I should have listened to my gut instincts

Before arriving, I thought that it would be wise to not try Chinese cuisine while here in Neuch (and Europe in general). I wasn't sure how real the food would be (I don't think I could have dealt with chicken balls and radioactive-red sweet and sour sauce), and well, my expectations would just be too high, no matter how good the food really was.
One night a couple weeks ago, a friend really wanted Chinese, so I gave in. I thought, might as well try it, because who knows?
So we went to a restaurant that was authentically decorated, and had a little worship/prayer/shrine thingy in the corner. We spoke French to the host, but I could hear Mandarin coming from the kitchen. Very well spoken Mandarin, with perfect accents.
The chopsticks were wooden, you know, the ones you have to break apart, but they were resting neatly on chopstick holders.
The menu was in French and Chinese. The prices were VERY expensive, but I'm told that Asian cuisine in Europe is still quite a novelty.
We decide on a couple dishes, and I looked at the appetizers to see if something caught my eye. Maybe a soup. I see "Pekinese Soup" (I think that's what was written), and notice that it's supposed to be spicy (the wheels are turning). I wonder if it's "sour and spicy soup", but don't really know what the French equivalent or the real English equivalent of the name is. So I asked the waiter in Chinese, and he says yes. Success! I would have also liked to get a tofu dish (I've been craving tofu recently), but my friend wasn't up for it.
The soup arrived, and I am happy to report that it was fabulous! I REALLY REALLY liked it! (And I'm quite the connoisseur of "sour and spicy soup" if I do say so myself.) It even had "black wood fungus" in it (no pieces of tofu though).
We'd ordered a random mixed mushroom and vegetable dish as well as a duck dish (along with white rice of course). I was EXTREMELY disappointed. The plates were tiny, and it was just a mixture of chopped up stuff. Your generic stir fry in sauce. How disappointing (especially given the cost).
Oh well, at least there was that soup. I'd go back to the restaurant and just order the soup (but nothing else...after this experience, I don't think I'd want to try anything else).

That's just the first experience. (You would have thought the first one would have clued me in.

Round 2:
Setting: New Year's Eve (this was asking for trouble)
I figure, it's New Year's Eve, I should probably go out and have a really good meal. Asian if possible. So I decide to go out with a couple friends for dinner at a local establishment (different from the first) that has apparently been featured in tourist brochures/guides/what have you.
The whole experience didn't start well. I mean, to get to the restaurant, you had to walk through a pub. It was 6:30pm, and the restaurant wasn't even open yet. In fact, we ran into the owner, who was hanging out in the pub. He said to come back in half an hour. A little annoying, but it's Europe, and they eat a little later here, so fine, we'll come back.
We return at 7:30ish or so, and in the pub, are greeted by another person. She asks if we don't mind having our dinner in the pub. Same food, but different locale. Is she kidding?!? It's New Year's. I don't want to be eating the best meal of the year in a smokey, loud, football on the TV pub. We say no, we want to eat upstairs (looking back, I can't believe we played along, and didn't get the hint that this was a sign of things to come). We follow our disgusted hostess upstairs, and (surprise surprise), we're the only patrons. Still, it's well decorated and they're playing ethnic music in the background. We sit down, look at the even-more-than-the-first-restaurant overpriced menu, which really didn't have too many options, and try to decide what we want. Every two seconds, the hostess/waitress comes over to ask if we're ready, if we really do want to eat, what we want to eat, what kind of food we want to eat, etc etc. (I'm a little ticked off by this point, but it's New Year's Eve, so I stick in there.) After awhile, we order a couple dishes and relax/chat for awhile.
The food comes, and while the appetizer was ok and the smell and sizzle of the hot plate dish was fabulous, the rest was...well...not.
Suffice it to say, it made me wish I was in Toronto, having a good meal at home. (No, not homesick, but sad.)
This restaurant did not receive a tip that night. They didn't deserve one, and their food was WAY too overpriced to begin with. I'm embarrassed at how much I paid for a meal I didn't enjoy.

The moral of the story: I'm NOT going to eat Chinese food in Europe. I will refuse.