Dim T (Charlotte St)

I used to work close to Charlotte Street and this was often my tried and tested Friday lunchtime restaurant of choice and I've never been disappointed.

We normally shared starters (the prawn toast, dim sum) and then created our main dishes off the menu. The bill was never more than £12 or so a head, including drinks.

Based on our positive lunchtime experiences we arranged a group dinner for 10 of us one evening and were seated upstairs (I hadn't even realised there was an upstairs until then) which had very nice decor. All 10 diners were very impressed with the quality of the food and how reasonable it was.
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Sarah - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, June 06, 2008

Hmmmmmmmm, had heard lots of good things about this place, but was sadly dissapointed.

Decided to go with some dim sum and some chicken for starters and while looking forward to our food, we were then faced with raw and uncooked chicken (not what my pregnant sister needed) and hair in the baskets of dim sum!!!

A one off I hear you cry, yes maybe, but still unacceptable for a place with such a reputation, don’t think I’ll be rushing back to Dim T.....
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Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 0
Thursday, March 20, 2008

I came here one lunchtime and it was absolutely heaving - obviously the punters like this place.

I know its meant to be fusion, but it was confusing. Dim sum with wasabi? It went from Chinese to Thai to Japanese so fluidly that it just left me bewildered.

I did a DIY option - tom yum base (dumbed down for the western palate, I feel - I didn't even break a sweat) with some sort of meat and some noodles.

The meal took over an hour and a half - not really acceptable for a couple of dumplings and a bowl of noodles.

Distinctly average, and quite forgettable.
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- View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Thursday, December 20, 2007

I'm not a huge fan of chinese food and when my friend took me to dim T i didn't expect to like it.....how wrong could I be? The food is delicious, the staff are brilliant, and the decor creates a relaxed environment.

It is now officially my favourite restaurant of all time and I use any excuse to meet friends for dinner just so we can go there!
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Dami Erinle
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Monday, September 24, 2007

I've been here about 5 or 6 times now, am going again in 2 weeks time, and I love it! Lots of choice for vegetarians, spicy if you like, mild if you don't. Lots of little bits and nibbly food... my kind of eating! You can eat for a very reasonable sum or add lots of dishes and push the boat out a bit. Either way, I highly recommend for couples and groups alike :o) Nice wine and tea too.
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Jo
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, May 31, 2007

Three words to sum up the decor would be; nice, interesting and sporadic. Nice – well, it’s not ugly. Dark brown wood (or varnish, can’t say I’m a connoisseur on this stuff) on the surfaces and walls, and a red leather around the central pillars. Interesting – they have these rather large round lights which are placed through the main section of the restaurant, and small round down lights everywhere else.

Not much wrong I can say about the food. We shared 3 Dim Sum for started; Minced Pork and Prawn, Spicy Beef and Chicken with water chestnuts and wasabi. All three delicious. Particularly the latter. I’d not had spicy beef dim sum before, and will surely be having it again. Main courses were good and well presented. I ordered the Duck and Pomegranate salad; there was also Thai Chicken Green Curry and one of the ‘put-it-together-yourself’ dishes. Unfortunately mine was not too exciting. Tasted rather like a crispy aromatic duck without the pancakes. The salad was boring, with no dressing on it, although the menu stated it should have sesame oil on it. I did not want to complain though, as had had an unfortunate time on the Saturday there, and it didn’t seem fair!!! (Although my main dish, Wonton Mee I had then was fantastic.)

The desert menu is quite strange. Certainly not seen one like it before in a Chinese. Yes, there was the usual Banana Fritters – but it came with a chocolate dipping sauce. They also have Chocolate Wontons – chocolate, dates and orange filled wontons, deep fried and extremely yummy. I would certainly suggest these as they were quite exquisite. Though my favourite lies with the frozen berries with white chocolate sauce (which has a substantial amount of honey in it.) This dish has an awesome presentation where the berries (redcurrants and blackcurrants) are literally frozen, and spread ALL over a large white plate, with a little jug of never ending sauce.

