This is sadly another spot that’s really hyped online and then just meh in person.The food wasn’t that spectacular for the high prices and many of the dishes were so salty you couldn’t taste much else. Atmosphere wise, the music inside was very loud and the acoustics made it incredibly hard to hear. We were a group of 6 seated at a large circular table needing to yell across the table to hear the conversation. The waitress had to shout for us all to hear the description of the dish.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 5
Marsha C.
Loud bustling atmosphere that you would expect from a popular restaurant on a Sat night. The staff is super helpful, friendly and knowledgeable about the dishes. Flaky scallion swirls were amazing with the the truffle butter and sweet bean sauce to lather on top. Very flavorful, flaky and super buttery and soft. We also had the Liang Ban BBQ Pig Ear which was spicy and really nice flavor and it numbs your mouth. I could only have a little as I'm not a huge fan of the Mala peppercorns but my husband enjoyed it. Same with the DanDan noodles - strong Mala pepper flavor. The husband said the DanDan Noodles were the best he's ever had so far. For dessert, we had the black sesame soft serve which was delicious. TIP: scoop from the bottom when eating the soft serve or you'll end up with a bunch of tapioca with your last few bites. My favorite was the flaky scallion swirl.
Makenzie O.
We live nearby and after months of going by, just had to try. We were off to a slow start with service. Took about 20-25 minutes to get our drink orders which were served after we had our apps. Waiter profusely apologized and comp'd them on the house which was an amazing gesture. Then we were off to the races on more food - cold sesame noodles, the duck. OMG the duck. It's the reason that first brought me in and it was amazing. It came with these little tortillas and a duck fat gravy sauce and was seriously killer. The cold sesame noodles were to die for too. Highly recommend. And then the sesame soft serve at the end was an amazing surprise I wasn't expecting to like as much as I did. Will def be back - tips for next time: the cocktails were underwhelming and $$ so I'll just stick to sake or wine, try the fried rice, try the ribs, and try the chicken dish. Reservations are also easy to get and valet was great!
Lorie Inman
We all had the most delightful meal! We had a number of dishes family style. Unique and expressive dishes and tastes that were out of this world! The atmosphere and the service were also great! Definitely for a special occasion but also an everyday enjoyable experience. Wonderful cocktails and NA bevs. Great bar area that I would be very happy eating at solo as well. Amazing!~~
This review is specifically for the Lunar New Year tasting menu event. Our reservation was for 6:30pm. We were seated pretty quickly, but right next to the bathroom so that during our entire meal, people were walking back and forth right next to us. I came with 2 of my friends and we pre-tipped the reservation 20% since we wanted to just enjoy a seamless experience. I'll also preface this review with this: The only reason I purchased these tickets was because I am a huge fan of Tatsumi and Chef Elvin. However, as part of the collaboration, Tatsumi contributed 3 out of the 15 courses on the menu (all which were fantastic as always). The main reason my friends and I did not have a good experience was due to the untrained and unprepared staff of Zoe Tong. The staff was extremely disorganized and did not know what they were doing, which was made clear as they brought out dishes. Only a couple of dishes came with a description of what it was and the others were just set down with no explanation. The entire experience took almost 4 hours.TL:DRThe food deserves 4 - 4.5 stars but the service deserves 0 stars.We enjoyed our meal and the attention to detail and flavors in each course. I also understand that this was the first time hosting a tasting menu, so there are bound to be little things to work out here and there.That being said, we did not receive the same experience as the other patrons. Our aperitif and first four courses arrived soon after we sat down. However, it took almost an hour to receive the sashimi course and the lobster pillow course was skipped. During this time, we were also unable to flag down a server to refill our waters. After we reminded our server about the lobster, it was brought out. Our next several courses were brought up very quickly and all at once. After our server dropped off the fried rice and noodles, he asked us to let him know when we were ready to wrap up so he could bring us dessert. However, as soon as he walked away from the table, another server came by and put both desserts on the table and we hadn’t even started to mix our noodles. We then felt very rushed to finish the meal as our desserts were melting (my strawberry granita came almost completely melted).After we finished our meal, we waited around for a while trying to get a server’s attention since we weren’t sure if we needed to sign for anything, and we’d already prepaid for the meal and tip. Our server finally came over and told us we were free to leave. However, I remembered when