IMO, Ling's falls solidly into the "Chinese American" category. I knew this place wouldn't be to my liking when I saw that there were only one or two Asian diners in the packed restaurant. I was disappointed because judging by how Lin Asian Bar + Dim Sum is always packed with Asians, I was so looking forward to Ling Wu. (In fact, when I reread this review, I saw that I used various forms of "disappoint" five times!)

I would definitely not call Ling Wu "authentic" or "very tasty". Din Ho Chinese BBQ or Ho Ho Chinese BBQ have far tastier Chinese and Asian dishes. Asia Cafe is vastly more authentic. As for being tasty, I would say it's only competent: it's OK, but not heads-and-shoulders above any random semi-upscale Chinese restaurant. In general, the dishes have potential e.g. Yellowtail & Salmon Green Mango Salad, but their execution was disappointing; I felt they need more refinement.

Ling Wu is nominally "Chinese fusion" but I would definitely not rate this place the equal of, for instance, an Uchiko to Japanese cuisine, or a NorTH Italia to Italian cuisine.

Food: 3/5
Service: 5/5
Decor/ambience: 5/5

We had:

Ling's Soup Dumplings: it seemed every table ordered these. It's the standout dish. Five dumplings are filled with broth and filling and are very tasty. Each diner has a little bowl with which to eat the dumplings because otherwise the dumplings would make a mess when bitten into. Speaking of biting into those dumplings: be extra careful as the soup inside is appropriately magma hot! I usually "tear" up the dumpling with chopsticks first so the contents can cool a bit.

The Yellowtail & Salmon Green Mango Salad appears to be a take on Japanese sashimi and Thai green papaya salad
but the execution is disappointingly subpar.
The fish's texture felt like the result of improper handling.
The vinaigrette had promise, refreshingly acidic, but in the end was not quite there.

The Akashi Beef Potsticker [sic] are the usual potstickers with dipping sauce. They were run of the mill, with the exception of the presentation: each potsticker sported a crisp and delicate "lace veil" of fried dough.

Scallion Pancake with Curry Dip: we were looking forward to this. The curry came with a drumette and potato. Again, it was good but not outstanding. The pancake was super disappointing: slightly too thick, kinda mushy, and with hardly any crispy skin. We've had much better scallion pancakes at, say, Chen's Noodle House on Spicewood Springs Rd.

Mei Choi Pork Belly: disappointingly unremarkable.

The dishes were OK, but I'd much rather go elsewhere for this cuisine and this quality of food.

P.S. It was my birthday and the complimentary dessert of strawberry ice cream sculpted into a super cute rabbit was almost worth making the trip here!

I ordered my 2021 Women's March ATX t-shirt online from bumperactive.com, was emailed a notice to pick up my t-shirt (nine days later; it was near to the March's date and I guess everybody was getting their t-shirt too), went to the store & picked it up. No fuss, no muss. The place is easy to find, clean, spacious, well lit.

The t-shirt is good quality: contemporary & good quality cotton knit, nicely printed. I bought a 3XL t-shirt and made it into a dress!

Food: 1 star
Decor & ambience: 5 stars
Service: 4 stars

It is such a shame, such a waste of Primrose's beautiful decor and ambience, that its food sucked so badly.

The place looks absolutely beautiful: muted harmonious colors, old timey furniture and furnishings, bookcases scattered along the walls. (The check was brought tucked inside a real, antique-y, book.) The bathroom was modern and well lit and clean. The service was attentive and prompt.

The scene killer was the food. We shared the Buttermilk Caesar Salad, the Fried Chicken Provençal, and the Filet Mignon & Frites. Only the salad was fairly good, the bib lettuce fresh and crunchy and sweet, the dressing laced with a decent amount of anchovies. It is, though, a little over salted.

The fried chicken? I have not eaten at KFC in 25+ years but I would bet one can get better fried chicken tenders there, for a lot less. Primrose's fried chicken was super crunchy on the outside and that was its only good point. The pieces are so overdone and so dense, they feel like chunks of ceramic, not protein. The accompanying aioli was very unremarkable. We only took a couple of bites each and left the rest, and then asked for it to be taken away. (We were not charged for it.)

The filet mignon? We asked for ours medium rare. You can be the judge from my pic as to whether it's medium rare. The rarest part was barely pink, and was well done and dry around the edges. If that's medium rare, I'd hate to see their "well done"! Really, how does one screw up filet mignon? The mushroom mix that came with the steak was mundane, despite supposedly made with bone marrow. The accompanying fries were quite salty. When we told the waiter of the saltiness, he offered to get us a new batch "unspiced". Not paying close attention, we said yes. He did very promptly bring a new batch or piping hot and crunchy fries, but not only it had no salt, it had no spices either! We should have noticed that the offer was for "unspiced" fries, not just "unsalted" fries!

So, bottom line is, they need to really beef up their quality control in the kitchen. If the kitchen can't get the salting of fries, or make a Caesar salad dressing that's not over salted, or cook a piece of steak to the requested doneness, then it's failing at some of the most basic culinary skills.

This place has potential, and also has room for improvement.

We were there for dinner on a Friday with a reservation at six. The service was competent. Unlike some other reviewers' experience, our server did present and explain every dish. I suppose it's cool that he did, though it's not entirely necessary as each dish's composition is listed quite clearly and completely on the menu.

The two "for sharing" dishes ("Para compartir") were really good. The cheeses were indeed "sweating" though not really sweating as in moisture but as in oil droplets/sheen, from having been sliced sometimes back and sitting. They taste just as good, so no, er, sweat. The combos were great: Iberico ham, cheeses, quince paste; the other one with the oxtail terrine was great too, with quince mustard.

We had the octopus, which was a bit of an acquired taste. I liked the very delicate and subtle flavor combinations, but my S.O. thought it was, simply put, bland. I suppose the seasoning could have used a little bit more bite, but I don't know if that would make it "not authentic" or not. Authentic or not, I suspect it might become one of the less popular dishes.

The dessert we had, "Gacha Blancas & Peras", akin to a white chocolate tiramisu with red wine poached pear, was a miss for us. The red wine added too much bitterness to something we expected to be sweet (poached pears) and the texture of the "tiramisu" was a bit grainy. It was not our favorite thing.

My S.O. said "once is enough" though I am willing to give this place another try to checkout the other items on the menu.

The decor was super nice and light and airy, and I felt it's quite far from being "austere" as another review stated. The bathroom is beautiful, though on the way there, the kitchen's door was open and it smelled like a bad fish market! It was surprising considering that they only had one seafood item on the menu (the octopus/shrimp one).