There’s something unusual happening at Xiao Ye.
Despite opening during one of the most difficult periods the restaurant industry has faced in years, Xiao Ye has quietly grown into one of Portland’s most respected neighborhood restaurants – not through hype or exclusivity, but through consistency, warmth, and an unmistakable sense of hospitality.
Founded by husband-and-wife team Jolyn Chen and Louis Lin, Xiao Ye describes its food as “first-generation American food” – a reflection of Taiwanese traditions, American upbringing, and the deeply personal way food evolves through family, migration, and lived experience. The restaurant itself mirrors that philosophy: intimate, energetic, and intentionally designed to feel more like being welcomed into someone’s home than dining in a formal restaurant.
At the center of it all is an open kitchen, where guests can watch dishes move. Servers guide the room with a gentle attentiveness, there’s polish, but not pretension. Guests celebrating anniversaries sit comfortably beside people wearing hoodies after work. Regulars return not just for the food, but for the relationships they’ve built with the team over time.
But Xiao Ye’s success didn’t happen overnight.
In our conversation with Jolyn, she spoke about the restaurant’s difficult first two years, the challenges of reshaping public perception, and the operational decision to slowly transformed Xiao Ye from a “special occasion” destination into the kind of neighborhood restaurant people want to return to every week.
What followed was a thoughtful conversation about hospitality, hiring, training, restaurant culture, leadership, and the increasingly difficult challenge of building restaurant teams that genuinely care for both guests and each other.
For restaurant operators struggling with hiring, retention, and culture, Jolyn’s perspective offers something increasingly valuable in hospitality today: clarity, honesty, and a reminder that great service is ultimately built on empathy.
Why We Wanted To Talk To Jolyn
At Poached, we spend a lot of time talking about hiring, retention, training, and restaurant culture – but every once in a while, you come across a restaurant where those ideas are clearly being practiced at a very high level every single day.
For years, Xiao Ye has stood out as one of those places.
Not just because of the food, but because of the feeling people leave with after dining there. In an industry where restaurants often struggle to retain staff, maintain consistency, or create meaningful guest experiences under constant pressure, Xiao Ye has quietly built a service culture that feels deeply intentional.
And when we started hearing more about how Jolyn and her team approached hiring, training, and promoting from within, we knew there was a bigger conversation worth having.
During our interview, Jolyn spoke openly about learning through trial and error, reshaping the restaurant’s identity over time, and why empathy has become one of the most important qualities they look for when hiring new team members. Rather than chasing “perfect” résumés or years of fine dining experience, Xiao Ye often looks for people with strong emotional awareness – including candidates coming from healthcare and childcare backgrounds.
She also shared thoughtful insights on staging, restaurant leadership, building trust with regulars, balancing high-level service without creating intimidation, and the emotional realities of operating a restaurant in today’s environment.
What made the conversation especially compelling was how honest it felt.
There was no “perfect operator” narrative. No claim to having everything figured out. Instead, Jolyn spoke candidly about adapting, letting go of ego, listening to guests, and learning how to evolve alongside both her team and the changing expectations of diners.
For restaurant owners, managers, and hospitality professionals trying to build stronger teams in an increasingly difficult industry, we think there’s a lot to learn from the way Xiao Ye approaches hospitality – not as performance, but as genuine care for people.
Building a Neighborhood Restaurant
One of the most interesting parts of our conversation with Jolyn was hearing how much Xiao Ye evolved after opening.
Like many ambitious restaurants, the original vision leaned toward larger-format dishes and a more “special occasion” experience. Some menu items landed in the $50–70 range, which unintentionally shaped how diners perceived the restaurant.
Over time, Jolyn and the team realized that perception mattered just as much as execution.
“We really wanted people to come more often,” she explained, describing the shift toward more approachable entrées in the $30–40 range. That change slowly transformed Xiao Ye from somewhere guests saved for birthdays and anniversaries into the kind of restaurant people could fold into their regular lives.
That evolution became one of the biggest themes throughout our conversation: learning how to meet guests where they are without losing the heart of what made the restaurant special in the first place.
Jolyn spoke candidly about how difficult the first two years were.
“There were definitely moments where we thought, ‘Is this working? Are we going to make it?’”
Even as the restaurant gained attention and strong reviews, she described the emotional reality many operators know well: public perception doesn’t always match financial stability or internal confidence.
“It honestly wasn’t until maybe six months ago that things started to feel optimistic.”
That honesty gave important context to many of the operational decisions Xiao Ye made along the way – from pricing strategy to marketing to menu development. Instead of rigidly protecting the original concept, the team adapted over time, responding to how guests actually interacted with the restaurant.
Jolyn described that process as learning to let go of ego.
“You can’t stay too old school anymore,” she explained. “The industry moves too fast, people change too fast, and diners change too fast.”
That flexibility now shows up everywhere inside Xiao Ye:
the constantly evolving seasonal menu,
the monthly burger nights designed to bring people in during slower periods,
and the balance between polished hospitality and a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere.
“We want people in hoodies to feel just as comfortable as someone celebrating an anniversary,” Jolyn said.
And perhaps most importantly, the restaurant’s regulars have become part of the identity itself.
“The relationships are the reason people come back,” she explained. “Not just the food.”
Hiring for Empathy Instead of Experience
One of the most surprising parts of our conversation with Jolyn was hearing how little emphasis Xiao Ye places on traditional restaurant résumés when hiring new team members.
Instead, the restaurant often prioritizes something much harder to teach: empathy.
Over time, Jolyn said the team began noticing that some of their strongest hires came not from fine dining backgrounds, but from healthcare and childcare professions.
