bigwhitebear's Profile

We've been to Kitchen J two times; the most recent being tonight.The first time, we had to wait at least 15 minutes for a table which isn't too bad, but it looked like they were understaffed and therefore there were tables available, they just couldn't clear them quick enough. The second time we had no wait.The first time we had the ribs which are on the specials menu and a salad with teriyaki beef. The salad was quite good, but the ribs were pretty fatty and the meat didn't really fall of the bone. The service was fair, considering they were short handed.However tonight, we ordered the penne bolognese and the seafood spaghetti. It took 30 minutes for the penne to arrive and about 35 minutes for the spaghetti. I had about finished the penne by the time the second dish came out and that was after reminding the staff that we were missing our second dish. Both dishes were decent, but definitely not special enough that you couldn't get something comparable at many places. We had a coupon for a free ice cream dessert so we ordered that and the coffee that came with our dinner set plus we asked for the bill because we noted how slow they were. After several minutes we got the coffee and then the ice cream. Neither should have taken very long to prepare. However, the bill didn't come. We finished the coffee and dessert and still no bill. We were about to leave money on the table and walk when we were finally able to flag down a waitress and ask about the bill. We finally got the bill, paid and left. As we left, there was a line of people outside waiting to be seated.The service is definitely lacking. I don't know if they don't have enough people waiting tables or cooking or both, but they can't keep up with the orders. I noted that several other tables had an issue where entrees came out at different times, leaving some customers without food as the others at their table were served.The food is pretty good, but as I noted, nothing special. But why would I return to deal with the poor service when I can get the same quality food at other places?…Read More

After having a pretty bad meal experience on my last visit in December, I had decided to take a break from Blue Smoke. See here: http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2209158I decided to give them another chance. I arrived early for the lunch session and there were only a few people there. Ordered my standard meal, a pulled pork sandwich. It came out pretty quickly and thankfully, the pork was much better this time. It was nice to enjoy a good pulled pork sandwich again. It came with a shot glass of slaw and their unique style of chips. The chips were okay, but could have been a little warmer and with a pinch more salt, but I guess you can add the latter to taste.The staff, which has largely been the Achilles' heel of Blue Smoke was a little better. They didn't have many waiters, but the 2-3 they had were doing a decent job. It also seems they have a new manager. I really like the old manager and she was quite good at picking up the slack for the rest of the staff. The new manager is very friendly and seems to be good also. I like Blue Smoke and I want it to succeed as a restaurant, but they will need to be consistent with their food and if they could get some proactive servers it would REALLY help.…Read More

Decided to try this new restaurant in Elements.I was promptly seated and given a menu. Figured out what I wanted and was ready to order, but the waiters were pretty oblivious. The manager took note and came to my rescue.I ordered chicken satay, garlic morning glory and roti. The satay and morning glory came out promptly and were hot. I liked the taste of both of them. The satay could have been a little bigger for the price (HKD 68). The sauce for the satay was different that what I expected, but maybe it is Singaporean style. I am used to the peanut-based sauce from Thailand. It was good, but I typically don't use much of the sauce anyway. The roti came out last and was tasty, but a pinch greasy.I enjoyed the meal and one of the waitresses was good to refill my water.When I was ready to get the bill, I did have a hard time getting any of the waiters' attention, which was odd because they really weren't that busy. The manager again saw what was going on and brought the bill.The total for the dishes was $180 which I think is a bit high.It was a decent meal, but a bit pricy and the wait staff could be more consistent. …Read More

A friend had recommended NC Grill to my wife, so we decided to try it out with some friends. We weren't sure if they would be busy, so we tried to call on Saturday to make a reservation, but only got a recording. However, with the holiday, we arrived and didn't have to wait at all and were immediately seated.For lunch they had a special set menu with 3 different options all for $98. Three of us chose the pork tenderloin and one had the salad with grilled chicken. Each dish also came with the soup of the day, sweet corn soup, and a choice of tea or coffee. The soup was fantastic! Rich and creamy with good flavor. An assortment of rolls were also provided and they were quite good. The pork tenderloin was served with a little spinach on top and some diced veggies below. They were diced so small, it was almost like a salsa or pico de gallo texture. The pork tenderloin was a good lunch-sized portion, not to big to weigh you down for the afternoon. And it was delicious- tender, juicy and very flavorful. The veggies were also quite nice, but a little bit hard to get onto the fork because of their size. We finished with our drinks.Our server was polite and attentive. I noticed that he turned down the music for us (without being asked) so that we could talk more easily and was prompt with filling water and his other duties.While I haven't tried the dinner menu, I know that it is quite a bit more with most entrees ranging from $250-350. But the lunch seemed quite reasonable for the quality & atmosphere.…Read More

