August Moon — Restaurant in Portland

Our family is INCAPABLE of agreeing on a place to dine where everyone can enjoy themselves. It may sound small. But, this challenge hinders our ability to make memories together, which I feel is invaluable.

Suggesting our youngest has "limited likes" is a gross understatement. It's an issue we've constantly struggled with. He was born 2 months premature. Food textures have always been an issue. When it comes to going out for special occasions, like a birthday, our goal is to simply have FUN... & hopefully create a positive family memory. Without risking tears or associating going out with negativity by forcing "trying new foods" or always seeking a "teaching moment". We hope over time he will see us all having fun and eventually open up to new things on his own.... Not to mention these opportunities are also moments we often share with other family members we rarely see otherwise. So, keeping things light and fun is just important.

2. Our favorite restaurant in N.W. P-town that we've been going to for decades(individually before the children came along & a decade as a family) has been undergoing long-term construction from the ground up... Leaving us hanging for over two years so-far, with no end in sight! Hence the search for a replacement began! ONE GOAL: menu choices and flavors that matched our favorite dishes.

I'm sure you might be thinking "what's wing with you guys??!... Go eat pizza, or make this kid deal with it!"... Of course we have other places we can go where our sweet 'Mr. Picky' can order a cheese pizza, while the rest of us can order more exciting options. But without our coveted Ling Garden Chinese Restaurant, off of 21st & Lovejoy, where EVERYONE is ALWAYS happy to go has truly left an empty space and after a year or two we simply needed our fix! The location of Ling Garden, the wonderful happy people/service... Whom were always happy to see us and grew to know our extended family, the EXTREMELY fresh & delicious food has been impossible to match!! Being a regular & ALWAYS knowing you'd get exactly what your want... And best of all: knowing the entire family is riding themselves is hard to give up.

ALL that said... August Moon was found on a whim. And, it's AWESOME!! EVERYTHING we've tried on the menu is wonderful!! In fact, some of our favorite dishes from our highly regarded hot spot ARE EVEN BETTER!

The vegetarian dishes have been perfect! For our carnivores we've found that asking for extra chicken(or whatever meat) takes the dish over the top in everything we've tried. We've never been able to finish our meals... Always providing portions that require doggy bags to feed us yet again later!

I'd safely claim we've tried at least 13-15+ main courses... Including a few vegetarian, and EVERYTHING has been AS good, if not BETTER than our dearly missed Ling Garden.

We have only two complaints:

1. After only 6 months or so we still don't have a rapport with the staff. There seems to be only one host... Who is either really overworked or just isn't very excited to see us.. YET! ;) - I look forward to the day she smiles at us.

2. As I mentioned EVERY dish so far is truly amazing... But, if you order the shrimp with veggies(I think it was the shrimp strirfry?) be SURE to ask that the shrimp is thoroughly cooked through. We ordered the once & it was clearly undercooked. The fried shrimp is perfection... So no worries there. -maybe it was a one time mistake with the strirfry... But don't chance it.... unless that's how your like your shellfish!!

We are SOOOOOO HAPPY to have found August Moon! Smiles all around and one day the server will join us!...

ill preface this by setting the scene.

its noon on a monday, there 2 people sat at a table who have already ordered. theres no other diners or anyone in line at the counter. the woman behind the counter doesnt seem particularly busy.

so its my first time here, just wanted to grab a quick lunch while in the area. my go-to dish is usually chicken fried rice; low risk, pretty straightforward, filling, usually cheaper than other options.

the woman sort of snapped at me asking me what i wanted. i take it with a grain of salt, cultural differences? anyway, its a restaurant so i obviously want to place a food order. she walks away from me while im mid sentence to the 2 sat diners nearby. sort of rude, but ok maybe theyve been waiting ages. i tell her id like a plate of chicken fried rice. i thought their online menu said $8.99, she says its $9.95. alright, $1 discrepency, not the end of the world. i pay with a card, she says itll be 10 minutes, & as i go to reach for my card back, she tosses it on the counter... ok a bit rude, maybe shes vision challenged & didnt see my hand out, i didnt make a fuss.

i sit & wait, thinking that the soft lute music was rather soothing. that was quickly drowned out by 10 minutes of shouting coming from the kitchen. ok, maybe the cook got an order wrong earlier & the woman is keeping them in line, who knows, but its obviously important since its loud enough to fill the dining area.

finally my food is done, the woman places it on the counter, & as shes walking away says "your chicken fried rice sir", & puts her head down to pretend to look busy a few feet away.

at this point im realizing why its empty in here at lunch.

since its apparent that im bothering them by ordering food, i say nothing & just take my plate & leave, feeling very unwelcome.

the food portion was competitive with similar places. the eggroll was puny, a little larger than a razerblade, but it was a bonus so whatever. there were maybe 5 little pieces of chicken in the whole plate so they mustve been running out. maybe thats what the shouting was about. the rice was ok, i wouldve liked some vegetable chunks in there that you usually see in good fried rice but it was pretty bare.

i dont feel like ill be craving to come back...

If you have food allergies don't order from here!! They have no consideration for anaphylactic shock. I ordered potstickers and sweet and sour chicken. I specifically asked them when I called if there were onions in those two dishes and the lady told me No. When my food arrived I took a bite of a potsticker and got a mouth full of onion. It's a good thing I spit it out and carry an epi-pen. To make matters worse? I opened the carton of sweet and sour chicken and it's full of pineapples and ONIONS! When I called to complain, the lady said I never asked about the sweet and sour chicken and then later she changed her story and said she didn't hear the question even though she answered the question specifically. When I confronted her about the potstickers she said she didn't know there were onions in them. I mean, SERIOUSLY?! I asked if she was the manager and she said yes, the owner in fact. How irresponsible can you be?! You don't know the contents of the food you are cooking, serving or selling?! If you serve food, you should be very aware of food allergies. The remainder of the conversation involved extremely terrible customer service... didn't want to remake my entree, wanted to charge me for both the contaminated and the new entree... it just gets worse. Point being... don't. Not if you have a...