白家老汤( North western Chinese cuisine)

It's around Christmas time, most of my favorite restaurants closed their door, so I wanted to try out someplace that I have never been to.From a very neutral perspective, I can only give this restaurant a 2-star rating.On top of the minimum rating, which is 1 star, I consider the following traits to add stars to my evaluation:1. taste2. services3. environment4. food presentationFor the taste, I can't be more disappointed. I ordered the chicken stripe potato noodle, which is a dish that my parents used to make on a daily bases. I immediately notice that they didn't cook their noodles properly because the middle of the noodle is still raw. Even though their noodle is under-cooked, they overcooked their toppings. The chicken strip lost it's tender, and the green vegetable (no idea how that vegetable translates to English) is mushy. Aside from the terrible condition of each material, the soup was bland and taste too oily. I can confidently tell you that I can make the same dish under 15 minutes in my kitchen and make it will taste better.The services are very disappointing as well. The waiter has no intention of helping anyone in the restaurant. If anyone comes up, she would be either mumbling or just looking at you in silence. On top of that, I waited a long time for my food even though the majority of menu items are relatively simple, including the chicken strip potato noodle I ordered. Terrible service, but at least they did not ask for tips.The environment earns the only star in my review. The tables are well-prepped, the menu looks fancy, and the walls are well decorated. You and your friend can to sit across from each other and have a relaxing conversation, what a fantastic atmosphere! If this is a coffee shop, I will be visiting it weekly.Now, the most annoying part of the review, presentation. Even though taste and services are much bigger issues, presentation is an issue that you should resolve immediately. In a restaurant, I expected to get served something that is put together nicely, or at least something that tells me you tried. It would make my day better, even if the food is terrible because I get to post my food on the internet. Aside from that, a better food presentation tells me what ingredient is added to my dish. I am not responsible for exploring the noodle you sent me and guess what the hell is inside. Anyway, back to the presentation, it was horrible. When the dish arrived, I thought someone just puked into my bowl cause it looks like a mystery white liquid with weird floating substances. After some digging with my spoon, I can finally confirm that it is the chicken strip potato noodle that I ordered.Now know this: Yes, I only paid $12.44 after tax for the noodle, but I also give my rating based on that price range. If it is only 5 dollars, I will give it a 5 star immediately cause it's cost efficiency is through the roof. However, at $12.44, you are not going anywhere. Lanzhou across the street could serve noodle that is straight-up better and only cost you $10.80 after tax if you paid cash. I have no clue how your business is still attracting any customers since you are in an extremely competitive plaza right next to U of Waterloo.Do note that this is constructive criticism, I might be extremely mean here, but I hope this business will get better. You are feeding a bunch of students; it is not that hard to satisfy them. You are not a 5-star restaurant, but at least serve something that a fast-food restaurant would serve.As a first-time customer, I can confirm that I am incredibly unsatisfied and will never come back. I might check back on it when I graduate, but that is if this business is still running by then.

I'm not sure what happened over 2 years ago (when most of the bad ratings were given), but I've been here like 6 times already since the winter started and it's surprisingly good!The only unfortunate thing is that the owners don't really speak English. Bring your Chinese friend with you as a guide lol

Affordable meals (around $10), the fish soup is great, the different types of noodles in the soup is honestly something that I haven't seen before in other restaurants. I definitely recommend this for a try at least once.

The place that cheaps out on meat the most in waterloo. Got like 3 small pieces of pork when i orderd their soup noodles. Just go to gol’s, or eat instant ramen

Absolutely disgusting quality of food. Food is not cleaned properly, meats are probably not washed given how the entire soup smelled bad.A friend got sick after eating here as well so it seems to be consistent.

Do NOT order delivery form them.They mess up my order every time. Always missing the number of Chinese hamburgers I ordered.

Don't know why the ratings aren't higher, because the soups here are delicious! Unique spins on noodles like potato noodles in savory broth. Great portions as well!

Can't say much more. The service is not the best, often mistaken orders and serve food that's...just not what they claim it may be. I've had pork noodle without pork, sausage noodle without sausage.... Although they did give a small plate of the meat that was describes after I told them about it... The fact that they often forget main ingredients of a dish just tells me that A. They really don't care about you and B. They cook their noodles soup from the same stew and just add different meat to and change the name to make it a different dish... There was also this other time where basically whatever I ordered was unavailable... And when I asked what do they have they suggested me this shady mash of two different dishes that weren't on the menu... And as shady as it is, the food was in low quality too... Long wait and when I got here there were bones in my supposedly minced meat.... When I asked them about it... They told me that was apparently brittle bone...which apparently brittle bones are hard enough to make scratch marks on tables now.... So yeah...for your own safety and to save your happiness, don't go there...

Got pita bread in lamb soup (羊肉泡馍) and it was surprisingly good! The server (possibly owner) was super nice :”) the potato noodles were chewy! (Photo was only the bottom of the bowl, portion is good)