I Love Tofu — Restaurant in Spokane

I will begin by stating the food in this restaurant is good, but all that is overshadowed by the horrible customer service and terrible attitude of the lady who took care of our table. When she came to take our order, there was a dish that normally comes as a double portion that I was interested in and was wondering if they could do it as a single portion. I politely asked and she bluntly said no without hesitation, this threw me off guard. As I have worked as a server I understand that it can’t always be done, but there is a better way to say no to someone. I then told her I was interested in a noodle soup to which she suggested 3 options and I proceeded to try to ask questions about the dishes and she seemed annoyed. I will note I had never been there before so questions are a normal part of the process, at least in my experience serving other customers. I ended up choosing the spicy beef noodle soup *(Note one of the other people I was with got the same dish as a to go along with their dish). When our food arrived I looked through my soup confused because all I could see were vegetables and eggs. I could only find a few noodles and very tiny amount of beef that I had to dig around for which left me more confused. There wasn’t even enough noodles for a regular bite of noodles. I planned on asking my server about my dish and the lack of noodles and beef but she NEVER came to check on us *(Note: it was NOT busy and this is a small restaurant). The other girl who had ordered the same thing opened her to go and to my surprise there were plenty of noodles. I immediately assumed there was some sort of mess up with the kitchen, they probably make the dishes at the same and when separating them gave her my noodles and meat. Again I’ve worked in restaurants so I understand these things happen, so we finally just called the server over and I told her that I didn’t get any noodles and simply asked if I could get my noodles so I could enjoy my soup with noodles and not just vegetables with broth. Again she without hesitation bluntly stated no. This upset me, we told her calmly that the to go order had noodles, but mine did not so there must have been a mix up and she proceeded to look at me like I was Karen which was more upsetting because we were nothing but calm and polite. She finally went to talk to the kitchen and came back with the a tiny portion of noodles for my soup and I just lost my appetite. As a former server of an Asian restaurant I would never treat my customers like that, there is a way to handle mistakes and that was not it. The service was flat out rude, and as I saw from other reviews the restaurant is under new ownership so I guess the new owners don’t care about repeat business. Despite the food being decent, we will not be...

I was super frustrated with my experience yesterday and unless something radically changes I am not going to be back. First of all, a restaurant that is named "I love tofu" should have vegan options. In fact, the reason I chose to go to that restaurant on that day was because online it stated that this restaurant serves vegan dishes. When I get there the girl at the front who I talked to said there was only one dish that could be made vegan, they just had to remove the egg. She said all of the other dishes had the sauces that were not vegan...well than why is this place advertised as a vegan restaurant? Not only that but as I explained to her my dietary restrictions she appeared annoyed as if I was asking for too much. Again, this place was advertised as vegan friendly. And also has the name "I love tofu". Anyways, she acted like me explaining my restrictions was a lot of work and wasn't super friendly with communication. And honestly, I think she could of tried harder to customize something for me that she could recommend in accordance with my diet but I just dont think she really cared. During our conversation she was touching her hair and im thinking gross after touching her hair ahe is probably going to touch my food. She said it would be ready in 20 minutes. I came back in after 20 minutes and I had to wait an extra 10 minutes so that was a total of 30 minutes. I get it things get busy, but she wasn't communicating with me very well and she could of told me they were very busy and it would be a half hour and I just felt like there was nothing in my dish where it should take a half hour to make. And when she was all done and handed me my food, in the side section she told me there was some food that had mayonnaise in it, and I told her no, I stated clearly that I can't have that. She told me that it's OK I could just separate it, which was annoying because that space that was taken with that food item could have been replaced with something I could eat. Basically wasting more of my money. Like no, there should have never been an item with mayonnaise in it at all period. I stated my restrictions ahead of time. When I ate my dish, there was very little portions in the pawn Chan that was not worth the price. So little food. I will not be back, and feel like I wasted my money. I love tofu, don't list that you serve vegan options if your wait staff is going to tell me my options are very limited and they are going to be...

I rarely write bad reviews, but this is well deserved. The last time that my family and I dined at “I Love Tofu,” we had a great experience, but since then it seems as though they have changed their policy and hired new staff. Our last experience was great, the waitress checked in on us, refilled our waters in a timely manner, and replaced our little plates of Korean side dishes when we were finished.

Today, we came in with 4 adults and 2 babies with a bill that totaled $60. Everyone ran out of water and the waitress asked us once for a refill when we had finished dining, the bulgogi chicken had a bone in it, I mean, no big deal, but what really was disappointing was when we asked for a refill of our Korean side dishes (it’s standard amongst well-run Korean restaurants) and the waitress responded “Sorry, our policy is that everyone has to order an entree.”

For spending $60, it should not matter if one person out of a whole family of adults who ordered entrees decides to share, especially if there are young children present who cannot eat a whole entree. I understand that owning a business is difficult, especially in Spokane, but the previous reviews about being stingy with the side dishes are something to take into consideration from an economic standpoint.

Sadly, four generations of my own Asian family members who love Korean food will not continue to do business with them due to their uncultured version of hospitable Asian dining. My giant family and all the previous reviewers that encountered this treatment could have been repeat customers. That could have been a pretty nice profit for them at the cost of refusing to replace a little bit of kimchi, potato, and fish cake due to a very unheard of policy. My 10 month old and 3 year old can only eat the provided side dishes (the entrees are far too large) and unfortunately they were still hungry by the end of our $60 lunch.

At least if you have a policy, please explicitly state it on your menus or use signage. If it's too ridiculous of a rule to write on a menu, it's too ridiculous of a rule to have.

Such a shame, I would hate to see another restaurant establishment go...