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| - I really wanted to like this place. Living out in Robinson, we don't have much choice when it comes to Chinese food. Yai Fei in Robinson Town Center is amazing but other than that your choices are limited to the criminally mediocre PF Changs or the mall. I love Ya Fei, but I was really hoping for another Chinese/Asian restaurant to add some variety to my life. Sadly, this was not the case.
When we walked in I was very impressed by the atmosphere. The restaurant has an upscale, modern look. Everything was clean and the layout was open and well thought out. All of the staff were pleasant and you got the feeling that they genuinely enjoyed their jobs.
Despite the staff's positive attitude, the service wasn't that great. We waited a very long time for out food, my dish came about 15 minutes after my wife's, and the server forgot to bring us our appetizer but didn't forget to put it on the bill. I would've been willing to overlook all of this as the regular hiccups you face when opening a restaurant, if the food had been good enough to justify it. It wasn't.
My wife got two different rolls of sushi. The first one had shrimp and papaya and she said it was alright. The second was the alligator roll, and she barely touched it. She eats a lot of sushi and has pretty adventurous tastes so I'm going to trust her on this one. Oh, she also tried the bubble tea which they were promoting heavily and really enjoyed that. It tasted like a smoothie with tea in it so if that sounds appealing to you definitely check out the bubble tea.
My dish was very bland and the chicken seriously tasted like McDonalds chicken nuggets. Correction: 13 dollar McDonalds chicken nuggets. And that brings me to my biggest complaint. The prices here are pretty ridiculous based on what small portions you get, especially when I'm pretty sure that nothing on my plate was prepared from fresh ingredients. The whole meal had a processed, prepackaged taste to it. Before we had our missing spring rolls removed from the bill the total came to $52. I've gotten twice was much food with ten times the flavor at Ya Fei for around $30.
I'm sorry, Papaya. I was really rooting for you guys. I genuinely wish you were better. Well, at least I still have Ya Fei.
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