Hong kong Garden — Restaurant in Whidbey Island

Our local spot that people love to hate — but we actually love it.

Now The Top, as it has been known coloquially for years, seems to be Whidbey’s favorite restaurant to complain about. Every few months, someone on the community forum dusts off a post about how awful it is, and every time, I find myself standing up for it.

Here’s the truth from our family’s perspective: we go every month or so, and it’s consistently enjoyable.

We’ve got two little boys (ages one and two) who view “sitting still” as more of a philosophical concept than a practical skill. The staff never flinch — no side-eye, no sighs — just a welcoming smile and plenty of space to wiggle. That alone earns five stars in our book.

My husband has celiac disease, and the team always helps him navigate the menu safely. I’m vegetarian, and they manage to find something we can both eat (bonus points for the veggie fried rice, which our kids like).

The view? Genuinely stunning. Some evenings we’ve had the dining room to ourselves, and it feels almost cinematic — like we stumbled into a private restaurant with a Puget Sound panorama.

Is it the fanciest place on the island? No. But it’s reliable, friendly, and family-run, and the food hits the spot. I suspect many critics are simply expecting it to be something it never claimed to be.

We’ll keep going back — because sometimes “good, friendly, and unfussy” is exactly...

We arrived around 6:00 pm on Friday. There was only a couple other parties there. The owner greeted us and was very friendly. We received our drinks fairly quickly. She took our order and we went out to enjoy the deck while waiting. Food came out quickly. Then the owner left and another waitress took over. That is when the service took a hard left. Absolutely no service from that point on. We tried to cash in our winning pull tabs, but no one ever came to help us. Finally the waitress came back, after close to half hour. We asked for our tab and to go boxes. Waitress brought our tab, but no boxes. Waited another 15 minutes for her to return but she never did. I went to look for her but was nowhere to be found. I saw the to go boxes and grabbed my own. Waited some more for her to come back and process our card but she never came back. Finally, since I had cash, we walked around restaurant until we found her. Gave her the money and left. Now, as for the food, the honey walnut shrimp was good.everything else not. In fact the hot and sour soup was basically watered down sirracha sauce. Mongolian beef tasted like teriyaki. Almond fried chicken sauce was even worse, . Fried rice, basically cooked rice with soy sauce poured over it, not fried at all. Save yourself the time, go...

There were definitely some highlights, but overall our experience missed the mark. Both my mother-in-law and I enjoyed our entrées. The beef and broccoli was flavorful, and she liked her dish as well. The egg flower soup was interesting but fine, and the appetizer was tasty despite being served on a plate that looked like it hadn’t been fully cleaned, as it was dirty with something dried on.

Unfortunately, the lack of cleanliness really stood out. My entrée and her cranberry juice both had hairs in them, my water glass was dirty, and the table was sticky. It also took nearly 20 minutes after getting our drinks for anyone to take our food order.

We were originally told raspberry iced tea wasn’t available, only to see another table ask for it. Oddly enough, that same table was later informed it wasn’t available either, so clearly some confusion there. They were also out of teriyaki chicken, which was disappointing.

The ambiance didn’t help either. Some lights were out, fake flowers sat in a vase of water, and the backyard area was cluttered with broken furniture and junk, even though it could be a beautiful space.

It’s unfortunate because the food itself showed promise, but the overall lack of cleanliness and attention to detail means I won’t...