China Boulevard on the River

Spectacular chinese food. This place really does serve some of the best chinese cuisine I have eaten in London. For a place away from the centre of town the level of skill is unusually high and I was really surprised to find this in Battersea. The restaurant employes several chefs direct from China and the level of skill and understanding really shows - go for the more exotic dishes if you can. This is light years away from the SoHo/Chinatown identikit restaurants

However, the level of service and in particular the take away service are appalling. My take away order this week took nearly three hours to be delivered (and when it was it was cold) and that is if you manage to get them to answer the phone (only answered if you have lottery winning luck). In the restaurant the time to delivery situation is better but you can expect significant delays. The waiters need someone to put some shape and order to what they are doing. Quality of food goes a long way to making up the long wait but after sitting at a table for nearly 45min it had better be. If they sort out the delivery time and get better waiting staff this place could be a real destination restaurant.
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Ben
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Booked a table for 9 for company lunch the other day! So glad the food and service didn't dissapoint us as my manager told me to book somewhere nice. Dim-sum and the rottiserie was reasonably fast and tasty, so thumbs up for that as we only had hour n half for lunch! Nice music and nice to watch Kylie Minogue concert on their big on their gigantic LCD. Recommend this place for nice food, nice atmosphere. Only doubt is.. for a restuarant as nice and posh as this.. my opinion, they really should employ waiters with better english, presentabke and better social skills!
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Ben Wright (Lancome and Co)
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Thursday, March 22, 2007

I agree that the food is pretty good, it must be as the restaurant always has many Chinese people eating there. The service is where it lets itself down. For a start the waiters and waitresses only speak enough English to take your order so if there is a problem or a question you are stuck! Each time we eat there we have a problem with service. Last time they didn't read

the lunch menu ticks properly so the food ordered from the back page was forgotten, when it did arrive the Crispy Pork Crackling was luke warm. Please improve service it really spoils our visits!
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Mrs B Bland
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Friday, February 02, 2007

This is a gem, and is up there with most good dim sum restaurants in Chinatown, but without the hassle of parking and being too over-crowded. It's spacious and bright, and my kids love it because it's along the riverside.
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R. Leung
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Sunday, January 07, 2007

Fantastic. Amazed to read otherwise. Yes the prices are slightly higher than your average Chinese restaurant, but you certainly do not get the views or the decor that you do in here in other town restaurants. The staff are very friendly, the food is delicious. If you don't want authentic Chinese and you want the usual 'Britishfied' rubbish, don't come. It does not need that sort of clientele anyway. It is always busy with Chinese people, which is always a good sign. Good ridance to all those that don't like it, they have clearly had too many cheap, un authentic Chinese. My friends and I love it!
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Nathalie Degn-Petersen
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Monday, December 04, 2006

This was a truly unique dining experience in the sense that we never actually got to eat anything. The inability of the kitchen staff to coordinate simple starters to arrive within 30 minutes of each other was merely the start. Having complaining that my soup had gone cold having waited 20 minutes for my boyfriends starter to arrive I was informed by an indifferent and to be honest incompetent manager that the food was prepared in different departments so they couldn't guarantee things turning up at the same time. Following a further delay in the coodination of our starters I'd had enough. The atmosphere was as vacant as the servicing staff and management and we promptly left with our complaints of absymal service greated with blank expressions. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone and will advise staying well away, it is rubbish.
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- View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Monday, October 23, 2006

Having just returned from an attempted meal at China Bouvelard, I can honestly say this was the worst dining experience I have had since moving to London over 10 years ago. Having failed to understand the order followed by an even more incompetent failure with bringing the starters out within 20 minutes of each other I'd had my fill of the vacant atmosphere and even more vacant staff. Having complained to an indifferent senior manager we left and venture to a trusted favourite in Earlsfield. I'd stay well clear of this restaurant, it's rubbish.
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Pedoro Coldheart
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Sunday, October 22, 2006

Had a birthday party for 26 last night! At first I was a bit worried with the event as they took a long time to reply the fixed menu back and the english wasn't too good.

Turned out the best birthday ever, nice preparations for my b'day party. They had b'day banners, balloons and execellent service which made the atmosphere perfect. Food was delecious. Would recommend this place for a b'day party and to dine out at evening. Not sure about the dim-sum though as served lunch time only. But judging from the entry below.. hmmm.
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Tak Wong
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, October 16, 2006

Good atmosphere and surrounding with excellent view overlooking the river, food is Great. One of the best Chinese restaurant in London. Highly recommend to anyone.
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Jimmy Fu
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Saturday, September 23, 2006

Coming from a Chinese family I have dined in many Chinese restaurants in London. This is by far the worst one I have ever had the displeasure of going to for lunch, or dim sum in Chinese. Upon arrival I must admit I was impressed by the restaurant's 'look' and it's view over the river, however that was the only time I was impressed. The service here was AWFUL. After ordering it took over half an hour for any food to arrive (much longer than usual for a dim sum service). However only half our dishes arrived. We had to wait even longer, until we asked several waiters where the rest was. One waiter took our order away from the table and so later on the other waiters didn't know which dishes were ours and even if they had come already - we had three dishes come to our table only to realise we had already received that dish. In the end one dish didn't come altogether and we had to cancel it as we had finished all our other dishes by then. When we came to ask for the bill, yet again we had to wait. We asked one waiter, one hostess and even one man who appeared to be the Maitre'd or even a co-manager. Finally on asking the fourth person did our bill arrive - half an hour after we had asked for it the first time. All in all, the lunch service seemed to be disorganised and in disarray as our table was not the only one which had troubles. I advise all other people wanting to have dim sum here NOT to go. Go to China Town, where the prices are better value for better quality, or the excellent Dai Tung next to Wing Yip in Purley Way. I will never go to China Boulevard again.
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Sin Yee - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 4
Sunday, August 27, 2006