Lotus Dumpling House — Restaurant in Santa Fe

Had a super weird experience here. The woman who took our order was super friendly and sweet, but the new owner guy was really odd. He gave us a long talk about how the food was now extremely authentic and made in house and much much improved from how it was before, really suggesting that things were terrible before they took over (we liked the food under the original management, that’s why we came here), but if the improvement was there it was not obvious to us. The signature dumplings were at best of equal quality to the last restaurant (fine!). The boba tea was like 2/3 ice and super watery for $7. But most of all the owner guy was just so unnerving. He was sitting at the front desk (understandable obviously) but he was staring right at us the whole time, we felt very observed as the only people in the restaurant on a friday late afternoon. It was really uncomfortable to eat while he was watching our every move. At the end when we got up to leave he asked us if we were planning on paying, in a weirdly accusatory tone, and pulled up the order on the screen to show us that we had not payed. when my friend reminded him that she had in fact payed cash when she went up to order the food (which seemed like the standard system: pay when you order at the counter/desk thing) he was sort of flustered and we just left. Given that we were the only people there and that we had paid only like 20 minutes ago the fact that he was so ready to accuse us of not paying was super weird. as someone who has worked in restaurants usually you keep track of who payed cash and close out checks after they’ve been payed so as to avoid accusing random customers of dining and dashing. Super odd vibe from the guy. Otherwise the lady was sweet and the food was fine. The owner just needs...

I came into the restaurant a lady greeted me with a nice smile.

I ordered my food $21.77 including the before service tip -small (8) signature dumplings and scallion pancake app. she said twelve minutes. I asked to use the rest room. She said someone is in there, to have a seat and she will let me know when available. Well if your bladder is anything like mine, you may want to take note of this. The lady who I think was in the bathroom came out after some time and went over to the table to talk with the ladies.

I sat down, used my phone and observed the environment. The ladies were having nice conversation. I am not sure if they all work there. But they sat and enjoyed each other which is nice.

She came out and handed me my food and said have a good night.

When departing, I noticed I did not receive the same energy as the three customers before me. Very friendly with them, chatting. She opened the door for the GentleMAN before me. When my food came, she handed it to me have a good night and turned. That is fine I don’t mind this part usually. But …. as I was watching the scene while waiting, I can say there was a big difference in the energy.

My hotel is 20 minutes away. I get to hotel, settle in to watch my show online and I open my bag to eat. No napkins or silverware. $21.77

The signature dumplings are very good. The scallion pancake needs work. I’ve traveled many Asian countries backpacking, this is not how it’s done. The flavor is very good, maybe they can tweak this recipe if not popular. Definitely has potential to be great.

For the price and service, I can’t recommend But if you do go, try those...

Hmmm, I ordered the signature dumpling and bibimbap w/ beef. All of these food didn't exactly fill me up surprisingly. Bibimbap was a small bowl of rice with tasteless vegetables and 1 egg. The beef was crazy small amount it's like they decided to use 2 dining spoonful amount. FOR TWO DOLLARS? That's kind of crazy expensive - like the amount when chipotle or qdoba would give you.

Ok, I can forgive the bibimbap if the rest of my meal was good. Signature dumpling was a bit flavorful but the sauce was bland which is shocking because a simple dark vinegar and ginger is usually all it needs. 11 dollars for the 10 dumplings sounds great on paper until you see their size. I came from CA and if you paid 11 dollars for the size I saw, you would feel bad about spending.

Unfortunately, I don't understand how this place gets 4.6 stars. No offense, I would be mad if I got this even in Sacramento, CA but given the lack of asian food around here, I'll give them some benefit of the doubt and...