Dim t have also a wide selection of teas…Jasmine Flower (where the actual flower is put in a clear mug – and looks like some kind of awesome sea urchin), Jasmine Pearl – presented in an old fashioned Chinese tea pot made of lead, and weighing a great deal. There were plenty of others with varying degrees of smokiness (Jasmine Gunpowder - a personal favourite) or fruitiness, black, white or clear…

The final price for all the food, tea and 1/4 Sake (which apparantly was very tasty) came to £54.00 - a very good price for the incredible quality of food.

I would certainly recommend this restaurant to others. Yes, they are having teething problems at the moment, but I have high hopes for this restaurant, and thoroughly look forward to future meals there.
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Catherine Vereker
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, May 01, 2007

My favorite food is chineese and Japanese and have visited a few in London, So when I saw Dim T I decided to give it go.

The restaurant was quite busy when I visited but didnt expect what was to follow, we were seated on a long sofa squashed next to another cople, luckily my friend are not large.

Secondly service was hilarious to say the least, we both questioned could the starter dumpling baskets be mixed flavours after being told they could 30mins later my friend received 3 baskets of dumplings (9) and I received two baskets rather than one basket of mixed flavour each like the waiter stated was available.

Further to this, my main meal was incorrect and the correct dish did not arrive till my friend had almost finished his and almost to add insult to to the atrocious service they brought along a third basket of dumplings as the rest of my starters whilst I was in the middle of eating the main meal.

Now the food, the starters were less than average but nice and hot, the main meals were bland and heavily drenched in soy sauce to add flavour which just did not work.

I dont like to be negative and this is the first review I have ever left on a restaurant, but was so extremely disgusted at the service and quality of food I felt compelled to advise people.

OVERALL AVERAGE PRICE, BELOW AVERAGE FOOD AND SERVICE.

For the same price, better value and tasty food I will be going to wagamama in future.
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Mariam, London
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Sunday, April 22, 2007

A lovely find, on a charming street, at a surprisingly affordable price -- hard to beat. No, it's not the most authentic (how could it be, it's Asian fusion) and yes it can be loud and drafty, but that's half the fun and what do you expect for 15 quid?
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D. Warren
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, April 11, 2007

The quality of the dim sum is not up to standard and not particularly tasty. The menu is very limited and only in English. The waiters and waitresses are not of Chinese ethnicity and (sorry to generalise) therefore have limited knowledge of their dim sum, not to mention non-existant Chinese (whether it be Mandarin or Cantonese or any other Chinese dialect). They were therefore unable to distinguish the 'siew mai' and 'char gau' as their menu only had things like 'prawn', and 'prawn with chives' to name just two.

I suggest going to Phoenix Palace near Baker Street for quality authentic dim sum instead. I paid the same amount, got more to eat, and was extremely satisfied!
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Mia
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

I have to say this is one of my favorite restaurants in London. I have been many times, and I have never had any bad experiences here. The food tastes great and you get large portions - more than I can say for some other places along the road.

I am a particular fan of their speciality which is the Noodle Bar: you can basically create your own meal by selecting whether you fancy pork, tofu, prawns or steak, adding whatever type of noodle takes your fancy, and one of the many sauces on offer (Black bean, "healthy", teriyaki...) and then deciding whether to go for it in stir-fry or soup. They also have many dim-sum on the menu and other dishes including a very tasty duck chow mein. I also love the many lemonades on the menu: you can have lychee, mint, raspberry or, my personal favorite, white peach.

I think that the staff are efficient and nice, they always ask whether you are happy with your meal, and one time I said that I had been waiting for my meal a long time and they gave my boyfriend and I drinks on the house!

Definitely a place to go for a night out with friends for cheap nice food.
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Lucy
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, March 13, 2007