booking this experience that it was advertised as 15 +2, and by looking at the menu and counting the aperitif, it was only 14 courses and we weren’t sure if we were supposed to wait for someone to bring us the +2 since that’s usually the case at other restaurant tastings. So, we waited again to try and get the server’s attention to ask about it. He then told us that there was a misprint on the menu and that the congee should’ve been a course on its own, and we realized that we never received that course. By this time, we were full and also a bit frustrated by the lack of service so we just wanted to head home, so we didn’t want to wait around for the congee to come out.Overall, I found the service to be lacking and it was disheartening to see that all of the tables around us were getting served and coursed out properly. Again, the food was delicious and we found no fault in that area.I did request a 25% refund since we had such awful service and it was processed.Parking: Complimentary valet
Food: 4
Service: 1
Andie Haddad
We mostly enjoyed our evening at Zoe Tong. Our server took good care of us, though we had to wait a little longer than we would have liked to first be greeted after we were seated.The flaky scallion rolls were delicious and sumptuous. Very indulgent.The veggie dumplings were sad. We ordered the veggie to get some variety, but were not at all impressed. The server recommended the pan seared dumplings (with pork) and these were much better. It felt like the veggie dumplings were on the menu to try to cater to someone who doesn't eat meat, but they were....sad.The brisket/short ribs dish was delectable. Flavor was really good and large portion. The tingly lamb noodles were not for us. If you like cumin (and not much else), then you would like this dish. It didn't feel balanced and we felt regret that we ordered these at all.The green tea tiramasu had sake in it which was interesting, but didn't have any biscuit or variety of texture, it was only the cream part of tiramisu. It tasted good, but fairly boring to me.Overall, an okay experience but not sure if we'll come back frequently!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Scallion Swirls, Pan Seared Dumplings
Ruth Tiller
What a delightful experience! The food was delicious and novel. The atmosphere and service were great. Can’t wait to come back with my mom when she’s in town!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jacky Lau
I actually dined here in December for a birthday but this place bothered me so much I had to come back and write my honest opinion.Let’s start with the atmosphere. Zoe Tong is touted as a modern Chinese place yet when I walked in, it was a mish mash of mostly Japanese-centric decor with some Chinese artistry plastered throughout the restaurant.Upon looking at the menu, I went looking for drinks first. A key part of Chinese cuisine is tea, and there was not 1 tea option located on the menu anywhere. I already knew this was not a good sign.But you know what they do have on the drink menu? Saké, the official spirit of China. Just kidding. Saké is a Japanese drink and I have nothing against Japan or saké, but it screams ignorance of the owner to put this on the menu instead of something truly Chinese at a Chinese restaurant. This could be an opportunity for an Austin restaurant to introduce baijiu , an actual Chinese spirit to Austinites and it misses the mark.Now for food, I recall we ordered some dumplings, ribs, the duck, veggie clay pot, the lamb noodles, the prawn laksa(a special of the day), and some rice.The dumpling skin was a bit too thick and took away from the meat.The ribs were pretty good! I really enjoyed that! Sticky, tender, smoky and a bit sweet.The lamb noodles came with a warning of “tingling spices” which are just sichuan peppercorns but I appreciate them trying to give an air of mystery about it. I barely registered any tingles and was a far cry from the lamb noodles made by Xians Famous foods which I think is what they were trying to replicate.The duck, while cooked to a perfect medium, had a gamey flavor to it that could not be covered by any of the sauces or garnishes.The veggie clay pot was surprisingly my favorite thing on the menu. I had no complaints about that and wish we ordered more of that.Laksa is a signature Malaysian dish I really enjoy and finding it on a “Chinese” menu was kind of peculiar but we wanted to try it. It’s a curry-like dish featuring lemongrass, ginger, galangal coconut milk, chilis and a potent shrimpy/fishy flavor. All I tasted was coconut milk in Zoe Tongs version and it lacked the funky fishy/shrimpy taste that laksa usually has. It also had no kick. The dish was also $25+ and came with two prawns for the 5 of us. We each had a tiny morsel. While this dish tasted pretty good, I would consider it different from a true laksa.Overall, the dishes were mediocre imo, overpriced and I had to get McDonald’s on the way home just to fill my stomach up. Leaving a restaurant hungry after dropping more than $50+/pp never sits right with me.Tldr; if you’re familiar with Asian/Chinese cuisine, skip this spot. The price to quality to quantity ratio is poor. If you’re just trying out new restaurants and not a snob like me, give it a shot!
