Yauatcha

We had a lovely late lunch at Yauatcha today. I phoned up to make reservation the day before and the lady who took the booking was very pleasant indeed - explaining the layout of the restaurant i.e. the choice of the ground floor where the extensive tea menu is served and the more dimly-lit and sexy lower ground.

The dim sum were exquisite and very well presented. Yes, you pay more in Yautcha, but for more creative and modern dim sum, great atmosphere and fresher organic ingredients. Contrary to the suggestions of the other reviews here, you can't find choices like seabass mooli dumpling, kumquat scallop dumpling, shiitake and duck, spinach cubes, venison puffs and other such delights anywhere else in Chinatown, or London. This coupled with a great selection of ice teas and cocktails from the bar.

The service is efficient and pleasant, but alas we avoided the busy lunch and evening periods, opting for the leisurely 3.30pm start instead. I suspect service may be less attentive during peak times (as some of the reviews seems to suggest so) but hey, don't make the mistake of expecting immaculate fine dinning experience, it's a dim sum joint after all - but a step up from say Ping Pong (which I personally think is a tackier wannabe to the Hakassan and Yautcha ilk) and Royal China. For that you pay 20-30% more. We spent £60 for two and came away delighted by the experience.
Comment on this reader review

Kian
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Friday, April 25, 2008

I didn't even get past the door. The staff were so rude at reception I decided to go somewhere else.

I'd rather go to Wong Kei for better service!!
Comment on this reader review

Sophie
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, April 24, 2008

I heard this place first in newspaper, and then from company colleague, said they have a very nice environment, and the desserts are beautiful. However, when I read some online review, I was surprise to see the complete different opinions, including some really bad ones.

I originally come from China, and lived in UK for 6 years, been to hundreds of restaurant. I believe I have a fair taste of food.

We booked a 10 persons meal for a friend's leaving party. We were asked to put down credit card details and emails when we booked over the phone. The next day morning, we received the email and told us as we have more than 10 people, we have to choose their party meal, which is £40,£50 or £60 per head. Also, if we cancel our booking within 48 hrs before the meal, we have to pay £30 per head for cancelation fee. ?? We were shocked to see that… but as the time is so close to 48 hrs deadline, plus the part menus looks not too bad, we think we just give it a try.

Our table was booked between 7-9pm. There was a tube incident, and half of people are late. However, Yauatchas staff insisted to start serve food from 7pm, even half of the seats were empty.

When we tried to stop them, they said “or you will not finish your meal within your booking time”--- ??

The Starters are Chinese DimSum, which you can get in most restaurants in China town. I cannot tell their qualities or tastes are better than any other places, even the famous “Venison Puff”, tastes very similar to “Pork Puff” in Oriental City, which you can get for 80 pence each.

7:20pm, we still have 1 couple not arrived yet, but the staff seems not happy with our food consumption speed, kept coming back to our table, opening the lid of each bamboo Steamer. (Now I understand why some previous reviews regard them as like “Flyers”. Yes they are, jumping to your table, moving things under your arms, never say “Excuse me”). In the end they tried to take all the lids away, so that we have to finish all of them, or they will get cold and lost taste. ???

The food looks better in menu than in the table, and nobody explained the name of each course, leaving us wondering which dish is pork or Lamb, as 2 of friends are from Middle East. And the amount of food for 10 persons are very small, 2 small bowls or 1 medium plate for each dish. So basically, if you want to have more than 2 small pieces of meat/fish, you will end up with an empty plate straight away…..

Yes, the only thing is nice in the restaurant is the decoration. Big fish tank, blue lights, lots of big tea pot in the shelf. But the toilet in the basement are very small, and only allow 2 persons to wash hands together, others have to queue up (Female side)

Food in general is very average, the beautiful cheese cakes in the dessert are the only bright point. But why would you go to a Chinese restaurant to have French dessert?

I do know how this place managed to get the reputation of “best international restaurant in London”. For me, Food—Average, Service—Poor, Value for Money—Very poor. Will I come back? Definitely not. Will I tell my friend? Yes, tell them never come to here.
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

It was an amazing experience we dined on the groundfloor level, It was more brighter than basement and think made a good choice the service was amazing the waitress thier uniforms are so creative and ofcourse lovely food. The good thing about we europeans we go there it doesnt feel like we r some where foreign when u go to china town u feel that no body understands but yauatcha was like great experience made us feel so comfortable. well defintely recommend to every friend of mine.
Comment on this reader review

Micheal collins
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Thursday, April 03, 2008

As with many other Chinese restaurants, it lacks consistency. We’ve been there many times for dim sum, both lunch and dinner, it was great most of the time. Trendy environment and tasty dim sum. Don’t miss the venison puff!
Comment on this reader review

FineDiningExplorer - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Saturday, March 29, 2008

was so looking forward to going to this so called acclaimed dim sum restaurant...what a waste of time,money and effort... i was totally disappointed, and felt totally robbed...the prawns in the cheung fun and kwai-tiew was over cooked bordering rubbery and the pastry in the cheung fun was not fresh at all tasted like it was left over from the night before and was hard, the chilean sea bass moolie roll was nice though, but two table spoons full the lotus leaf steamed rice was tiny and not fresh. the tea was ok but why cant you get refills, i mean this is supposed to be a dim sum restaurant, as we say we go to yum cha, meaning to drink tea in chinese!!! i have a feeling this is just another attempt to trendify dim sum for westerners who dont know what good dim sum is... i would never set foot in this restaurant again unless some mad person paid , then again i'll tell them to save there hard earned cash and go to chinatown for the real deal...what a waste of money...mr yau you need to fix up!!!!!
Comment on this reader review

howie
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Sunday, March 23, 2008

Have been to this restaurant quite a few times and despite swearing that the previous time would be the last due to the truly appauling, rude service (it was never great that time but was positively insulting the last time!) we found ourselves in Soho early on Tuesday evening fancying dim sum........so with some trepidation we gave it another go.

