Another Yummy House coming to Tampa
It seems Yummy House is so popular the owner plans a second location on E. Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa, and is thinking about a third, in Sarasota. I'm a China Yuan loyalist myself, but this is great news for lovers of real Chinese food.
You can read more here:
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/dining/...
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China Yuan
8502 N Armenia Ave Ste 1A, Tampa, FL 33604
Yummy House
2202 W Waters Ave Ste 1A, Tampa, FL 33604
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Did Yummy House twice last week. Duck fried rice, sizzling scallops, Sizzling grouper with eggplant all very very good. And the service was on the ball. everyone was nice, friendly, and helpful. Very good time. Some of the best Chinese food I've had in a long time.
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Yummy House
2202 W Waters Ave Ste 1A, Tampa, FL 33604 -
Any word yet on the YH Sarasota location? It was mentioned in the Tampa Bay.com article, we could use a little authentic Chinese food in SRQ.
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i had the same experience with service at the new place. Our server fpogot we were assigned to her, i flagged her down and she apologized. still had a hard time getting our order right, but it all worked out. SP Calamari batter was off. The rest of the dishes were good.
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re: andy huse
ladlelady
Jul 4, 2011 01:10 PM
I'm disappointed to hear about the service problems. According to the news the owners hired the cook staff from from San Francisco, New York and Las Vegas and paid their moving expenses. Too bad they don't seem to have put at least some of that effort into the serving and hosting staff. I hope they can work out all of the kinks.
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Las Vegas Restaurant
1715 S Federal Hwy Ste C3, Delray Beach, FL 33483-
re: ladlelady
Ladlelady, I had good service! Whatever slight hiccups my party encountered, they were precisely the kind of thing you would expect in the first week of an opening. I can't remember the last time someone comped me $20 in liquor just because an item on the menu was unavailable. In my view, management knew precisely where the weak points were and attended to whatever issues arose with grace and generosity. I couldn't ask for more.
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re: CFishman
ladlelady
Jul 4, 2011 02:02 PM
I'm glad that you experienced only "slight hiccups" but you seem to be in the minority. From everything else I've seen described here and elsewhere so far about the new location, the issues encountered by others weren't just hiccups. It hasn't been open long and I'm still hoping they can get it together. I'll probably just wait a little longer than I had originally intended before trying it out myself. Meanwhile I'll be content to go to the original location, which is more convenient to me anyway.
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re: ladlelady
Do we really want to use Chowhound to drive away patrons from restaurants in their first week? That seems foolish to me. Anyone who has worked in restaurants or been to restaurant openings knows that it takes time for things to come together. I just don't see the point of harping on these purported problems. If you prefer CY to YH, fine. I have no dog in that fight. Still, I think we should give the new YH the chance to get things off the ground.
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re: ladlelady
I am part of that "minority" too (which I doubt is a minority at all). I was at the new location this past weekend and my experience was completely positive. While I'll agree with the general consensus here that Yummy House was never about great service, I have always felt that it is one of the best places to eat in Tampa, which is 90% of what matters to me. I always have tried to avoid the Water's Yummy House on Friday and Saturday nights when they are overly crowded and I could not agree more heartily with the remarks above that suggest that opening night/week is not a time to expect perfect service from any place. My friends and I ordered 7 dishes that were an amalgam of previous favorites and new dishes. With one exception, all the dishes were very well prepared and my entire table was really happy with the new location. Multiple waiters/waitresses came to our table regularly to attempt to address our order, drinks, a missing item, etc and the service was exceptionally friendly. I just didn't experience "hiccups" that overpowered the quality of the food or perfectly fine service. It took a while to get a table (opening week) and one dish was sold out. That's it. Otherwise, I would strongly recommend the new Yummy. When does dim sum begin there or has it already?
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Yummy House
2202 W Waters Ave Ste 1A, Tampa, FL 33604-
re: Hungary
ladlelady
Jul 5, 2011 06:56 PM
In my post my use of the word "minority" was referring specifically to what I had seen reported on various web pages at that point in time. I am glad to see one more positive review.
My understanding is that it is open for dim sum. Some friends and I are going this coming Sunday. Hopefully it will be fabulous...the company and food anyway. Who knows maybe even the service!!
