Red Bowl Asian Bistro — Restaurant in Southern Pines

My family (a party of 10) went to the Southern Pines NC location to celebrate my granddaughter's promotion to Middle School.

Our server brought all 10 drinks to the table at the same time, not a problem if you can handle them. She could not, first asking my granddaughter's father to take the drinks from her hand, then spilling the drinks on the tray on him as he was placing the drinks from her hand to the table. Our server did not at any time apologize to him for this accident. She picked up the mugs from the floor, took them to the kitchen, then returned with a broom and dustpan to sweep up the ice cubes; another employee (who later said she was the manager, then said she was the proprietor) came to mop up the rest.

When presented with the bill, I said to the server that Red Bowl should compensate the person she spilled drinks on by absorbing the cost of his meal and drink. She didn't understand what I was saying but she pretended to, because she nodded, said ok, and returned to the table with TWO bills, removing his charges from the original bill and presenting the other bill to the person she spilled drinks onto, my granddaughter's father.

Another guest tried to explain to the server what I meant but the server still didn't understand. I asked for the manager. I explained to her what I wanted and she answered saying she could only give me the employee discount of 50% off his meal. I said that's unacceptable to me, I realize it was an accident but his clothes are wet, no one apologized to him and you're not going to cover his cleaning bill so Red Bowl should comp his meal and drink. She repeated her employee discount offer, said that's all she can do, giggled, smirked, then walked away. My daughter said she'll speak with the owner since all the adults at the table were offended by the manager's reaction.

My daughter went to the register and asked for the owner. That's when the 'manager' said she was the 'owner', contradicting the employee working the register who said the owner is not there now. Tempers and voices now are understandably rising, my daughter is being lied to and the manager/owner is frustrated. I paid both bills, noting that the meal only was comped.

We have always enjoyed patronizing Red Bowl in the past. This situation has ruined the Red Bowl experience for all of us. The 2 star rating is because of the food, not the service or attitude of your employees. I will never again patronize any Red Bowl restaurant and cannot recommend this specific...

We ordered take out off the Thai and Chinese menus and were extremely disappointed. Like a previous reviewer, I'm from the New York City area and know and appreciate Thai, Chinese and Sushi cuisines. I cannot speak for their Sushi but the Thai and Chinese foods were horrible. My Lo Mein was overcooked, the Tangerine Beef was served in ungainly clumps and although bland had more flavor than the so-called "Spicy Red Chicken Curry" that had neither spice nor heat. Even the onions in the chicken curry were bland. The entire dish seemed to have been boiled with no seasonings.

The Spring Rolls were equally as tasteless. Each dish seemed to the three of us to not have been salted at all. The three of us decided not to keep the leftovers and threw $45 of food out. I honestly couldn't even eat the Lo Mein and spit it out. There's a better local Thai restaurant in town called Thai Orchid that although admittedly isn't the best Thai food I've eaten, is better than the Red Bowl Thai food.

I confess we didn't try the Sushi but given the overall atrociousness of the Thai and Chinese food, I will not give them a second chance. I personally have a pretty high tolerance for mediocre food but our underwhelming experience with this particular restaurant on this particular day with this particular chef prompted me to write...

Torn between 3 and 4 stars... decided on 4 because I think there just isn't a ton of these kinds of restaurants in the vicinity. Food was good. My husband got sweet and sour chicken and crab rangoon. They were having a special of beef pho, so I got that and 3 rolls of sushi. The sushi was good, small... like tiny rolls... but good. The beef pho... omg I ended up eating the noodles. When ordering the pho I asked what kind of beef it was... was it all fatty and gross. The waitress said no... the beef is so great it melts on your mouth. I decided to order it and it was not the business. The beef was so fatty and tough in areas, then another bite was like biting into a bite of bumpy lard. There was also this beef sausage in it that tasted like imitation canned beef sausage.. disgusting. I literally ate the noodles and veggies. That was another thing that was a bit different. The sauces and vegetables didn't come standard... like on a plate and bottles on the table... or even just brought out for those getting pho. I had to ask for all the sauces I wanted to add to my pho, and they brought them out in small paper cup things. Normally you get a plate of bean sprouts, mint, lime, jalapeno... all the fixings... nope, not here... it was really weird. For the area... okay. But definitely not a place I'm dying...