Shaxian Snacks

I ordered some foods and the waiter did not provide any other service except delivering the food to the table. When I paid the bill, I did not choose to tip. So the waiter came out and tried to force me to tip. I said I had change in my car and if they insisted on a mandatory 10% tip, I could give you the change. The waitress refused again. This was the first time I encountered this. Isn't tipping based on the customer’s feeling?

As a person who ate Shaxian food a lot in China, I think overall the food in this restaurant is OK (at least higher than my expectation) despite that non of these are authentic enough. This is the first time I came here so I ordered the most popular and common food I would order in a Shaxian restaurant. The noodle was good actually but the wonton soup was just so so (very little meat in wonton and the soup base is not bone based, just like water base). They have quite good service! However, the sanitation needs improvement. If you look at the photo there is a short hair in the plate and some other small stains. I didn’t touch that plate at all and it was definitely not my hair (I have long hair).

For the pork and mushroom wonton soup, the broth was bland, the pork chunks and ribs were bland and a bit tough, the mushrooms weren't bad, and the wonton was fine. The standalone dumplings were good especially with vinegar. The signature fried rice was okay. I'm used to more flavour and the rice having been fried on a hotter wok. Service was good, attentive, and staff was available to hail down easily. Perhaps I could have sent in a complaint about the food but I didn't have a lot of free time. Atmosphere was fine, felt like a casual place. A little warm, and there are some one-sided booth seats along the wall.

This is not a fancy restaurant. They specialized in soups, that's how they prepare them in a small town in Fujian province China. Soups were cooked in individual bowls and served. My wife, who grew up in a neighborhood town, said it is very close to the original ones. It is cooked in the traditional style for their noodles and wonton as well. We always order traditional stuff, I can't comment on other dishes. Lately I found the spicy beef with rice and vegetables + soup special, another good item.

Good bang for bucks if you eat the snacks. They are quite large for their price. Lots of variaties.