Ginkgo

Update: the people in the restaurant seem to have changed Summer 2021. Food is disgusting now. I'll check back in fall and see if things are better. Very authentic Chinese food. Excellent 火候（roughly, good use of heat). This is extremely rare among restaurants here in the US. Very reasonably priced too, given the proximity to the University. First few times I came, they added in a shitton of salt to the dishes, but after I told the lady with a soft voice waiting the tables, everything has been absolutely perfect. They have 卤肉饭 and 鲜芋仙. And that's preddy frickin awesome. Picture: their lunchbox combo, box not included. The green beans are absolutely perfectly seared.

I ordered 6 dumplings last night, and I am confident that the pork filling is raw. Apart from tasting raw (very hard to chew), the meat is still pink which further justifies my claim that the filling is uncooked. The bad news is, I didn't realize that the meat was raw until I have finished 3 of them. Does the owner have any idea the risks of eating uncooked pork? HOW COULD YOU SEVER RAW PORK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS ON NEW YEARS EVE???? IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS PANDEMIC???? I am always willing to support local restaurants, including Chinese restaurants that were hit hard during the pandemic. However, by this incident, I WILL NEVER EVER VISIT GINKOG EVER AGAIN. If the owner wants to dispute, I more than happy to take the meat to the lab. Any person with common sense can tell that this is raw pork.

Horrible experience. This restaurant is tucked away and is often forgotten. Staff was super inattentive. Took forever to order. I was informed that the soup with the lunch special did not contain egg, but it did. The Ma Po tofu was unpalatable and not spicy as advertised. The food was burnt and they used the worst seasoning imaginable. I wasn’t asked what I wanted to drink (no water was offered). Additionally no napkins or utensils were brought out with the food. Would not recommend.

I started working in a restaurant about two years ago so I understand what it's like to try to make sure every customer is taken care of when you are short staffed and busy. That being said, the service was incredibly poor. My friend and I had placed an order online and went to Ginkgo to pick it up and when we walked in an employee looked at us and then went back to getting receipts together without any sort of acknowledgement. After walking back and forth to the counter a few times, the employee at the front desk eventually acknowledged us and asked us what we needed. I told her we had placed an order online and were there to pick it up. She had an online order receipt which she showed us and asked if it was ours, which it wasn't, and then asked what we had ordered. I told her and she went to the kitchen, I'd assumed to check on our order. She began to run food along with another employee and while I understand the importance of getting the food to customers, we received no feedback on if they were starting the food, finishing our order, etc. We stood at the counter for about 10 minutes and when we were approached once more by the same employee that we'd initially interacted with, we were once again asked the same question on what we ordered but this time I was asked to show the confirmation email. I had no problem with this, so I brought up the email and after about 20 minutes of waiting total, I was finally told they had not received my order. We were then asked for a third time what we wanted to order and in the midst of taking our order two other customers walked in and they appeared to be regulars since they were immediately greeted with smiles and conversation (which I might add, we were not). I understand saying hello to someone you know but their conversation lasted longer than a simple "hello, how are you" in which we were completely disregarded. We cancelled our order and found somewhere else to eat, seeing as how there are many locations on The Corner where you will be greeted and treated appropriately. I would give this restaurant 0 stars if only for poor customer service.

I’d give 0 stars but unfortunately that’s not allowed. We walked in and saw raw meat on one of the dining tables (the raw meat was also browning at the top) planning to be stuffed into their dumplings. We sat there for 20 minutes without it being moved then she brought the dumplings already stuffed brought to the back. I know first hand that if a health inspector walked in, they’d immediately get so many points docked. Don’t go here - honestly why I don’t go to Chinese restaurants in the first place. This solidified my reasoning.

I don't know about dining in, but I had a terrible experience ordering online. I used OrderUp to get my food delivered and not only did they make the driver wait over an hour and a half, they hung up on me twice when I called to ask about my food. The orange chicken was pretty good, about equal as any other place. However, the spring rolls were way below average. I would not recommend ginkgo and I will personally never eat here ever again.