“They already know how to take care of people,” she explained.
Those candidates often arrived with patience, emotional awareness, adaptability, and the ability to stay calm while constantly moving – all qualities that translate naturally into hospitality.
Just as importantly, many of them were eager to learn.
Rather than trying to “untrain” years of habits from other restaurants, Xiao Ye increasingly found success hiring people early in their hospitality journey and teaching them the restaurant’s culture from the ground up.
Jolyn described much of the hiring process as instinctual.
“When I talk to someone, I ask myself: am I leaning into this conversation, or am I trying to get out of it?”
That gut feeling matters because service at Xiao Ye depends heavily on emotional presence and self-awareness – not simply technical execution.
“We look for people who can see beyond themselves,” she said. “People who understand the bigger picture.”
Even cover letters carry unusual weight in the hiring process.
Rather than generic statements about being hardworking or punctual, Jolyn said she wants to understand why someone chose Xiao Ye specifically, where they are in life, and what they hope to gain from the experience.
That level of intentionality may sound small, but throughout our conversation it became clear that Xiao Ye views hiring less as filling labor gaps and more as carefully shaping the long-term culture of the restaurant.
Training Culture and Promoting From Within
Hiring intentionally is only one part of the equation.
What stood out just as much during our conversation was how deliberately Xiao Ye develops people once they join the team.
Rather than relying heavily on outside hires for senior service positions, the restaurant often promotes from within. Hosts, support staff, and brunch servers gradually grow into larger roles over time, learning both the technical side of service and the emotional rhythm of the dining room along the way.
That philosophy extends directly into the staging process.
Prospective hires spend time shadowing the support team during busy service windows, often between 5–7pm on weekends. But the goal isn’t simply to test whether someone can carry plates or memorize dishes quickly.
The stage is designed to answer a deeper question: does this person feel comfortable caring for people in this environment?
Candidates explain dishes, clear tables, interact with guests, and experience the pace and energy of the room firsthand. At the same time, the existing team quietly evaluates something equally important: chemistry.
“The team usually knows,” Jolyn explained.
That trust in internal feedback has helped Xiao Ye create a culture that is largely self-reinforcing. Team members understand the environment they’re helping protect, and they play an active role in identifying who will genuinely thrive within it.
Importantly, Jolyn also emphasized that stages benefit both sides.
“We want them to know what they’re signing up for too.”
Can a candidate enthusiastically explain the same dish thirty times in one night? Do they enjoy the intimacy and constant interaction that define the restaurant? Are they energized by hospitality itself?
By treating staging as mutual discovery rather than one-sided evaluation, Xiao Ye avoids many of the onboarding mismatches that quietly create turnover in restaurants.
And even when positions aren’t available, strong applications aren’t forgotten.
Jolyn mentioned that thoughtful cold applications and memorable cover letters are often saved for future opportunities – another small detail that reflects the restaurant’s long-term approach to building its team.
High-Level Service Without Pretension
One of the more interesting ideas Jolyn returned to throughout the interview was the balance between high-level service and approachability.
At Xiao Ye, service is detailed and intentional – napkin folds, plate swaps throughout the meal, wine tastings, detailed food explanations – but the goal is never to make the experience feel stiff or exclusive.
The menu is designed around shared dishes and conversation, while the open kitchen keeps the room energetic and transparent rather than overly formal.
And over time, that atmosphere has helped Xiao Ye build a strong base of regulars.
“The relationships are the retention piece,” Jolyn said.
For her, hospitality isn’t just about executing service correctly. It’s about creating an environment where guests feel comfortable returning again and again — not only for the food, but for the people and relationships they associate with the restaurant.
The Emotional Reality of Running Restaurants
There was no illusion that building the restaurant had been easy.
In fact, Jolyn described the first two years as deeply challenging – emotionally, financially, and operationally.
Like many operators, the team was simultaneously trying to refine the restaurant’s identity, manage costs, navigate changing diner expectations, and build stability… Throughout that process, one lesson kept resurfacing: adaptability matters more than ego.
“You can’t stay rigid,” Jolyn explained. “People change. Diners change. The industry changes.”
That mindset eventually pushed Xiao Ye to evolve in ways that made the restaurant stronger: adjusting pricing perception, embracing marketing and influencer outreach after initially resisting it, and continually refining both the menu and guest experience over time.
But perhaps the most meaningful part of the conversation came when Jolyn began discussing the future.
Rather than focusing only on expansion or accolades, she spoke about transparency, mental health, and helping other operators feel less isolated in the realities of restaurant work.
She described early plans for a podcast centered not around celebrity chefs, but around everyday restaurant people: operators, managers, and hospitality workers trying to build sustainable careers and healthier workplaces inside an increasingly difficult industry.
That perspective felt deeply aligned with one of the central ideas behind our entire conversation: that hospitality works best when people genuinely care for one another – not just guests, but coworkers and teams as well.
And maybe that’s ultimately what makes Xiao Ye resonate so strongly with both diners and hospitality professionals alike.
Underneath the food, the design, the service, and the atmosphere is something much simpler: a restaurant built around human connection.
For operators navigating hiring challenges, retention struggles, or the pressure of building stronger teams in today’s industry, Xiao Ye offers a thoughtful reminder that hospitality is still fundamentally about people.
Not perfection.
Not performance.
People.
We’re incredibly grateful to Jolyn for taking the time to speak with us about leadership, restaurant culture, hiring, and the realities of modern hospitality.
You can watch our full conversation on our Youtube channel, including additional insights on training practices, menu evolution, guest relationships, and what it really takes to build a restaurant people want to return to.