To start with, I have over 10 years in food service, and management.
Took my wife here for a special occasion, we had green curry, shrimp, impossible dumplings and my son had orange chicken. The food like other reviews was a serious miss. It was nothing like ha long bay after they "fused" menus. The server was clearly stressed, as other noted, and I had what could only be the doting owner, who asked us over and over again how things where.
Having read other reviews and noticing everything people where saying was true, I just told her is was all great, as I don't need some lady freaking out about her sub par business while my wife's out to eat on an occasion with us.
The only good thing we had there, was the impossible dumplings, everything else was terrible, her tom yum soup had giant pieces of button mushrooms, not wood mushrooms and tasted nothing like the soup that was expected, my green curry.....was missing the curry, and any real flavor, even the coconut milk was skimped on, wife didn't enjoy the overly sweet coconut shrimp, kid was upset that the orange chicken wasn't spicy, and not even as good as Great China on the north side.
The fact this place exists is a plague on the Madison restaurant community, my wife was not thrilled about getting dressed up and coming here for such a sub par meal.
Now I will wait for the nasty remarks and complete disillusioned owner to comment saying everything I have said is a lie, and her business is all perfect.
Don't waste time or money here.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 2
Jessica Jaeckels
Panang curry and Tom Kha are also fantastic! The lychee lemonade as well. A bit disappointed by the Laab with tofu - flavor was great, but it was presented a bit different, and the size/texture of the tofu felt out of place. The Singapore noodles also were again great flavor, but the dry stir fry left the seasoning feeling a bit gritty. Definitely won't deter us from coming back though, because overall the food, service, etc are always pretty great.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: House Special Egg Roll, Singapore Noodles GF, Blistered Green Beans
Sam Holtzman
Huge menu, but somehow they make it all work so well.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Junyao Zhu
The atmosphere is very nice. It’s more Asian than the real Asia. Waiters are helpful. But the meal is not that good, it’s America-style food, so for native Asian it’s very weird. If you want to try the authentic Asian food, it’s not a good place. But if you only want to experience the atmosphere of different cultures, it’s the best place in Madison.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
Nate McGinty
Little Palace: Where Royal Expectations Meet Peasant Realities
If you’ve ever wanted to know what the collapse of a dynasty tastes like, may I humbly suggest dining at Little Palace. What began as a journey with hopes of spicy broth, sweet mango, and a palace-worthy experience ended up feeling more like a prolonged exile in the waiting area.
Let’s start with the pho. Imagine someone whispered “broth” into a lukewarm bowl of water. That’s it—that’s the flavor profile. I suspect the chef’s spice rack may consist of exactly one grain of salt, carefully rationed for emergencies only. When we asked for hoisin sauce to liven things up, it felt like they were handing over the crown jewels.
Next up: the mango sticky rice. Now, I’m no fruit snob, but this mango tasted like it skipped its high school prom and never ripened. It was as if the chef got impatient and said, “Eh, close enough!” The sticky rice itself was clingier than my ex, and somehow less enjoyable.
And the pièce de résistance? The 40-minute wait. For context, we were the only diners there. Did the chef embark on a soul-searching journey to source each ingredient in real-time? Perhaps they were foraging for cilantro in a distant jungle? When the food finally arrived, we half-expected it to come with a certificate of authenticity: “Handcrafted at the speed of erosion.”
In summary, if you’re looking for a dining experience that rivals a DMV wait time, food with all the excitement of a spreadsheet, and fruit that tastes like betrayal—Little Palace is your place. Otherwise, I’d recommend trying anywhere else that serves food within a geological era.
