If you haven't been to the Harbor yet, take an afternoon and check it out. There is going to be a ton of retail and good eats. I'm working on a restaurant under construction right now named Grace's Mandarin. They have two other restaurants in PG county.
Here's a view of the building from the street.
And another...
This is the view from the bar. Notice the river in the background...
This is Eddie Ng, or Nice Guy Eddie as I like to call him. He is Grace's son and is in charge of the project. The food in their other restaurants is excellent and I don't expect anything less here. They're going to have a VIP area so those of you ready to spring for the Crystal will feel right at home. See you next time...
6 comments:
I went to Garce's Mandarin Restaurnat for the first time on 2/14/09. It was the worst experience I have had at any restaurant in my life. Based on how we were treated I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone.As I said it was my first and it will be my last. I noticed that some servers including our own were bringing water and hot towels to some table and to others nothing. The appetizers were being brought to the table with the entrees and the food was not really hot. My guest and I had to ask for water and we got the water when we were almost finished our meal with an excuse it is very busy tonight, but the same server had given water to another table as soon as they were seated. SO TALK ABOUT YOUR LAME EXCUSES.
My only question for you is, did you speak to someone about it?
Everyone makes mistakes. The difference between the pros and the amateurs is the way they address issues and what they do to correct them.
Have any other readers tried Grace's? Care to share your experiences? Please do.
Went Sat. night (2/21).
The decor is gorgeous, the service very uneven and the food not very good.
It was a busy Sat. night and although it appeared the restaurant didn't lack for numbers of staff, they clearly need some better training. Example: daughter ordered sushi as an appetizer. Although it came with the requisite wasabi, ginger and seaweed garnish--no soy sauce. She ate the sushi after waiting several minutes. Another 10 minutes passed and soy sauce came to the table and waiter was surprised sushi had arrived. Getting water was tough but at other times, waiter and wait staff were on top of things.
Other appetizers including dumplings (good) and chicken satay (ridiculous) were well-plated. Two soups (hot and sour, miso) were nicly presented and garnished but not served hot and very small in size.
Entrees were chicken and asparagus (tasteless), pork chops (pretty authentic sauce but ludicrously small serving), garlic shrimp (ok) and the house fried rice (nice, ginger flavored). All dishes were very nicely plated and used good quality ingredients but portion sizes were extremely small, given the high prices.
Desserts (mango mousse and chocolate mousse) were good.
Bottomline: Great decor, below average food and a high bill.
I am a European who took my two American guests to Grace's Mandarin on Sunday March 22nd 09. Judging from my superior European standards when it comes to restaurants and food, I find Grace's Mandarine to be much above standard in decor and excellent in food quality and quantity very compatible to European and International standards. The service was excellent. For us Europeans eating is an art, I understand the negative comments coming from people that are used to McDonalds or Tex-Mex restaurant (or whatever you call them) all you can eat for a set price. I do not think if I owned a posh restaurant I would want this type of clientele that do not appreciate good food.
Compared to European restaurants of that caliber Grace's Mandarine is a bargain when it comes to prices. In all restaurants around the world you might get a bad service from one particular waiter, you report it to management and I am sure if it is a respectable restaurant they will take care of the problem immediately because their reputation depends on quality of service and food. You do not crucify the establishment for one error. In my life time I have had some legitimate complaints regarding the service that management would not accept me paying the bill for the small inconvenience I had, even though I insisted to pay.
Viscount S.S.
we go to gracies at least once a week since they have been open and the food and drinks are superb......my son who is 10 loves the food, sushi and sashimi there...we go every chance we get...the bartender there SANTCH makes the best drink and he is always on point....Itruly enjoy thier food and ambience....
GOLD N ' DAYZ TRAVEL AND ENTERTAINMENT......
Below is my experience and email to management that still have not heard back on. I suggest to anyone to NEVER eat at any of their establishments. This place was horrible. They should spend less time putting orchids on their plates and more time training their management staff
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing with complete and utter disdain after dining with you on Sunday May 8th. We were a party of 8 and were literally held hostage for a 3 hour lunch. Our experience started with a late turnover on our table. We should have departed at that time, but had heard wonderful things about your establishment, so against our better judgement decided to stay. Our server was pleasant and took our orders, but this is where the level of service took a severe change for the worst. We received our 1st course after 30 min and our next course did not come until 28 min later. With a progressive lunch (or at this point dinner) there should be absolutely no lag in courses. I had to hunt down a manager in a sea of confused and frustrated waitstaff. When I finally found the gentleman that I assumed was in charge of this fiasco we requested to have both the 2nd and 3rd courses. This was due to the fact that it was now after four and were completely famished. We only received half of our meals with yet another 10 minute lag for those who had meals and those who had to wait. During this whole time no apology or comment on the wait. A member of our party had to leave to due to another obligation. In the meantime only half of our desserts arrived. We had requested the bill 3 times in an effort to try in leave and had yet another 30 min wait. Upon receipt of the check we had the joy of discovering that your waitstaff thought they were entitled to an 18% gratuity.
Now after paying the bill I still wanted to search out a GM to either receive an explanation or apology for the matter, but no one was to be found. I went downstairs to the host stand and waited with a crowd of displeased patrons waiting for their over extended reservations. I graciously told one guest that was waiting for 45 minutes that our lunch was close to 3 hours and this is why they were waiting so long. They decided that your restaurant was not worth the wait. No need to thank me on saving them the inevitable torture that they would have had to endure my $500 lunch tab will be thanks enough.
Throughout my life as a guest and a former employee in the service industry I have never witnessed such disorder and incompetency when it comes to a dining experience. It is my thought that anyone can serve food and it is the level of service and the experience that you are ultimately paying for. A fixed menu is intended to streamline this process and help the FOH, BOH, and guest to have the best management of time possible. I would love to hear your feedback on how you felt your team managed this day and perhaps an explanation on why you feel that our lunch/dinner was the worst experience anyone at our table has ever endured.
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