Love love love Zoe Tong! Dan was our server and really amplified our already wonderful experience here! Such a treat!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Sticky Ribs
Randy Howard
Henry served us so well. So knowledgeable of the menu items. And responsive to our requests. The fried rice was exceptionally good. Cocktails very tasty, although a bit pricey. We will be back!
This review is specifically for the Lunar New Year tasting menu event. Our reservation was for 6:30pm. We were seated pretty quickly, but right next to the bathroom so that during our entire meal, people were walking back and forth right next to us. I came with 2 of my friends and we pre-tipped the reservation 20% since we wanted to just enjoy a seamless experience. I'll also preface this review with this: The only reason I purchased these tickets was because I am a huge fan of Tatsumi and Chef Elvin. However, as part of the collaboration, Tatsumi contributed 3 out of the 15 courses on the menu (all which were fantastic as always). The main reason my friends and I did not have a good experience was due to the untrained and unprepared staff of Zoe Tong. The staff was extremely disorganized and did not know what they were doing, which was made clear as they brought out dishes. Only a couple of dishes came with a description of what it was and the others were just set down with no explanation. The entire experience took almost 4 hours. TL:DR The food deserves 4 - 4.5 stars but the service deserves 0 stars. We enjoyed our meal and the attention to detail and flavors in each course. I also understand that this was the first time hosting a tasting menu, so there are bound to be little things to work out here and there. That being said, we did not receive the same experience as the other patrons. Our aperitif and first four courses arrived soon after we sat down. However, it took almost an hour to receive the sashimi course and the lobster pillow course was skipped. During this time, we were also unable to flag down a server to refill our waters. After we reminded our server about the lobster, it was brought out. Our next several courses were brought up very quickly and all at once. After our server dropped off the fried rice and noodles, he asked us to let him know when we were ready to wrap up so he could bring us dessert. However, as soon as he walked away from the table, another server came by and put both desserts on the table and we hadn't even started to mix our noodles. We then felt very rushed to finish the meal as our desserts were melting (my strawberry granita came almost completely melted). After we finished our meal, we waited around for a while trying to get a server's attention since we weren't sure if we needed to sign for anything, and we'd already prepaid for the meal and tip. Our server finally came over and told us we were free to leave. However, I remembered when booking this experience that it was advertised as 15 +2, and by looking at the menu and counting the aperitif, it was only 14 courses and we weren't sure if we were supposed to wait for someone to bring us the +2 since that's usually the case at other restaurant tastings. So, we waited again to try and get the server's attention to ask about it. He then told us that there was a misprint on the menu and that the congee should've been a course on its own, and we realized that we never received that course. By this time, we were full and also a bit frustrated by the lack of service so we just wanted to head home, so we didn't want to wait around for the congee to come out. Overall, I found the service to be lacking and it was disheartening to see that all of the tables around us were getting served and coursed out properly. Again, the food was delicious and we found no fault in that area. I did request a 25% refund since we had such awful service and it was processed.
Amber R.
This confused me but i liked it. The confusion comes in because the menu and flavors and presentation feel like a high-end restaurant but it's a really chill atmosphere and maybe it's just knowing that it used to be austin east ciders but in general my brain was having a hard time reconciling. That being said, that's kind of the whole glory of an Austin vibe. Incredible food, incredible flavors, incredible service, chill atmosphere. The clarified strawberry cocktail with Yuzu foam was oddly enchanting. The most important thing on the menu is the scallion pancakes presented as cinnamon rolls with truffle butter. I could've eaten enough of that to sink my own body to the bottom of the ocean. Don't sleep on the pigs ears. Not because it wouldn't be comfortable but because they are delicious.
