Taste Of Hong Kong — Restaurant in Siesta Key

Let me preface this with I've probably only written 3-4 online reviews in my life; and, I've been a small business owner in this town for over 20 years so I know how bad reviews can hurt businesses. I really just feel like I have to warn people about this place.

I've always wanted to try this place because I've heard nothing but good things about it. I wish I could say the same. I called to order a quart of the seafood fried rice and the pork dumpling appetizer. They told me it would be 40 minutes. 40 minutes for some fried rice and a few dumplings! I walked in 40 minutes later and I had to wait another 15 minutes. There was nobody really in the place. I finally get my food and I pay (somehow $7.99 + $14.99 added up to over $27 after tax. I'm still scratching my head over that).

I get home starving after working a 12-hour shift and then waiting an hour to get my Chinese takeout. I dump the fried rice in my plate and there's four shrimp and two small scallops in a quart of rice. When I had called to order she asked me if I wanted it spicy or medium and I told her medium. I took my first bite and I felt like my face was going to melt off. It was literally the worst fried rice I've ever had in my life. Like, how can you mess up fried rice? It's just fried rice. I ate the 4 shrimp and two scallops and pitched the rest. The pork dumplings were basically generic like they got them from their distributor. I ate 2 of the 5.

I don't even know what to say. I'm just super disappointed. Is there any good Chinese takeout in this...

The best Chinese food in the area. CA had much better Chinese food, but I cannot find any reasonably good Chinese food here in Florida and this is the best I have found so far. It's good, but not exceptional. I will still give them 5/5 for their food.

However, everyone who works here is always so rude/ in a bad mood. It's become a joke in the family... We want to have Chinese food, we look at each other, and we ask if we are willing to deal with the attitude of the staff for some reasonably good Chinese food. Some days the answer is "yes" and other days the answer is "no" and we go elsewhere. We would be here much more often if everyone was not rude, aggressive, and just hostile here.

There is also another minor and easily fixable issue: Whatever chemicals are used to wipe down the tables, they should be replaced for something that does not smell so bad. The staff does an excellent job of wiping down tables, but the product they use is very smelly and the whole restaurant smells of it... which interferes with the nice smells of the food.

I would be happy to amend my review to a 5/5, but staff really needs to make an effort to not be rude and hostile. We've been here many times and we've never had normal...

Service animal turned away.

We stopped in as travelers passing through, drawn by great recommendations from locals at the Elk Lodge. The Chinese food was fantastic—the egg rolls, pork egg foo young, Szechuan chicken, and house fried rice were all excellent. Service was fast and efficient, and the dining area was clean and well-maintained.

However, we had a major issue upon arrival: my 80-year-old mother’s service dog was turned away. The staff insisted on seeing a disability card, which we explained is not legally required. While my mom does have a letter from a certified trainer (back in our RV), they refused to accommodate us.

In the end, we had to leave Roxy in the car—thankfully, it was a cool evening. Luckily mom had no issues during dinner that Roxy would have been needed for. Still, this shouldn’t have happened. Businesses really need to educate themselves on service dog laws for their county, state, or country to ensure they are following regulations and treating customers fairly.

Would we return for the food? Absolutely. But we hope management takes the time to update their policies to avoid discriminating against future customers who rely on their...