Shan China Bistro and Bar — Restaurant in Lakeway

I had the most traumatic experience at this restaurant today. It was just me and my 2YO, and we wanted to avoid the Mother’s Day crowds but wanted to grab a nice lunch. Whenever I go here, I have slow and fairly rude service, and I usually witness a customer getting berated or screamed at, but it’s never been me, and I keep going back because the food is good. After today I’ll never be back though. I ordered the scallop/tofu soup and fried rice. My fried rice came out pretty quick, but I waited a long time for the soup, which was actually for my very hungry daughter. I asked a couple times what the status was, and it seemed to annoy them. When it finally arrived, it was just broth with nothing in it. I let them know and the woman from the kitchen admitted she forgot to add anything. It came back, completely spilling and overflowing because they threw some tofu in it. There were still no scallops though, so I told them but she argued with me and said they were chopped up. There were a few tiny pieces of chopped up shrimp but no scallops (shrimp are pink, scallops are all white.) I’ve had this before and typically get whole chunks of scallops. I picked a few pieces of tofu out for my daughter who was going to have a meltdown if she didn’t eat, but I told the server it either needed scallops or I didn’t want it. She went and got the owner (or manager?) who proceeded to literally aggressively scream at me, mostly in Chinese. He was making chopping gestures with his hands (I assume indicating the scallops were chopped) and getting in my face, to the point I felt he was about to get violent and I backed up and was worried about my child, who was witnessing this. Did I mention I’m also extremely pregnant? By now I was freaked out and totally shaking with fear. The whole restaurant was turned around watching. The female server (who was actually kinda nice, even though I witnessed her screaming at someone else when we first got there) apologized and took the soup and I said I just wanted to get my rice to-go and pay and leave. They still charged me for everything but I just wanted to get out immediately so I just paid it and left. It was truly unhinged. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone eventually gets assaulted at this restaurant. Would he have done that to a pregnant woman with her toddler in front of her husband? I’m thinking if he had, it wouldn’t have gone well for him. Anyway…this place should probably...

I rarely leave negative reviews, but sadly, our first visit to Shan China Bistro and Bar, will be our last. I think we had the same waiter as C Lazzaro; young Asian boy 30 ish with long blond ponytail hair. He was unpleasant and rude from the moment we walked in. No welcome ‘hello’ but he seemed irritated by our very presence. And forget about customer service, which made me want to leave, but we stayed. I ordered Kong Pao Shrimp, which confused me, as I thought it was supposed to be Kung, not Kong. He asked if I had a peanut allergy, I did not. When my husband ordered the Hunan Xiao Chao Rou, the waiter said it was extremely spicy; husband said ok. Our friends ordered accordingly with no questions. My meal was delivered by another unfriendly waitress; I ate one of the shrimp and sadly I did not notice there were extremely spicy, think habanero, pieces of black spices all over my meal. I hadn’t noticed the spice underneath the shrimp and it was SO hot, my lower lip was numb. I asked the waiter why he had not told ME of the spiciness of the food, as he warned my husband, to which he said this dish is always spicy. By this time, I could barely speak and my eyes were running from the spiciness. He proceeded to explain very smugly why the dish was spicy and despite that I said never mind several times, he continued for several embarrassing minutes. We didn’t see our waiter again until he placed the bill on the table. No comment, no thank you for coming, nothing.

Now I understand that everyone has bad days, but there is no excuse for such disrespectful behavior, especially in a fairly new restaurant. Not only was the service poor, well actually it was nonexistent, but it completely overshadowed the meal. If you're looking for a welcoming, pleasant dining experience, I would strongly recommend looking elsewhere. Oh and for a Friday evening, there were only two other couples in there, which surprised us. (Sorry, cannot load...

It was good experience in the beginning of this restaurant opened, and thought finally there is Chinese restaurant in this area. Then later I found the food looks different with the pictures sometimes. I ordered fish and tofu soup one time, it came out the sour vegetable with fish soup, and spicy. I thought I should be told about that at least because I was sitting there and ordering with my little son who can not have spicy food which I told them. Besides, I ordered same dish twice, and found it’s getting less. Today, the pork rib came out red color without flavor, no sweet no salty no sour as they described. The pork rib on the picture is not red, I don’t understand why dye it red, I don’t like give colored food to my kid and feel it’s unhealthy. Then I heard the waitress complained to her coworker in the kitchen about me urging them while I was waiting. I only asked how long it will take for the food be ready to take out after waiting there for 15 minutes with my son, I spoke peacefully without any temper, just thought about to wait in my car with my son if it will take longer, so he could play there rather than sitting on the high chair and spinning and be bored. It’s not kids friendly environment. Nothing for kids to play or coloring or safely sit to wait. Her complain was so loud that I can heard from outside of the kitchen, and I understand Chinese. I feel not be welcomed there and awkward. If the food today is good enough, I can ignore these, but it doesn’t. Spend $30, but my son doesn’t like the fried rice nor the pork rib. Me either. The fried rice is too oily, very little vegetables in side, not like the picture shown. Not sure if I will go...