Ben S.
Veg hot pot and black cod were delicious. A bit echo-y so we were glad it wasn't too crowded or it would have been too loud. Server was super nice and food and drink came promptly
Carl C.
Zoe Tong has been on my list since before it opened. I finally got around to having dinner with friends there over the weekend. We ordered a bunch of things to share: Shrimp Toasts - shrimp toast is a very oily nostalgic Cantonese dish. It was decent but it didn't give me that satisfaction I wanted from the original dish. Duck Soup Dumplings - the soup dumplings were nice and sat in a nice thin flavorful duck broth. They also were more like sheng jian bao than xiao long bao with the thicker skin and crispy bottom vs thin skin and only steaming. Vegetable Dumpings - these were okay but I kept missing the meat. I like vegetable dumplings if they still have a satisfying savory flavor and texture, and I wasn't finding them here. Prosperity Trout - our waitress reohally sold us on this dish, explaining how it was a special that kept coming back because diners kept loving and requesting it. I had high hopes because I love fish prepared Cantonese style. I was expecting a whole fish and while we got that, it was more that the meat had been deboned and rolled up to be eaten easier. It didn't really match up to the image in my mind of the delicious simply-prepared whole-steamed or fried fish I'm used to, and it was a bit under seasoned so I probably would not order it again. Zoe Tong Fried Rice - really addicting fried rice. I love Chinese sausage, and the whole dish was well seasoned, and I kept coming back for more. The cocktails are not to be skipped. I got the Si Baby Verdad (clarified strawberry shishito margarita, salted yuzu foam) and that salted yuzu foam is a game changer. It was like a merengue but deliciously salty and tart to balance out the margarita hidden underneath. There's complimentary valet parking, with the option to tip in cash or venmo. The parking garage is only validated by Lou's next door.
Patty S.
The food is so delicious. The service and atmosphere is so welcoming. We had the best dining experience. I would give it 10 stars they make the most fabulous cocktails.
This is sadly another spot that’s really hyped online and then just meh in person.The food wasn’t that spectacular for the high prices and many of the dishes were so salty you couldn’t taste much else. Atmosphere wise, the music inside was very loud and the acoustics made it incredibly hard to hear. We were a group of 6 seated at a large circular table needing to yell across the table to hear the conversation. The waitress had to shout for us all to hear the description of the dish.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 5
Loud bustling atmosphere that you would expect from a popular restaurant on a Sat night. The staff is super helpful, friendly and knowledgeable about the dishes. Flaky scallion swirls were amazing with the the truffle butter and sweet bean sauce to lather on top. Very flavorful, flaky and super buttery and soft. We also had the Liang Ban BBQ Pig Ear which was spicy and really nice flavor and it numbs your mouth. I could only have a little as I'm not a huge fan of the Mala peppercorns but my husband enjoyed it. Same with the DanDan noodles - strong Mala pepper flavor. The husband said the DanDan Noodles were the best he's ever had so far. For dessert, we had the black sesame soft serve which was delicious. TIP: scoop from the bottom when eating the soft serve or you'll end up with a bunch of tapioca with your last few bites. My favorite was the flaky scallion swirl.
We live nearby and after months of going by, just had to try. We were off to a slow start with service. Took about 20-25 minutes to get our drink orders which were served after we had our apps. Waiter profusely apologized and comp'd them on the house which was an amazing gesture. Then we were off to the races on more food - cold sesame noodles, the duck. OMG the duck. It's the reason that first brought me in and it was amazing. It came with these little tortillas and a duck fat gravy sauce and was seriously killer. The cold sesame noodles were to die for too. Highly recommend. And then the sesame soft serve at the end was an amazing surprise I wasn't expecting to like as much as I did. Will def be back - tips for next time: the cocktails were underwhelming and $$ so I'll just stick to sake or wine, try the fried rice, try the ribs, and try the chicken dish. Reservations are also easy to get and valet was great!
