The best Chinese food is always in a dirty room somewhere with 90% elderly mah jong players and front of house that greet regulars by yelling “WHY ARE YOU HERE!?”
she like, fusses over me like i was her kid, its adorable and i love her
also yeah all their food is in this series of layered mystery vats that are impeccably clean with a 100 rating that theyre very proud of. letting it roast in the juices makes it its also apparently really low on labor, they just throw it all in the vat on monday and keep it simmering all week, tastes amazing. shes from like guangdong or something and used to run a communal kitchen there but moved to america when her kids moved here for university many decades ago. she hasnt been back to china in a long time so i showed her videos of her home town and she was shocked at the infrastructure changes
If an immigrant owned restaurant has negative reviews from entitled white people saying “service was poor” or “staff seemed rude” I’m immediately more inclined to go there tbh. Food is always top tier.
TRUE. There’s one near me that I frequent, the owners recognize me and this is kinda weird but they have a specific huge glass that they always bring out for me 'cuz they know I drink a lot and always send me home with a bunch of free candy 'cuz they know I’ve got four younger siblings.
But once they bring out your order they disappear into the back. You gotta ring the bell for any kind of service, just a quirk of the restaurant being run by Chinese immigrants in their 60s.
But once they bring out your order they disappear into the back. You gotta ring the bell for any kind of service
Lol I bet people whine about that all the time
Upper class Americans acting all whenever the kindest soul from another country doesn’t understand the servitude culture in America where you’re expected to get on your knees and kiss the customers’ ass with a forced smile and an overly positive tone of voice
Word. God forbid you have to get up to fill your own water glass or something. Like i have nothing but admiration for food ninjas who just appear in your field of view to ask if you need anything then vanish when you blink, or who keep your glass full the whole meal but you never see them, but people shouldn’t have to work like that.
Hell yeah. Your restaurant doesn’t do the fake smile customer service bullshit? Count me in. Most of the time the people working at places like that are perfectly polite, they’re just not doing the performative fake friendliness demanded of us workers.
There used to be a Chinese restaurant (or what we call Chinese in Ireland, half of it was chips and curry) near me that had ridiculously cheap meals and the food was amazing. They only accepted cash and even though there was a dining area, the only people who ever sat there were the worker’s kids doing their homework. I came to the conclusion that it had to be a front for money laundering because the food was so good and so cheap
Mob front restaurants are awesome. Some of the best pizza and sandwhich shops in Philadelphia in the us are fronts for the mob. Or were, 20 years ago, i haven’t been back in a long time.
I think the stereotype is that if there isn’t at least one kid doing homework you should re-consider eating there.
God, immigrant run restaurants. All the stories about doctors and engineers and skilled semastresses and on and on who were shut out of their porfession by racism and regulations so they started restaurants because it’s a relatively accessible way to get a small business up and running.
The best Chinese food is always in a dirty room somewhere with 90% elderly mah jong players and front of house that greet regulars by yelling “WHY ARE YOU HERE!?”
she like, fusses over me like i was her kid, its adorable and i love her
also yeah all their food is in this series of layered mystery vats that are impeccably clean with a 100 rating that theyre very proud of. letting it roast in the juices makes it
its also apparently really low on labor, they just throw it all in the vat on monday and keep it simmering all week, tastes amazing. shes from like guangdong or something and used to run a communal kitchen there but moved to america when her kids moved here for university many decades ago. she hasnt been back to china in a long time so i showed her videos of her home town and she was shocked at the infrastructure changes
If an immigrant owned restaurant has negative reviews from entitled white people saying “service was poor” or “staff seemed rude” I’m immediately more inclined to go there tbh. Food is always top tier.
TRUE. There’s one near me that I frequent, the owners recognize me and this is kinda weird but they have a specific huge glass that they always bring out for me 'cuz they know I drink a lot and always send me home with a bunch of free candy 'cuz they know I’ve got four younger siblings.
But once they bring out your order they disappear into the back. You gotta ring the bell for any kind of service, just a quirk of the restaurant being run by Chinese immigrants in their 60s.
Lol I bet people whine about that all the time
Upper class Americans acting all
whenever the kindest soul from another country doesn’t understand the servitude culture in America where you’re expected to get on your knees and kiss the customers’ ass with a forced smile and an overly positive tone of voice
Word. God forbid you have to get up to fill your own water glass or something. Like i have nothing but admiration for food ninjas who just appear in your field of view to ask if you need anything then vanish when you blink, or who keep your glass full the whole meal but you never see them, but people shouldn’t have to work like that.
Hell yeah. Your restaurant doesn’t do the fake smile customer service bullshit? Count me in. Most of the time the people working at places like that are perfectly polite, they’re just not doing the performative fake friendliness demanded of us workers.
There used to be a Chinese restaurant (or what we call Chinese in Ireland, half of it was chips and curry) near me that had ridiculously cheap meals and the food was amazing. They only accepted cash and even though there was a dining area, the only people who ever sat there were the worker’s kids doing their homework. I came to the conclusion that it had to be a front for money laundering because the food was so good and so cheap
Now its being gentrified :(
Mob front restaurants are awesome. Some of the best pizza and sandwhich shops in Philadelphia in the us are fronts for the mob. Or were, 20 years ago, i haven’t been back in a long time.
I think the stereotype is that if there isn’t at least one kid doing homework you should re-consider eating there.
God, immigrant run restaurants. All the stories about doctors and engineers and skilled semastresses and on and on who were shut out of their porfession by racism and regulations so they started restaurants because it’s a relatively accessible way to get a small business up and running.
I know a Uzbek couple who were literally particle physicists in the SU and now run a restaurant.