We've been receiving some complaints from Members about food and service of Heavenly Bamboo Pavilion. Some things are under my control as I can negotiate with the venue as the organizer (for example, moving tables, etc.) However, Minnie and I would love to hear what everybody thinks about what has has been our home for the last two years.

Please give your opinion about all aspects of Heavenly Bamboo Pavilion here - quick opinion is better than none - thanks!

I personally like Heavenly Bamboo Pavilion not because the owner hooks me up with free white zinfandel LOL but because there's a certain atmosphere about the place that makes it a good fit for the mission of our group (the genuine Chinese nature). Service is not good many times, but I've learned that it is factor of how well we tip, as they have high overhead, and their staff relies much on our tips. Food is great if we make them put out their genuine Chinese food, otherwise, they forget, and I know the Americanize food turns many people off including myself. Our shared dinners could be successful if we go back upstairs again and consistently...

Hi Fong. Rome is burning as they say! :)

Well i just think the service is not up to par. For instance me and another member went to the bar to get a beer at 6:55 so we asked for half-price, and the wife of the owner was soooo cheap that she kept arguing that it's past 7pm already pointing to a non-existing clock on the wall. Both my watch and the other member's cell phone time was showing 6:58 (after 3 mins of arguing) and we showed her the time...she kept insisting it was too late. Then finally her husband came and said ok with a face implying "just give these losers what they want". I mean how cheap is that?? I totally didn't care about the money it's just the penny-pincher attitude which sucks especially when you guys have been guests there for 5 yrs. If it was my restaurant, i would give a free round of beer to all members every time...just as an honour and show gratitude.
Then Karaoke machine was broken (not this time but previous times) and they didn't bother saving enough tables for our group...so it was just a mess.
I honestly think that with the number of chinese restaurants in NYC, there is no way i would go back to these guys...makes no sense. They just don't deserve it.

Minnie saved the situation for all of us but it should not have happened. Thank you Minnie!!

my 2 cents.

The place SUCKS, from the MSG-laden food to the $2 Grape soda that I can get on the corner from $1. I don't mind paying for anything, but the food is not so good, and I had a headache when I ate there--I know it's from the MSG. I haven't been to a meeting in a bit, love the group, but hate HB, it should be called Heavenly bamboozled. Let's jump ship before we all sink from the MSG and inflated prices!

Hey, guys, thank you for all your support for Fong and me. As for us, meeting our members' need is the most important thing, but I constantly hear members complaining about heavenly bamboo, especially their service. I have a feeling that we're taking us for granted.

As two members suggested last night, there's another restaurant on the same street, it's called "Dong Hai Grill",(108 W 39th St, Btwn 6th Ave & Bway) same food price, much nicer decoration, and also have a KTV system ( songs are much newer), I think we should organize one or two events there to get feedbacks from the members, and make a final decision later on.


Minnie

I will offer my simple opinion. The service is bad at HB but I get the impression that we tip like shit too and we ask for a lot. Changing places is a good idea but if we leave less than a 25% tip we will be thrown out of the new place . Yen Y. Lee

It's time to leave.

The poor quality of the food was the main reason I stopped going to this group here. If I'm going to pay for food, it better be decent... and NOT laden with MSG, to which I am sensitive and get a headache every time. Why should I pay $15 for a headache?? I think it does NOT shine well on Chinese tradition and cuisine. Frankly, I didn't like the food much from the first event there, and it seemed to go downhill from there... or they just repeated the same dishes. I also had an issue with getting the discount beer when I was a couple minutes before the hour, but didn't get served till after, so they wanted to charge me the full amount.

I understand the issue of tips, but I really think 25% is pushing it. They're not that stupendous. That high a tip is for exceptional service. We should expect normal, decent, courteous service of palatable food (without any MSG) for under $10 Plus tip of !5% or 20% of the total bill before tax. Drinks extra of course, but included in tipping amount. I would rather emphasize quality over quantity. Perhaps it's difficult to get decent food for that price. The problem is some people eat a lot and some a little, yet everyone has to pay the same. Thus there should always be an option for individual ordering.

The restaurant takes us for granted. Maybe that will be a tendency no matter where we decide to go, so I suggest that we choose 2 or 3 different ones and rotate between them. Since the group is large there will always be people and so the restaurant feels they can depend on that. If we only go occasionally, perhaps management will try to more diligently encourage our patronage. Variety is important to promote the spirit of the group anyway.

Thanks for asking,

ann

p.s. Fong or Minnie, I wouldn't think it would be out of place to ascertain that they don't use MSG, even in the bottled condiments that they use. You should ask to go back to the kitchen. Restaurants in general need to clean up their act. Maybe this would make a slight contribution to encouraging that. If they refuse, we can move on. And if you REALLY want my opinion, I don't think we should patronize any restaurant that uses MSG, even if they claim to make special allowance for us. Maybe that's too hard for now, but eventually restaurants begin to understand what customers want and strive to offer it.

How about trying a new location for a month (or even a few different new locations) and see how it goes?

If people like the new places better, then we could switch.
If people don't like the new places better, then we could just stay at Heavenly Bamboo.

isn't a 15% tip built in already? 25%?? that is crazy and I highly doubt that tipping 15% is an issue for a typical chinese run of the mill restaurant that caters to your average working class citizen. Anyway, I wasn't so bothered by food/prices as I was there to meet with people mostly. I would say that I've eaten better Chinese food elsewhere for comparable prices. I think some people also like the free Karoake session as a night cap so that is a reason for staying. I do like to experience/explore other venues in the future, makes for more interesting night. Last night was my first time with the group and I found the experience to be quite good despite the restaurant atmosphere. Thanks to the organizers for running it.