Dragon Castle

I visited Dragon Castle for the first time on 29th May and was very pleased with the experience. The food was by far the best Chinese I have ever eaten, and while it is a bit more expensive than your average Chinese restaurant, it is definitely worth the price. Our bill came to just under £40/head for three courses and we had over half a bottle of wine each.

The service was very good, quick and efficient without being rushed. The dining room is also nice, spacious and airy and light. There are some pretty fish in the lobby and I wasn't worried about their quality of life!

Because we were in a largish group we were able to sample a range of dishes. The Dragon Mixed Platter starter was very good and the ribs that came with it were far superior to the salt and pepper ribs that we ordered separately. The middle course of duck pancakes was everything it should be - pungent and sticky hoisin sauce, fresh vegetables and plenty of crispy meat. For mains/sides I would recommend the Chairman Mao pork belly (very good but quite hot), braised aubergine in black pepper sauces, monkfish and the string beans with chilli.

I'm looking forward to going back. It's only a shame that they don't do takeaway!
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Claire
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, May 30, 2008

I went with a friend on 25th May, it was very busy and after checking out the menu we decided to give it a go. The food was fantastic as well as the service and overall I thought it was a lovely environment for eating, although not the cheapest Chinese I've been to it was still very reasonable and as the saying goes you get what you pay for.

I will be going back.
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Kathleen
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, May 27, 2008

This is some of the best dim sum in London! Right up there with Royal China and slightly cheaper. I always go with a similarly greedy friend and we struggle to spend more than £20. We haven't tried the full menu but there's loads of weird and wonderful authentic chinese so stay clear of the westernised nonsense. As we left last saturday, a bus load of elderly chinese rocked up and the clientele is usually 50% chinese which is never a bad thing.
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jane - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Friday, May 02, 2008

Just back from a Theatre day out for Mothers Day, finished off with a meal at Dragon Castle. We began by ordering a starter and main course and wine........our wine came when we had just finished our main course!

We then waited to see if the waitress had gone for the cork screw, but alas they had just plonked the red wine on our table and left it with the cork firmly in!

Gasping for a drink, we realised that it was not on its way, we summons for a bottle opener...

I ordered a rather expensive Thai Noodle with prawns along with red snapper fillet in black bean, my sis order a sword fish in black bean. When a rather hard and overcooked fish arrived, the waitress had no idea which fish it was. We then waited.... and waited.... and waited... I had to encourage my mum to start eating whilst I waited for my fish and noodles.

Ten mins later I called the waitress and asked what had happened to my food. She stated that a fish was coming and that my noodles had run out... and added that they were very busy. I suggested that it would not have been a problem if I had only been told 15 mins ago when I ordered the food. I was then offered rice, which I refused and ordered another noodle dish.

5 mins later, my fish came hurriedly in, 15 mins later, my noodles came, by which time my fish was stone cold, my mum had finished and when the fish eventually came... it was actually my sisters fish... she had eaten mine!

The bill came to £90.5 for the 3 of us, £8.50 of which was service charge... of course of which I refused to pay.

The Food

The fish was overdone, chewy and hard.

Noodles overdone, chewy, hard and laced with a very strong soy sauce.

..... I liked the fish pond at the front though, and the big red door at the entrance.....apart from that I AM SERIOULY UNIMPRESSED! May I add that I won't be back!
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Maxine Richards
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Sunday, March 02, 2008

Went here over christmas on the recommendation of a friend. It was pretty deserted, we were the only two in there. Generally very happy with it, helped by my chinese girlfriend who knew all about each dish. This place seems a very authentic chinese, which means it's good though you'll have to try some stuff that isn't the MSG chinese we're used to.

Service was ok, but not great. I suppose because we were the only ones there they weren't paying much attention, but annoying. Took them a while to notice if we needed something. Atmosphere was similarly a bit odd due to our situation. Would probably be good when full though.

Price was excellent, around £25 for two (no booze) for myriad dishes, so overall would highly recommend this place and will be going back.
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Stephen H - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Thursday, January 10, 2008

Wednesday 19th September was my second time at Dragon Castle. I chose this restaurant to celebrate my 18th birthday, as the lavish atmosphere suited such a special occasion . The food was well cooked, very tasy and well presented. I do recommend the deep fried salt and pepper aubergine as it was much better than I anticipated: very morish. Also the sweet and sour pork is cripsy and succulent. The king prawns with lemon is also a must! The highlight of the eveing was when they sang happy birthday and they brought my birthday cake, as this was unexpected. This is the best chinese restaurant elephant and castle has ever seen.
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XxEkeishaXx
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Friday, September 28, 2007

What a revelation! After China Tang, here is another stunningly good Chinese. Superb food and ambience, very attentive service. One of the top 5 Chinese restaurants in London without a doubt. The freshest ingredients of the highest quality, food lovingly made and presented. Many layers of taste, lost of spice and wonderfully explosive flavours. The most delicate dimsums in London. Excellent in every respect.
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S Mahdi
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, September 10, 2007

i went to the dragon castle restaurant once when it was newly opened and then again a few months later, i still await special occasions to visit it again, i found the food to be great tasting and well worth the money.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, September 07, 2007

Utterly brilliant and sure to become known as one of the best Chinese places in town. Lots of unusual stuff, strange cuts of pork (try the Chairman Mao stew) and extremely friendly and professional staff. Perhaps the best bit is peering into the spotless, stainless-steel kitchen seeing the huge whole smoked pigs being wheeled around and the huge wooden boxes of Chinese delicacies stacked up, all bathed in belching steam and sizzling wok-smoke. This is as far removed from the average ersatz Cantonese takeaway as you can get. Only the location counts against it but with the redevelopment of Elephant & Castle underway soon even that will change. Deservedly busy, and extremely family-friendly.
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Mike - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, August 23, 2007

I went to a birthday party at Dragon Castle last Saturday - I was very much looking forward to it on the strength of the various reviews I have seen and I wasn't disappointed.

As there were 16 of us, the birthday boy decided to order the #15.50 set menu, so we didn't have anything vastly adventurous, just Cantonese standards (or what pass for Cantonese standards in the UK, anyway). These were, however, surprisingly good. Very tasty ribs with a great sauce, crisp, non-greasy (a first for me!) spring rolls, tasty satay chicken and perfectly adequate prawn toast. The mains were better - big platefuls of chicken in black bean sauce (tender chicken, tasty flavours, not too overloaded with red & green peppers), beef with onions, pak choi, special fried rice, sweet and sour king prawns (I didn't try them, but apparently they were very good) and best of all, some very tasty belly pork and duck. There was far too much food for us to eat, but because it wasn't overly glutinous or chemical, we just felt nicely sated.

The service was decent, but not brilliant; the restaurant was pretty full and we were occasionally ignored for rather too long. However, the atmostphere was good and whilst others might have been annoyed, I was thoroughly amused by their jazzed up happy birthday tape (played 3 times for others and once for us!). They also brought out a little birthday cake for our organiser - at extremely short notice, which was very kind (he was extremely embarrassed). The main thing I noticed was that everyone in the large dining room appeared to be enjoying themselves.

Overall, thoroughly recommended. My husband and I will be returning soon to sample some of the more adventurous dishes on the menu. For those of you who live in the area, this is a great find. For those of you who can't bear the thought of crossing the river - more fool you, and more food for us!
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Anna - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, July 04, 2007