Ever had an urge for Dim Sum? We did and we made a big mistake-and we didn't even eat. That describes our experience at Red House Dim Sum at 456 Bloor West, at Howland, in Toronto. Don't let the pretty decor fool you. After all, those boots were made for walking, right?
We should have known that this was going to be a "memorable experience" when our waitress could not understand English. Let's face it, words like "Diet Coke" and "How much" should be on every new immigrant's vocabulary list. Well, of course, until you take a visit to the Red House.
We are used to slow service, but this takes the cake. The place was not that busy for a Sunday around 12:15pm, but our drinks never came after ten minutes. What did come, however, was another waitress to ask our order all over again. When we told her that we had already ordered, she questioned why there was an extra table setting and menu on the table. Well, we asked, maybe we should ask you...you work for the place. Rudely, she tore the menu and the extra table setting away from the table, like there was some poor child in China that desparetly needed it .Alas, another waiter with no English and no service skills. Two for one...
Finally, the clincher. The only male waiter, hovering over the Internet (or whatever he was doing with his POS system) in front of us began to stare and not let go of his staring. I finally got tired of it and asked him what he was starring about. He said some mish-mash English word with the word "problem". I finally said, there is a problem, rudeness. He looked away and did not respond. I guess we can't speak English, have no customer service skills and are zombies to boot.
We finally thought to ourselves-"Do you want to support this type of business with our hard earned cash?" We both shook our heads in unison and walked out.
Sorry, no dim-sum today, or ever again at the Red House Dim Sum Restaurant. The food may be good (I have heard) but the service and the service staff have no customer or interpersonal skills whatsoever. We will bring our dollars elsewhere where we are appreciated-and can be understood.
Comments (6)
i can't believe you wrote the words that you wrote and actually seem proud of them. what country do we live in? do you and your friends sit around making fun of peoples accents all the time? mocking them? well, maybe if you didn't go in there with some racially motivated chip on your shoulder, you'd get over the fact that we live in a multi-cultural society and that some people are trying their hardest to learn english as quick as they can, so that they can all serve YOU better. maybe you mumble? did you ever consider that? or maybe you mumbled on purpose to prove a point? i'd be rude to you too if you gave me additude like your review reflects. patience and understanding go a long way, you obviously expect to be catered to because you think you deserve it ... yes, you and your hard earned cash. like no one else works hard for the money they earn. whatever... restaurants (and the whole service industry, for that matter) don't need people with attitudes like yours.
Posted by joe | June 9, 2007 8:56 PM
Posted on June 9, 2007 20:56
sorry, one other thing. i guess this is a free country and you are entitled to say whatever you want. so keep it up.
Posted by joe | June 9, 2007 8:58 PM
Posted on June 9, 2007 20:58
As a customer, I have the choice to visit any restaurant or not. In my mind, a restaurant is in the hospitality business. Hospitality has no language barriers. There are restauranteurs in Toronto that speak even less English than this establishment and are the most gracious of hosts. Those are the places I go back to. Life is too short to deal with mediocre experiences more than once. If one does not have a passion to do something right, it's hardly worth doing and concurrently hardly worth patronizing again.
Posted by Paul | June 16, 2007 5:13 PM
Posted on June 16, 2007 17:13
I have been to the Red House on a number of occasions and found the staff polite courteous and attentive, maybe they don't respond well to entitled racists.
Posted by Chris | September 7, 2007 7:38 PM
Posted on September 7, 2007 19:38
I am reading this and had a comment: It is curious that exercising one freedon of expression somehow, oddly enough, makes someone a racist. If a restaurant's service is subpar and someone wants to comment about such, then let them. Hopefully, the restaurant will clean up its act and get rid of the bad attributes and move on. Heavens, there are so many Asian restaurants in that neighbourhood. Why be stuck with one?
Posted by Gia | September 7, 2007 8:08 PM
Posted on September 7, 2007 20:08
I have been to the Red House too many times to count starting the first week it opened. I have never had a bad experience, a bad dish or difficulty in communicating. After reading the original post all I can say is that I think Edward had a unique (and most likely slightly exaggerated) experience that should not reflect badly on the restaurant on the whole. If anything, go yourself and judge. Try the steamed spare ribs, they are wonderfull.
And to Gia who seems to have no problem with racist comments in general, I would like to point out that yes there are a lot of Asian restaurants in the area, but they are mainly Korean, with some Japanese and one Vietnamese (Pho Ever) but Red House is the only Chinese place since the Double Happiness (which was a more general Chinese food restaurant and had no Dim Sum) closed a year or two ago. All Asian are not alike. I would not eat Pork Bone Soup if I'm in the mood for Karaage.
Posted by Paul H | October 13, 2007 12:31 PM
Posted on October 13, 2007 12:31