As a Canadian born Chinese, sometimes I find it embarassing as to why some Chinese restaurants can be so "cheap/ (somestimes expensive)" and "dirty", especially in North America.

The most expensive meal at a Chinese restaurant I went to costed about CAD 1,000 for 10 people (menu consisted of items such as individual abalones for each person, sharkfin, bird's nest etc), yet still, the washroom at the restaurant was very dirty (oily floor), the wine glasses had food stains on them (yuck), and tea cups were slightly cracked. A couple of Chinese restaurants in Vancouver Canada even had to be shut down because they did not pass health inspections (and the owners know nothing about "food safe".

Whenever I find a "clean" restaurant, the food served is usualy a bit too "westernized" and not as authentic. For example, in the Netherlands, I was at a Chinese restaurant, and it was very clean, expensive, and even had table settings resembling that of a higher end "western" restaurant. However, the food [there was no abalone, shark fin etc. on the menu] wasn't very authentic (even though the owners are ethnic Chinese and spoke perfect Cantonese, and even bragged about catering for the Chinese consulate).

The only Chinese restaurants where I have found BOTH the "environment" and "food" to be acceptable was in Hong Kong at places such as the Spring Moon at the Peninsula.

Is the "dirty washroom/tea cup" phenomenon just a thing for "low-mid end" Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong, and "most" Chinese restaurants in North America/other parts of the world?