Heng Wing Restaurant — Restaurant in Palatine Township

Isolated incident at HW.

Last night. Got an email from a firend who used to live in teh Palatine area. we talked about a lot. and i mentioned to him that i was hungry and would pick up food after i left the area. in his response he suggested heng wing. I said thats not a bad idea. Although i have been going to HW for about 6 years now. I had not considered it. Finished my work out. and got to my car and called my order in ahead for pick up.

It was about a 20 minute drive from my gym. and the gentleman on the phone said it would be ready in about 20 minutes. I passed 3 other chinese places just to go to Heng wing.

Yen Yen and a couple other places in arlington heights.

Arrived at HW about 19 minutes after i called in my order.

Walked in. Iwas busy with people standing and drinking at the bar just inside the door. 5 of May. go figure.

Anyhow. before me. there was a woman at the counter having trouble paying for her food with the credit card she was using. the girl, wearing jeans and a gray hoodie behind me. Made direct eye contact with me as I stood behind patiently waiting. just taking in the guy standing at the bar wearing a large sombrero. kinda funny. by the time i focused back to the cashier area. the customer infront of me credit card isue had been resolved and she was on her way. I had my credit card ready to pay for my order already in my hand so to keep things moving and get in and out fast. Heres where the story heads south and kind of funny.

The lady behind the counter. who was helping the person just in front o fme with the credit card issue. who had made eye contact with me while i was waiting.

She just turned away. Turned left. And started socializing with the guy wearing teh sombrero at the bar. Laughing and talking with other workers and people i guess. Anything but attempting to take my credit card. Anything but even acknowleding me standing there waiting. Anything but even remotely trying to help me pay for my order. Her intentionally ignoring me just kind of thew me off. As i just kind of stood there while she went back to socializing with the sombrero guy. until a genleman with a beard. Came from the kitchen area and immedialtey engaged me by asking my phone number and my name. and was very coridal and immediately got me checked out.

Heres where its funny. AS he was bring my order from the kitchen. AT THAT TIME. the girl with the jeans and hoodie. asks him. "You got it, you okay,...." {His response to Her} "Just go away and go back to socializing over there or whatever you were doing... !" LOL At that time. she shot me a glance and a nervous laugh as it seems she had been called out by the bearded gentleman and maybe it sunk in. LOL Im not a mean person nor do i treat anyone unfair or unjust but as a customer who had driven out of my way to come there to HW. and not that she knew any of that or if it mattered.

But I do expect to be treated fair and consistent if i am standing in your place waiting to pay you and you just ignore me as if i were transparent or invisible or part of the restaurant decor. While you are socializing with folks standing at a bar.

Its not even a big deal. its small. but in life. its the little things that matter most to people and I always like to get this kind of little stuff out of my head and write it down someplace. I ordered the sweet sour chicken . and egg roll. and pot stickers. which...

The worlds worst Kung Pao chicken. More than 1/2 the dish is Green Bell Pepper and Onion (not scallion?!) ! And the worst, least culinary way to integrate green bell pepper. Like a crude hammer, they simply cut a green bell pepper into 8ths (I’m exaggerating, maybe 16ths), but HUGE chunks of raw barely cooked green bell pepper!!!! Huge. Like, disgusting flavor of raw green pepper and raw onion, and huge crunch in your mouth, nastiness. Go to any other Chinese restaurant, and their Kung Pao chicken stands on its own with minimal or no green bell pepper and onion (usually more delicate scallion + red pepper). But here they “fill” their dish with this cheap material, ruining the experience for you with “filler”!! It’s the worst Kung Pao chicken of any Chinese restaurant, and communicates that they are cost saving by filling it with this big bulky cheap vegetable. But it’s disgusting, and gross, nasty flavor, and nothing like good Kung Pao elsewhere. Sometimes when I hear palatine folks say they enjoy HengWing, I think that these folks have never experienced good Chinese before, or that “they must be ordering something other than Kung Pao, because here it’s awful”. But I evaluate a Chinese restaurant by how they make Kung Pao chicken, and here it is awful. I need to order something else next time. I’ve tried the Heng Wing 4 times over the last 15 years, Kung Pao each time, and each time it reconfirms that Heng Wing is not a good Chinese restaurant! Avoid the Kung Pao! If you order it without green bell pepper, they stupidly just remove it and do not add any appropriate vegetable, so it doesn’t help. Left with overwhelming crunchy onion chunks to boot. Still bad. Most kung Pao has legitimate vegetables in it!!!! Yep, their Kung Pao only has green bell pepper for vegetable. Nothing else! Well, except for the huge awful ONION chunks. Which is also bad, poorly done. Which I have to separate out by hand, I can’t eat them either. They’re just as poorly cut and cooked as the green bell pepper. So no vegetables left after that. Who wants that? Kung pao should have delicate scallion. Not chunky harsh yellow Onion and garbagy green Bell Pepper. And green bell pepper and yellow onion shouldn’t be cut so HUGE and be cooked so raw to be crunchy and nasty. One bell pepper or onion chuck is a mouthful! Gross. It communicates cheapness to add these fillers like this. The recipe communicates its obtuse lack of taste! So Clueless! Try instead: small cut zucchini, carrot, scallion, small cut sweet red pepper and sauté so the pepper is not raw (offensive pepper garbage flavor). Please. I’m incredulous that very time I order the Kung Pao there, and stupid me, I keep trying every few years… still no change. The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and expecting a different result. ;-) it’s insane to try the Kung Pao chicken...

This has been our go to place for over 20 years. Stuck with them after the change in ownership- and things seemed like they were getting better.

Until tonight. The food was horrible. I can forgive when perhaps a dish “may be off a little” on a night; but nearly every dish was off tonight.

Placed an order at 612 over the phone. They say it would be about 20 mins. It was bagged and ready to go when I walked in the door at 624.

It was quickly apparent this was not cooked fresh as it was ordered. The food was obviously already prepared and merely reheated. It was lukewarm at best by the time I walked in the door at home 10 minutes later.

Can’t believe on a Saturday night they could cook and bag the following in less than 12 minutes

Crab Rangoon (soggy/ not crisp) Spicy shrimp (looked like the shrimp was merely tossed on top of the other ingredients in the container) Cantonese noodles (cold/rubbery) Garlic chicken (chicken was rubbery) Mongolian beef Chicken fried rice Egg foo young gravy.

For over $100, I would have certainly waited 30-40 minutes for fresh food. In fact, I got there early in hopes of possibly having time for a drink at the bar. Was not anticipating 12 minutes for something reheated in their microwave. I was skeptical when I walked out of there; should have refused it then.

*update- before I posted this I actually drove back there to share my concerns and experience. Brought the spicy shrimp with me to show and even the employee said “does not look appetizing”. They gave me $20 refund on my over $100 order. I threw the entire order in the trash.

If the owner sees this post, you are free to contact me if you would...