Lotus Garden

I use to come here for years– growing up this was a great place to eat. Just found out ownership changed. That explained why things seemed odd. The veggie meat is different, sauces are different. Only a few familiar, kind faces there, the rest were completely different. A new server didn’t smile at us, put out our orders at different times so we had to wait to get everything. Entrees came out but not the rice… It felt out of order. It just seemed off– then when the food came and it was absolutely so unlike the food that was there before, it was not appetizing, it was to be quite honest– gross.
Why change the recipe if everyone in Loma Linda kept coming for years and years. all of us at the table were so disappointed in our food and our service– we asked if they would consider changing the recipe back but it sounded like it was already brought up but nothing changed. I never understood why new owners feel compelled to change recipes that are proven to work and have their customers coming back over and over again to eat. My friends and I will not be coming back. What a let down, this was one of my favorite places to eat in town. Not anymore. Don’t even bother coming here unless you want overpriced, disgusting food and poor service.

Great food, great service, and a pleasant atmosphere. They are very accommodating for large groups. Eat here. Do it.

We were long standing customers of almost 15 years. We knew the owner personally. We use to come is and joke around her while dining. We knew she was going back home and was handing the restaurant over to her son. Sadly after today we will never be going back. Things there use to be made from scratch and now it taste no better than Panda Wok. The prices have gone up and the quantity/​quality has been reduced. Very Sad! We miss her.

What a sad day it is when you realize that your fav place for the past 16 years has gone to the toilet. My dad (who has passed) used to bring us here at least twice a week, I passed that on to my kids coming here often to remember the great food and service my dad used to love. My kids loved it as well, and then today… They ruined it all. They have hired kids from high school to to run the front of the house. Really? They are talking about their issues and don’t care that we have been waiting for an hour for a simple two dish order to go. They changed the whole menu to make more money. they have dumb rules and now their original staff who was amazing all these years now looks miserable. Will NOT be back. Good bye good memories and good food.

I noticed a few changes, they server said the changed ownership months ago. The food is it the same, don’t think I’ll be back.

Service is extremely slow. Took over 15 minutes just to get someone to take our order. A few waiters and waitresses saw that we were waiting but we were ignored. Food items came out one at a time least 15 minutes apart from each other. Pan fried noodles were soggy and drowned in sauce. Has certainly gone downhill from how I remember it from a few years ago. Poor service, mediocre food.

Just finished eating at Lotus Garden and it was terrible! Within a minute of being seated our loud waiter said «you know what you want?!». We had just opened our menus.
I ordered the beef broccoli which was bland and the broccoli had a bitter after taste, possibly old. The fried rice was nothing more than white rice with some chopped egg, had no veggies oe flavor. The Lo mein also lacked flavor and overall the food was definitely 1 star. In addition, the service was terrible. From being rushed to order to getting the tab right after we were served. We asked for chop sticks and never got them, we had to waive down our waiter for more water who then left the pitcher, probably so he wouldn’t have to be bothered anymore which was fine for us. We never got our tea even after asking about it. We will never be back to this place, they need some serious improvements.

So here we are on Valentine’s Day and the wife wants Chinese food. We have always loved Lotus Garden for a good, authentic Chinese dinner. We walked in without a reservation and found only one couple in line ahead of us. The Hostess explained that the wait would be approximately 30 minutes. The wife was up for the wait and we asked if we could wait in the bar. (This is where the standard Lotus Garden gets a little more interesting.)
We were greeted by Mike, the bartender. Very nice and friendly. He asked if we wanted to order and we said yes, expecting for him to take a drink order. He brought to us two menu’s. We said, can we eat in here? He said yes and we decided to take a table across from the bar. Mike took our drink order and directly behind us was the couple that was ahead of us in the restaurant line.
Shortly after Mike served us our drinks, our food order was taken and we had appetizers within minutes.
Mike was amazing, the special holiday wait was fo everyone else in the dining area and the authentic Chinese food was great.
Even the couple directly behind us wished us a Happy Valentine’s Day.
Thanks again Mike. It was a great time.
The wife had a Mai Tai and I stuck with my regular Vodka /​soda.
We started with the sample platter (reall good) and then Chicken Chow mein and kung pow beef.
The wife took half of the chicken chow mein home, (mine was gone) :) very good!

We loved to go to Lotus Garden for our birthday celebrations. We were a party of 5 senior ladies celebrating a 90^th birthday. Three arrived earlier and waited 10 minutes, the place was not busy. When we arrived the waitress was right there and asked rudely if we were ready to order as we were sliding into our seats. Luckily we knew what we wanted as this has been our favorite place to celebrate for many years. Two are vegetarians and when we were ordering one asked for vegetarian cashew chicken, she rudely said «can’t have vegetarian». So then she asked for vegetarian almond Chicken
the waitress said ok. Rattled off our order rapidly so it was hard to distinguish what she said. I barely caught her to ask about the rice. First she said «no rice» I looked at her and asked if it came with the meal she said «oh what you want» it took a long time to get through to her to bring 2 fried rice and 3 white rice. 10 minutes later she brought us egg roll and what was supposed to be wanton, a greasy flat ½ wanton wrapper. As we were finishing our blessing prayer she was there with the small platters of food. About ½ or less of their usual servings she called out each dish including saying vegetarian almond Chicken. We passed around the platters so we could all sample everything, I noticed the chicken was not tofu but actually chicken. It took about 10 minutes to get her attention even though there were three waiters all around us, deliberately ignoring us. When she finally came over we pointed out that her dish was not in fact vegetarian. She said «NO YOU NOT ORDER VEGETARIAN «very rudely each of us told her that she in fact did order vegetarian. She stood there for 8 minutes arguing and got very loud and was screaming «NOT ORDER VEGETARIAN «she bustled off showing us that she was in the right and the 5 of us were wrong. 15 minutes later she came back to our table acting sweet and asked if we needed boxes, we said yes, in a flash she came back and boxed the little bit of food we had left. Gave my friend the check, smiled and said «anything else «. We said no. I would give them a negative star if I could. Needless to say her tip was very small. We won’t be returning there to eat overpriced greasy food in very small servings.

