MY REVISIT POST ON VENICE GARDEN [HERE]
Venice Garden is a late night Chinese restaurant other than the ones on Kingsway.
The restaurant is supposed to be known for their chinese donut and congee. I remember ordering their chinese donut at night before and they were not fresh. Do they pre-make the donuts and leave them at the counter? The restaurant's interior is spacious and larger than other late night Chinese restaurants.
COMPLIMENTARY LARGE BOWL OF CONGEE. Apparently they give you free congee if you spend $30.00 or more? I am weirded out when people eat plain congee because I always think there should be meat, shredded pork or at least preserved eggs. Well... I ate the plain congee! I was starving, had two bowls and I actually like the congee. Many people say that Congee Noodle King has the best congee (I used to be one of them), but I find that the congee here tastes lighter and somewhat healthier. The congee tastes creamy, naturally sweet and is not bland. Or was it because I was starving? Meh, the congee is good here.
WINE CHICKEN ($10.50). The chicken has a very mild barely there wine taste and the chicken tastes average, not dry or salty. I think they slice the hair off the chicken too which is nice.
CLAMS IN SPECIAL BROTH ($6.50). The broth tastes like a clear chicken broth and is not salty. The clams are fresh but I personally do not like the smaller clams.
PINEAPPLE SWEET AND SOUR PORK ($6.50). The sweet and sour pork is freshly deep fried which surprises me. BF stays away from sweet and sour pork or honey garlic spareribs because almost every Chinese restaurant pre-makes and throws them in a huge tub. The pork is nicely battered and deep fried, and are actual pieces of meat with no fat. The sauce tastes very light and is not overly sweet.
PRAWNS WITH CHILLI SALT ($6.50). The prawns are a bit soggy and could have been crispier if there was more batter. The seasoning tastes average like most chilli salt dishes.
CUTTLE FISH WITH CHILLI SALT ($6.50). The cuttle fish has a nice crisp and the usual taste of chilli and salt seasoning. Venice Garden is not bad for their chilli salt dishes.
CRAB MEAT SHARK'S FIN SOUP ($16.88/bowl). Usually soup is one of the first dishes to come out and I forgot we even ordered this. The shark's fin is undercooked and extremely hard as well as chewy. I am surprised this even happens, it just happened a few days ago at Tung Sing Chin. The broth has a thick texture like gravy.. and pretty much tastes like a really thick chicken gravy sauce. For the price you pay, it is definitely not worth it. This is the first time I ever felt like I do not even want this and I hate wasting food. I know if I asked them to heat up the soup, it could have tasted better and the shark's fin may have been softer.
As our table was full, we wondered why the lobster/crab dish was taking so long. We thought is it possible that they wanted us to finish some dishes to make space for it? It took almost 35-40 minutes just waiting for the last dish. Oh haha I just realized we ordered the BRAISED YEE MEIN NOODLE WITH FRESH MUSHROOM ($10.50). I do not eat noodles (unless it is under cream and butter sauce crab) and I assume it is average, BF had no complaints.
We asked the manager if the lobster/crab dish was coming and she wanted to pack our food. She left the containers and bags on another table after we mentioned that we are still waiting for another dish. After another 20 minutes, our last dish finally came.
LOBSTER AND CRAB IN GINGER AND GREEN ONION SAUCE ($29.99?). I think there is a special that if you spend over $30.00, you can order a 1 1/2lb lobster and 2lb crab for only $29.99. What a good deal! It seems like lately some Chinese restaurants have cheap lobster/crab deals? I thought seafood season is almost over? Anyways, the lobster is really tender because it is smaller and the crab is a bit over deep fried. We were too full by the time the dish came so we only tried a bit and packed it up. The sauce tastes average, no complaints, not salty and has the green onion and ginger taste.
POSITIVE
- Average dishes, not salty or oily
- Creamy congee
- Nice restaurant to try if you are sick of the Kingsway restaurants
NEGATIVE
- Service is below average
- Shark's fin was barely cooked, soup is horrible especially for the price (hey, my fault, who orders the soup here?)
LITTLE THINGS
- Only the manager usually has an attitude problem, not the waitresses
- Don't think it's worth coming unless you want fast and simple dishes (honey garlic spare ribs, sweet and sour pork, deep fried prawns...)
- Double check your bill! We were charged for a soy chicken we did not have
- Damn, I'll probably come back for their congee if I'm having a late night dinner
- If only Fortune City was open a bit later, I definitely rather go there
Food: 2.5/5
Service: 1/5
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