Red Lotus Bistro — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

Stopped by here with the family hoping for some good, basic food and was sorely disappointed by both the food and the service. Ambiance is pleasant with a simple yet nicely decorated space. Soon as we sat down our server popped up and wanted to take our order, but we haven't even managed to open and look at the online menu yet. We asked for water and after getting those our server went rogue for a good 15 min (only 2 other tables at the restaurant at that time with other servers about, so it shouldn't have been that long, imo). The best part about the meal was the kumquat ginger refresher (it got them the 2nd star from me), but don't try to use their straw to drink it...the kumquat is too big to pass through it. APPS - unsalted edamame...ok..same as any frozen ones I've heated before myself. Spring rolls - old, chewy dough and overly oily (maybe fried at too low of a temperature) ENTREES- beef and meatball pho - flavorless, missing any notes of ginger, cinnamon or anise as a proper pho should have and the meatballs smelled old and freezer burned, very off-putting but the kid was OK with it (and it ended up being what I had to finish to not leave hungry) Szechuan chicken was tasting a bit "washed" to me, but my wife enjoyed it thoroughly. I had the cashew chicken and it was completely flavorless, one of the worst in a long while for me. The sauce was liquid-y, watered down and devoid of taste. Not even a little salt for the veg. The kick to the head came when our server, who had not bothered checking in with us during our meal, came to ask if I needed a box for my mostly uneaten food (I picked out the chicken and drenched it in sriracha and hoisin for some flavor). I said no, because it was very flavorless...her response was a one I've never heard before, she said "I don't know how to respond to that"....as a chef with over 25 years in the food industry who has also worked FOH positions I can say with 1000% confidence that this is NOT what you answer back. So many other options which I'm not going to list. We got charged the full meal amount and no recognition of any sort for delivering a bad product...

For years, my standing rule has been to avoid restaurants that have multiple styles and/or nationalities of food on the menu--for instance places that offer pad Thai, Vietnamese pho, and Chinese orange chicken all on the same entree page. In my previous experiences, all of these styles of food and cooking require lots of time and learning to master, so smaller, more specialized menus generally correlate to better food--or so I thought.

But Red Lotus Bistro has proven once and for all the maxim that there's truly an exception to every rule--and now I'm left to rethink my previous assumptions entirely.

Our group got shrimp pad Thai, sesame chicken, noodles, multiple soups, appetizers, and more from all over the Asia-pascific region and all I heard were glowing reviews from all around the table. I tried a bite of the sesame chicken offered to me and it was, without hyperbole, the best sesame chicken I've ever had. Further, from the experience, Red Lotus Bistro is my new go-to spot for takeout and dine-in Asian food.

Great place, amazing food. And I'm happy to be once again proven wrong in the best way. I'll...

My absolute favorite Chinese restaurant in town, Red Lotus is in a class by itself in SLC. It offers exceptionally tasty Chinese food, made with fresh, high-quality ingredients, and sold at a reasonable price. This is in contrast to most of the other Chinese restaurants here in town, which seem to be stuck in the 1980s and use a mysterious, chewy substance for their 'chicken' dishes, douse everything in cloying, viscous sugar-based sauces, etc. I've eaten here 4 times now, and have never been disappointed. As others have noted, Red Lotus's 2 chicken wing dishes are both fantastic. I also enjoy the Vietnamese Egg Rolls (which are fried delicately and cut into bite-sized pieces perfect for dipping), and the Walnut Shrimp. To be clear, Red Lotus isn't trying to give you the authentic Cantonese, Szechuan or Taiwanese experience - e.g., no beef tendon, cold noodles, or internal organs. If that's what you want, I recommend Mom's Kitchen. However, when you are craving the simple pleasures of Americanized Chinese food, cooked with care and creativity, Red Lotus is tops. ...