Restaurant Peony

06/13/09

The Restaurant is a fraud!

by TTTrng

We had made a non-refunable deposit of $100.00 for a dinner reservation for the next month. The manager, Mr. VINCENT KWONG, wrote us a receipt. We had to cancelled the dinner a few days later because something came up. Mr. Kwong nicely told us that we could use the deposit money some other times and there was no expiration date on the receipt. A couple months later, I went back to the restaurant and tried to use the deposit money to buy some take-out. I shown him the receipt with his signature on it. Mr. Kwong told me that he couldn't verify if the receipt was valid. I needed to come back to the restaurant Monday through Friday, between the time 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to talk to their ACCOUNTANT DEPARTMENT to clear the issue. After I left the restaurant, I discovered that there is a line on the lower left corner on the receipt, printed in Chinese saying "Please return this receipt when used".

Mr. Kwong could not verify if the receipt was valid or not was a lame excuse. If I had actually used the deposit money, he would took back the receipt. This is just not a right way the do business. THE RESTAURANT TRIED TO GET MY MONEY WITHOUT GIVE ME MY FOODS.

Consumers, I also heard that when you dine-in, please carefully exam your bill to see if they already add the 15% tips on it on purpose do not matter that you only have two people in your group. DO NOT DOUBLE PAY YOUR TIPS!

• Pros: Foods are just ok
• Cons: Bad management

01/24/09

Average dim sum, price ok, service pretty bad

by iching

Food: 2.5 stars, Service: 1 star, Price: 3 stars

We had a full table on a Sat at 11 am (prime time). Not many carts were circulating and I did not see any favorites like shrimp ha gow. They had basics like shu mai and beef buns. It took a while to find even the most common things like chat su bow (bbq pork bun). We were missing and had to ask for soy sauce, vinegar, tea, etc. Our appointed table lead person sat near the aisle and had trouble getting these things to us even though she was fluent in Cantonese.

The worst offense was when she tried to order us a basic veggie plate (bok choy). (She spoke with our waiter, not the cart-pusher, btw). The conversation went like this in Cantonese:

"What vegetables do you have?"

"All kinds."

"Ok, how about bok choy?"

"What do you mean?"

"Can you bring us a plate of bok choy?"

"Ok, how do you want it cooked?"

"Um, stir fried"

"What size, small or big?"

"Small"

"Sorry, it only comes in big."

"Ok, big then."

We ended up with a plate that was 90% chicken bits on a small bed of bok choy. Sure, we didn't make the effort to get his promise that the plate would be mostly bok choy, but it was clear he was not being helpful.

The final price was reasonable, about $12 per person including tax on top of the mandatory 10% service charge. They have a laminated sheet (which is accurate, I checked) explaining that mandatory service charges are allowed to be taxed under CA law. I didn't know this, but at least it's good to know they are not doing something illegal. Just be ready for it. Being charitable, I think it's an attempt to introduce tipping to a culture that ordinarily doesn't.

I personally would prefer to go somewhere with better service and higher quality dim sum, but our experience was almost adequate here.

• Pros: Ok food, not too expensive
• Cons: Awful service

02/04/07

Best dim sum around, but GO EARLY. You won't be disappointed!

by ckyelland

Peony is some of the freshest, most mouth-watering dim sum you can get in the Easy Bay Area. That being said, do not head out to Peony expecting a Western-Style dining experience.

The service generally isn't rude or horrible, as other reviews suggest, but you're not going to get much (if any) personal attention. You'll sometimes need to be aggressive with flagging down the carts as they roll by, you will probably feel ignored to some extent, and good luck getting a glass of water (I bring my own bottle of water, usually). The place is crowded and crazy, so don't waste their time haggling over the 10% "service charge" - that's just how they do it there. It's definitely an "an-business" atmosphere, which can come off as being terse and make you feel brushed-off.

If you go there with these things in mind, you will have an amazing dim sum experience. Considering the volume of food that this place cranks out, it's amazing that they're able to maintain the freshness and variety that they do, but somehow they do it. The seaweed salad is wonderful, you really can't go wrong with any of their dumplings, and their coconut cake melts in your mouth.

The one thing that I would strongly advise, in order to avoid the insane waits and miscommunication that seems to be common there is to GO EARLY. If you get there between 10:00-10:45am, you're golden. If you show up after that, be prepared to wait. A long time. I'll continue going to Peony for dim sum as long as they're serving it up. Don't go expecting to have the underside of your teakettle kissed, and you won't regret the time and money spent.

Expect to spend between $20-30 for two people.

• Pros: amazingly fresh and delicious food, convenient location, coconut cake is awesome
• Cons: potential for excruciatingly long waits, noisy, parking