Chinese Food Sauce name?

If you ask me, your problem is not a communication problem. Sweet and sour sauce is typically bright red (in some occasions dark red). I suppose that duck sauce is also sweet and sour, but it is more of an orange tasting sour, whereas the red sweet and sour is more of a combination of sugar/vinegar/pineapple juice. It is possible that you are going to a crappy Chinese restaurants and they simply don't have it. Don't be surprise. Sweet and sour sauce is used more in certain Chinese cuisine, so not every regional Chinese use it. I know. Many westerners think of Chinese cuisine as a single identity, but the truth is that China is a huge country, and people eat different foods and speak in different languages. In certain aspects, it is a more diversified than United States. Some may have never used sweet and sour sauce and have no idea what you are talking about. Think of it like American BBQ sauce. The Southern vinegar based BBQ is nothing like the tomatoes BBQ sauce in the west. You can yell and scream in a California BBQ restaurant all you want, you are just not going to get the vinegar based BBQ sauce, because the waiter/waitress has no idea what you are talking about.

Here are some picture of sweet and sour sauce:
http://www.quickspice.com/scstore/images/sauce-sweet-sour_lg-7889572005.jpg

Again, I bet the Chinese restaurants you went to is just not very good, so I am not sure if giving the Chinese name to them will help, but here it goes
The Chinese characters are:
甜酸醬 (Noticed that is the same word in the first picture)
Maybe you can print out the picture, so they can see the Chinese and English names along with the exact color.

The three Chinese characters literally mean:
Sweet-Sour-Sauce.

Are you talking about hoisin sauce ?

It might be plum sauce.

I think it depends where you are in the world. Here in my little corner of eastern Canada we usually see soy sauce, plum sauce (called duck sauce in some places), and red sauce (sweet and sour). In Paris our food at a Chinese restaurant was served with the hot spicey chili sauce a few times, but I didn't catch what it was called.

The sauce you're asking for comes only with sweet and sour dishes (ie. sweet and sour pork/chicken/shrimp). It's not a standard sauce that is given out (like soy sauce, oyster sauce, plum sauce, chili sauce). When you ask for sweet and sour sauce at the restaurant they will bring you plum sauce (usually eaten with duck).

Sorry, I don't speak chinese but here is what you should do. If the restaurant you go to is like the one I go to, then they don't have sweet and sour sauce in small packets like duck sauce or hot mustard. They do have small hard plastic contaniers of sweet and sour sauce that comes with crab rangoon. Try ordering crab rangoon, then get out that sauce and ask them what it is or try just asking for crab rangoon sauce.

It is actually sweet and sour sauce, but they probably seemed confused because they don't have packets of it to hand out with your order.

Maybe you are referring to an Asian sauce, not necessarily Chinese, which is mostly used in Thai foods, it is sweet chili sauce. It is reddish/orange in color, slightly thick, with lots of chili flakes, sweet and not very spicy, just right. It is used as dipping sauce for egg rolls and spring rolls, dumpling, sauce for any kind of fried or grilled foods, as stir-fry sauce etc. An all around kind of sauce is what it is and it is available in all Asian stores but I've seen a lot of American stores carrying some brands too. Just look in the Asian/Ethnic aisle.

The sauce you're asking for comes only with sweet and sour dishes (ie. sweet and sour pork/chicken/shrimp). It's not a standard sauce that is given out (like soy sauce, oyster sauce, plum sauce, chili sauce). When you ask for sweet and sour sauce at the restaurant they will bring you plum sauce (usually eaten with duck).

If you want sweet and sour sauce for your rice, you'll have to order sweet and sour pork/chicken/shrimp.

It's like going to an italian restaurant and asking for pasta sauce. The only way to get it is if you ordered a pasta dish.

maybe its cherry auce i bet is is