Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Jacksonville
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-09-2008, 08:57 PM
 
541 posts, read 2,278,731 times
Reputation: 268

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by designermillion View Post
My husband and I decided to give it a try today for lunch. From the moment we got near the front door it was utter chaos. My husband managed to get in the door, but I was cut in front off by no less than 8 people. When it was finally ok to proceed, here comes another woman who cuts in front of me. Once inside the door there was no order to things. We were cut in front of, pushed and shoved by every asian person in there. No one seemed to be taking names for seats, and people were just standing around with blank looks on their faces. A woman finally appeared who seemed to be the hostess (or atleast someone in charge), and she completely ignored my husband and I and only paid attention to other asian people. My husband finally made his way up to her and said "may I please put my name on the list for a table?" She looked right at him, turned to her right, and walked off. At that point my husband looked at me and said I've had enough lets go. We felt like we were completely discriminated against because we were not asian. I think we might give it another try when they are less busy, but if we get the same treatment, we will not be back. It was just ridiculous.
Yeah this is the thing with ethnic food. The more real the experience gets, the tougher shell you have to have. I have been given the cold shoulder many times in Jersey at truly ethnic places. Yeah, it makes you feel like a nobody, but its a good sign that the food is good. Take the crappy service like a man, because you know you are about to get some good food. And hey, it gives you a good story to tell.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-10-2008, 08:51 AM
 
859 posts, read 3,604,929 times
Reputation: 288
Quote:
Originally Posted by designermillion View Post
*being ignored*
Sorry to hear that. That's quite stupid of them, if you got the time and energy, I'd write a complaint to local news paper, even Folio Weekly and have them throw a brick at them. I can just picture their mentality of only caring for big groups of people=$$$$. 2 non-asian that takes up the seat and only order very little= no $. Heck, they probably think you're there to eat general tso chicken. Either their hostess is a complete biased idiot or they just don't know how to manage it still. That crap bugs me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by vdecapio View Post
Yeah this is the thing with ethnic food. The more real the experience gets, the tougher shell you have to have. I have been given the cold shoulder many times in Jersey at truly ethnic places. Yeah, it makes you feel like a nobody, but its a good sign that the food is good. Take the crappy service like a man, because you know you are about to get some good food. And hey, it gives you a good story to tell.
True to that in places where ethnic population is high, but that shouldn't happen in JAX. Bamboo creek should know better to cater unbiased to everyone, or else who's going to eat their mediocre fusion dinner? It's like they forgot their main audience in JAX, the majority non-asian customers. Given that, some well established and truly great ethnic restaurants can play bias card without given a second look. BC is a new place...sheesh.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2008, 08:25 AM
 
Location: SE Florida
9,367 posts, read 25,131,120 times
Reputation: 9449
My experiences at Hong Kong Bistro have been the opposite of yours at Bamboo Creek, designer. Diners have always be predominantly or exclusively Asian, but the waitresses are very friendly, explain their menu and have even made suggestions for items that we have never tried.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2008, 08:51 AM
 
859 posts, read 3,604,929 times
Reputation: 288
Quote:
Originally Posted by HIF View Post
My experiences at Hong Kong Bistro have been the opposite of yours at Bamboo Creek, designer. Diners have always be predominantly or exclusively Asian, but the waitresses are very friendly, explain their menu and have even made suggestions for items that we have never tried.
and that's important! (beside the sneaky point that they tend to suggest expensive items) most non-asian that walks into HKB think it's just another place to order kung pao chicken, but they're really about real chinese comfort foods. they do have a separate menu to order your typical american-chinese food affair.

If someone's been eating chinese take out for life in jax and saw HKB's regular menu, it's rather intimidating. Duck feet, sea cucumber, fish maw anyone? But of course, the english dish names aren't always that descriptive.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-14-2008, 03:14 PM
 
1 posts, read 3,742 times
Reputation: 10
Default Then there's hope?

