NewBigWong — Restaurant in Washington

OKAY FOOD, POOR SERVICE, DISHONEST I'd like to start off this review stating that I work in the service industry and realize the importance of honesty and transparency, as well as respect. I have never felt more disrespected or been more livid with an establishment in my life-- in fact, it's taken me 5 days to even come to leave this review in hopes that someone will see it and save themselves the headache. This restaurant is at the beginning of Chinatown in Washington DC and it's open late night, unlike some of the restaurants nearby. I came in with two friends on Saturday night; two of us were visiting the city and one is local. As for the food, it's your regular Chinese/Cantonese menu; eggrolls, beef and broccoli and an assortment of noodle dishes. None of the food was exceptionally good, although I'm not sure that the staff cared seeing that they never came by to check on our food after we received it. It's an intimate space and I was very excited to see what they had to offer. During our meal, my friends and I witnessed one of the waitresses screaming at a man out in the lobby because he had dozed off while waiting for his to go order. Initially, I thought this was bizarre and unprofessional, but kept on with my meal. When it came time to pay, I asked the waitress for change for $100 bill. My friend paid for my meal on his debit card and I intended to leave her a cash tip. When she brought back my money, I quickly counted it as she stood there waiting. She rudely interrupted our exit and asked "tip in cash?". This immediately irritated me because as I stated, I am in the service industry myself and that's just something you don't do. She continued to stand there and I gave her a tip that I felt was reflective of her service- we left. When I got back to the car, I counted the change in my hand and realize that I was short. I didn't have a chance to count the money thoroughly when I was inside the restaurant because the waitress was being so invasive. I quickly went back inside to see what had happened and both women were sitting there almost waiting on my return. The waitress tried to explain that she gave all my change back, but I am fully aware of my belongings. I requested to have my money returned. The two exchanged some conversation and I told them to just give my money back ($10 was all I asked for). The woman in charge gave me $10, apologized and told me to have a good night. However, after returning to the car again, I realized that I was actually missing $30 in total and had only gotten a portion back. Not sure if I happened to drop money on the floor and it was picked up or the waitress never gave me back all of my change to begin with, but that's beside the point. This place LACKS HONESTY AND INTEGRITY and I spent the rest of my trip telling others to NEVER visit. You just don't do that to people. It's a shame that this particular waitress finds the need to prey on people who are just trying to have a nice experience. I hope that you used the $20 in a way...

Probably more like a 2.5.

I hadn't been here in a long time and couldn't recall the quality of the food but knew it is a Chinatown institution so figured it must be serviceable. It turned out to be just okay but not somewhere I'd make an effort to go to. For context, we went on a Friday night around 8 PM.

Meat Dumplings - this is how they're described on the menu. Probably pork but slightly unclear, could have chicken too. Also unclear if they're handmade. It's likely they're frozen but they're a decent dumpling. 3/5

Sliced Pork and Seaweed with Bean Curd Soup - Wanted the version with watercress but they were out of it. Nice simple soup but the pork tasted a bit off to me. 3/5 (if the pork wasn't suspect, I'd prob give it a 4/5)

Szechuan Style Chicken - my friend got this and it wasn't really what I expected to come out. It was battered and fried chicken strips in a bright red sweet and spicy sauce. I had one piece and it didn't have the mala that I would expect from a Szechuan titled dish but it was pretty good, just sort of Americanized it seemed. A note, however, that my friend had stomach issues after the fact and it could have been this dish because I was fine and we split the two items above. 2.5/5 (could be higher if based solely on flavor but the fact that it is kind of something other than advertised and that something might have been off about it drops it)

XO Sauce Short Ribs - I assumed this would be pork ribs but it turned out to be beef. Not a big deal but they should indicate that. Came as a bit of a stir fry with snow peas, carrots and some green onions. I wanted to like it but the quality of the meat was pretty low. Chewy and not very meaty. The sauce was okay. It's been a while since Ive had XO sauce so, unfortunately, cant comment on that. It did have some dried seafood flavor, I believe, which I think is a component of XO. 2/5.

White Rice - kind of annoying they charge $1 per person for white rice. Quality was fine. 2/5.

Tea - a bit strong but not bad, I think it was probably oolong. 3/5.

Service - nice enough and didn't get hassled for extra tip as others noted but we had the waitress split the bill 50/50 and I think she may have added an extra couple dollars because it was an even $34.00/pp. She didn't provide us with the original itemized bill and I couldn't remember the exact total. Even if she just did a little rounding, it was still a little...

On Sunday July 11,2024, my granddaughter and I decided to go to dinner in China town for chinese food, we came across New Big Wong located at 619 H st. NW. There was a review written by the Washington Post on the door entrance dated back in 2013, giving positive review. I was a bit curious as to why no other review was written since then, I was about to find out. Upon entering the place it was empty except for a family of four. Once greeted and seated we were given a very expensive menu, in my opinion the food must be excellent at these prices, $18.00 and up. My granddaughter order fried chicken wings and I ordered vegatable egg foo young. The boss or man in charge, placed 2 spring rolls on the table, then asked us if we wanted it. We accepted it, big mistake! The spring rolls we gummy and filled with mostly onions. The food arrived and the chicken wings were chicken wingetts, not chicken wings, they were over heated in microwave and rubbery. The egg foo young consist of a ball of fried tempura broccoli, not egg foo egg pattie with vegetables, the rice was over cooked and soggy. The service was uninviting, rushed and unattended.The manger or man in charge was arrogant and inpatient. My bill for this mess was $43.10 and a $7.76 gratis charge, bringing the total to $ 55.17, what a rip off!!!!!!!!!!!!, I would NEVER advise anyone to eat at this over priced overrated hostile eatery EVER!!!! and in opinion is why the 11 year old Washington Post review is displayed at entry on the outside giving a false impression that this garbage New Big Wong is offering at these outrageous prices is worth it. Far from the truth, maybe 11 years ago but surly not today in 2024. Please don't waste your hard earned money and your time on this garbage they want to sell you. Think about why this place has not had rave reviews posted in 11 years. And of course the lack of patrons on such a busy part of...