Bai Wei — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I have been going to this restaurant since 2007. Today was the last time I'll ever visit. I Ordered a Chive pancake, sweet potato roll and Pad Thai. The usual foods that I order. When I bit into the chive pancake it tasted like old sink water. I told the waiter that this is unusual and that I would like something else or a refund. The waiter argued with me and my best friend stating that nothing was wrong and that it is supposed to taste like that. I then informed the waiter that Chive pancakes are usually delicious. I order them all the time This time they are not good.

The waiter told me that the owner does not offer refunds and that I would have to pay for the substitute. I turned to my friend we were both dumbfounded. The waiter saw our faces then took my plate to the Back. She returned then told me she was going to refund the money.

The wait staff then proceeded to ignore our table and only came when my friend raised her hand in the air and said excuse me loudly.

I decided not to leave a tip. We paid via debit card, put on our coats then went to the door.

As we were leaving the resturant the waiter yelled excuse me miss. She intercepted us at the door and was waiving other waiters to come over to try and STOP us from leaving. Just so we can pay a tip that they DONT DESERVE. The waiter proceeded to tell me that it is required that we leave a tip. She pulled out a pen and circled the pre-caculated (for your convience) optional gratuity fee and said I had to pay a tip.

My companion proceeded to explain that the service was not acceptable. Again the waiter argued and was waiving other waiters over telling us that we ARE REQUIRED TO TIP. I informed the lady that I have been coming here a decade, today is the first time didn't leave a tip. Stop asking I WILL NOT leave a tip. It is NOT required. Good bye. I then walked out the door and my friend...

Bai Wei is a perfectly decent spot for quality Chinese food on the edge of Chinatown, but I'm not sure it stands out above other options in the same neighborhood. Everything I had was good and I don't have any complaints, but I failed to see a reason to pick it again when options like Emei and Dim Sum Garden are right nearby.

I was seated quickly and the staff were friendly. Although there is an ATM in the entryway, they do accept credit cards now! Information otherwise is out of date. The interior is simple and sparse, and there were a few bugs to deal with while I sat, but it was fine I'd say. I ordered the pork soup dumplings and then asked my waitress whether I should get the diced chicken with hot pepper, or if I should get the braised pork belly with dried beans which was listed as a "chef's special". I expected to be recommended the chef's special but was recommended the chicken on the day, which I knew I would have to judge against Emei's Chongqing spicy chicken, one of my favorite foods in the city.

The soup dumplings were good, they had nice texture and were very fresh but weren't exceptional. The chicken was very enjoyable- rather than crunchy crispy fried they seemed to be almost beer battered making them light and fluffy and crispy. There was a small amount of Sichuan peppercorns that tasted very good but it certainly could have benefitted from more. I think it also could have had all the garlic, ginger, and scallion flavor integrated a bit more but I happily finished all of it.

Overall, I was pleased I went. I also forgot to mention it is BYO which is a plus! If I ever go again I'm sure I'll enjoy my meal, but I may prioritize other...

Wasn’t as good as I thought it would have been. From all the other reviews I had seen I was pretty hopeful. It was Labor Day weekend, I’m not sure if it’s because of the holiday but it wasn’t their best for our table. We wanted to sit outside since it was a nice day. But most of the tables were kinda dirty, choose the least messy one, that should have been my red flag. They didn’t attempt to clean it once we chose where to sit.

We ordered a few things: the truffle steamed pork dumplings, spicy pan fried beef dumplings, Dan Dan noodles, pork rib noodle soup, and their frog dish. Most of the food came out not really even warm. It seemed it was sitting for awhile. The truffle dumplings had a hair on it for starters, we didn’t return it or say anything just didn’t eat that one. The dumplings were cracked so not a lot of soup were in them. That goes the same for the beef dumplings. All different sizes and not uniform which gave it a made at homemade appearance which didn’t bother me just not a lot of filling. This was pretty much the theme for the rest of the meal; food wasn’t hot, not a lot of meat, and overall was ok but an ok we weren’t going to be returning in the future kind of ok.

At the time it was either cash or Venmo only for paying which we didn’t mind and it was nice they let us know ahead of time when we went to sit. A few hours later I got super sick. I’m not sure if it was because of the food but my stomach wanted nothing to do with me. That was pretty much all I had to eat that day, avoided...