Ping Pong (St Christopher's Place)

Ping Pong was a great place to eat when it first started out, but I think that the rapid and fast expansion has had an effect on service levels and food quality.

There are still some great Ping Pong's to dine at, but St Christopher's Place is not one of them.

Competition in the area is tough as this place is a well known and loved place to go for food and drink, so Ping Pong has let itself down.

Must try harder if they want to make a success of St Christopher's Place.
Comment on this reader review

Malachi WIlliams
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I do not usually feel compelled to write reviews, however am willing to make an exception in this case. I ate at this restaurant recently and was hugely disappointed.

Firstly, there was a draft that gave me an insight as to what life must be like in the Urals. We sat eating our dinner with our coats on.

The service was terrible. A computer fault apparently. Well, its not like they are attempting to emulate Gorden Ramsay with their menu. Its mainly consists of prawn, beef, pork or chicken and either wrapped, steamed, fried or in a puff. How difficult can it be to relay this information?

Having got half our order we waited 45 minutes before it was acknowledged we were still waiting for the remainder of our meal. Then it was a lucky dip as to what we were presented.

The food was bland to say the least.

My girlfriend had to go through the bill they presented and cross off a number of things that we simply didn't order, or that we did order and didn't receive.

The last thing she crossed off was the service charge.
Comment on this reader review

Nick
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Friday, October 03, 2008

We tried Ping Pong today, thinking that we should at least give it a chance, given that it has been quite a commercial success. Nope, not going back there again.

Looking at the menu whilst waiting for our table I was beginning to wonder if this was a good idea. There are such non-entities as soft shell crab, prawn toast, duck wrapped with hoi sin sauce (read peking duck) that one finds in most run-of-the-mill chinese restaurants that buy this stuff frozen from chinese supermarkets in bulk.

The food is really substandard - we grew up in Hong Kong and have enjoyed our sunday staple around the world but this stuff tastes like airplane dinner dim sum. Tasteless char siu bau, soggy pastry, dumpling skins that are gooey and fall apart, Lotus-wrapped sticky rice with not much substance in it, "chef's special" squid that is little more than a few miserable chunks of boiled squid with some curry sauce on it. The list goes on.

We paid 45 pounds and came out feeling sick from the amount of flavour enhancer that they used in the food.

One of the biggest rip-offs I have walked into in recent times. Do yourself a favour and go to royal china and have the same for 10 quid each, albeit of a much higher quality.
Comment on this reader review

Adrian
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Sunday, July 13, 2008

I hve visited this branch many times and feel its a great venue for a quick snack and back out to face oxford st again, other reviews were a bit harsh service is quick and its exactly what you need for this restaurant.
Comment on this reader review

sandy thomas
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, November 20, 2007

you should go back, service had improved a lot...
Comment on this reader review

mc
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, November 19, 2007

I visited this branch of ping pong having had a disappointing experience at the Gt Marlborough St branch a couple of weeks previously. However, i thought i'd give it another chance. Stupido. We didn't have to queue, and the food was ok (if a bit expensive), but that's as much as can be said for it. The menus are difficult to read and the wine list starts at £14, expensive for what seems to be trying to be a dim sum version of wagamama. But my main gripe is that someone who appeared to be the manager slapped our bill on the table before we'd even finished eating, without asking whether we wanted any more food or drinks, let alone coffee or dessert. When we eventually caught a waiter's eye (which took a long time, considering that the place is relatively small with a decent proportion of waiting staff to customers), and asked for the coffee and dessert menu, his response? "We've only got ice-cream and jasmine tea". Well, bugger me, I'd mistaken it for a restaurant. I did ask the person whom I assume was the manager whether he thought it was acceptable to slap our bill on the table before we'd even finished eating but he denied that he had done so. He did at least apologise, but it was too late. That's the last time I'll be darkening the door of any of their branches. If you want to pay through the nose for a culinary non-event, go to ping pong. However, If you want dim sum, go to Chinatown.
Comment on this reader review

DC
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 2
Thursday, April 05, 2007