I didn't check the Google reviews and just happened to pass by, so I decided to buy something to try.
I was so angry that I had no choice but to give a one-star rating. If there were black stars to fill in, I would probably give a black star directly.
Afterward, I checked the Google reviews and found that the overall rating is still 4.6 stars. Even though there are some 3-5 star reviews, people still have complaints about the waiting time. However, those who left a one-star review seemed to express feelings similar to mine, and the boss even replies to the one-star reviews! (I won’t go into details about the replies, but if you’re curious, you might want to check for yourself since this is primarily about my own experience).
👀 Let’s talk about what happened:
I arrived at the stall around 7:15 PM.
1️⃣ This shop only has an online menu.
I looked around the stall and couldn't see any menus. Finally, I found a small sign that had the link to the official Line account with the words "online ordering." I thought, "There should be a menu online, right?" So I scanned the QR code above and finally found the menu and prices.
It appears that the boss changes the dishes slightly every day, so aside from checking the dishes at the stall (looking into the cabinet), you either need to ask the boss or browse the daily menu.
🌽 Looking into the cabinet is a test of everyone's knowledge about the dishes. Because there are no labels in the cabinet, it’s like being at a market stall with no names or prices on the products—just boxes of dishes. If you don’t know them, you might not be able to distinguish between some items. However, I strongly advise against asking the boss, which I’ll explain later.
2️⃣ This shop does not have ordering instructions.
Some busy places still have a notice saying: Order by crossing out items, please order online, or wait in line somewhere, etc. Although I saw the boss preparing the meals, I didn’t see any place to cross out items or any instructions for ordering, so I asked the boss, "Excuse me, can I order directly?"
I didn't expect that what followed would ignite my anger🔥 and shift my mood from not wanting to leave a review to wanting to write a detailed food record.
I hadn’t even finished my question when the boss interrupted me. He stopped what he was doing and said, "Can't you see I'm busy right now? Because of you, I have to stop my work, which means the customers behind you are going to wait even longer." He continued fussing, pointing to the customers next to me and saying that they were also waiting, and that just because I asked him a question, I was making him stop. Of course, he also wasn’t continuing with his work.
🤷 Honestly, I felt inexplicably perplexed; I just asked if I could order? I hadn’t even made an order yet, and I was already scolded.
Moreover, this was my first visit, and the boss didn’t know me at all. How could I possibly be familiar with how to order? Not to mention, this shop didn’t have any information about ordering rules at all.
Later, I emphasized again to the boss: "I’m just inquiring about how to order, how should I order? Should I order now and then wait? Or should I line up? Where should I line up? What should I do?"
After a pause, the boss loudly replied, "You have two options: Either order online or wait for me to call you!"
Right, wait for the boss to call. He told me to wait; I couldn't order until he called me.
I was furious, so I decided to see just how delicious this place could be that made the boss so busy that he couldn't even respond to a simple question.
And since I was already there, why wait online for who knows how many orders? So, I decided to wait there in person.
Then, the boss continued to busily handle his orders. Once he finished one and put it in the fridge, he finally called the customer who was in front of me and also waiting. It turned out that the meal he had ready was not for that customer.
At that moment, I realized that this customer had also been standing there waiting for a long time and hadn’t ordered either. Apparently, the rule for ordering on-site at this shop is like this: The boss calls you before you can say what you want, then you can place your order, and only then will they prepare it.
After waiting for a while, this customer finally got her meal and drove away.
Once she left, I thought it would have been my turn next, but I sensibly refrained from asking because the boss said, “Wait for me to call.”
As I had expected, the next move from the boss was to scroll through his phone, starting to count what the next order would be and preparing the next meal.
That’s right—no asking, no greetings; he wouldn’t tell you he might need to prepare urgent orders first, just continuing to deal with his online orders.
Halfway through preparing an online order, the boss suddenly spoke up. He didn’t ask what I wanted to order but said, “Do you have an online order?” I replied, “No.” He then said, “Why don’t you order online?” I said, “Didn’t you say I could wait here?” The boss then said, “Oh, I just wanted to let you know that we’re out of baby bok choy; I was afraid you might order it online.”
🤗 This came as somewhat of a surprise.
