I've been living in Marina for about 7 years now. I never dared to try Ho Wah, because my husband and his friends told me horror stories about this Chinese restaurant. When I saw the "Under new management" sign, I mustered up some courage and gave this restaurant a try. The food was good under the new management, so I referred family, friends, and our clients here whenever they asked for a Chinese restaurant referral.
Well, I brought my family of 3 here for dinner last weekend, and had the worst dining experience ever. I don't know what we did to piss off the server/cashier lady, but she was just so freakin' rude! And the service is so slow. First of all, we waited about 15 minutes before our order was taken. I had to flag them down to take our order, otherwise who knows how long it would've taken them to come by. (This is not a huge restaurant either!) Waited another 10 minutes for any water/tea and they never once refilled our water. Then we waited forever for our food! A party of 4 that came in 10 minutes after us got all of their food before we did. What pushed everything over the edge is the server/cashier lady. She literally came by and threw down our plates. Then she brought the crispy rice for our soup, threw it in the soup, immediately turned around and walked away as if she was feeding her pigs! Then we waited forever for the bill to come, and she didn't bring us fortune cookies like she did other tables. So while she was standing next to our table, calculating our final bill, my 4 year old asked her extremely politely, "May I please have some fortune cookies?" The lady didn't respond, so my daughter looked at me confused. I told her maybe the lady didn't hear you, speak louder. So again, my 4 year old asked very politely, but louder this time, "May I have some fortune cookies, please!" The lady still didn't engage my daughter or make eye contact or even bother to look up! Just about when I was about to say something, without looking up or smiling, she said, " I be back with crackers." WTF! So she obviously heard her but didn't bother to even acknowledge her! I get it, you are busy, but politeness is a choice! With that attitude, you won't be busy for long!
As a fellow local business owner, let me give you a tip of advice. If my receptionist ever EVER did that to my clients, I would fire her! Customer service still matters! And when an innocent child talks you, make sure you address her back! Because you don't want to piss off the mama bear! The child even said "Please!" and "May I", THAT is a big deal! I vow to NEVER come back to this restaurant and I will not refer anybody to you ever again. Our bill came out to 50 something dollars. For that price, I rather go to P.F. Chang's for FAKE Chinese food, so I can get some decent dining experience and free rice!
Also, lunch price is cheap, but dinner prices are too expensive for the small portions and they charge for rice. Someone I referred there came back and told me that they tried to charge them for the to-go box! Ridiculous! read more