Farmer kitchen农家味专厨 — Restaurant in Monterey Park

A completely disappointed experience.

I should've known better when we witnessed one of the servers told off a table that he only "has 2 hands" as they try to wave him down for some tea.

We arrived at 5pm to a restaurants with a few scattered patrons and 2 overworked or obviously unmotivated waiters in black attire. Since our entire party hasn't arrived yet, we patiently waited until 2 tables were made available to us. When it became clear that one of the booths was not going to fit 6 adults, we requested to move to a larger table. At this point, one of the waiters spent a good minute berating one of us loudly in the middle of the restaurants, turning all the other customers' heads, for not giving them a full and correct count of the guests. As he finished his rant, he ended with "so what do you want to do?" We persisted with the original request, "can we have the larger table?" "Ok, fine!" The entire encounter completely soured the mood and was entirely unnecessary. It wasn't as if the restaurant was completely packed with patrons that we were inconveniencing them for moving. They simply seemed uninterested in interacting with any of the guests so much so that every request or inquiry seemed like we were ruining their days.

5:47pm timestamped our first order of 4 items. One of our party members arrived slightly later and they tried to dismiss her for ordering from the lunch special. She stood up for herself with clock in hand and got the order in anyways. Timestamp: 5:57pm. These are marked on the order receipt that they print out so it's not like we kept our own time. Maybe if you really don't want to serve your lunch special until 6pm then you don't advertise as such.

Fast forward to 6:30pm, no food has arrived on the table yet. Meanwhile we've seen guests at other tables, tired of waiting, got up and left. We saw tables arriving after us getting their food already. I went up to plead for the soup and rice (part of the lunch special) to be brought out first for our hungry toddlers. The server dismissed us by stating there's no more soup to be served. We were speechless. We had saw other guests arriving after us were served soup; that was what prompted us to ask in the first place. But they did managed to bring out a pot of white rice about 5 minutes later.

Finally I got up again at 6:47p to inquire about our food and was told that there was a printer issue that was just resolved and they will proceed to prepare our food now. Flabbergasted I told the servers that no one had mentioned any service disruptions and we can no longer wait to feed our kids. One of the servers seemed almost pleased that they no longer have to prepared our food. He quickly told me that we're welcomed to go and we wouldn't be charged for the white rice.

So 5 of us + 3 toddlers got up and left the restaurant hungry and upset 2 hours later. I've had my shares of poor customer services and know a thing or two about Chinese restaurants not known for having A+ services. However, this was another level of disrespect. The servers clearly were annoyed at guests and at point confrontational and hostile. Unfortunately looking at other reviews, this is clearly a pattern. Good luck to all who visits this place. I will not...

We passed by this restaurant and their budget friendly lunch special banners caught our eyes and peaked our curiosity. Interior vibe is the typical Chinese restaurant with groups of families dining there with children. Waitstaff weres very welcoming and attentive. Their lunch special starts at $9.99 and up to $13.99 which offers over 40 dishes to choose from based on your taste and budget preference. We ordered the following classic Cantonese dishes to go: steamed minced pork with salted fish ($9.99) and stir fried clams with black beans sauce ($13.99). Food came out fast and hot and we were delighted they included a complimentary, big container of cooked white rice with our takeout order. Restaurants nowadays charge for an individual bowl of cook white rice averaging $2 with entrees. It’s totally unacceptable, in our opinion, to charge for cooked rice at Cantonese Chinese restaurant as most dishes are meant to eat with cooked rice. Our take-out food was delicious and the portion was very generous for the price point. Restaurant is under new management and they are trying yard to compete for the Alhambra/Monterey Park dining community money. We love healthy competition for our hard earned money :) It is our understanding that if you spend over a certain amount, they will give you a coupon for free abalone on next visitsWe would like to come back this restaurant to try other dishes. Note that their lunch specials come with complimentary soup and unlimited steamed rice if you dine in and lunch hours are 11am - 6pm every day Next time we will try their dishes such as clay pot rice and seafood dishes and other...

This reminds me of a smaller version of Fu Xing Spring. I think they even use the same tablecloths. I was intrigued to visit because of the $9.99-$13.99 lunch special menu.

On a Tuesday afternoon, there was no wait for our party of five. They seated us at a table that could fit 7-8 people. Tea was served, but we also asked for iced water. The servers spoke both Mandarin and Cantonese. Rice and soup were included. The soup was delicious! I would have liked to order some milk tea, but I didn't see it on the menu.

Food: -steamed minced pork with salty fish $9.99 - This was the group's least favorite dish. I would probably not order this again. -braised tofu with mushrooms $11.99 - This was the second best dish. It was gone in a flash. -fried squid in 3 flavor sauce $11.99 - This was one the best dish because the sauce was so flavorful. One person commented that this was really good over rice. -braised duck blood w garlic chives $11.99 - Others in the group enjoyed this dish. This was my first time having duck blood, and I wasn't a huge fan. -chicken w green onion $13.99 - This was good. Be aware there are chicken bones.

Credit card/Apple Pay accepted.

Parking: free in the small adjacent lot or free...