Reviews for Lotus Garden in Utica, NY
Food was fresh and delish, calamari, spider sushi and bulgogi(beef).....Only two staff visible a waitress/hostess and... bartender...both dining rooms packed and service was efficient and excellent, a short wait after our reservation time but worthevery minute..highly recommend...great job CJ Read more
I don?t live in Utica, we come home every summer to visit the family. I have to say I?ve been more and more disappointed with... how businesses & restaurants operate here and how the quality of food in this town has diminished. Well, not here, Lotus isphenomenal, authentic, very good quality food. Very friendly and exceptional customer service as well. Zucchini flowers are amust try! We?re on our third visit here to eat and we will definitely be returning. 5 stars all the way! Read more
We weren't sure it was open on a Monday for lunch but it was and the food choices were excellent. And the meals were also... excellent. Very quiet place on Monday, eclectic SE Asian cuisine tastefully done. A good find Read more
One of my all time favorite restaurants! Love the people, love the food, and love the setting. Ask them for vegan friendly menu... options and they will walk you through the many delicious selections available! Read more
Amazing. Everything we ordered was just amazing, delicious, and beautifully made.
I never like writing this sort of review, but it has to be done. The good: The interior is nice. There's a lovely outdoor... dining space, though it had no chair set out, so we didn't know we could sit there. The bartender did her best, though she hadno front of house help whatsoever. The Cambodian fish curry- (Amok) was delicious. A bit sweet for my partner, but I lovedit. The bad: sadly, pretty much everything else. The spring rolls- whoever made them was unable to roll them properly, as allof them split open and spilled everywhere, all down the top. Use bigger pieces of rice wrapping, maybe. The shrimp tasted off.It tasted old and fishy. I am honestly a little concerned that I may get sick. The XO sauce beef- Oh, this made me so sad. :( Ifound a few fragments of what might have been dried scallop in it, but it was mostly just a thin, watery, generic brown saucewith oddly sweet tones. The beef itself was WAY too sweet. I don't know what happened to it. I do know it wasn't tenderized inany way, however. It was incredibly tough, dry, overcooked, and grey. It's a shame. A cow died for that. The flat rice noodles(we got the Chinese style ones with shiracha, but I do not remember the menu name) seemed like they must have been really old.They're only good for about half a day after you make them. Either they were cooked and ended up dried out after spending timein a fridge, or they were just undercooked and not separated properly when being stir-fried from the start, as there was a veryhard, dry chunk in the middle that seemed uncooked. Almost all the noodles were stuck together in a clump. Chow fun stylenoodles should be tender, not mushy, and not hard and dry. Two of the dishes we got were supposed to be Chinese food, and ifyou want to judge the quality of a Chinese restaurant, try their beef and try their flat, wide rice noodles. They are a bit of achallenge to get right, but if the chef cannot make them right, don't bother with anything else either. Read more
I dined at Lotus Garden alone as I am in Utica on business. The only reason they did not receive 5 stars was service related.... Here is the breakdown: I had first had the Peking dumpling app (pork filled with sweet soy sauce). They were delicious. Myentree was chicken Lo mein, and it was full of flavor and really well balanced. I enjoyed it. I also tried California roll. Incomparison to some of my local sushi restaurants, it was probably a bit below...the cucumber was not as crisp as I wouldexpect. Personally, my service was fine. But I sat at the bar alone. I observed another guest come and try and find waitressand he complained about poor service to me while I was there. Another local came in and was clearly irritated that his take outorder was taking so long. He told me ?the food here is excellent, and worth the wait, but the service is consistentlyslow.? Overall, I would dine there again. Read more
They have indoor and outdoor seating. The food is good but I really didn't like their service. They gave us the wrong order and... took too long to give us the bill. I'm hoping to try out dining here again soon to see if it was just a bad day for the staff. Read more