Gong Cafe — Restaurant in New Braunfels

Ordered Oysters and Katsu. Miso soup was hot and good. Katsu was perfectly prepared, hot, fresh, crisp, crunchy, not greasy and perfectly seasoned. Served over a bit of some flat, sad bagged salad mixture. Came with two sauces for dipping. Accompanying mound of delicious, (also perfectly prepared) white rice on the plate was served slightly warm, but it tasted so good! I was so excited to see and order the oysters. Listed as an appetizer they arrived much later, while I was half way through the entree. Server apologized, the timing was not a problem as quite often I order appetizers as dinner anyway. The cocktail sauce was fiery delicious, but the oysters were perfectly symmetrical fried globs of mush. I ate all 4, all tasted the same. Tasteless and mushy inside the batter. I asked and was told the oysters come in frozen and pre-breaded, ...and then fried when you order them, which explains the taste and texture. The staff were welcoming and friendly, and service was very good, even though I could tell one of my servers was very new. She did great. No complaints about the staff, all attentive without being bothersome. I will wait a while and go back, I will just ask a few more questions before I order. They did take the oysters off my bill, (I didn't ask them to, they just told me they did it.) I'm excited to try some of the...

I was really excited to try this new Asian spot tonight to support our community here in New Braunfels, especially since we don’t have many options. I was hoping this would become my new go-to place. Unfortunately, when I walked in, I stood at the door for about five minutes while multiple employees walked right past without acknowledging me or offering assistance. It was a disappointing first impression. I’ll definitely give them another chance and hope they can improve their service. I’ll update once I’ve had the chance to be greeted, seated, and enjoy some food.

EDIT: We returned two weeks later and were seated right away, which was a good start. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there. We waited about five minutes without receiving menus, drinks, or any acknowledgment from the staff. It was difficult to enjoy a conversation because loud rap music from next door was shaking the walls, while the TVs inside the restaurant blared their own music through small speakers. The overall atmosphere was just unpleasant. After my wife and daughter visited the restroom and found there were no paper towels, we decided to leave. Sadly, we won’t...

I really wanted to like this place because I try to support local restaurants whenever I can, but my takeout order left me very disappointed. I ordered the yellowtail roll, pork katsu, and yakiudon. The food was hot and ready quickly, which gave me hope at first, but everything went downhill from there.

The portion sizes were just too small for the prices they charge. The yakiudon looked appealing when I opened it, but the flavor was almost nonexistent, which made it a real letdown. The yellowtail roll was fine, but again far too small for what it cost. The pork katsu had a decent taste, but the serving size was so underwhelming that it left me wishing I had ordered from somewhere else. On top of that, I paid extra for fried rice instead of steamed where they then forgot to make the change, which made the experience feel careless.

I left this meal feeling more sad than satisfied. I wanted to enjoy it I really did, but I just couldn't. For the quality and the portions, it did not feel worth the money at all. I cannot see myself ordering from here again, and that is a shame because I would have loved to add another local spot to my list of...