Today, Chinese restaurants are facing increasing competition from the growth of other Asian restaurants (e.g. Thai, Indian, Vietnam, and Korean restaurants). In addition, American consumers have become more sophisticated, more familiar with ethnic cuisine, and increasingly they prefer healthy or spicy food. As a result, Chinese restaurants can no longer largely rely on good taste or low price alone for their success (Liu and Jang, 2009a). Today, customers are no longer willing to sacrifice poor service or dining environment (atmosphere) for good taste when they seek an exotic experience in ethnic restaurants. An excellent overall dining experience via excellent food in conjunction with good atmosphere and high‐quality service needs to be achieved to meet their satisfaction. However, it is still not empirically tested if customers in this segment are primarily driven by food, atmospherics, or employee service.