I've been living in JAX for about a year and, having moved here from NYC, I'm aching for some real Dim Sum. Specifically, the White Whales I seek are Shanghai Soup Dumplings (also sometimes referred to as "juicy buns"). Tender, plump dumplings stuffed with pork and/or crab meatballs swimming, under the dumpling wrap, in a hot, rich "soup."

I first had these in Shanghai and subsequently only found two places that prepared them in NYC--including Chinatown--so I suppose finding them here is a fool's errand. But hey, I'm asking .

Thank you,

YP
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-15-2008, 01:12 PM
 
541 posts, read 2,278,731 times
Reputation: 268
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yankee Panky View Post
I've been living in JAX for about a year and, having moved here from NYC, I'm aching for some real Dim Sum. Specifically, the White Whales I seek are Shanghai Soup Dumplings (also sometimes referred to as "juicy buns"). Tender, plump dumplings stuffed with pork and/or crab meatballs swimming, under the dumpling wrap, in a hot, rich "soup."

I first had these in Shanghai and subsequently only found two places that prepared them in NYC--including Chinatown--so I suppose finding them here is a fool's errand. But hey, I'm asking .

Thank you,

YP
I haven't seen the xiao long bao you speak of on the dim sum menus at Bamboo Creek. From what I have heard those are a real rareity on the east coast, with NYC and Chicago being the best places for them.

I think it will be many years before Jacksonville has a big enough Asian population to serve Shanghai style chinese cuisine. Even sichuan is probably years and years away if ever. I think we are even very lucky to have a place that serves dim sum here.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-23-2008, 12:21 AM
 
Location: Jax
8,200 posts, read 35,340,143 times
Reputation: 3441
Ate at Bamboo Creek tonight.....

First I'll say that if you love P.F. Chang's, try Bamboo Creek - they're very similar.

The food was good, we had entrees and just 2 items from Dim Sum. One member of our party ordered spring rolls from Dim Sum and they arrived quickly at the table...too quickly it turns out. They were burnt, but cold, obviously the last of a no longer fresh batch...blech!

The second Dim Sum item arrived a bit later and it was perfect. Kind of sums up our experience there really. For example, we walked in and the hostess said "three?" I said "we're five" as we were still coming through the door. The place was fairly empty, yet we were offered a table right by the kitchen door...odd spot . I didn't have to blink an eye and one member of my party said "No, seat us over there". She's a table-jumper. She wanted to switch again when she didn't like the looks of a group being seated next to us (babies), but we made her stay seated .

Anyway, even though I said "five" the hostess only gave us 3 menus and even those 3 were incomplete - some had Dim Sum menus inside, only 1 had the "traditional" menu included...what a mess. I had to go up front and grab more menus myself. It took longer than it should have to get the server to come for our drink orders too, and again, the place was pretty empty.

Once the food was on the table, everything went along smoothly, and the food was good, wine was good, no complaints (not an easy feat, I had 2 very unadventurous types with me !).

Would I go there again? I think I would, just not real soon. My experiences at P.F. Chang's have been pretty seamless though, and one member of my party said the food at P.F. Chang's is much better (and he's probably right...hard for me to judge on one Bamboo Creek entree though).

One last thing, someone else mentioned it above - the acoustics! It's very loud in there, even with hardly anyone in the place. Might be because of the slate on the walls, but this was not a pleasant din, it was on the side of being too loud - we had a hard time hearing each other.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-23-2008, 12:45 AM
 
Location: Florida
2,209 posts, read 7,626,559 times
Reputation: 638
Wish there was a Chinese restarant that served Dim Sum here in Port Charlotte
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-23-2008, 11:05 AM
 
859 posts, read 3,604,929 times
Reputation: 288
Xiao long bao, it's an art to make that by hand... best you can find here are frozen ones you'll find in JAX Oriental. It's not that bad really, gets you by for the craving. Soup baos, yeh right, will never see it here fresh.


Did a Bamboo Creek review in the best Chinese food thread for related comments.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-29-2008, 09:59 PM
 
29 posts, read 104,283 times
Reputation: 15
Default I have been to Bamboo creek twice!

Loved it !
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Jacksonville
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top