Red Pepper

After wanting to try Red Pepper for some time now, we finally got the chance to try it last night and were pretty happy with our dining experience, although things could have been a bit better.

Upon our arrival, we felt that segregation was in play here, quite blatantly, as we were led off to our table, past one dining room occupied by only Asian customers, and seated in the other which was occupied by persons of other persuasions. Both dining rooms had numerous vacant tables so we wondered why we weren’t just seated in the one closest to our point of arrival (we entered through the back door/handicap entrance) or given a choice of where we wanted to sit, as is the case in many other Chinese establishments we have visited in the past. I felt that this was not a good sign and feared that we would not be treated in an equal manner.

While she was pleasant enough while in our presence, our heavily-accented server was MIA most of the time, choosing rather to tend to customers in the Asian room (odd, as there seemed to be another Asian girl waiting tables there), or she disappeared completely for long periods of time to parts unknown. We wished to obtain knives for our table set ups and water, but got neither because of her absence.

Our food was brought to our table in relatively quick order by her and a jovial male co-worker (I secretly wished he was assigned to our table). We started off with an order of eggrolls which were nicely hot, crisp and not at all greasy, but these were some of the most bland I’ve ever eaten. While they were served in an attractive manner, the two standard-sized rolls were filled with only shredded cabbage---we could not detect the presence of anything else. The accompanying sweet and sour sauce helped a little. Our Kung Pao Chicken was very good: tender meat with ample saucing, red chilies and peanuts. The General Tso Chicken sauce was a bit sweeter than we’re used to, but otherwise good, the plate of extremely tender and crisp chicken chunks garnished with a few lightly-steamed broccoli crowns. Although the chicken dishes came with steamed white rice, we also ordered a plate of pork fried rice. Again, this dish was not at all greasy and was loaded with pieces of barbecued pork and vegetables, very enjoyable.

We didn’t wait long for our check which was brought by the jovial portly dude. He was the one to finally ask us if the food was satisfactory, to which we replied that is was. Our bill was a very reasonable $43.00, tax and tip included.

Alas, Red Pepper is still B.Y.O.B. and we were told that they would not have a liquor license until near the end of the year. Too bad, because although we brought beer with us, we felt that a Scorpion Bowl could have alleviated some of the uneasiness we felt at times. We’ll return to sample other dishes, but only when they have that license.