Sang Kee: Chinese Take-Out is More Preferable.

Chinatown in Philadelphia has one huge issue: There are too many similar restaurants, and little to no sense of insight into Asian culture or unity.

Consumers often pose this question: Where is the best place in Chinatown to dine in?

The supposed answer: Sang Kee Peking Duck House.

The real answer: WRONG.

A good friend of mine hosted a dinner party at Sang Kee Peking Duck House on a Saturday night, and despite my personal opinions of Sang Kee, I obliged out of politeness to my friend. My boyfriend and I ventured to 9th and Winter Sts. to join our friends at this famed restaurant in Chinatown for my good friend's birthday. The evening began with two pots of piping hot tea for every person in the party to sip on while waiting for their respective meals. My boyfriend and I ordered a Shrimp Dumpling Rice Noodle Soup, 1/2 Peking Duck and Seafood Pan-Fried Noodles and Seafood rolls to start as an appetizer. The other guests ordered roast duck dishes and a majority of the group ordered pan-fried noodles in some form. There were two noticeably offensive items on the menu: The Chou-Jou Shrimp Rolls, which were CLEARLY a cheap knock-off from Ong's restaurant, and the Shrimp Dumpling RNS, another cheap knock-off from Ong's. When my boyfriend received his Shrimp Dumpling noodle soup, right away, he had noticed that he had received Ho Fun noodles instead of the thin rice noodles that he had requested. Secondly, ho fun noodles should be separated and heated before they are combined with the soup. These ho fun noodles were clearly cut from the package and dumped right into the middle of the bowl. The broth had a disgusting after-taste and there was nothing but a couple of pieces of limp scallions to dress the bowl. The worst part about the bowl was that my boyfriend had to manually separate the lumpy ho-fun noodles at the bottom of his bowl. Secondly, the peking duck arrived with thin pieces of pita bread, rather than the traditional doughy pancakes, which were stated in the menu. The duck was nearly tasteless but edible enough to just to digest it. Lastly came the most DISAPPOINTING Seafood Pan-Fried Noodles. First of all, the once crispy noodles were completely drenched in an oily sauce and secondly, the scallops tasted EXTREMELY spoiled. To top this terrible dinner, the server literally took our order and dropped the food down without even coming to check on us or even greet us, and for some reason, my friend was polite enough to leave him a VERY good tip, a tip NOT deserved. The server even claimed that the beautiful neopolitan strawberry short-cake that I bought for the occasion melted when he handed me the box. First of all, it was not an ice cream cake, and second of all, if the cake had melted, why was one area of the cake completely smudged and the rest of the cake looked normal? Clearly the cake was damaged in their care and they were not willing to take responsibility for what they had done. The only perk about this dinner disaster was that the food was on the cheaper end, but I don't care for the price, I only care for the quality and I feel as though I had been robbed.

I give this restaurant a 3 out of 10 for poor service, poor quality food and poor presentation.