Tried Grand Central because we were meeting a friend and had a $150 coupon from eating at one of their partner restaurants.We ordered grilled calamari with spicy marinara for an appetizer and also a "papaya" salad with grilled prawns to start us off. The calamari was pretty good but could have been little less chewy, but the sauce was very nice. For the salad, I was expecting Som Tom (the traditional Thai-style papaya salad), but it was basically mixed greens with prawns and a fruity dressing/salsa that must have had papaya in it. The salad was about as close to being Thai as I am to being Tony Jaa. The prawns were very tasty and the dressing was nice, but it wasn't what I had expected. For the main course, we ordered the pan fried halibut with apple & parsley salad. I really liked the halibut, it was crispy on the outside, but soft, flaky and moist inside. It had a nice mix of lemon and butter flavors. The salad was good depending on the balance of ingredients you got on your fork. We went all out for desserts and tried 3 different dishes: key lime pie, hot chocolate cake & ice cream and cheesecake. All three were quite good. It was nice to have a good key lime pie, since it isn't a common dessert in HK. Their hot chocolate cake is titled "legendary" and chocolate lovers will enjoy it. It was almost too rich for me, but the vanilla ice cream helped to balance it out. For me, the cheesecake stole the show. It was probably the best cheesecake I've had in HK and it was a generous slab too. The atmosphere was nice. We sat upstairs. The downstairs seemed more like a place for drinks.The service was okay, but every time you needed something you had to wave them down, despite the restaurant not being near full. I tend to prefer the servers to be more attentive and notice when glasses are full or dishes are empty.…Read More

I have eaten at Blue Smoke several times: twice from catered meals and about a half dozen lunches. When I first had Blue Smoke, I was excited to find some good BBQ in HK; it reminded me of being back home. My standard order was a pulled pork sandwich. Occasionally, I would try a different side or something like that, but mostly pulled pork. Honestly, the staff outside of the managers has always been pretty crappy IMO. The waitresses are slow and not attentive. Today, might be my last time at Blue Smoke. I ordered the pulled pork (about $160 HKD) and a side of veggies ($38 HKD). The order came up quick which was nice, but the quality of the pulled pork was bad- really long strips that were tough except for the big globs of fat mixed in. Definitely some of the worst 'cue I've ever eaten (which is quite a bit). The steamed broccoli was... steamed broccoli- nothing special, but not bad. The waitresses were their typical selves, slow, solemn and needing to be flagged down to get service. The kicker was that after paying, I had to wait about 5 minutes for change, which came back in the form of 3 - $20s, 11 - $2 and 1 - $1. That's right I got a freaking pocket full of coins to go. I understand this can happen, but it was just the final straw in a bad dinner.I just can't justify going back and paying $28 USD for crappy BBQ and poor service. …Read More

Was at Festival Walk, so decided to eat at Dan Ryan's for lunch with my wife. I ordered the Philly Cheesesteak and iced tea. My wife got the cheese & herb ravioli off the lunch menu. I was really pleased with the cheesesteak; a lot of melted cheese, plenty of shaved beef, not too many caramelized onions and a nice soft baguette. I added a pinch of Colman's English mustard, because that's how I like it. Excellent mixture of tastes and a good portion. The fries were good, but nothing special. The waitress was pretty attentive and kept coming back to fill my tea and water, so the service was above average. My wife thought the ravioli was good, but nothing special. My only complaint was a loud group of mothers with their young kids.…Read More

I've eaten hear several times, but just now joining Open Rice.I really like East End Brewery, the food is very good, the staff is usually very friendly and the beer selection is great.I have tried several items: ribs, burgers, the chicken sandwich Tong Gai and fish-n-chips.The ribs and the grilled chicken sandwich are my favorites. The ribs are consistently good, which makes them better than Outback or some other places whose ribs are good, but not as consistently good. They have a good variety of beers and some decent deals for happy hour. My only complaint is the free peanuts, they are small and sometimes a bit stale, but that is okay, because I don't go there for the peanuts. It's not cheap, but it is competitively priced for authentic Western food.…Read More