Papa Lee Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Pharr

The food used to be ok here. The service stank. I ordered 4 different items on a "Thursday"....not even a weekend. First I get there 25 minutes after placing the order and its not ready. I saw people going and coming. Why say 15-20 minutes if it's not the correct time? Then everyone leaves and there is absolutely no one in the restaurant and the cashier asked me to step outside to wait! I asked why and he said that he didn't know but he'd ask his boss. Boss wasn't there so I guess! The whole time I'm asking questions about my order when I originally got there and he spoke to me in a sarcastic and condescending tone. Then if that wasn't bad enough he apologized for the wait and stated it was due to sesame chicken. That's all fine n dandy but I didn't order sesame chicken!! I asked him who the heck he gave my order to!! He said...oh no its being prepared. Well turns out they gave my order to someone else and had to prepare it again!! I told him I was going to wait in my car directly accross the establishment and he said ok well I cant take your food to the car. Lol. I was about to choke someone but instead proceeded to my car and he offered to call me when it was ready. In the end I guess he finally grew a conscious and brought it to my car!!! Food sucks and the customer experience was not worth it! FYI: Do not order the General Chow's chicken...the sauce has these yucky brown things that you have to pick out or you will bite into accidentally and they are nasty!! Also bit into the chicken and it felt like straw in my mouth because it was so overcooked! Barf is al I can say. Oh and the hot n sour soup had no tofu at all....

The good: The food is freshly prepared when you ordered it and the soups are delicious and warm. When you dine in the food is perfect to eat once it cools a little as it comes straight from the kitchen. It was great, so great we came a second time for take out. [All images are from this first visit except the burnt pot sticker image.]

The bad: Take out was not the way to go. They were out of drinks except for diet coke. The eggroll is placed inside of the steaming hot food container, so by the time it was opened, after a 5-7 minute drive, the eggroll was completely soggy. The noodles had become sticky and were stuck to each other in a rather unappetizing ball. One of the 8 pot stickers was burnt. I know just 1, but I paid for 8 edible pot stickers. The restaurant wouldn't throw in 9, so I expect 8 edible pot stickers.

More bad: This is also the 2nd time I've ordered at Papa Lee's and the 2nd time they've gotten the soup order wrong. It is correct on the receipt, so it's not a front of house problem. It's the back that delivers the order incorrectly. The first time it was quickly dealt with because we ate in. The 2nd time I was already home.

Over all, the first impression was really great. The portions were impressive and the food was hot and fresh. I was also really hungry. The 2nd time gave me a good opportunity to see this location for take out and really rate them. It's okay. Nothing I'd rave about, and also not something I'd go out of my way to eat. We probably won't be coming back unless we're really hungry and this is the only place open [and Whataburger on the other side of the parking...

Food is great as you can see by my 5 star rating, atmosphere is also great. My only concern and overall low grade is the service. Staff is polite most of the time, but if they get a small rush, they are somewhat lost. One thing that never fails is that whenever you get your order to go, expect some of the sauce to be in the bag itself, depending in what you order of course. If it's something like the Chicken with Almond that has sauce, then it's always in the bag. Why do I bring this up, well, because more than once has that sauce ended up on my vehicle seats. You would think I learned my lesson and put a paper or some sort of absorbent under the bag you say, well, who's responsible for, either the bag being leak proof, or ensuring the sauce does not transfer to the plastic bag. But regardless, the sauce never stays in the plate. Now, before you jump into conclusions, the sauce is in the bag, and out of the Styrofoam plate from the get go. The bad thing is that one forgets since I don't go daily, so I don't notice it until the sauce is on the seat. Over all, I will recommend this restaurant, food is great, atmosphere is great, just be careful with the...