Tea House St. Paul — Restaurant in Saint Paul

This is the first review I have ever bothered to write. I am a "foodie" and eat out quite frequently at all sorts of restaurants, including Chinese restaurants. I don't generally care much about service, if they can manage to bring me quality food in a reasonable time that's really all I care about. Yet this was the first time I have ever walked out of a restaurant, the full story is below.

I have been there twice. The first experience was great, I was there with a friend and we both ordered off the lunch menu. Good food, good quantity, and very fair price. I was looking forward to coming again.

So today I did. I ordered "five spice beef" or something off the Schezwan section of the lunch menu. Now while this may seem pedantic I should clarify that the lunch menu looked quite normal, it read "Lunch Specials" or the like at the top, and then was divided into two sections, the top section being for Schezwan food and the second section for the more typical Americanized Chinese food. The last time I came I ordered a pickled soup of some kind off the Schezwan menu also.

So anyway, the waiter tells me that the five spice beef is a "cold dish" which I said was fine. He comes out about 2 mins later with a tiny plate with 5-6 sashimi sized slices of beef, roughly 2 bites worth of food. Confused I asked him about it and he said it was an appetizer, I told him I ordered the lunch special and pointed it out to him again on the menu. He then becomes argumentative and hostile claiming he warned me it was a "cold dish". I told him he can take this back and I'll order something else. He kept on arguing with me saying that if he took it back his manager would think he did something wrong, and on and on and on. Eventually he tried to insult me by saying I "Don't understand chinese food", I brushed him off and left.

My grandparents owned a restaurant that I worked in when I was growing up, and later worked in another restaurant in highschool and I was completely shocked by this behavior. If I had ever acted that way to a customer I would have been immediately fired, end of discussion. I have never been treated with such hostility by any business in my life. I would never claim to be an expert on Chinese food, but if something is listed as a lunch special, it should be something someone could actually have for lunch, not one bite of one thing. I suspect he messed up the order thinking I ordered an appetizer instead of the entree and then tried to argue his way out of the mistake.

Unbelievable and...

YOU WERE SO RUDE!!!!!

I wanted to eat at this restaurant because I like the Minneapolis location. Talking on the phone with the person was very hurried and he didn't want to even take my order. I wanted to eat in, but he said that it was packed and we couldn't reserve a table for free.

So, okay. Not a problem, I understand.

We go over and head over to the take out area and then find that there are so many empty tables that can seat 6-8 people. He just wasn't willing to seat 3 people at a larger table in case someone else came in. Otherwise, it was busy at the 3-4 person tables.

When I go to the front, the guy rudely states: " I can't guarantee any kind of seat ever." I don't argue because its not worth it.

Now that we are paying, it comes to

Take out is not their strength during COVID Era and we are not expecting to return for take out or dine-in services anytime soon. I really hope they update their online menu platform, It's hard to figure out how to access the menu/prices without committing to an online order and inserting all of your personal information first.

The restaurant promptly called after I submitted the order to let me know one item wasn't available. They offered to replace the item with something less expensive + an additional appetizer, but then charged us more when we stopped by to pick it up (the difference is price was ~$3-4 apparently with the added appetizer). Had I known they were charging the difference, I would've opted to just cancel the item that wasn't available and request a refund.

At pick up, they proceeded to deliver the food at the door without gloves or a mask, but then went back to the desk area to get a mask on after seeing that we were wearing them. Leaves you wondering if/what the consistent safety practices are.

Finally, the prices vs quantity of what you receive is not competitive with comparable restaurants in the area. Pictures attached are of "pan fried noodles" that left much to be desired. Sesame chicken was some of the best I've tasted here in MN but the quantity seemed...