Alcoa
Ming Tree

Ming Tree

2754 Alcoa Hwy, 37701, Alcoa, US, United States

Casual • Asiatic • Seafood • Chinese


"Today I experienced the worst service I have ever had in a restaurant. I have loved Ming Tree for years, but today, this restaurant proved that it no longer (perhaps never) deserves my loyalty.I had brought my best friend here to enjoy a nice girls' lunch. When we were seated, I was surprised by the waiter who I did not recognize. He asked what we wanted to drink and returned with our beverages, asking if we knew what we wanted to order. I replied that we probably needed another minute or two.In well over 15 minutes, he returned. During this time, I had seen another waiter hustling and waiting on several tables in our section, but our waiter had apparently vanished. Upon his eventual return, we placed our order which include two appetizers. I also added a ToGo order, telling him, It won't be hot when I get it home, so just go ahead and turn it in and bring it so we don't have to wait for it After taking our order, he never looked at us or spoke another word.About 15 minutes later, he brought one appetizer, crab rangoon. He did not say anything about the other one. The crab rangoon was fine, tasty and well fried without being oily. Almost 20 minutes passed, and I told my friend, He's not going to bring that other appetizer She replied, We don't need it any more. How much longer for the main dishes (He did eventually fling pot stickers at us That was a good question because we had ordered off the lunch menu. I have been there many times, and lunch usually flies out of the kitchen. Not today.Eventually my soup came (hot and sour), and my friend's egg roll. Her egg roll was cool, and she asked me if she would be able to get soy sauce. About that time, the waiter came to another table. I tried valiantly to get his attention, but it was obvious that nothing short of a two-fingered whistle would bring him. So, I went to the server station and got it for her.The worst is yet to come: When our lunch came, he swept by our table and flung our plates at us! This was so hard that they clattered. I was too taken aback to even say anything. We ate our food, which was tasty, but the experience was ruined. He never came back, never refilled our beverages, never brought the ToGo order. When we gave up on our meal, I went back to the server station to get something to put our leftovers in and told someone we needed our check.During the time we packed up, he still did not deign to bring our check, so we just went to the counter and told them what we had to have them ring us up. I told the girl at the counter that our server had been unbearably rude, and she said nothing. She could not have cared less.Back at the car, my friend said, “In all our years of eating out together, this is the first time we have ever stiffed a waiter, and he sure deserved it!” How true that was. He treated us like life-long enemies from the time we came in. No one should be treated like this. I almost asked to be moved, but I was raised not to make a scene. I should have made a scene. If the restaurant’s attitude was bad at the beginning, we could have left and had a pleasant meal elsewhere.I gave this two stars because the food was fine, but I had no appetite for it because of the shoddy treatment. I will not be going back to this former favorite restaurant."