Chao Shan Restaurant

Came here recently for dinner and have to say it leaves more to be desired. We had a scoopon for a 3 course dinner and wine which allowed selection of any entrée and main each (except the seafood and duck). We weren’t given a choice of what wine we wanted or even asked if we would like to substitute the wine for a non-​alcoholic beverage, so we’re both brought out a red wine each (which I did not drink as I do not like red wine). In terms of the food, firstly they were out of both vegetarian and non vegetarian spring rolls. They were definitely not overly busy, but regardless what kind of Chinese restaurant runs out of spring rolls?! My partner had dim sims which he said were good and I had samosas which were okay. For the main I asked if it was possible to substitute the meat for tofu in one of the meals and the waitress looked at me blankly, then after much confusion stated that that meal didn’t come with tofu (e.g. it wasn’t possible to cook plain tofu in a sauce), even though they serve tofu separately with the self-​cooking dishes and they have it on the menu with pork mince and a different sauce. So I had 4 vegetarian vegetable-​only options to choose from or noodle and rice dishes. I asked for the Kway Teow and the waitress seemed confused and told me ‘but it’s with vegetables?’… At which point I had to re-​state for the 5^th time that night that I was vegetarian, hence why I was ordering a vegetarian dish. Really really bad English with the staff here and they struggle to understand, so forget making any changes to the menu to suit your dietary requirements and expect to have to repeat yourself multiple times. Anyway… The noodles were meant to come with tofu, broccoli and a heap of other vegetables… They came out with egg (which there was NO mention of in the menu), capsicum, tiny bits of carrot and onion and THAT IS IT. No tofu, no broccoli and none of the other vegetables in the menu to be seen. They weren’t bad, but not amazing that I would pay the menu price for them. My partner had honey chicken and it looked like he had been given quite a decent portion of it. Now dessert… This was the kicker. We were each brought out one tiny scoop of vanilla ice-​cream on a plate to eat with a fork. The people next to us had been given the same thing (but bigger pieces of ice-​cream) and looked just as confused.
Overall it was quite average from my point of view. The staff do try, but they don’t speak much English and won’t accommodate the menu to suit you, which is a real big minus for the restaurant. I was honestly glad it was a Scoopon that we used because I would not pay what the food was priced at in the menu at this place and it was a pretty disappointing dining experience. Don’t even bother coming if you’re vegetarian to be honest. Nothing will tickle your fancy.
The place is very narrow and there’s not heaps of seating, but it looks like maybe there may be an upstairs area? Maybe it was just this one where we had unfortunate service and average food, perhaps it can be better on other nights… But I doubt we will be returning. Scoot on over to Gouger St in town and you’ll have much much better Chinese food.

On a Sunday night sometimes people get a craving from Chinese food, I admit it.
We visited this place, there were a few occupied tables, which was promising (as opposed to the plastic baby chair holding the menu outside or the empty fridge that greets you on the way in).
We ordered a couple of dishes — simple satay and noodles. Both were sub-​par and the steamed riced over cooked. Surprisingly the wine and liquor selection is quite vast.
I can’t tell whether this is a new place or an old place that has just been revamped, regardless it still has a long way to go.