We all had the most delightful meal! We had a number of dishes family style. Unique and expressive dishes and tastes that were out of this world! The atmosphere and the service were also great! Definitely for a special occasion but also an everyday enjoyable experience. Wonderful cocktails and NA bevs. Great bar area that I would be very happy eating at solo as well. Amazing!~~
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Zoé Tong Rohan Duck, Black Sesame Soft Serve, Shrimp Toast, Cold Sesame Noodles, Scallion Swirls, Tuna Tartare, Westlake Fried Rice, Soup Dumplings
This review is specifically for the Lunar New Year tasting menu event. Our reservation was for 6:30pm. We were seated pretty quickly, but right next to the bathroom so that during our entire meal, people were walking back and forth right next to us. I came with 2 of my friends and we pre-tipped the reservation 20% since we wanted to just enjoy a seamless experience. I'll also preface this review with this: The only reason I purchased these tickets was because I am a huge fan of Tatsumi and Chef Elvin. However, as part of the collaboration, Tatsumi contributed 3 out of the 15 courses on the menu (all which were fantastic as always). The main reason my friends and I did not have a good experience was due to the untrained and unprepared staff of Zoe Tong. The staff was extremely disorganized and did not know what they were doing, which was made clear as they brought out dishes. Only a couple of dishes came with a description of what it was and the others were just set down with no explanation. The entire experience took almost 4 hours.TL:DRThe food deserves 4 - 4.5 stars but the service deserves 0 stars.We enjoyed our meal and the attention to detail and flavors in each course. I also understand that this was the first time hosting a tasting menu, so there are bound to be little things to work out here and there.That being said, we did not receive the same experience as the other patrons. Our aperitif and first four courses arrived soon after we sat down. However, it took almost an hour to receive the sashimi course and the lobster pillow course was skipped. During this time, we were also unable to flag down a server to refill our waters. After we reminded our server about the lobster, it was brought out. Our next several courses were brought up very quickly and all at once. After our server dropped off the fried rice and noodles, he asked us to let him know when we were ready to wrap up so he could bring us dessert. However, as soon as he walked away from the table, another server came by and put both desserts on the table and we hadn’t even started to mix our noodles. We then felt very rushed to finish the meal as our desserts were melting (my strawberry granita came almost completely melted).After we finished our meal, we waited around for a while trying to get a server’s attention since we weren’t sure if we needed to sign for anything, and we’d already prepaid for the meal and tip. Our server finally came over and told us we were free to leave. However, I remembered when booking this experience that it was advertised as 15 +2, and by looking at the menu and counting the aperitif, it was only 14 courses and we weren’t sure if we were supposed to wait for someone to bring us the +2 since that’s usually the case at other restaurant tastings. So, we waited again to try and get the server’s attention to ask about it. He then told us that there was a misprint on the menu and that the congee should’ve been a course on its own, and we realized that we never received that course. By this time, we were full and also a bit frustrated by the lack of service so we just wanted to head home, so we didn’t want to wait around for the congee to come out.Overall, I found the service to be lacking and it was disheartening to see that all of the tables around us were getting served and coursed out properly. Again, the food was delicious and we found no fault in that area.I did request a 25% refund since we had such awful service and it was processed.Parking: Complimentary valet
Food: 4
Service: 1
We mostly enjoyed our evening at Zoe Tong. Our server took good care of us, though we had to wait a little longer than we would have liked to first be greeted after we were seated.The flaky scallion rolls were delicious and sumptuous. Very indulgent.The veggie dumplings were sad. We ordered the veggie to get some variety, but were not at all impressed. The server recommended the pan seared dumplings (with pork) and these were much better. It felt like the veggie dumplings were on the menu to try to cater to someone who doesn't eat meat, but they were....sad.The brisket/short ribs dish was delectable. Flavor was really good and large portion. The tingly lamb noodles were not for us. If you like cumin (and not much else), then you would like this dish. It didn't feel balanced and we felt regret that we ordered these at all.The green tea tiramasu had sake in it which was interesting, but didn't have any biscuit or variety of texture, it was only the cream part of tiramisu. It tasted good, but fairly boring to me.Overall, an okay experience but not sure if we'll come back frequently!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Scallion Swirls, Pan Seared Dumplings