Two stars: One for the ambiance (because we had it all to ourselves) and one for the existential life lesson about patience.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
Sarah Davidson
Food was delicious but service was insanely slow! If the gratuity hadn't been included in the bill, our waitress would not have gotten 20%!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 1
Rawad A
I will say, I was in awe of the restaurant the minute I walked in, and the food was good but the attitude served from owner ruined the experience for my friends and I. She came by with a frown on her face to our table and didn’t give my cousin any options when she kindly asked to order a different meal (willing to pay for the first plate). The owner immediately began waving her hands around and giving bad attitude. You’d expect an owner have good communication skills instead of approach a table of customers with bad energy. As mentioned in reviews posted by other people, owner isn’t nice and staff really do seem to be overworked but were kind. And the wait for one drink was insane when there were only two other parties seated. I wouldn’t recommend unless you want bad customer service.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 1
Eddie Apple
This was one of the restaurants I stopped at during my stay in Madison this weekend. I would recommend this place to my enemies. It took us about 30 minutes to get our drinks and when we got the food it was very bland and did not taste authentic. Design is nice, food and service is not
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
Israa S
Owner seemed a bit racist to us, she was curt before we were even seated and was quite snippy with us and practically rolled her eyes at me when I gave her a compliment. Put a sour taste in our mouths and hardly finished our food, safe to say we felt unwelcome. Our waiter was fine and food was okay as well but it was an upsetting experience.
Adding in response to the owner: We sat down because we were hungry and assumed maybe you were just having a bad day. And I said you seemed racist which I stand by as we all had no idea why you came to our table ready to fight when nobody wanted a fight but you. And to say you weren’t being rude is just a lack of awareness. I stayed quiet while you guys went back and forth but friend wasn’t asking for a free meal, she actually just wanted to order something else and she is more than capable of paying for that $12 dish and another…
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 1
Tara Keenan
We are so thrilled to have recently "discovered" this place after 13 years in Madison. Some of the best Asian food we've ever had. The service was great and got us out in time for our theater tickets.
Very rude and bad service The food wasn’t good and it took them 20 min to bring my drink
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Marcus Krueger
Best Asian Restaurant in Madison! We ordered 3 entrees and 2 appetizers to share and they did not disappoint! They were perfectly prepared with fresh, high quality ingredients. The service was top notch from start to finish. Cleanliness is noticeably a high priority here. As a restaurant owner myself I appreciate their attention to detail in all areas. Well done!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Haley Watters
Ordered take out and got the General Tso - will definitely be ordering here again! It was so delicious and great portion size.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Finn Bower
A nice little restaurant, the food was amazing.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
AL M
Curry more watery than the Mississippi. Food is below average and not worth it.
To start with, I have over 10 years in food service, and management.
Took my wife here for a special occasion, we had green curry, shrimp, impossible dumplings and my son had orange chicken. The food like other reviews was a serious miss. It was nothing like ha long bay after they "fused" menus. The server was clearly stressed, as other noted, and I had what could only be the doting owner, who asked us over and over again how things where.
Having read other reviews and noticing everything people where saying was true, I just told her is was all great, as I don't need some lady freaking out about her sub par business while my wife's out to eat on an occasion with us.
The only good thing we had there, was the impossible dumplings, everything else was terrible, her tom yum soup had giant pieces of button mushrooms, not wood mushrooms and tasted nothing like the soup that was expected, my green curry.....was missing the curry, and any real flavor, even the coconut milk was skimped on, wife didn't enjoy the overly sweet coconut shrimp, kid was upset that the orange chicken wasn't spicy, and not even as good as Great China on the north side.
The fact this place exists is a plague on the Madison restaurant community, my wife was not thrilled about getting dressed up and coming here for such a sub par meal.
Now I will wait for the nasty remarks and complete disillusioned owner to comment saying everything I have said is a lie, and her business is all perfect.
Don't waste time or money here.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 2
Panang curry and Tom Kha are also fantastic! The lychee lemonade as well. A bit disappointed by the Laab with tofu - flavor was great, but it was presented a bit different, and the size/texture of the tofu felt out of place. The Singapore noodles also were again great flavor, but the dry stir fry left the seasoning feeling a bit gritty. Definitely won't deter us from coming back though, because overall the food, service, etc are always pretty great.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: House Special Egg Roll, Singapore Noodles GF, Blistered Green Beans
Huge menu, but somehow they make it all work so well.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
The atmosphere is very nice. It’s more Asian than the real Asia. Waiters are helpful. But the meal is not that good, it’s America-style food, so for native Asian it’s very weird. If you want to try the authentic Asian food, it’s not a good place. But if you only want to experience the atmosphere of different cultures, it’s the best place in Madison.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
Little Palace: Where Royal Expectations Meet Peasant Realities
If you’ve ever wanted to know what the collapse of a dynasty tastes like, may I humbly suggest dining at Little Palace. What began as a journey with hopes of spicy broth, sweet mango, and a palace-worthy experience ended up feeling more like a prolonged exile in the waiting area.
