Wu's Wonton King
Respect the restaurant, and the restaurant will do you well
165 E. Broadway | Chinatown, Manhattan
During my last trip to Wu’s Wonton King, I showed up with two other people but our fourth was running late. They said they would seat us, but asked that we start ordering. A server handed us menus and got us a bucket of ice for the canned cocktails someone had brought. Then she waited. We realized that we needed to do said ordering immediately, and succumbed to pointing at a smattering of things in a frenzy, stumbling into what turned out to be a perfect array of dishes.
I’ve only had amazing food here. Never a wasted cent.
But there is a well-known trend in dining where white Americans are prone to giving shitty ratings to restaurants featuring the cuisine of and staffed by non-white Americans.
I can’t explain every level of racism and bias going on here. But I am well-suited to attack the concept of expectations, the gremlin that inspires so many online rants about eating out.
It’s as if every white American child at some point eats at an Outback Steakhouse, and mom sends the filet back for being “too pink,” chirping with certainty that “the customer is always right.” Later, the brownie sundae is delayed, so dad scolds the server and then announces that there’s no way he’s giving his normal 15% tip. Take that!
It’s dining entitlement. A bizarre need for flattery. The expectation that anyone offering a service would do well to offer it in the exact way we want it.
There’s a scene burned into my memory from the sitcom 3rd Rock From the Sun. John Lithgow (who is an alien in human form—amazing premise) sits down at a restaurant and places a stack of quarters on the table. He then informs the waiter that this is his tip, and he will remove a quarter for any transgression during the meal. This is the perfect encapsulation of how most American diners think. Shame.
Wu’s Wonton King makes some of the best Cantonese food in New York but if you’ve not eaten at a banquet-style Chinatown restaurant, you will likely not be used to the style of service. Curt and driven. I was not used to it the first time I ate there. It’d be ridiculous to insist they do it any other way.
