Lotus

My dining experience was terrible overall. Namely, the service was horrible. We were apparently seated as they were trying to close which we were unaware of and they should have done us the favor of telling us they were no longer seating. We ended up being rushed through our meal - they practically took dishes away without asking. They wouldn't accept our credit card because they had closed out everything but their cash register (which is very presumptious). And to top it all off the food was bad. Please don't make the mistake of going here! Pros: fairly inexpensive Cons: terrible service, bad food more

We ate at CC Lotus recently & were disappoined with the food and the service. Our server was unusual. An annecdote: she asked one of us if we were Chinese & when we said "Yes", she proceeded to show us all of the "American" Chinese dishes on the menu, such as Sweet/Sour Pork, Broccoli Beef. Real Chinese people don't eat this! Once the food came, we were further disappointed. The Mapo Tofu was really bad; cubes of Tufo in a brown gravy with really slimy clumps of some type of starchy stuff. We were surprised that they allowed this dish to leave the kitchen that way. The soup was also starchy. The location of the place is great; on Wilshire nr downtown Santa Monica. Easy parking in the back. Pros: Good Location, Easy Parking Cons: Bad Food, Bad Service more

Really good food in typical Chinese restaurant setting (i.e., really bad decor) -- service is HORRIBLE (100% error rate over 10 separate visits and no apologies for the inevitable mistakes; also unfriendly) if you have the older Chinese woman as your server -- avoid her if it all possible. Pros: Very tasty chow, Best Chinese in SM Cons: Poor service, Poor ambience more