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re: Hungary
ladlelady
Jul 12, 2011 08:02 PM
I am so very pleased to say that Dim Sum on Sunday was a huge success! We arrived at noon and were seated immediately. (By the time we left people were waiting for tables, so it seems that may be a good time to go.) The options were diverse, the food was tasty and fresh, and the service was excellent! Our party of five paid less than $20 each (including a generous tip), so the price was right too. All in all, it was an excellent experience and I cannot wait to return for more Yummy House dim sum.
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Yummy House
2202 W Waters Ave Ste 1A, Tampa, FL 33604
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blitzchamp
Jul 2, 2011 01:49 AM
The new Yummy House location on Hillsborough Avenue was exciting to me as an enthusiast of the original location on Waters Avenue, but my experience there this past Friday night was bleak at best.
The service was horrific. The hostess told us there was a 20 minute wait and we waited much longer. When she did finally seat us, she incorrectly had us sit at the wrong table twice, both times not even bothering to take us to our table, but simply pointing. She told us they were waiting on two men to leave so they could clean a table for us and then sat us at another table. Once we finally sat at our real table we waited another 20 minutes for a server to appear.
The server arrived and did not ask us if we wanted anything to drink, but simply asked us if we were ready to order. We had to ask for drinks. We ordered our food and the food came out with long gaps between dishes, making it hard to combine the dishes. The recipes were similar to the original, with slight mishaps. We were served a Salt & Pepper Calamari that was actually Shrimp, but still announced as calamari. The waitress grew furious when she found out it was the wrong order. The two orders of calamari we did receive were not quite the same as the usual, with light seasoning and a different batter taste.
We were celebrating a birthday and wanted to check if there was any kind of special or promotion at the new restaurant, and the waitress almost misled us into paying an extra entree, which I canceled after confirming that they planned to charge for a "special".
The Duck and Dried Grape Fried Rice was tasty and on-par with what I normally enjoy. The Mongolian Beef was satisfactory. We hit a major problem when the waitress brought us "Mushroom Beef" when we had ordered Honey Pepper Beef. The waitress walked away when told it was the incorrect entree and spoke with her manager, proceeding to come back and argue that is was the right dish. I was sick of fighting with the service here, and was ready for this dining visit to end.
The waitress did not come back for quite some time and when she finally did she asked us if we received all our food, clearly not having a clue what we did and didn't order. I asked for the check and the waitress had trouble calculating our order when most people paid in cash and with only one card paying the remainder. She decided to charge the number I gave her flat without bothering to actually use the register to calculate the difference.
Once the check was closed we quickly made our leave from this disappointing visit to this new restaurant in Seminole Heights.
For more with photos: http://carloseats.com/2011/07/02/new-...
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re: blitzchamp
rhnault
Jul 2, 2011 01:29 PM
I have never had good service at the original Yummy House. I will stick to China Yuan. I don't like to eat at restaurants where they seem aggravated that I am there.
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China Yuan
8502 N Armenia Ave Ste 1A, Tampa, FL 33604Yummy House
2202 W Waters Ave Ste 1A, Tampa, FL 33604-
re: rhnault
I was also there last night and had a very nice meal. We ordered salt and pepper shrimp, jelly fish, tripe and bitter melon, clams and ginger, pan fried pork noodles, broccoli, duck and grape fried rice. The only dish we had a problem with was a dried scallop soup that they didn't have. They gave us three glasses of wine to make up for the unavailable soup (without our saying anything). The hostess was a bit overwhelmed but everything else was great. I think the new space is very nice. I have to say it doesn't seem reasonable not to expect some challenges during the opening week. All things considered, I would say they have done an excellent job getting the restraunt up and running.
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re: rhnault
Me too, rhnault! we were there once, upon arrival the place was practically empty. the host gave us a hard time; what, no reservations??? well i don't know if we can squeeze you in. he finally gave us a table by the window...complete with four dead flies. we watched every single other party that came in, and the same question was asked, the same response was received (NO, NO RESERVATIONS) and the same annoyed attitude.
