no personality and wasn’t there to put on the show we are used to. As he was prepping the grill for cooking, some kind of hot liquid splashed off the grill into my eye…which was painful and had he asked me if I was okay….it would have been better; but he did not. When handing us the food from the grill he was making us reach all the way over the grill to him, including my kids which could have resulted in more burns. Normally there is a rice toss into the mouths of those wanting to play….well this time it was eggs and he threw them at your face regardless if you wanted to play or not; smacking most of our party right in the face. At the end, there was a god awful smell cleaning the grill. The food was okay, not as good as normal. Ginger dressing which is my fav….tasted like dish soap. It was disappointing to have spent $220 & that it was my birthday! I will say, our server whose name I don’t know…he was great. He came and did my birthday dance and he was awesome! I reached out to the restaurant and the lady who answered the phone wouldn’t let me speak to the owner or management. She kept saying “ I can help you,” so finally I told her about it, of course she couldn’t help me and said she’d have to pass the info along and I have yet to hear back. So, as I suspected she...

I will probably dine in only from here on out, as I’ve had a previous experience that was phenomenal. But the few times I’ve ordered take out the service was lacking. The food is great, but having to wait for it for so long is frustrating. I placed a to go order last night, and when I came to pick it up, there were multiple other people there already waiting who hadn’t been helped. I stood there and waited with everyone for about 5 minutes, without seeing a single employee other than the server in the hibachi section who was clearly busy and did not have time to help us. Finally someone came out, put an order on the shelf, and without looking at any of us(there were 6 customers including me waiting at the time) went right back inside. At this point, I stepped right up to the counter because who does that? 6 customers and you have like 5 orders on the shelf and you don’t call out any names? So I waited and waited some more and then finally an employee came out again, but the only reason she did is because the online order notification was going off, and had been for several minutes, and the phone was ringing off the hook. I let people go in front of me who had been waiting longer than me, but I was frustrated to say the least. I understand that sometimes places are under staffed but straight up ignoring customers who have been waiting is not good service. I wish Asia River was still open, otherwise I most likely would not be...