Imperial China

Called in here late on Saturday evening after a lovely evening at the theatre. Greeted by surly service and told that we had 5 minutes to order and everything would come at once! Had to ask for some prawn crackers which were begrudgingly brought. Ordered just main courses which arrived within 5 minutes. Below average food and terrible service. Do not go.
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Sunday, April 19, 2009

Before I started my food critic trip, I hardly knew any good Chinese restaurants in London, this one seems like a decent type at that time, so I have been a frequent there for a while. Now I have to say it is a typical China Town restaurant: low quality, high price, bad service, and tourist-oriented 'short-term' business.
Comment on this reader review

King - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Thursday, February 26, 2009

Decor and welcome very nice. Thats the where the positive part of this review ends.

5pm Saturday night. First to be seated on the first floor. Order taken, tap water given all be it grudgingly. Then the waiting started....... requested prawn crackers, not offered as in most other chinese restaurants I have visited. Then waited some more.......starter arrives for my husband and I, my daughter continues to wait for her soup. We share the starter and request the soup.... and still we wait. Plates very quickly disappear, still no soup........and we ask yet again. We have ordered Peking Duck..........does not appear. SURPRISE the soup arrives, not bad my daughter is that hungry I think she would have eaten anything. Still no show on the Duck.

Final straw, tables who have come in well after us, now receive their Duck.... I ask where our order is, blank face. TIME TO LEAVE, I cannot stand service like this.

Overall dreadful service, greasy food, mass produced frozen food being served.

Typical London rip off joint, going for the tourists, forgetting that locals may find themselves wanting a nice meal now and again in the city centre. Avoid this place at all costs. Go to a smaller place with a larger local patronage.
Comment on this reader review

Ann
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Saturday, January 24, 2009

We went to Imperial China as a treat after a long day at work on Sunday. The approach and the atmosphere was nice and the waiters where attentive, once prompted.

We went for the set menu as there are soo many choices available. This option however was sadly disappointing, the starters where all over fried and the duck was cold with the pancakes stuck together. The mains where good and tasty so made up for the poor start.

I would recommend Imperial China to a friend but go as a big group and then you can individually choose from their extensive menu.
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Monday, January 19, 2009

WORST DIMSUM EVER!!

- prawn and chives dumplings were not steamed properly!

- beef tripe was also not steamed properly, barely reached room temp.

- congee was thin and watery, almost gruel instead of the thick creamy hk-style congee

- egg tart was not baked enough, filling was still raw and liquidy.

i've been to a lot of different dim sum places, some more refined and delicate, others more filling and coarse. but this was HORRIFICALLY BAD!!!
View/Add comments (1)

Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Sunday, January 11, 2009

let me cut straight to it - this is the worst chinese restaurant that I have ever eaten at.

I should have known when I walked in because out of almost 150 people only about 5 were chinese, the others being 30 somethings and old age caucasians.

- If you like supermarket sauces and ready meal chinese food come here if you, if you have tastebuds go somewhere like Haozhan, Bar Shu.

There are so many good chinese restaurants in London dont waste your time/money here.
Comment on this reader review

tigana
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, December 05, 2008

Went on a Saturday night, about 8pm.

The restaurant was packed: had to wait 30 mins for a table for two. Staff were polite and courteous on entry.

We were finally taken to a table on the first floor, and soon realised that this was possibly the worst place to have a meal. Three rooms were booked out for various events, one of which seemed like an overzealous hen night, and hearing them through closed doors was not a problem: it was still impossible to hear my partner in conversation. The table was severely underlit also. It probably wasn't possible to ask for another table, seeing as we waited for this one for ages.

The menu was quite reasonable on paper; shame it wasn't in the mouth. I ordered the dim sum platter, special fried rice, and (my favourite Chinese dish) fried squid in spicy salt and pepper. The dim sum was nice, although a bit rubbery. The special fried rice was tasty, although quite on the greasy side. The biggest disappointment was the squid: not hot on arrival, solid coating, and extremely tough to bite through, possibly indicating that they had been reheated at least twice. For £9, this was the worst version of the dish I had ever tried: my local takeaway does it for £3.50, and it's infinitely better than here. My partner had the Portuguese style curried vegetables: they arrived like they had been left to stew for ages. Every part of the dish was the same colour, and the bamboo shoots seemed to had given their flavour to absolutely everything else.

The male toilets were absolutely filthy, and seemed like they hadn't been cleaned once in the day. The taps trickle water like some kind of torture device: so slow that you wish you hadn't put soap in your hands, because it would take ages to rinse off.

Service was attentive and quick however. It could be the extravagent exterior, with its mini-bridge and stream, that draws people in. Shame the inside didn't match...
Comment on this reader review

Adrian - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 4
Monday, October 27, 2008

I recently organised a hen party in one of the private karaoke rooms at Imperial China. I was a little nervous having read some not great reviews. But having had a brilliant time I wanted to put a good review up to counteract the less positive ones!

The food was fantastic. Some of the best chinese food I've ever had. The vegetarian and the one with food allergies (there is always one!) were very well looked after. Two less people turned up on the night and we were not charged for them (even though the small print says you will be). There was so much food and we did feel bad that so much of it went to waste. The house wine was very reasonable - £12.90 a bottle and was very drinkable. They left all the empty bottles on a side table - I guess this was in case anyone wanted to question the bill at the end but we felt no need (but I thought this was good). The staff and service were amazing. Very attentive and polite. They were a little quick clearing the plates away and ushering us out at end of the night. The place was very clean and very plush. The karaoke was great - very up-to-date and easy to use. All the other rooms seemed to be having a good a time as us. I (along with all the 25 strong hen party) were very impressed and no one had a bad thing to say about it. We had the £27.50 set menu and drank A LOT for 4 hours. The final bill worked out at £50 a head which we all thought was very reasonable.

I would heartily recommend this restaurant for any sort of party for the private rooms. And having sampled the food, I would say the a la carte menu must be great and will certainly be returning for a meal.
Comment on this reader review

Rachel
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, October 06, 2008

I visited the Imperial China on 1 October 2008 with a friend. Admittedly we ate early but we found the waiters attentive and courteous. The set meal that we had was very reasonably priced at £16.50 per person and there was plenty enough to eat. The only slight criticism I would have is that the waiters were very quick to clear the plates away if even one person was still eating.

The venue itself we found to be very nice and we thought quite romantic, the lighting was set low and the ambience was very good, although there was no Karaoki going on at the time so it maybe completely different later on in the evening! I would however definitely recommend it to others especially if they want early doors.
Comment on this reader review

Kerry
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, October 02, 2008

Lovely dim sum esp scallop dumplings, great noodles, very friendly service
Comment on this reader review

henry patient
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, September 30, 2008