Later, while I watched the boss preparing the meals, I also observed my surroundings.
3️⃣ I saw the way the boss handled chicken breast and sincerely felt that food was being wasted. The boss had a scale by his workbench, and for every dish, he would weigh it before seasoning, and chicken breast was no exception.
On the plus side, each meal was weighed, but the method of ensuring the weight was: if it was insufficient, he would cut up small pieces to make up the difference, and if it still wasn’t enough, he would cut more small pieces. So, I watched as the boss’s cutting board became filled with scraps of chicken breast, which would then be included in the weight, seasoned, and finally packed in the box. Of course, weighing each item also consumed a lot of time.
4️⃣ The boss's memory didn’t seem very good either. After preparing a meal, the boss would start calculating the price of that order without paper, pen, or calculator. Straining to calculate the total, he closed his eyes and got really into it, and after a few rounds of figuring it out, he finally wrote the total on the paper box.
Then he cursed.
Yes, the boss muttered to himself when he was serious; he said he forgot what order that meal was for.
So he started scrolling on his phone, trying to find his orders again.
In the meantime, a girl riding a scooter asked if she could order.
5️⃣ The boss showed no intention of hiding his impatience. Accompanied by eye-rolling, his shoulders (including his head) turned in a large circle. As he said, he stopped.
He answered her, "It's very busy right now; you have to wait to order." The girl then asked, "Will I have to wait a long time?" The boss estimated for a long time and said it should be less than an hour, also telling her she could order online or wait on-site.
Later, the girl chose to order online, finished her order, greeted the boss, and started to leave.
The boss first called her back, saying, "Did you order baby bok choy? We’re out of baby bok choy!" The girl replied that she didn’t. Just before the girl was about to ride away, the boss called her back again, saying, "You have to wait for me to call you, then you can come get your meal!"
This left me astonished😳. It turns out that people who ordered online were not given a specific time to pick up their meals?! While we stood here waiting for the boss to call us, he was hurrying to fulfill online orders and also preparing urgent ones!
But I won’t dig deeper since I didn’t choose to order online, although I did see later in Google reviews that someone mentioned that online orders waited to be called to pick up them. But whatever, I've already waited🤗.
Lastly, before that girl left, something happened while she was ordering.
6️⃣ Meals that the boss dropped were not remade completely.
The boss was quickly preparing his orders and finally calculated the price and packaged it, running to the fridge with the meal, but just before opening the fridge, he dropped the entire meal on the ground.
Although the meal was in a box and then placed in a plastic bag, I wasn’t sure how much actually fell (some distance made it hard to see clearly), but it’s very likely that it all fell in the box or the plastic bag and didn’t touch the floor outside. However, the boss didn’t simply put the meal back in the fridge; instead, he returned to the work desk, put on plastic gloves, and began a new process.
I originally thought I would praise him in my mind for redoing it, even though it took quite a bit of time, but it was indeed more hygienic.
What I ended up seeing was the boss re-weighing the broccoli🥦, not long after putting the whole thing back in the fridge. (I saw that this meal included more than just broccoli; there were also other meats and vegetables).
This part is for everyone to judge for themselves, as I’m not sure how much was actually spilled. Secondly, everyone’s level of tolerance might differ. Therefore someone might accept it while others may not. At least for me, it was very clear that the meal had been dropped on the floor; even though the outer packaging fell, possibly nothing from inside spilled out, the outer bag felt dirty to me. I belong to those who can't accept having food packed in unclean bags.
Finally, the boss called me, and it was my turn to order. By this time, it was already 7:40 PM, which means I had waited standing for over 20 minutes with no known wait time, just waiting for the boss to decide when to call me. Looking at the chicken breast that was in shreds, I decided to give the boss one more chance and chose chicken thighs, which are not as easy to break into pieces.
I ordered two more dishes, and the boss asked if I wanted to add green onions, garlic, and the spice level and saltiness, then quickly prepared everything afterward. (The boss forgot to ask me one question, but by this point, I was too hungry to say much🤗).
At last, I finally received my meal.
As for the meal details, I’ll let the pictures describe them. If anyone is interested in trying it out, you can accept the boss's style and place an order! However, I personally will never go back—this one time exhausted all the chances I could give him.