China Garden in Irvine... very disappointed

[jroxybabe19]

I don't like to talk bad about any restaurants but maybe I went into this restaurant not knowing enough about the cuisine or what to order. So here was my first night at China Garden, We sat down and there was tea on the table. Our waiter didn't bring over water or warm hand towels. (We would have requested it but after ordering our waiter was no where to be found) We ordered steamed dumplings and then our 2 entrees, a seafood hot pot and orange chicken. After waiting about 10 minutes the hot pot came out. It smelled like rotten seafood and the calamari was so over cooked i couldn't even rip it apart with my teeth. !
10 minutes later the orange chicken came out. Then about another 10 minutes later the dumplings came out. I might be confused, but aren't appetizers suppose to come out first? I ended up not eating my hot pot and we picked on the orange chicken. I heard only great things about this restaurant and had high hopes. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but the service we had was very poor and even if I ordered not the best dish they had the service would have made up for it.

[sportsfan8]

Yeah, stick with the dim sum at China Garden. I had bad experiences with lunch and dinner.

[Wonginator]

The order in which items come out in Chinese restaurants is usually in the order that the food becomes ready, not necessarily in the order you expect. You would normally expect soups and appetizers to come first, but I've had many a meal where they came last.

You usually have to ask for water in Chinese restaurants, and I've rarely seen hand towels in any Chinese restaurant, except fancy wedding banquets.

Like others said, I've gone there mostly for dim sum, and I don't think I've ever done dinner there. For dinner, I like SW Seafood, just across the street from China Garden in the other shopping mall across on Walnut.

S&W Seafood
5406 Walnut #A
Irvine

[jroxybabe19]

Ahh I see. Thanks for the input. I didnt want to get to know my waiter I just couldnt even find him! I know something had to be off. I need to know whats good to order there and would be better prepared for sure! I would love to go for dim sum so will have to give it another chance!

[russkar]

The reasons to go to China Garden are simple.
A. Fantastic Live King Crab (two ways)
B. Giant Clam (Sashimi & XO cooked Head) One of the best deals anywhere!
C. 2 lbs of Steamed Live Shrimp Prawns for the price of 1 lb.
Pass on most of the other offerings.

[Professor Salt]

Mmmm. King crab. Joined Russ for a crab & clam blowout a few years back. Be ready to drop a big wad for the live seafood. $25 / pound or so for an average sized 5 lb king crab. Live geoduck clam is more reasonable, tho.

http://professorsalt.com/2004/12/18/k...

[russkar]

Lately we take our own 8-9 lb RED King Crab with us (purchased at IMP)and have CG cook it for 6- lb. Wholesale cost is 20- lb for Red KC so it becomes 26- lb x 8lbs but it's a lot of Crab along with everything else. We spread it over 6 people.

[Professor Salt]

BYOC. That's great!

Have you done BYOB at China Garden? What's their policy about bringing a booze they don't sell (sake)?

[russkar]

We always do the BYOB thing at CG , no problem! We bring Sake, Wine and even Cosmo's for the MIL(mother in law). No charge.
For straight out Chinese food we like the Pungent Shrimp along with other dishes at Chef Chen across the street close to 99.

[Zadok]

I have also lately been very disappointed with CG. Not only is the quality quite variable, but the prices are increasing - (plus check how they add your total amount.) I have been impressed with Cafe Chen - across the street, and have heard that their hot pots are quite good. In the past, I did like Tri-Village-across the 5, but their dining room set up was such a pain it was hard to get a table.

[oldusedcop]

That's because you went for something other than dim sum.

[choctastic]

I've never had a good dinner there. I know, according to these boards I'm supposed to order the lobster but our groups never wanted lobster.

I only go for dim sum which is pretty much the only relatively decent dim sum in the area.

[Professor Salt]

Sucks that you had a bad experience, since I'm a longstanding cheerleader that apparently steered you into a ditch. I have not tried the seafood hot pot, so I can't comment on what it's like. The orange chicken, or dishes vaguely gringo-ish tend to be their weak spots. The kung pao chicken for example, is only meh here.

The service -IMO, it's fairly standard Chinese restaurant service: abrupt and unpersonal. I find they're very quick to clear used plates, and do it unobtrusively. I've never seen warm hand towels in a Chinese restaurant (they do that?).

As far as the pacing goes, we usually have the opposite problem at China Garden: our orders from the kitchen come out in too-rapid succession and our table's backed up like the Y at rush hour with rapidly cooling plates of food. Sounds like you got Mama Bear service. I get Papa Bear service. Looking, as ever, for Baby Bear.

Give it another chance. Dim sum on a weekend morning, perhaps?

[slacker]

Usually, you only get the towels if you're ordering something that requires the use of your hands, ie crab.