Eastern Garden — Restaurant in Wantage

There was a lot of hair in my sushi. Obviously put there purposefully because I found at least one long silver hair in each and every roll. Luckily I caught the first one before I ate it. Look, in a college student and am used to being at least somewhat discriminated against when eating out for not fitting the silent dress code. Simply put, I look like a college student and this is the only reason I can imagine these chefs chose to single my friend and I out. We ate at the restaurant then got extra sushi to go. We had a $60 check between the two of us and left a %20 tip. We weren’t dressed awful, but I had a hat and my friend was wearing a bandana on his head and they must have wanted to send the message that kids like us shouldn’t come to sit down and eat. Or the chefs ignorantly believe that violating health and safety regulations is funny. I know we were singled out because this restaurant is generally great and gets great reviews because of it. Until today it was my favorite place in New Jersey to get sushi, for spicy tuna specifically. I wish I could go back and take my hat off and present myself better because I can no longer eat at Eastern Garden in all good conscious. I wish I could say the place is bad overall, but it isn't. They offer excellent food at affordable prices. However if the staff treated me this way there are undoubtedly other cases that either went noticed or unnoticed and that to me, is sad. I hope someone there sees this and realizes that this is not a proper way to conduct business. They hold everything they need to continuously prosper for a long time to come. Instances like this however put chips in the armor and slowly destroy any establishment. I study business and expect little to impact on then from my experience. All I can do is...

SEVERELY disappointed. Everything seems to taste and look like they cheap out. My normal Chinese food place is Good Taste in Hamburg. Eastern Garden doesn't compare, but I decided to give them a try because they have good reviews, are closer to home, and deliver. I honestly can't see how the other reviews are talking about the same place. Maybe they just haven't had REAL, good Chinese food. The egg roll seemed skimpy. There just wasn't a lot in it. And it was like a stale-type of soft. The fried wontons were hard. They were impossible to chew. I soaked them in the sauce (which seemed watered down and NOT sauce-like) before I could manage to eat any. Not the same type of "fried" I've gotten at any other place. They had almost no meat in them. And the Wonton soup was the same way. Both had just a pinch of meat. The Wonton soup was also flavorless and had as many noodles in the quart as Good Taste puts in their pint. The Mixed Vegetable was okay, but Good Taste gives you more AND it comes with rice for cheaper. The General Tso could have been better. It just didn't seem like the right texture. Good Taste in Hamburg is DEFINITELY worth the drive over. Never going to Eastern Garden again. TOTAL waste of money. I wish there were an option...

FIRST VISIT 5 Stars We were in the area to visit family and picked up some take-out from here and the pizza place next door. This place is amazing. Food was delicious- we ordered sushi, sesame chicken, broccoli w/garlic sauce, and egg foo young - all delicious without overly thickened, overly salted sauces. Everything tasted very fresh and was prepared rather quickly. I can see why it's a local favorite - now dreaming about returning so we can take out from here again!

UPDATE SECOND VISIT 1 Star: We were in the area again and decided to pick up another order from Eastern Garden. This time the food was not good. The General Tso"s chicken was very mushy - never really had chicken that texture - the sauce on the broccoli was super thick with an odd flavor, the egg foo young was overfried and rubbery with a similar gooey sauce as the broccoli... but the sushi was good. Could be that we just hit an off day, but I am downrating to three stars as an average between...