Peking Garden — Restaurant in Richmond

I hate to leave bad reviews but my experience with this restaurant merits it.

I ordered 2 times in 2 weeks. First time the lady at the counter said she checked everything was in there. I got home and there were missing dishes.

Second time I showed up when my app said the food was ready for pickup. No one was at the front. I waited 10-15 mins along with other 2 customers. I kept seeing someone come and go from the back but they ignored us all. Lady finally shows up to the counter and asks for my order details. Disappears in the kitchen (I assumed to get my order).

Another 10 minutes go by. Lady shows up again. Again asks for my order details and then says it's not ready. At this point I have been waiting for a good 30 minutes.

One of the people waiting gets their order but after checking it was missing items. They fix it.

The other person shows their order details and confirmed order but the lady says their order hasn't been received. This person was literally showing them the confirmation. Lady blames the customer for not ordering correctly even after they both confirm her receipt is for the right restaurant.

I finally get my food after a good 40 minutes which is ridiculous. The egg drop soup looks neon yellow and tastes like absolutely nothing. Literally water. The rest of the food was good.

What a mess. Keep in mind the restaurant was empty beyond us three customers. It was a Wednesday at 6pm. Apparently they were preparing for a catering and it didn't look like they cared about the rest of customers.

Will not be ordering...

The sesame chicken was good, the chicken lo mein was alright, the fried rice was bland and definitely not fried. Pretty sure it was just steamed with soy sauce added for coloring. The Egg Drop Soup and Happy Family meal were also very very bland, the veggies in the Happy Family meal weren't even cooked, they were raw. Overall I paid $42 and got food that definitely wasn't worth $42. If the food was maybe $30 I'd give you 3 stars but the prices for cheap noodles and meats are kind of outrageous here. I only chose this restaurant because it's close to my house and I try to give small businesses a try when I can.

Edit 1 (after original review): gave this place a 2nd chance and boy was it 110% better. Idk if the cook that day was having a bad day but the chicken with garlic sauce, lo mein and fried rice were bomb tonight. 5 stars this time!!!

Edit 2 (August 5th, 2023): retried the same meal again after giving them a bad review, then a good review. Fried rice was bland, chicken with garlic sauce was just a bowl of chicken and watery sauce. Lo mein was good. Took the food back and explained the issue I've had with inconsistent quality in the food. Got a refund. Probably won't...

not bad. we ordered s&s chicken and gen tso's chicken, veggie fried rice, egg rolls, spring rolls and crab puffs. Everything was cooked well, and had good flavor. The veggie fried rice could use more seasoning (garlic butter and/or soy). Gen Tso's might not be what you expect, but it is tasty.

The only real problem i had here was the s&s sauce, as it kinda tasted like it was made with mop water, so i don't know how the heck they make their s&s sauce...but it was pretty bad with a weird off flavor.

The next day, i made my own sweet and sour sauce for my left-overs (water, sugar, vinegar, soy, natural red dye, garlic powder and thicken with corn starch slurry and it tasted as you would expect).

But other than the s&s sauce, it isn't a bad place to get chinese food. Oh....I would also expect a Chinese restaurant would have pork fried rice, but it isn't...