What a delightful experience! The food was delicious and novel. The atmosphere and service were great. Can’t wait to come back with my mom when she’s in town!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I actually dined here in December for a birthday but this place bothered me so much I had to come back and write my honest opinion.Let’s start with the atmosphere. Zoe Tong is touted as a modern Chinese place yet when I walked in, it was a mish mash of mostly Japanese-centric decor with some Chinese artistry plastered throughout the restaurant.Upon looking at the menu, I went looking for drinks first. A key part of Chinese cuisine is tea, and there was not 1 tea option located on the menu anywhere. I already knew this was not a good sign.But you know what they do have on the drink menu? Saké, the official spirit of China. Just kidding. Saké is a Japanese drink and I have nothing against Japan or saké, but it screams ignorance of the owner to put this on the menu instead of something truly Chinese at a Chinese restaurant. This could be an opportunity for an Austin restaurant to introduce baijiu , an actual Chinese spirit to Austinites and it misses the mark.Now for food, I recall we ordered some dumplings, ribs, the duck, veggie clay pot, the lamb noodles, the prawn laksa(a special of the day), and some rice.The dumpling skin was a bit too thick and took away from the meat.The ribs were pretty good! I really enjoyed that! Sticky, tender, smoky and a bit sweet.The lamb noodles came with a warning of “tingling spices” which are just sichuan peppercorns but I appreciate them trying to give an air of mystery about it. I barely registered any tingles and was a far cry from the lamb noodles made by Xians Famous foods which I think is what they were trying to replicate.The duck, while cooked to a perfect medium, had a gamey flavor to it that could not be covered by any of the sauces or garnishes.The veggie clay pot was surprisingly my favorite thing on the menu. I had no complaints about that and wish we ordered more of that.Laksa is a signature Malaysian dish I really enjoy and finding it on a “Chinese” menu was kind of peculiar but we wanted to try it. It’s a curry-like dish featuring lemongrass, ginger, galangal coconut milk, chilis and a potent shrimpy/fishy flavor. All I tasted was coconut milk in Zoe Tongs version and it lacked the funky fishy/shrimpy taste that laksa usually has. It also had no kick. The dish was also $25+ and came with two prawns for the 5 of us. We each had a tiny morsel. While this dish tasted pretty good, I would consider it different from a true laksa.Overall, the dishes were mediocre imo, overpriced and I had to get McDonald’s on the way home just to fill my stomach up. Leaving a restaurant hungry after dropping more than $50+/pp never sits right with me.Tldr; if you’re familiar with Asian/Chinese cuisine, skip this spot. The price to quality to quantity ratio is poor. If you’re just trying out new restaurants and not a snob like me, give it a shot!
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Roast Duck, Zoé Tong Rohan Duck, Sticky Ribs, Veggie Dry Pot, Pan Seared Dumplings
Love love love Zoe Tong! Dan was our server and really amplified our already wonderful experience here! Such a treat!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Sticky Ribs
Henry served us so well. So knowledgeable of the menu items. And responsive to our requests. The fried rice was exceptionally good. Cocktails very tasty, although a bit pricey. We will be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
This review is specifically for the Lunar New Year tasting menu event. Our reservation was for 6:30pm. We were seated pretty quickly, but right next to the bathroom so that during our entire meal, people were walking back and forth right next to us. I came with 2 of my friends and we pre-tipped the reservation 20% since we wanted to just enjoy a seamless experience. I'll also preface this review with this: The only reason I purchased these tickets was because I am a huge fan of Tatsumi and Chef Elvin. However, as part of the collaboration, Tatsumi contributed 3 out of the 15 courses on the menu (all which were fantastic as always). The main reason my friends and I did not have a good experience was due to the untrained and unprepared staff of Zoe Tong. The staff was extremely disorganized and did not know what they were doing, which was made clear as they brought out dishes. Only a couple of dishes came with a description of what it was and the others were just set down with no explanation. The entire experience took almost 4 hours. TL:DR The food deserves 4 - 4.5 stars but the service deserves 0 stars. We enjoyed our meal and the attention to detail and flavors in each course. I also understand that this was the first time hosting a tasting menu, so there are bound to be little things to work out here and there. That being said, we