Xi Bay - Sydney

I come to this restaurant at least once a week after work. The soup with tomatoes, wood ear mushrooms, tofu, and beef is to die for. I forget the name of it, but the oil-splashed noodles are so delicious. Their complimentary chili oil is amazing and adds a great flavor to all of their dishes. The noodles are hands down some of the best I've ever had.

This restaurant provided a terrible experience. While the food was acceptable, once we were ready to pay and leave, we were completely ignored by the staff. Despite our attempts to flag down a waiter, they continued to overlook us and instead focused on accommodating other customers. We ended up waiting by the kitchen for almost half an hour, and eventually had to send a friend to the bank to withdraw the cash needed to settle our bill. The whole checkout process was needlessly prolonged and frustrating. Needless to say, we will not be returning to this establishment as the experience felt like being trapped in a prison.

The standout dish is the homemade bark soup, which is sure to impress. The noodles are generously portioned, the bark meat is thinly sliced, and the broth is flavorful and hearty.

This place gets stars because this was our first meal at our first official day in sydney, and our last meal in sydney two weeks later, obviously.

This place is always packed, and when they pay their bill, they will know a reason why many places in burwood are a total demolition, but this place is.