Chilli Cool

I wasn't impressed with the food at all. The fried lotus root was soaked in a gloopy sauce and the other dishes were quite underwhelming.
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Chopstix2Steaknives - View all reviews by this user
4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Sunday, November 20, 2011

food has taken a knock here. it was acceptable but only that. sea spiced pork with rice.

big serves of rice, as befits a student restaurant.

the waiters seemed pretty indifferent to the arrival -or not- of the food and wine.
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ben scaro
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Food was decent and interesting. Two of us shared three dishes. (spiced aubergine and minced pork, belly pork in garlic sauce and a dry spicy chicken) and shared a rice. It's all pretty hot so if that's not your thing then you may be best off going somewhere else. The aubergine dish was very rich and filling - the chilli chicken was also tasty but was very dry. The belly pork in garlic sauce is served cold so I probably committed some terrible faux-pas by ordering this at the same time. Enjoyed all three dishes and the rice was very decent as well. With two beers and tea the bill was under £40 so very reasonable. Service good.
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Rex - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Brought my family here on Sunday having been a few times in the last year (and loved it and raved about it) and knowing their love for spicy food.

However something has definitely changed. Not only have the prices gone up, but the quality of cooking has gone seriously downhill.

The Chef's special of sliced fish with home cooked chilli sauce was awful. The sauce bland and the fish with an odour to it. It was served in a massive dish and we had to send the whole thing back. Not once did they ask us why we did not eat it.

The pork dumplings, which previously me and my friends had to keep on ordering more of because we were fighting over them - were also left. The meat filling was minimal and watery. The sauce was hot, but lacked flavour. (Mushu's dumplings are much nicer)

The spare ribs and deep fried chicken were ok but the cuts of meat were poor and the Ma Po tofu also ok but lacked a little seasoning. (Royal China's is much nicer)

Overall - disappointing. Let's hope they can bring back the old standards to make it worthy of the price rise.
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Eve C
4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Monday, April 11, 2011

Went again recently and menu has changed a bit and prices up... Had chicken with these long thin mushrooms, there were loads of 'em which I didn't mind though their texture was like rubber, tasty thin rubber..hasten to say my companion gave said funghi a wide berth! Chicken was nice but bony and a bit too salty. We had what I think is known as morning glory..choi sum, can't remember but it was really nice and garlicky. I could eat it with rice alone. Will give another try as convenient for me but hope it's not going downhill...
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Kedi - View all reviews by this user
6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 7
Monday, March 14, 2011

I went to this restaurant having read the reviews here. We couldnt have had the same food because my meal was DREADFUL. The table next to mine ( chinese family of 4) papa took one sniff and taste of the rice and promptly sent back all 4 servings. I wish I had done the same, It was unspeakably foul, both in taste and texture, and cold and palpy, you wonder where it was dredged up from. I ordered 5 dishes, they were uniformly sludgy and dark, and distinguished by the bits of recognisable stuff floating in it. To show that I'm not exaggerating, the waitress put the fish fragrant aubergines AND the mapo tofu in the same takeaway container, thats how similar they look, and how little the restaurant care, never mind one dish is sour and made with vinegar. The standard of cooking is the worst sort, what one finds in the cheap indifferent eateries in China. This is not representative of good szechuan food, or where chef actually cares. A few streets away is red n hot, and the food there shows a little more elegance and finesse in the vibrancy of the tastes where each element is distinct. still this restaurant, because the average price per dish is £2 less, ( and proportionally smaller) has no shortage of customers. The service was as bad as the food. we were the only diners in a room full of empty tables, and the waitress insists on putting a family of 4 at our table, as a result there was no space for coats and shopping. So we moved to another table, and the waitress, without a word, promptly came to move our table to create a gap from the adjoining tables. It was all so abrupt, with zero consideration for ones wellbeing. I will definitely not be returning to this place.
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1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Really enjoyed our meal here last night. Reasonable pricing, generous portions and acceptable quality meat. See, it is possible! Cough, Bar Shu, cough....

Atmosphere was pleasantly busy with mainly young Chinese enjoying themselves. Service a little erratic but smiley and we got everything we ordered without too much of a wait. Can't wait to go back to try some of the more adventurous dishes, as we stuck to chicken and beef, but meat was pretty good and plenty of chilli which can be avoided as it came in big chunks. Let's hope they keep up the good work as there is not much competition in the area.
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Kedi
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Thursday, December 23, 2010

From China and a big Sichuan food fan I thought I'd put down a few words for this restaurant.

This is one of the very few restaurants in London that serve real Sichuan food. The Gongbao (kung pao or whatever spelling) chicken is what you'd expect in a Sichuan restaurant in China. So are many other dishes such as Shuizhurou (sorry I really don't know the English name for this dish, the literal translation would be water-cooked beef slices, but don't get fooled by the name, it's actually a very oily dish...) and I really like the cold noodles they do. The spicy fish is also pretty good. This for me is like comfort food and I'm glad there's a real Sichuan restaurant near me. But I can totally understand for people who don't know about Sichuan food, this can be a bit scary, especially when you don't know what to order. (imagine the horror when you see a dish full of tripe, lungs etc.)

I had hot pot once here and I thought it was very average. But to be honest Chinese hot pot in the UK is generally quite bad anyway...

I completely agree with the previous reviewers who criticised the service at this place. Very true! Even when I'm trying to ask for help in Chinese they are unresponsive. Not particularly warm but I'd say it's probably what you'd expect in most Chinese restaurants, especially in the UK. They all speak very poor English.

To sum up, this place is very authentic (the female manager who walks up and down all the time, she's actually from Sichuan and her mannerism and personality remind me of so many people I know from Sichuan, especially that lovely coarse voice... she's very sweet and warm if you speak to her). Food is very good but you might not be able to appreciate it if you don't know much about or don't like Sichuan food. Service is bad. They aren't rude, but very indifferent. I also love the spicy aroma when you step into the restaurant.
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Jing - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Saturday, October 16, 2010

Had a wonderful meal with a group of friends here last night. As there were six of us we were able to sample quite a wide section of the menu and I confirm that the food was fresh, tasty and complex in flavour (a good thing).

The main highlight of the meal was the peanut chicken which was absolutely delicious: tangy, frgrant with a slight kick.

We also opted for the special fish dish which arrived as a huge cauldron sized pot with peices of tender fish in a a stock with an intense depth of flavour, surrounded by literally hundreds of floating chillis! Suprisingly the flavour was not at all overpowering. Other highlights included the sweet and spicy pork and the stir fried beef with (yes you've guessed it) chilli!

In terms of ambience, it was a nice place to dine. The upstairs of the restaurant is nicely decorated with white walls and pine tables. However, my only criticism is that the downstairs is in need a bit of a refrubishment.

I will definitely return as this is certianly a cool local restaurant serving interesting food with a serious chili kick!
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James
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Thursday, August 12, 2010

Altogether very poor. The service was appalling as they were unresponsive and forgetful even once you'd given an order. The restaurant was a little noisy but that's forgivable. We had the hotpot and the broth was a tad too peppery but the really upsetting thing was that they gave us the ingredients to put into the hotpot frozen and when we asked for the meat to be defrosted the waiter's english was so poor that they didn't understand and brought us another slab of frozen meat.
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1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, May 04, 2010