I went to the Newton location twice in the last few weeks. The first time was a Sunday night at 7:15pm when they were packed with a line out the door. We were seated pretty quick (which I was surprised about) for a party of 4 adults. We sat upstairs in the corner (above the entrance) and we seemed to be the only table of people there. The waitress came over to us and was trying to juggle between us and the other tables she was working. She brought things over piece meal. We tried to order a sweet wine, but was told the selected one was not available. She brought us an alternate glass of wine to try and it was not too sweet. So we passed on the wine. It was appreciated that she did not charge for the inconvenience/sample given. We tried to order an appetizer and the pupu platter took a bit of time to arrive. After ordering the pu pu platter and waiting approx.10 minutes, we ordered our main. She was still getting us silverware and sugar, etc to complete the table settings. Pu pu platter came and food was pretty good. The major concerns were looking for the waitress (when we needed to order or had questions), getting the table complete, and hoping she got to us safely with the food intact as she had to walk an obstacle course of the tables upstairs. I give the waitress good marks for trying, but the delivery, readiness, and service really needs improvement! She was apologizing non stop.

The second time I went was this past week for lunch. I was amazed that at 1pm the person I met and myself were the only diners on the 1st floor. There were at least 5 people between the person at the desk and various wait staff that were on the floor. I sat down. The other person had already started her soup that she received before I came. I waited 5 minutes and no one asked me for an order. Then after the 10 minute mark, I asked to order. The soup came pretty quick. The food came in a reasonable time. It was a warm day and I drank several glasses of water. Each time I finished the glass, I waited. And waited. After a few minutes of it being empty, I asked for a refill. Reluctantly, they came. Food was ok. I got the bill and was surprised to find a charge of $1.50 for the ‘fried’ noodles that they had on the table on a small plate. My dining companion said that she asked for it. The waiter told me that the noodles are NOT free and for lunch there is a charge. I was amazed that I can go to the store, buy a good size bag of potato chips for less than $1.50 and here I was served an once or two of noodles. I understand that this is a restaurant and they need to make money, etc. What I don’t understand is why most other Chinese restaurants that I have gone to including the other one (Shalom Beijing) in Brookline freely give noodles and plentifully (i.e. you want as many bowls as you ask for and no problem -they bring it!). I have gone to many treif restaurants on business meals and both the water experience and noodle charge probably would rarely happen. So I have seen this place both at its peak and slow times. I hope Andy (the owner) and his team take heart to other peoples’ and my notes. It is a nice location and they spent a lot (or so it seems) to get the place ready for the public. My hope is that they can take some lessons from the non-Kosher food establishments and learn to earn customer business rather than expect it (with the assumption that the Kosher choices are limited and people keeping Kosher must frequent the limited selection). A perfect possible mentor is Milk St. Cafe, where the target audience is the general business community. Unless you look for the Kosher certification (by the washing sink) or know it was Kosher, you definitely would have a pleasant surprise.