Sadly, this is true. I knew a girl who worked at a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant in California back the 80s, and she told me about all the unsanitary and illegal things they did to cut corners and save money, which including scraping uneaten food off the plates of previous customers and serving it to new customers.

They also didn't obey the employment laws, acted like she was bum for taking her legal breaks and wanted to work her to death for no overtime pay. She quit and reported them.

Here in Panama, there is a Chinese restaurant run by Chinese that has received repeated health code violations for the most filthy things. I don't even know if it's still in business. I won't go there.

Chinese food is one of my guilty pleasures. Fortunately, there is a chain of Chinese restaurants run by Panamanians here that serves decent enough food, not the greatest I've ever had, but definitely good enough. I get my fix there, because I trust the locals much more. They don't pull that kind of unsanitary, corner-cutting crap.