Let’s start with the pho. Imagine someone whispered “broth” into a lukewarm bowl of water. That’s it—that’s the flavor profile. I suspect the chef’s spice rack may consist of exactly one grain of salt, carefully rationed for emergencies only. When we asked for hoisin sauce to liven things up, it felt like they were handing over the crown jewels.
Next up: the mango sticky rice. Now, I’m no fruit snob, but this mango tasted like it skipped its high school prom and never ripened. It was as if the chef got impatient and said, “Eh, close enough!” The sticky rice itself was clingier than my ex, and somehow less enjoyable.
And the pièce de résistance? The 40-minute wait. For context, we were the only diners there. Did the chef embark on a soul-searching journey to source each ingredient in real-time? Perhaps they were foraging for cilantro in a distant jungle? When the food finally arrived, we half-expected it to come with a certificate of authenticity: “Handcrafted at the speed of erosion.”
In summary, if you’re looking for a dining experience that rivals a DMV wait time, food with all the excitement of a spreadsheet, and fruit that tastes like betrayal—Little Palace is your place. Otherwise, I’d recommend trying anywhere else that serves food within a geological era.
Two stars: One for the ambiance (because we had it all to ourselves) and one for the existential life lesson about patience.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
Food was delicious but service was insanely slow! If the gratuity hadn't been included in the bill, our waitress would not have gotten 20%!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 1
I will say, I was in awe of the restaurant the minute I walked in, and the food was good but the attitude served from owner ruined the experience for my friends and I. She came by with a frown on her face to our table and didn’t give my cousin any options when she kindly asked to order a different meal (willing to pay for the first plate). The owner immediately began waving her hands around and giving bad attitude. You’d expect an owner have good communication skills instead of approach a table of customers with bad energy. As mentioned in reviews posted by other people, owner isn’t nice and staff really do seem to be overworked but were kind. And the wait for one drink was insane when there were only two other parties seated. I wouldn’t recommend unless you want bad customer service.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 1
This was one of the restaurants I stopped at during my stay in Madison this weekend. I would recommend this place to my enemies. It took us about 30 minutes to get our drinks and when we got the food it was very bland and did not taste authentic. Design is nice, food and service is not
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
Owner seemed a bit racist to us, she was curt before we were even seated and was quite snippy with us and practically rolled her eyes at me when I gave her a compliment. Put a sour taste in our mouths and hardly finished our food, safe to say we felt unwelcome. Our waiter was fine and food was okay as well but it was an upsetting experience.
Adding in response to the owner:
We sat down because we were hungry and assumed maybe you were just having a bad day. And I said you seemed racist which I stand by as we all had no idea why you came to our table ready to fight when nobody wanted a fight but you. And to say you weren’t being rude is just a lack of awareness. I stayed quiet while you guys went back and forth but friend wasn’t asking for a free meal, she actually just wanted to order something else and she is more than capable of paying for that $12 dish and another…
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 1
We are so thrilled to have recently "discovered" this place after 13 years in Madison. Some of the best Asian food we've ever had. The service was great and got us out in time for our theater tickets.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Pad Thai, Red Curry
Restaurantji Recommends
Very rude and bad service
The food wasn’t good and it took them 20 min to bring my drink
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Best Asian Restaurant in Madison!
We ordered 3 entrees and 2 appetizers to share and they did not disappoint! They were perfectly prepared with fresh, high quality ingredients. The service was top notch from start to finish. Cleanliness is noticeably a high priority here. As a restaurant owner myself I appreciate their attention to detail in all areas. Well done!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ordered take out and got the General Tso - will definitely be ordering here again! It was so delicious and great portion size.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
A nice little restaurant, the food was amazing.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Curry more watery than the Mississippi.
Food is below average and not worth it.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
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