This used to be a favorite place for family celebrations. Tonight is the last time I am eating there. We were told there was a change in ownership. If this is true, the new owners are running this place into the ground. The quality of food was horrible. Service was poor.

I’ve been here several times and each time I experienced bad service. For example tonight we arrived and they sat us right away but it took about 15 – 20 minutes for someone to come and take our order. Then the waiter is rude as he takes our order. The salty food took a long time and we got our drinks after since he forgot what we ordered. The place was not too busy for them to take this long. The attitude is what did it for me, I’m not coming back.

I love Lotus Garden the food never disappoints and the staff is always gracious and attentive. I love the Sizzling Three I always get it not matter the cost lol. Eating here just reminds me of my child hood and going to eat in Redondo Beach at my family favorite chinese food place. I just cant remember the name of it right now…

A group of us came to Lotus Garden for lunch today and the experience was nothing like before, actually downright horrible. We were told LG is under new management. Well it is a change not for the better.
When we made our reservation, we were told lunch buffet was discontinued as of 2÷1÷16 so we placed our orders in advance since we only have an hour for lunch. The table was ready when we arrived then the wait begins. Our food finally showed up 45 minutes later, and another 10 minutes for our appetizers (e. g., soup & egg rolls). I ordered a kung pow beef and it was drenched in a thick sauce. All I can taste is soy sauce. Blah!

Used to be my fav place for 5 years. Not anymore with owner. If you ask your food quality is not good as usual, they would say it’s your fault. Old owner was not like that.

This place use to be one of my top 5 Chinese food restaurants in California. Since the change in owners and wait staff, this place is noticeably changed and not for the better.
We were seated by the hostess, who appeared to either did not want to be there or had a rather Blake demeanor. Asked for a booster seat for my son, never got it. She walked off and totally acted like the request was lost in translation.
When our waiter finally took our order, took 15 minutes to get someone’s attention. The place was half empty. Finally received drinks and we’re told we could get one more refill, really? We were not offered any tea.
Food finally arrived, the egg rolls were not completely cooked. The shrimp fried rice was lacking seasoning, and was greasy. My beef with rice noodles was undercooked. My sesame chicken was over cooked and hard.
I will not be coming back to this location…

Went to Lotus Garden (arguably my fave restaurant) today for lunch, and found that they are under new ownership. Apparently the new owner is psychotic (according to several long-​time staff members I spoke with). They have a couple of new policies that are really bizarre and entertaining at the same time.
1) If you go in a group at lunch, any person who wants the lunch buffet must eat separate from any person who wants to order a plate off the menu. Those two individuals must sit in opposite dining rooms.
2) If you decide you want to place an order to take home while dining in, your server cannot take that order. You must walk to the front desk to place that order and pay separately for that to-​go food.
How strange are these rules?! The staff I spoke with (I’ve known for 20+ years at the restaurant) said married couples who are regulars now dine individually at opposite sides of the restaurant. These are very silly. I have loved this restaurant for so many years. It makes me sad to see new ownership running the place down like this. I kind of want to see them lose business because of this. Just so ridiculous.

This place has taken a dive lately every since the business was sold.
Customer service is terrible. Very disorganized now. The last few times I came to pick up my order, I have to stand in front of the counter for a good 2−3mins before someone wants to help. Keep in mind that someone is on the other side of the counter just flat out ignoring me.
I have been going here very often since the late 90s, but am now finding a new spot to pick up chinese food up Waterman (Happy Family Vegetarian).
It’s really too bad, but good things always come to an end someday. It used to be such a great place when the older lady owned it and was working there nearly every day.

OMG this very well maybe the best Chinese food I’ve ever had, don’t know how they do the quality of cooking they do for the size of restaurant they are, it’s a shame to see an empty table here (I promise!) Can’t wait to come back to Redlands for seconds

Service is good here about 66 2/​3rds of the time. A longtime favorite place for my family to gather for birthdays and other occasions it is funny that until the recent visit anyone ordered something different than the last six or so times.
Our server was nonexistent most of the evening and it was hard not to be annoyed. While the restaurant was busy and two very large parties kept employees running, the female server in the main room where we sat outperformed the guy 10:1. The good news though is that the food was as good as always when it eventually arrived.
My sisters are consistent: one always gets the maple walnut shrimp (yummy) and the other sweet and sour chicken (or tofu back in her short-​lived vegetarian phase). My stepmother got her favorite Mu Shu pork, and I got my customary General Tso chicken. Only dad broke holding pattern by getting bbq pork with water chestnuts and snow peas.
All-​in-​all, the food filled us, and sampling all the dishes was fun. Aside from the spotty service I’d continue to dine here on special occasions.

Very good customer service and deliciois food. I always order the shrimp fried rice. And green beans
Will attach pictures… love this place