Complete Ripoff - Spoiled Valentine's Day

Valentine's evening meal for 2 people was a scam. It was advertised as a set menu for two people with 5 courses and 4 kinds of wine. Each of the dishes was listed with a different type of wine underneath it on the menu card given to us where each dish described in a fancy, froufrou way. It looked like an amazing deal for 388kuai.

In reality it was a big, deceptive load of sh*tty false advertising. What we got, was a set menu of terrible food for one person which we were forced to share and no beverages were included.

The first course was supposed to be roasted chili oysters. In reality was a cold, dry square of puff pastry with a scraping of off-tasting fishy mush on top, there were 2 tiny blobs of sweet chili sauce on the plate and a few wilted leaves. The pastry was about a 5cm square and was cut in half for us to share.

The second course was listed as a duck and pumpkin dish. Reality gave us a salad of the same leaves as the first “course” with 5 tiny dumpling/croquette things around the edge and about 4 cubes of pumpkin as big as a pea. Of course, the 2 of us were to share this one tiny plate.

As the second course came, we enquired about the wine which was supposed to come with each course. We were looking at the menu card which, very clearly, stated the name of a glass of wine with each course and the waitress informed us that those wines were a “suggestion” from the chef to accompany each course. We should pay extra for them. We wanted a nice romantic night, so we paid 250kuai extra for a 50RMB bottle of red.

3rd course was gumbo. The waitress brought 2 bowls, each with a spoonful of Chinese white rice in them then another bowl with 2 tiny, frozen shrimp, 1 cube of fish and ¼ of a small crab with no meat on it. There was a dribble of watery soup, composed mainly of green and red peppers. The broth was overly fishy and bland at the same time.

4th course was the steak; we were looking forward to this, starving and thinking we would get some substantial food in us. The waitress asked us each how we wanted our steaks so we assumed there would be 2 steaks… for 2 people, duh. Wrong. 1 TINY bit of meat, on a spoonful of diced squash with 3 or 4 potato balls. It’s really depressing looking at a steak then having to cut it in half and each only have 2 bites.

Finally there was dessert, chocolate cake. It was ok, just one bit of cold, cry cake to share. By that time, we had really low expectations so the cake was just another thing to get though so we could go to Sanlitun and get some dinner.

The service was terrible, our tap water was never refilled, the waitresses were nervous and incompetent, we asked for the wine menu 3 times before getting up to fetch it ourselves. They also told us that we couldn’t order a la carte, we had to have the set menu yet; all around us other people were eating big delicious-looking meals from the menu. The manager seemed to be a Chinese guy in cargo pants who doesn’t speak English and when we asked if we were getting another steak, he looked confused and said “erm… buzhidao”.

The place is grimy and falling apart, freezing cold and paint peeling off the stained walls. The candles on the tables were not lit, the harsh overhead lighting and the owners and friends of the owners walking around sucking on mugs of Chinese tea and gabbing loudly at the bar made it the least comfortable, least satisfying and least romantic V-Day ever.

Total rip-off. Forget this place. 700kuai for the worst dinner of my life.