Ho Ho Gourmet — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

We love HO HO Gourmet since 1987. Our family frequently goes to HoHo since then. We talked to the friendly oldman/ owner all the time. The food has always been terrific. I even know his daughter who frequently shops at NPS Market Square for supplies.

Until the pandemics.

2021 when we last ordered takeouts because the restaurant was closed. The duck was dry with no taste. The fried rice is stale. Pan fried noodle has no taste. It was horrible. We decided to not go there anymore.

Until May 12-2023

My sister informs me that she had dim sum a few week ago and the restaurant has been remodeled. It is much cleaner now. We decided to give it a second chance.

We ordered sea food pan fried noodle ($15.99) and sea food clay pot. The food was okay but nowhere near the quality of the past. The portion is small and costs $18.95 for the pot alone. The taste is bland.

Then this happens:

As soon as the table of 8 right behind our table left, and the 2 Mexican waiter and waitress start to clean up and carry away dirty dishes, the old man / owner/ cook walks out and collect 2 red containers of steamed rice from the table and bring them back to the kitchen, before allowing the waiter/ waitress to continue cleaning the table.

Guess what he was doing?

He recycled the steamed rice to re-use it either for fried rice or as steamed rice for the next customer collect those container. Rice is cheap and plentiful. Granted the old steamed looks indistinguishable from the fresh one, but please...

I cant think of any other reason why he would do that.

The bland food is one thing but re-use left over steamed rice is nasty and illegal.

we never gonna be back...

While I do enjoy the food here let me say the woman who is always there working at the cashier is quite literally the worst human being I have ever met. Every terrible experience I have had in this restaurant it has been because of her. I have heard her making many inappropriate comments about other customers when paying about their weight and appearance. Well today I was very disgusted to see a homeless man walk in just wanting something to drink and immediately getting kicked out. I went outside to get the man and offered to buy him whatever he wants to which he literally answered “I’m just thirsty. I just want some to drink.” Well I had the man come inside me I get his drinks to which she was treating him horribly. She kept trying to get him out of there even though now he was a paying customer. And once he left she angrily turned towards us and made a rude comment about us bringing him inside. She immediately starts sanitizing every single surfaced he touched. Everything. Even the hand sanitizer and where he walked. It was ridiculous and humiliating. If you read this, remember every single human being deserves respect. Homeless people are still people. And you should never deny anyone a drink when they are thirsty. Karma always returns. What you throw out there you will receive. If you want to support a restaurant that has shown many times to be fatphobic, homophobic, and discriminatory towards homeless people this is the place for you. Very disappointed. She’s the lady in pink...

This is a true hole in the wall gem with home style asian food and very sweet staff. I loved being able to laugh with the workers.

I adore the Walnut Shrimp from here. Other dishes we got are the General Tso’s Chicken, Orange Chicken, and a combo plate. The servings are hefty and one dish could easily feed 2-3 people. This place is great for family dinner.

The Walnut Shrimp is so heavenly to me. The sauce is creamy and sweet. The shrimp has delicious breading, and the orange slices & cabbage compliment the dish very well.

The Orange Chicken was also great. It wasn’t my favorite dish due to a lighter citrus flavor than I expected, but still a great quality dish. Perfectly cooked chicken and the perfect subtle crunch to the breading. The orange slices were candied and were great to eat, skin and all.

The General Tso’s Chicken was also very flavorful. I loved the vegetables that seeped their flavors into the chicken as well. It wasn’t very spicy.

From the combo plate, there are honorable mentions for the ham fried rice and the low mein noodles, especially the latter. The low mein had a smoky flavor to it that was spectacular.

Overall I plan on coming back since I’ve had multiple positive experiences here! It’s a...