Wang's In the Desert — Restaurant in Palm Springs

I remember Wang's from many years ago. One of the most popular places to drink and dine in the desert. I haven't been there in some time. 7 of us got together to give it another try, as there have been some ownership changes. We made a reservation, though when we got there at 7 pm on a Friday night, there were only 2 other tables with patrons. We should have heeded that clue. The host was a burly fellow in shorts and a tank top. He said they had no tables in the dining room that would accommodate 7 people, so they put us up on stage in a makeshift booth. Our server was obviously quite new at her job as she did not know anything about the drink menu and couldn't tell us what was in their signature martini. I ordered a glass of Rutherford Merlot. When it arrived, it was far above room temperature, and almost undrinkable. I ended up having to put ice cubes in it, to enjoy it. That is something I almost never do, as it changes the wine completely. We ordered some appetizers and our entrees. It should be noted that this is a $$$ priced Asian food. Entrees were $20-36, and appetizers $20-40. The portions were small and completely lacking in "presentation". The entrees arrived at the same time as the appetizers. The Wang's I remembered from years ago, excelled at presentation, using orchids and clever arrangements to enhance the look of the dishes. The food was okay. Nothing special. I won't bother describing the dishes, as they were all very mediocre. A cut above the Panda, but just barely. The server, while somewhat clueless about the menu, was at least attentive, and did her best. The bar was empty, as was mostly the restaurant, on a Friday night. It was obvious many patrons no longer dinner here. I will be joining those patrons and looking elsewhere for an enjoyable Asian dining experience. The love of Good food, friendly staff, and fine service, had long left the building. Sadly we all decided...

No, it wasn’t just the fact that we paid over $300 dollars for approximately 6 tasteless dishes that wrecked havoc upon our insides that has my review so low. Instead it is the very strange and shady experience we had upon arriving to pay for & pick up the food.

My party called in for take out- and after being called back to be informed of a menu adjustment- they did not tell us the cost of the order (before or after the change). Upon arriving to pick up the single bag of food items; we were told the cost of the meal (around $320). A little surprising but also it’s a tourist zone and that’s what we get for not verifying cost before arrival. The issue arose when asked for an itemized bill with the cost of each dish. Despite the request being brought to management (as the v nice hostess was unable to do it) we still never got it. To this day I still have no idea how much money we were charged for each dish. I don’t know what the tax was. I don’t know what gratuity was included (if any). All we got was a receipt with the names of the dishes - including the item they had to cancel for lack of ingredients.

On the food: the Crab Rangoon was just a ball of cream cheese (no crab taste at all), the Pad See Ew noodles were abnormal in both color (white, see through) and taste (nonexistant) and the ribs were so dreadful that I am almost glad to not know how much money we paid for them.

All in all: would not recommend.

(Meals eaten following this experience were delicious so it wasn’t a broken taste...

A large Square room, poorly arranged. It was very strange considering the price and reputation. When I arrived at the restaurant there were four of us. There was a large party seated at a long rectangular table.

For some reason ...which I can assume was poor training of staff or no training, the hostess seated us right by this large loud party. The waiter, waitress and servers appeared to dress on their own with no dress code mix or match ideas. The waitress spoke softly even though there was a Rowdy party behind us and did not appear to understand the menu. When the nice young man came out with our food one of the items had fire coming out of the top there was no explanation as to what it was or how to get the metal top off without getting burned with the fire coming out of the hole at the top not only that but that dish with the fire was placed in front of me and then he had to cross over the fire to place the dish in front of the lady next to me which it again goes against Common Sense. Let alone manners, of how you serve people, who would be served first, etceter. I was really disappointed the food was lukewarm the soup was almost tasteless. I myself have made this exact dish before so I know how it should taste. The hot water for tea also was not very hot the whole experience was disappointing and I cannot imagine ever going...