Peking Duck House — Restaurant in Pompano Beach

We have been going to the Peking Duck House for years, We almost always had a great experience and very good food. We did have a couple of run ins with the woman/owner over the years, and we learned that we weren't the only ones, but the good food brought us back time and time again. We were sad when the restaurant closed and got excited when we heard it had finally reopened. I took my mom for lunch yesterday. We were so looking forward to a nice lunch and excellent food. It turned out to be an absolutely abysmal experience! They sat us at a table and we waited, and we waited, and we waited. Mind you it was not busy. Maybe six tables had customers, some with single patrons. 20 minutes we sat there and watched people come in be seated, and wait and wait. Look at their watches, look at the menu get up and walk out! One couple after 20+ minutes got up angrily and as they walked out yelled out for everyone to hear "this restaurant shouldn't even be open. Since we weren't in a rush we patiently waited. After 20+ minutes a waitress came over and finally acknowledged our presence. She was not nice at all and seemed irritated when either of us had a question. We asked for some water and tea. She asked how many are having tea. We said we would like tea for the two of us. She left. Again we waited and waited. More people came in got seated. They sat and we watched as they were not greeted and brought drinks so they got up and left. Finally about 10 minutes later our tea and water was brought to the table. I had asked for some sugar but there was none. I asked if we could get some. In the meantime since we finally had the waitress there we ordered some wonton soup and we wanted 1 shrimp egg roll and one pork egg roll. She told us we couldn't do that. My mom said why not you have them listed on your menu? Very rudely she said you just can't. So we ordered 2 pork egg rolls. The waitress left our table. I was still waiting for some sugar for my tea. We now waited another 15 minutes. Finally my mom was getting a bit agitated, (she's 91) stopped a young man that worked there and said to him we've been 40+ minutes and the service is horrible! The young man says "I know, I'm sorry, I will go check on your soup." My mom looked at me and said do you just want to leave? I thought about it, but the problem was my mom uses a walker one of the gentlemen had taken her walker and put it all the way up front by the cash register, so I would have to go up front get her walker come back and help her out of the restaurant. It would have been a big production so I said let's just give them a chance they just reopened. Unfortunately I would regret that decision. Finally they brought the wonton soups. I again asked for some sugar for my tea. We had not even ordered our lunches yet, so while this absolutely unfriendly waitress is there at our table we wanted to order our food. I asked if the Mongolian Beef is spicy? The young lady said not at all, so I said as long as it's not spicy I will have that. My mom decided to try the Chicken with Cashew nuts. We were hoping that the food would make up for this now 50+ minute wait for just the soups. Unfortunately the soup tasted like chicken broth with some very hard and heavy wontons with a couple of pieces of scallions thrown in. So disappointing. We now waited, and waited. Finally my mom again got agitated and asked the young man if he could see what happened to our egg rolls? He said he would go check. Some time later we were brought our egg rolls. Again totally disappointing. They tasted like frozen egg rolls you get at Walmart!I was now not happy because I had wanted to take my mom out for a nice lunch. Again we waited and waited and waited. Again we asked one of the gentleman what's going on we were now there for about an hour and 45 minutes and watched many people get up and leave, Where's our food? Finally they brought us our dishes. And to my dismay the Mongolian was very spicy. I could not eat it. My moms food was bland and tasteless. This turned out to be an...

