Imperial China

Celebrated early Chinese New Year with a group of friends at the Imperial China last night. We had a private dinning room which was absolutely lovely and came complete with Karaoke facilities which was so much fun that even the most serious of us sang and sang. The service was very attentive. And the food was authentic and excellent. We had Peking duck to start which was outstanding in taste, crispy skin and succulent meat. For mains we had slow braised sweet and sour pork (melt in mouth and unusal); spicy stir fried chicken with young ginger and shallots (what a wow way to eat ginger!); slow braised beef in ouster sauce (deep flavours and the beef had a bit of bite); stir fried venison with baby leeks (gorgeous combination of a heavy meat with sweet young veg); steamed sea bass (simple and lovely but I must say a couple of mins over cooked); and stir fried pea shoots with lotsa garlic (aromatic, crispy, tasty). We had chicken and salted cod fried rice to accompany the meal which was so tasty it was a meal in itself. We had a GREAT time at the Imperial China. Yes, it is a busy restaurant. The whole place was buzzing and we loved it.
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Rittie - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, February 07, 2010

I've had been to this restaurant 3 or 4 times before, and I must say I love the place. After reading some of the reviews they had got lately I was abit sceptical to see if the place had changed. When we visited London for our New Year's trip we found time to try it again, and we were mostly as satisfied as with our earlier visits. I saw it was commented on the personel being "too fast" in removing from the table, and I must say that was a bit annoying. Also this time the Coca Cola was totally with any spark at all, something I've actually experienced once before there. Apart from that it was very enjoyable. The food was very good and the atmosphere and service was good. I feel that the overall value for money was really good.
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Mollatt - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Sunday, January 03, 2010

We are regular vistors to London but have never taken our eight year old daughter as they are "boaring business trips"

Summer holidays have come around so we thought a social trip to london would be nice and we would take our daughter. So where to eat? We have eaten in numerous London resturants so thought we would do a mix with Chinese on our first night. Once again from past visits we thought one of the "flasher" ones would be nice for our daughters first experience.

They don't come more flash than the Royal Imperial. The bridge over the Koi pond as you go into the impressive open fronted building has a real wow factor.

And the interior is just as breathtaking. We have been to this Chinese two or three times before.The last time about twelve months ago. The food is normally on par as is the service but the star is the resturant itself. Good first experience for our daughter?

Impessive start she loved the bridge the warm welcome on the door and sumptuous interior. Thats where the experience ended. Seven thirty and nearly empty we were taken upstairs and put in a corner by the fire exit. Apart from the lovely wood paneling on the walls it could have been good old MC d's

Every drink we requested for our daughter they did not have and our order taken by a curt member of staff. The food came very promptly and was to say the least appaling. Plastic pancake rolls from the local chinese supermarket through to crispy duck that was crispy then some. The main was just as dismal.

The worst part of all this was the waiter who stood three feet from us the whole time, even taking dishes before finished. To the point of scaring our daughter who may I point out is very well behaved. She even kept asking us what he was doing.

Ordeal over and the bill, bad service and bad value. And a twelve pounds discretionary service charge, may I add we chose not to pay, and were treated like leppars on the way out.

We would have compained during the meal if we had been alone but did not want a fuss with our daughter there, thats why im writing this. A special occasion spoilt. Back to the Royal Dragon next time where the food is always excellent, shame there are no fish for the kids though.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, August 05, 2009

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