Here’s how to find the best authentic Chinese restaurant in any major metropolitan area, according to one TikToker.
Content creator @rocketjump shared “the easiest way to find Chinese food” on Yelp. He advised foodies to pick a restaurant with a rating of 3.5 stars out five stars, calling it the “sweet spot.” Four stars were too many, and two stars were too few, but there was a reason for the unusual tactic.
When a restaurant is rated low, it’s obviously bad. But when a Chinese restaurant is too highly rated, that means “too many white people like it. The service is too good. The food isn’t as good as it could be.” However, “the orange 3.5 is exactly what you want.” While the servers may seem “rude,” the food is going to be exceptional.
“Here’s my theory: The cultural expectations for service are different in Asia,” he explained. “They’re not as proactive. They’re not going to come up to you and proactively give you refills. You need to flag down the waiters.”
But they’re not the only factor. Without the nitpicking peanut gallery of Yelp, the math would be off.
“People on Yelp are insufferable. They’re dinging all these restaurants because the service is bad. However, the food balances it out, so you end up with 3.5 stars. It’s the sweet spot. Trust me,” he said.
The video racked up over 8.3 million views and 1.6 million likes. People shared their own methods for tracking down top-notch Chinese cuisine in the area.
“I look for the quality of the chairs. If they have those faded pink pleather chairs and lots of Chinese movie posters, the food is gonna be fire,” a person wrote.
“I think if you come from an area with a high Asian population it skews it a bit. All my places are highly rated,” another commented.
“I just checked and my favorite spot has 3.5 stars,” a TikToker added.
“If u walk in and they greet you just leave cuz food will be mid. I want them to ignore me like my HS crush,” someone joked.
“Wait a minute… I’ve thought this for years. Thank you for confirming,” a user posted.
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