Well I’d be lying to you, if I didn’t say how much I was looking forward to the re-opening of the Peking Duck House; in Pompano Beach, Fl. As a native New Yorker, from the 60s 70s & 80s Chinese Food was always a staple for families amongst the 5 boroughs. Now as most have relocated to South Florida, finding acceptable Chinese Food has always been a challenge. Prior to the re-opening in its past life, the Peking Duck House had Great Food is a so so atmosphere, seemingly family run with you’re a typical staff, found in a Chinese Restaurant. The food, quality & taste definitely hit home for your Native New Yorker… Then the closure, whatever the reason it was hard to find a replacement for a good dine in, Chinese Restaurant. Time passed slowly and then the long wait was over. Tonight was the night to visit the old place, hoping to return to familiar flavors… We pulled up noticed new signage and new paint on the building. Entering the restaurant we were expecting to total change of the dining room. YES & NO to some degree, the floor plan was the same with new lighting & furniture. The interior was revamped with new wall dressing, wallpaper and subtle oriental accents and décor. Yet, behind all the MAKEUP, it still had a similar feel, more of a facelift then a remodel. OK... We were seated at a two top table in the middle of the dining room, after we were asked if we had a reservation. Chairs were nice and comfortable; the table was wobbly and not secured to the base. We noticed the menu was all A la Carte, looking at other tables, serving size of noticeable dishes were smaller than the prior location. The waitress was timely with keying in our order into a tablet. Noodles, duck sauce and mustard came to our table. Cloth napkins are rolled only with a fork. A knife, spoon or chop sticks are available by request. (I found this odd) Another add on is Chinese HOT TEA. This is NOT offered as a complimentary beverage. We ordered a Won Ton Soup & Mixed Soup to start with, then a General Tso’s Chicken, side of white rice & Chicken Chow Fun to share…. While waiting for our soup we found the noodles were stale and the offering of duck sauce and mustard, enough for one teaspoon & had to ask for more…. Waiting & waiting some 20 minutes went by, our waitress is nowhere to be found, next thing we see, she is bring out our main dishes…. NOPE, we didn’t get our soup yet… She wanted to leave the food and then bring us the soup as a side. We asked for her to take the food back and please bring us our soup… In which she did… I found the Won Ton Soup very salty, the Won Tons (3) tasted VERY commercialized. The soup was at a nice hot temperature, served in a colorful square bowl, the pork was tasty. An oriental wide soup spoon is served with the soup… The waitress did return to ask if the soup was ok. I let it go about tasting salty. She asked if we were ready for our main course, I said yes. Out came the food she brought prior COLD… Now granted we had a feeling this would happen & again our waitress was nowhere to be found after dropping off the plates.. A manager happened to talk by, we stopped her and explained the soup error and now our food is cold. She immediately took it back, seemingly re-WOK’ed the food and brought it back to the table. The food was hot and tasty, plenty of General Tso’s Chicken to share. Yet the Chicken Chow Fun was seemingly a bit smaller portion, sharable for a smaller appetite. The waitress did return to refill our water and ask if the food was ok. We did enjoy the main dishes despite the mix up. In closing, for two people our bill came to $48.00 with the bare minimum of a Chinese Meal. My experience was a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. The food was a borderline 6 ½ -7 on a scale of 1 to 10. I would caution those who are expecting what was. It’s not the same but might be worth a try. We might return a month or two down the road to give them a second chance, after they get...

A discarded kitchen appliance greeted us in the back of the parking lot.

New ownership, my server answered, by a Japanese group that owns many Asian restaurants in South Florida, perhaps too many.

The new owners don't announce themselves and are not on site. A "closed for renovation" sign was up for months suggesting demolition. They renovated but in a discount way that comes across as plastic knockoff rather than authentic. Lantern lights are beautiful but serve no practical purpose as they are dwarfed by super bright and cold-temp recessed lights over every table which kill any hope of ambience and make you feel like you're eating in your favorite aisle at CVS.

Hunan Pork had wonderfully green and crisp broccoli but the bizarrely nubby and thin sliced pork was suspiciously if not dangerously off in texture and taste. Two days of gas and chest pain led me to my doctor so I can not recommend.

Mongolian Beef had ginger and better flavor but ultimately it is volume 11 out of balance.

Neither dish came out hot or would make you come back. It's downhill from lukewarm. No one from the idle counter host to your not overwhelmed server will sense what you're missing or ask you how they can make things better. The staff seems content knowing they showed up and will get paid.

You will be given a napkin with only a fork in it. Your order of tea will come with only a caddy of sugar substitutes. No knife, spoon, or sugar will be in sight. A request for sugar not sweeteners will lead to a weird server pause then a tiny plate with a helping of sugar on it. You will never get a spoon. You will stir the tea with your napkin fork or not at all. Your teapot for two will have one tea bag in it and be less than half full, I guess to not exhaust the single bag. You will be charged $4 each for this. Your request for knives will lead to a single knife for the two of you to share between bites. You will never be offered more rice. Your good fortune will be to spot a Chinese employee.

People eat with knives, Peking sequel. Finely cut, ambiguously sourced meat doesn't get you out of this expectation. We cut our food. We load our forks with knives not fingers. No chop sticks were present or offered. No request for spicy was fulfilled.

Is the ghost of the original Peking Duck, the heyday Peking Duck, able to see this and is he groaning?

Between the anti-atmosphere lighting, the glaringly frugal and incomplete table setting, the nonsensical instincts of the kind server, and the Hunan Pork which came with a side of quasi heart attack, I cannot recommend you come here.

If you wax poetic about classic Chinatown style Chinese food in Fort Lauderdale, you'll need to time travel to 1980s Moy Lee or buy a plane ticket to a big city with an actual restaurant scene and culinary pedigree. And I'm a local.

The good news is my stomach has settled after 3 days and my EKG came...