SENECA — There are not many restaurants in the Upstate that actually encourage, not simply tolerate, special orders from customers. But the Rainbow Garden Chinese restaurant, in the Seneca Bloom shopping center, has a sign in its dining room that reads: “Please ask for it if you cannot find it on the menu. Your special request is our challenge.”

Steven Chen, the Rainbow Garden owner’s nephew, said one of his family’s business goals is to make their customers want to return to eat again and again. The business added certain sodas to its refrigerator, changed its forks and even created a Web site because of customer feedback.

“We do a lot for our customers because we like them to be satisfied,” Chen said.

He added that customers love the food quality at Rainbow Garden.

“We make everything in traditional style and to order,” said Chen. “Freshly cooked food tastes much better, and the customer can tell us to change the vegetables, type of sauce or amount of spice. It doesn’t matter what they request because we start from scratch each time.”

The Rainbow Garden’s most popular dish is sesame chicken, and Chen says he tweaked the recipe to make it even more popular.

“People did not like it as much when it was spicy. Even though that is more traditional, we changed it so customers would like it more.”

The restaurant offers a large menu, with 38 lunch specials and a special diet section.

Although the restaurant only recently opened on Labor Day, Chen said frequent patrons already recognize him outside of the business.

“I will be walking in the grocery store and someone will say, ‘you are that guy from the Chinese restaurant.’ I guess they like the food,” laughed Chen.

1085 Old Clemson Hwy

Seneca, SC 29672

(864) 654-6868

Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.

Sunday 11:30 a.m. – 10 p.m.