Red Bowl Asian Bistro — Restaurant in Ormond Beach

My fiancé and I met my parents here for dinner tonight. From the moment we walked in the vibe was…interesting. My attention was immediately drawn to the not so dynamic duo that appeared to be running the show. This duo consisted of our rather frantic waitress and an over eager bus boy. All of this aside, we ordered our drinks.

This is where things took an unusual and unexpected turn. Since they served Thai dishes, I asked for a Thai iced tea. Our waitress’ response was “Thai milk tea. With or without boba?” I answered, no boba. I should’ve known right then and there it wasn’t going to be a traditional Thai iced tea, but decided it would probably be good enough… I was wrong.

When the drink arrived at the table, it looked extremely undesirable. It was sprinkled with a few cubes of mostly melted ice, a weird milk froth on top, and a childlike bendy straw. I gave it a chance and took a sip. Unfortunately, it tasted worse than it looked.

HERE IS WHERE THIS ONE STAR REVIEW WAS BORN: When the waitress came back to the table, I very politely told her the drink didn’t taste right. She immediately took the defense and said “Have you ever had one?! There is NOTHING wrong with our drink.. you will still have to pay for it. Just because you try something and don’t like it doesn’t mean it gets taken off the bill.”

I. Wish. I. Was. Kidding. I thought it had to be a joke. It wasn’t.. I then told the waitress that I have had them elsewhere and that it didn’t taste right. She started to stutter something back and then took the drink away.

Anyway, to make a long story short it made the rest of the dinner awkward. She didn’t come back to our table after that, besides to quickly drop off the food. My meal was cold and I heard people at the table behind us complaining their’s was cold as well. I would def not recommend this place. The food and customer service were both unpleasant.

P.S. to get back to the over eager bus boy thing.. it got even weirder. It seemed like he was stalking us and waiting for us to finish eating. He was pacing back and forth.. He even appeared to be muttering something to himself while staring out the window (super distracting btw). When we finished our last bites, he swooped in to take our plates immediately. He even asked the table behind us if they needed boxes right after they had gotten their food. Big yikes.

SORRY FOR RAMBLING. Moral of the story, just...

We have been eating at Red Bowl for over two years now. It is beautiful inside the restaurant and the food is quite good. That is why I cannot leave one star. The customer service is typically hit-or-miss. Last night was our first time eating there in almost a year. We waited over 15 minutes for a server to get to us. But it was Friday night and we understood. We completed our full orders when she finally arrived. After this a larger party (8 people sat down) next to us. They received their food before us, no big deal there is a nice atmosphere and we didn't ming waiting for our food. At the time of the bill our waitress sat down our check, this was about a quarter way through eating our meals (about 5 minutes after food arrived). I waited about 5 minutes to place my card on the check so I could eat a little bit more. After she brought back the receipt and my card to sign she walked away.

We were still eating our dinners and the waitress came to me and said "Can you sign and leave tip?" I thought I heard her wrong of course so I replied, "I'm sorry?" She said again, "Can you sign now and leave tip?" I was just about to put a bite of food in my mouth and put down my fork to sign even though I was uncomfortable. I thought she was going to leave for a moment while I signed the bill but she hovered over me I guess to make sure I was signing I'm not sure why she did this. As soon as I looked up from signing she reached for the signed bill in my hand and the pen in my other.

The food is so good here and the ambiance is so nice I will probably go back, but if I receive this waitress I will politely ask for another so I don't feel rushed after...

When is about food and restaurant, I am always fair and keep in mind that I will compare with other restaurant serving the same style of food. I saw some pictures of huge egg rolls, but the reality is is a normal egg rolls like any other restaurant. The rice, was great. I will explain about the order I make. They didn't put as much meat at all, I was surprised because this is not my first rodeo ordering boneless spare ribs (I know that like half and half of the bowl) but that was not the case. The put almost more than 3/4 if rice and meat that look was good but when you lift the meat under the meat was most of that bowl filled with rice and not much meat. They are more expensive that other restaurants you expect they do the right thing specifically when it was my first time ordering there. Meat was good. But I will not be ordering again there because I felt cheated. Great place as I saw. Great environment. Friendly employees. But THAT'S why it is so important that when is "to go order" do it right. Because the first time things happened I learn and you know what they say, let you fool me the first time, shame on you. Let you fool me twice shame on me. That will not be the case because I will nor at leats make orders on to go there ever again. It is my experience. Perhaps they rush it.. The second order meal was perfectly fine the orange chicken. But it was a large order and you can't hide rice under meat if the only thing you put on the bowl is meat and the rice is serve apart.😂🤣 I did spend almost 50 dollars...What I love the most is honesty. That's how I felt and my experience. You may try and check for yourself. The...