Hunan Villa Restaurant

I called this restaurant to make sure that they would have Peking duck available for Xmas Eve. They confirmed that they were serving this particular dish and confirmed that 8:30 would be fine and that reservations wouldn't be necessary. I made an online reservation nevertheless because I already had the window open. OK, then a 45 minute drive to Pinole. I arrived at 8:35 to a hostess who dismissively and rudely said that my party would need to do takeout (an attitude that reminded me of a Seinfeld episode). I explained that we had a reservation and that I had called. She next checks her reservations list and said it was nearing 8:40 and we were late. I held my ground, and then she snaps up menus and says we would need to be out in 30 minutes. I don't have a problem if the staff doesn't want to hang around on Xmas Eve, but this was a total surprise -- the restaurant had two opportunities to request that I come earlier (phone and online reservation accep ... more

I called this restaurant to make sure that they would have Peking duck available for Xmas Eve. They confirmed that they were serving this particular dish and confirmed that 8:30 would be fine and that reservations wouldn't be necessary. I made an online reservation nevertheless because I already had the window open. OK, then a 45 minute drive to Pinole. I arrived at 8:35 to a hostess who dismissively and rudely said that my party would need to do takeout (an attitude that reminded me of a Seinfeld episode). I explained that we had a reservation and that I had called. She next checks her reservations list and said it was nearing 8:40 and we were late. I held my ground, and then she snaps up menus and says we would need to be out in 30 minutes. I don't have a problem if the staff doesn't want to hang around on Xmas Eve, but this was a total surprise -- the restaurant had two opportunities to request that I come earlier (phone and online reservation acceptance). I think it unprofessional to make my party rush through a holiday dinner where I was expecting a leisurely dinner with conversation. All dishes were served together; the desired Peking duck was misrepresented and was actually the normal Chinese roast duck ($18 with buns); and corkage was charged on a bottle of wine I bought without giving a courtesy notification beforehand that this would occur. The bill was brought before we had finished and without any opportunity to ask about desserts. Despite these problems the dishes were good and the prices were low, but the reservation and rush definitely put a damper on the evening. less