Baoery, Thornton Park - Closed

I had dinner at this Pan Asian restaurant where City Fish used to be on Saturday. It's next to Shari Sushi. I'm not sure if the holiday factored into the lack of execution or if there is a larger problem, but, my main complaint was how long and in what order they delivered the food. Most items on the menu are simple, "knock out" dishes and the ones I ordered really only required assembly or a quick oil bath. I had an order of Dragons Edamame (pan sauteed in sesame oil and chilis and served in the shell) and some pork and shrimp dumplings cooked similarly and a pork belly bao (Jade Emperor). I had already sipped through a full glass of wine when they finally delivered something. The place was not that full. It was the largest of the dishes (the bao) and probably should have been designated the main course. It cost $8. You received two of the them. One was lean. One was fatty. It came with cucumbers and kim chi and cilantro. The buns were a little flat/dense. For those who don't know, baos are served on a steamed flour/sugar bun. They can suffer from poor execution in the same way a baked roll can. These were sub par. The pork was ok. The flavor was ok. You'd probably do better at an average Chinese restaurant. They also only have four choices. Not acceptable if you are going to represent yourself as the "Baoery". I do applaud them for jumping on a trend that is only a decade old though. No one else around here is even that hip. The edamame were great. A simple idea that I think I saw done in California. They should create a menu of these and rename the place Ed-ery. They cost $5. A big bowl. They came out twenty minutes after the bao. With them came the dumplings. I guess I should of anticipated that they would be fried and not steamed - Chinese vibe. But they also had so many Japanese (Ramen) and Korean (Kim Chi, bulgogi), etc dishes I mentally misprepared my stomach. There were 4 of them. They cost $7. They were ok. I would also like to do a class action or injunction against all restaurants that list these as having shrimp in them. If they do, it is not enough. If they do it is a paste. If they do, it is a waste. You only taste pork. It had a nice slaw on the side. I would have ordered more, but, they kind of lost interest in me (and everyone who entered after 9 pm). The place looks cute. The middle is almost all bar. This is kind of a waste if the staff is going to mentally check out at 9. A bar that big and the snack like menu makes me think they would like it be more of a bar (ie late night) than a restaurant, But who am I? They have some kind of crate thing over the bar. One wall has a giant Buddha (from close up) mural. The ceilings are black. The walls are some shade of red. The tables/chairs are black (new). They have a patio. The wine list was not full of the same mass produced wines that stifle customers at most places. The craft beer and sake choices also had some depth and obscureness. Service was polite. I would guess that the problems had more to do with some overwhelmed Napoleon in the kitchen than with the wait staff. If they can get their act together it will be a fine, casual place. I think they have been open for around a month.