Believe it or not, when i ordered salt and pepper squid, the server actually told me NOT to order it, i wouldn't like it. Ummm...i didn't know this guy from a hole in the wall, how did he know what i'd like? then then told me that i wouldn't be able to handle the smell of it.
okay so i ordered something else
but noticed tables of obvious "regulars" around me ordering and enjoying the salt and pepper squid.
needless to say, we never went back. i like china yuan, i like abc chinese, i don't need a thrid place with bad attitudes, dead flies and dirty bathrooms.
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re: rhnault
blitzchamp
Jul 2, 2011 07:30 PM
What's good at China Yuan? Never been there.
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China Yuan
8502 N Armenia Ave Ste 1A, Tampa, FL 33604 -
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re: blitzchamp
First of all, with a bullet, if you are an enthusiast of the original YH, you should know service has never been their forte. I can't defend it, it's not OK, but it is an unfortunate fact. So are long waits. Calling your experience at a restaurant that just opened that night "bleak" and "horrific" is absurd and causes me to doubt the rest of your account, as well as your ability to weather genuine misfortune. If that night was "bleak" and "horrific", what would you pull out of your thesaurus for pestilence, or famine?
And then comes this:
<We were celebrating a birthday and wanted to check if there was any kind of special or promotion at the new restaurant>
In other words, you wanted a free dish. Why on earth would you ask for such a thing? This isn't Starbuck's or Dunkin' Donuts. And then you dare to suggest the waitress tried to mislead you into paying for the special dish, when she was probably just confused by your tacky request.Based on this review and your even lengthier blog post, I say you, sir, are no friend of independent restaurants in Tampa Bay if you decide to trash a brand new restaurant based on one experience *on its opening night*.
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re: UptownKevin
ladlelady
Jul 5, 2011 05:53 AM
Everyone's a food critic critic. The condescension here is amazing. One guy writes a detailed review of his actual experience and y'all pound him for it? Call him a liar? Like one guy's review is going to make or break the new location. I guess we should only write about positive experiences or gloss over the bad parts? I prefer straightforward honest reveiws. Most people on this board likely understand that opening a new restaurant is not without its difficulties but to be re-seated three times? That seems a bit much and I'm glad he wrote about his experience. One review describing a bad experience, even followed by others also describing a bad experience, is not going to keep me away from the new YH. As I said, I hope they get their act together so my friends and I will have a good experience to write about. I hope I am pleasantly surprised! Heaven help me if I have a poor experience to write about.
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re: Manderley
ladlelady
Jul 6, 2011 08:02 PM
Thanks Manderley. I am not the type to really jump out of the gate like that and am usually more reticent, but I'm glad you understood the underlying sentiment. Am looking forward to participating in more positive discussions and someday maybe go to a Chowdown!
Did you happen to read Mild Bill's blog on those oyster poboys? Can't wait to get over to Largo and try out one of those :)
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re: Miss E
I think we should judge restaurants, not one another. We all eat, taste, percieve, and judge a little differently. we don't have to agree, but we should play nice.
Yummy House will not fail because of a couple bad reviews here. Based on the new location, YH probably deserves some slack. As for me, it delivered exactly what i expected, good food and bad service at great prices.
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Yummy House
2202 W Waters Ave Ste 1A, Tampa, FL 33604 -
re: Miss E
I'm sorry to continue this subtopic, but I have to agree with Miss E. It was very much like reading a citysearch review, which is exactly the stuff I try to avoid by using chowhound. Nobody "pounced" on the guy for writing a negative review; he got dissed because he's probably an annoying, gauche diner. keep on bloggin carlos!
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It opened on June 28, 2011. Here's a link to the story:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business...
Will definitely try out their new location -
Good for them! It goes to show you that if you produce a good product at a low price, people will come, even in this horrible economy.
On the down side, I am reminded of Anthony Bourdain's comments in "Kitchen Confidential" about owners who expand. The expansion sometimes fails and its failure brings down (financially) the formerly successful original location, as well. But I guess it's a case of "nothing ventured, nothing gained" and "a faint heart never won fair maiden" and "Sure, the game is rigged, but you can't win if you don't bet."
Anyway, I wish them luck. We certainly could use more excellent Chinese restaurants in this area.
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I heard rumors a while back. especialy great news for people living in east seminole heights. with the exception of the Taco Bus, East Hillsborough is a wasteland of chains, bad gyros, etc. I hear it will be somewhere near the sanwa market.
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