We arrived at around 6.30pm and were greeted very pleasantly - good start and way better that last time we thought. We had not booked but were seated within a few minutes upstairs. Our two chinese waitresses were attentive and one was bordering on pleasant! The food, as always, was delicious. Mouthwatering crab, delicious scallops and the salt and chilli squid just perfect. Venisons puffs a treat, lovely tea, however I do think the singapore noodles could have been a little tastier, but that is only a very minor grumble about what turned out to be a very pleasant experience indeed. We will return, but early in the evening on a weekday - never again will I go on a weekend with a table booked for 8pm - as its a disaster area if you do this!! I am always pleasantly surprised at the bill too - 2 pots tea, 1 bottle still water, venison puffs, pork and prawn sui mai, scallop sui mai, king crab dumplings, chilli salt squid and singapore noodles with service charge - £55 - well worth it.
Comment on this reader review

Michelle - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Thursday, March 13, 2008

I booked a table (for six) one week in advance. On the day before, the restaurant called to confirm the time. However, when we arrived there, we were told that there was a mismake with the booking and we had to wait 45min for the table. I will not pay the penalty for someone else's mistake and incompetence and insist on a table. After 10min, we got a table but our mood was subdued. The food was pretty average compared to what it was used to be. Prices for some dishes have increased while the rest of portions have shrunk. Char Siew buns comes in unequal sizes, beef hor fun was tasteless and the beef was overcooked and very tough. The portion of Penang keow teow was half of what it used to be. We used to like Yauatcha very much, but with food and prices like that, and not to mention the appalling service, I will not be returning to Yauatcha ever again. If I want decent dim sum, I will go to Royal China, and if I want the authentic stir-fried noodles, I will be going to Nonya, C&R or Kiasu. Sure, these establishments are not as funky as Yauatcha, but I will be happily spending my money and do not have to put up with poor service.
Comment on this reader review

Wikster - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Monday, March 03, 2008

What a waste of time.

I am rarely disappointed with critically acclaimed restaurants, but this is ridiculous. I'd been past the place a few times, it looked fancy, and I felt like some dim sum... What a mistake.

Firstly the front of house needs a hearing aid. People have no trouble hearing me, and it was anything buy noisy. The waitress had no trouble hearing me, but I had to spell my surname to the front of house four times, ending up simply yelling each letter out to her... (I thought I was getting dim sum, not Haute Cuisine, but hey whatever tickles their fancy) Great first impression.

I'll give it that the surroundings were nice.

I placed my order, and it took a ridiculous amount of time for my iced tea to arrive, which was actually quite good.

When ordering, I initially opted for shark's fin soup, but was told that shark's fin would take at least twenty minutes, I appreciated being told this and so opted for Tobiko and Crab soup (which the staff kept referring to as Caviar soup, unfortunately it was not swimming in Beluga), this soup was very, and I mean very average, like any basic Chinese soup in a low/mid range takeaway, the crab was flavorless, even if there were pretty reasonably sized chunks, and the Tobiko had partially boiled due to the heat of the soup, basically rendering all the enjoyment one has of Tobiko (or proper Caviar for that matter) useless. It was not a bad soup, but I'm sure my local Chinese places (Phoenix Palace / Green Cottage) could rustle up something similar for £2, I could have sworn this soup was at least 2 or three times more that.

The Salt and Pepper squid was the highlight of the meal, very tender squid, very crispy batter. Good flavor.

Har Gaw was uninspiring, Royal China's is a billion times better.

Shu Mai was also pathetic.

The worst had to be the box dumpling, described as fried, but in reality was baked and quite similar to a Char Sui Bao with a different filling. While Royal China's Char Sui Bao are flakey and crisp, this was stogy and hard pastry. The filling was pork I think with chive and horse chestnuts (from what I gather, I could be wrong) and was uninspiring. Added to that a portion of three 'box dumplings' hailed in at close to £10... For some reason the steamed dumplings did not carry the same ridiculous prices.

I then ordered one of the cocktails with Campari, which was just a waste of my time, would have rather waited to get home and had a Campari Soda. The Campari 'cocktail' in question took an age to arrive, during this period a different waitress asked me if I wanted anything to drink, I told her I'd already ordered one, she scurried off and a few minutes later came back with a glass of tap water, I did not say anything and drank it because I was thirsty, about ten minutes later my Campari cocktail arrived...

To give the place one more chance to redeem itself, I decided to try a cake, I went for a Chocolate and Yuzu concoction. Really nothing special.

The bill fifty something pounds. I'm not one to complain about restaurant prices, but for that I could have gone to Cipriani and had a Carpaccio, glass of wine and one of their excellent cakes and been pretty damn pleased... Pleased, I was not walking out of Yauatcha, when they took an age to bring my coat and forgot my umbrella, so had to send the lady back down.

Waste of time
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 2
Saturday, March 01, 2008

What a disappointment! My sister and I went to Yauatcha on Saturday night and had high expectations which were soon dashed. We ordered 4 dim sum to share from the recommendation of our snooty waitress. But only 2 came and we had no appologly. When the bill came, we were charged for all 4 and the manager implied that we were not telling the truth! We left with a bad taste in our mouth and very disappointed. The food was not bad but the snooty, arrogant service ruined the overall impression. I would not go back!!
Comment on this reader review

- View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, February 26, 2008