did not receive the same experience as the other patrons. Our aperitif and first four courses arrived soon after we sat down. However, it took almost an hour to receive the sashimi course and the lobster pillow course was skipped. During this time, we were also unable to flag down a server to refill our waters. After we reminded our server about the lobster, it was brought out. Our next several courses were brought up very quickly and all at once. After our server dropped off the fried rice and noodles, he asked us to let him know when we were ready to wrap up so he could bring us dessert. However, as soon as he walked away from the table, another server came by and put both desserts on the table and we hadn't even started to mix our noodles. We then felt very rushed to finish the meal as our desserts were melting (my strawberry granita came almost completely melted). After we finished our meal, we waited around for a while trying to get a server's attention since we weren't sure if we needed to sign for anything, and we'd already prepaid for the meal and tip. Our server finally came over and told us we were free to leave. However, I remembered when booking this experience that it was advertised as 15 +2, and by looking at the menu and counting the aperitif, it was only 14 courses and we weren't sure if we were supposed to wait for someone to bring us the +2 since that's usually the case at other restaurant tastings. So, we waited again to try and get the server's attention to ask about it. He then told us that there was a misprint on the menu and that the congee should've been a course on its own, and we realized that we never received that course. By this time, we were full and also a bit frustrated by the lack of service so we just wanted to head home, so we didn't want to wait around for the congee to come out. Overall, I found the service to be lacking and it was disheartening to see that all of the tables around us were getting served and coursed out properly. Again, the food was delicious and we found no fault in that area. I did request a 25% refund since we had such awful service and it was processed.
This confused me but i liked it. The confusion comes in because the menu and flavors and presentation feel like a high-end restaurant but it's a really chill atmosphere and maybe it's just knowing that it used to be austin east ciders but in general my brain was having a hard time reconciling. That being said, that's kind of the whole glory of an Austin vibe. Incredible food, incredible flavors, incredible service, chill atmosphere. The clarified strawberry cocktail with Yuzu foam was oddly enchanting. The most important thing on the menu is the scallion pancakes presented as cinnamon rolls with truffle butter. I could've eaten enough of that to sink my own body to the bottom of the ocean. Don't sleep on the pigs ears. Not because it wouldn't be comfortable but because they are delicious.
Veg hot pot and black cod were delicious. A bit echo-y so we were glad it wasn't too crowded or it would have been too loud. Server was super nice and food and drink came promptly
Zoe Tong has been on my list since before it opened. I finally got around to having dinner with friends there over the weekend. We ordered a bunch of things to share: Shrimp Toasts - shrimp toast is a very oily nostalgic Cantonese dish. It was decent but it didn't give me that satisfaction I wanted from the original dish. Duck Soup Dumplings - the soup dumplings were nice and sat in a nice thin flavorful duck broth. They also were more like sheng jian bao than xiao long bao with the thicker skin and crispy bottom vs thin skin and only steaming. Vegetable Dumpings - these were okay but I kept missing the meat. I like vegetable dumplings if they still have a satisfying savory flavor and texture, and I wasn't finding them here. Prosperity Trout - our waitress reohally sold us on this dish, explaining how it was a special that kept coming back because diners kept loving and requesting it. I had high hopes because I love fish prepared Cantonese style. I was expecting a whole fish and while we got that, it was more that the meat had been deboned and rolled up to be eaten easier. It didn't really match up to the image in my mind of the delicious simply-prepared whole-steamed or fried fish I'm used to, and it was a bit under seasoned so I probably would not order it again. Zoe Tong Fried Rice - really addicting fried rice. I love Chinese sausage, and the whole dish was well seasoned, and I kept coming back for more. The cocktails are not to be skipped. I got the Si Baby Verdad (clarified strawberry shishito margarita, salted yuzu foam) and that salted yuzu foam is a game changer. It was like a merengue but deliciously salty and tart to balance out the margarita hidden underneath. There's complimentary valet parking, with the option to tip in cash or venmo. The parking garage is only validated by Lou's next door.
The food is so delicious. The service and atmosphere is so welcoming. We had the best dining experience. I would give it 10 stars they make the most fabulous cocktails.