Hong's Gourmet — Restaurant in Saratoga

After a disastrous experience with their service, my wife and I decided to give Hongs Gourmet another chance. We’re glad we did! The food was just as good as last time and the service was considerably better.

We sat inside for lunch. The spacious and colorful interior is a work of art, with soaring ceilings, flowers, and interesting architectural details. There were only a few customers, and we were all seated in a cozy side room with a nice view of the street.

We decided to forego the lunch specials so that we could share my wife’s favorite classic Cantonese dish Moo Goo Gai Pan. The thinly sliced, tender chicken breast was poached and then sautéed with mushrooms, snow peas, and carrots. I prefer spicy Sichuan dishes but I thoroughly enjoyed this. The generous portion was more than enough for two.

We added the dinner combination with steamed white rice and chicken salad. The salad had iceberg and romaine lettuce and small pieces of shredded chicken breast mixed with nuts, sesame seeds, and vermicelli and tossed with olive oil. It was a nice take on a typical Chinese chicken salad and easily shareable.

We started with a serving of four veggie spring rolls, which were served with three different sauces (mild, hot mustard, and chili pepper). They were crisp on the outside without being greasy.

We wanted to try their Wor Won Ton Soup so we took home a large order. Wor means “everything” so the soup had shrimp, BBQ pork slices, and veggies in addition to the ground pork dumplings. The chicken broth was flavorful, the ingredients were tasty, and the soup was a meal in itself.

This family owned restaurant will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2023. Based on our latest experience, I’m raising my rating from three to four stars. We’ll definitely go back.

ORIGINAL REVIEW (8/11/2021) Delicious food. Terrible service.

My wife and I had dinner at Hongs Gourmet restaurant last week for the first time since the pandemic began. Their food was as tasty as always but we never experienced such awful service.

Hongs is the only local Chinese restaurant where my wife can find her favorite classic Cantonese dish Moo Goo Gai Pan, and it was as good as she remembered. I enjoyed their flavorful and tender Mongolian Beef, spiced just right. Overall, the ingredients are high quality, the meals are skillfully prepared, and the portions are generous. The spring rolls and battered prawns on the combination appetizer plate were good, but would have been much better had they not been delivered lukewarm.

Service was a complete disaster. Our server was poorly trained, totally inexperienced, and absolutely clueless about standard restaurant protocol. She couldn’t figure out what we wanted when we asked for “a glass of ice”. After multiple requests, she eventually brought an ice bucket. Dirty dishes were left on the table when we ordered dessert and were still there when it was delivered. Our pot of hot tea never arrived “because someone else took it.” That’s unacceptable.

We’ll probably return for takeout just to get their excellent food, but we can’t recommend Hongs Gourmet for...

Great service and yummy Chinese food. We ordered the green onion pancakes, roasted duck (with delicious crispy skin), sizzling lamb with onion (comes literally sizzling on a hot black metal (cast iron, maybe) plate), chicken fried rice, beef and snow peas and mushrooms with oyster sauce, and honey walnut shrimp to go. Everything was tasty and even better than I expected. (I especially liked the duck and the lamb. My friend especially liked the pancakes and the fried rice. My son liked the pancakes and the chicken fried rice and also ate some duck skin, beef and snow peas, and lamb) The waiter was very attentive (kept our drinks filled and appeared whenever we needed him without having to be flagged down - either a mind-reader or just experienced and solicitous ;) ) and helpful (packed our food for us). We were seated right next to fish tanks with bright orange fish (on purpose, I think :) ), which was great because I had my almost-2-year-old son with me. The waiter even brought him an animal coloring page. The restaurant has a nautical theme and at least 2 large sailing ship models grace the walls. I liked the color...

Visited Hong's Gourmet on a Friday at noon for lunch, and it was an enjoyable experience. The restaurant had a steady flow of customers but wasn’t overly busy, with plenty of parking despite the bustling location. The upscale, classy ambiance stood out immediately, creating a welcoming vibe, enhanced by Naval Academy memorabilia—a pleasant surprise and nostalgic touch, as both my son and daughter are graduates. A friendly staff member greeted us warmly and seated us promptly.

The food was fresh and flavorful, with the salt and pepper crispy eggplant stealing the show—perfectly crispy and delicious. The Mongolian beef was rich and savory, and the Taiwanese fried chicken was equally satisfying. The honey walnut prawns, however, were okay but not to our liking, too sweet, and lacking in flavor.

The attentive service, delicious dishes, and sophisticated ambiance made for a wonderful dining experience. It's definitely worth a visit to Hong's Gourmet for an...