Ping Pong (Soho)

Ping Pong cannot be associated with the term "dim sum" as I know it. I found a lot of the dishes very samey and bland. I don't mind someone trying to come up with new flavours and ideas, but this was just disappointing and flavourless.

Service is hardly encouraging either.

Go to Chinatown and get yourself some authentic dim sum rather than this dreary, overcooked rubbish.
Comment on this reader review

Pippa
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, November 09, 2011

My friends and I took part in a dress up offer where you could eat for free but their staff was unbelievably rude. A waiter came to our table pointing out that I was wearing 'jeans' and the offer would not be valid. After I replied that they were linen trousers he insisted in a somewhat rude way that I better get changed into "real pyjamas" and walked away. The staff serving us was very nice but when we asked for our bill another waitress asked us to have our picture taken. Everyone agreed except for me, and she replied in a rude manner that I had no choice. She started arguing with me and embarrassed me not only in front of my friends, but also in front of the other guests. In the end I had to sit down and hide my face. As if I hadn't been humiliated enough, when taking our payment she suggested that while this was a good deal for us, this promotion is 'very bad' for the restaurant . We did not engage in further conversation but when she overheard us joking that we'd take part in the promotion again next week she said she ought to point out that we better book next time. Apparently we were a too large group of people and they will have to 'be prepared' for us. Of course, we had rung the branch in the afternoon wanting to do exactly that, at which point we were told no booking was necessary..
Comment on this reader review

2 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, May 22, 2011

Overpriced, stodgy dim sum which fell apart when attempt to pick up with a pair of chopsticks. You cannot pass this food off as dim sum. The only thing that made the meal bearable was the lychee cocktail I had, which was reasonably priced (within London!).

Never going back. Ever.
Comment on this reader review

4 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Brilliant! Can't wait to go back.

I recently visited Ping Pong for the first time to celebrate my mother's 85th Birthday. I chose the restaurant due to its location. I was a little anxious as I had seen a couple of negative reviews online. However, having printed the menus off from their website, we were keen to give it a try. What a lovely experience! We were greeted in a very friendly fashion and made to feel welcome straight away. Nothing was too much trouble and the staff were helpful and well informed. We decided to treat ourselves by having the Extravaganza set meal as we were not familiar with lots of the dishes. What a wonderful experience - the food was beautifully presented and absolutely delicious. There was so much, we could not quite manage everything. To top it all, two of the waitresses sang my mother Happy Birthday, put a candle in her dessert, and offered her a complementary cocktail. I was also very pleasantly surprised when I paid the bill as it was very reasonably priced for such excellent quality. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this restaurant to my family/friends and work colleagues.
Comment on this reader review

10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Thursday, February 24, 2011

Very disappointing !

Expectations were high after watching PING PONG growing fast around London with opening so many restaurants. However, as mentioned in other reviews, the quality dropped big time. All they think about is profit :(

Food tasted ok but portions wouldn't sort out even ants ! Cocktails were expensive but watery and full of ice, very bad. I had to eat a bowl of cereal when I got home which tells you the story :(

I would never go back to any PING PONG, the worst DIM SUM experience.
Comment on this reader review

Marco
5 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, November 10, 2010

This is the very original Ping Pong and I can remember the buzz and excitment it aroused when it opened about 7 or 8 years ago. People would queue out the door for a table and it I was always taking friends there to show them this quite funky dim sum restaurant. Well several years on and there are Ping Pong's all over London. I'm pretty sure this is still the busiest. I hadn't actually been to this one for a while as my during my last visit a couple of years ago it was all looking quite tired inside. I also felt the food was getting a bit tired despite the presence of the open steamer at the entrance to the restaurant.

Anyway after a very nice lunch at their market Place branch I thought I would pop back and give this a go. I had a supplier in on Friday so I took him over for a quick bite. We wanted somewhere quick and reasonable so this seemed a good choice. We were shown to a pretty small table for two and I explained to my guest the idea behind the menu. He is from Leicester so had no idea of Ping Pong or Dim Sum in general. I ordered the usual selection of fried and steam rolls and they came pretty quickly. The dishes do look nice and the presentation is good.

Yet again I was dissapointed with the fried rolls which lacked flavour and tasted very dry. I imagine a lot of these are cooked from frozen yet they are very short on taste. The steamed dumplings were better as was the lotus leaf rice which my guest really enjoyed. Maybe my taste buds have become used to the Dim Sum at the ever excellent "Royal China" but this visit left me dissapointed. Even the Cha Sui buns lacked a bit of omph! However it was reasonable with our lunch plus a beer each coming in at £44. Service was friendly and quick so really it did do what we wanted. I just wish they could raise their game a bit with the food. The restaurant is still busy though so it is obviously getting it right.
Comment on this reader review

david ginsberg - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Monday, November 08, 2010

I had heard good things about Ping-Pong and so when a friend suggested going for their birthday, I was all for it. The excitement began to diminish from the moment we stepped through the door early on a Saturday evening. We told the reservation clerk the name of the party (about 12 in total) we were joining and without even looking up he muttered "they're downstairs". No attempt to welcome us let alone show us to our table. That pretty much set the tone for the evening. Selected low-points include (1) having to get up from the table to go and find a waitress to take our order after waiting for about 10-15mins; (2) ordering the same drinks 3 sometimes 4 times; (3) getting served only some of the food we ordered; (4) then getting told we had been served all the food we ordered; (5) subsequently getting served food we hadn't ordered; (7) being told we had ordered it; (6) being asked to re-order food we had asked for in the first place. I could go on. Eventually the manager just gave up and, without apology, put half a dozen random dishes on the table and told us we could have them for free since he didn't actually know what we had been served versus what we had received. Once we had paid and went to leave a queue had formed which stretched out the door. I honestly felt like telling them not to bother. I know I will not be returning - neither the floor staff nor the management seem to know the first thing about customer service or the basic running of a restaurant, or if they do then they certainly don't care. Save your money.
Comment on this reader review

John
3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Friends had asked us to meet them at Soho's Ping Pong, and after reading the dreadful reviews on this site we'd decided to enjoy the company of our friends and joke about all the defects we were about to encounter. But..........we were warmly welcomed and seated. Our friends were late so we were helped by the waiter and waitress to choose drinks and a meal and simply can't understand how wrong the criticisms were. The meal was delicious and the staff attentive and unobtrusive. We only wish there was a Ping Pong near to us. Please don't be misled by the reviews above.
Comment on this reader review

John Osler
8 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Friday, August 20, 2010

As a vegetarian I struggle to find places with choice but I was pleasantly surprised with Ping Pong. I really like the hoi-sin vegetable puff, the veggie sticky rice parcels and the spring rolls. Not keen on the steamed Dim Sum as it can be quite bland and almost watery. I had the vegetable clay pot thing once and it was horrible, bland and the vegetables were ridiculously overcooked although my friend had one with seafood in it and really enjoyed it. Meat eating friends have also enjoyed the ribs (which admittedly are a bit expensive), the sticky buns and the vietnamese spring rolls. When it comes to desert it has to be the steamed banana cake - so yummy.

The service is really rubbish though and the waiters are quite rude and depressed. They tend to ignore customers and when one walked into me (while I was seated) and knocked over something on her tray, she gave me a disgusting look despite my apology and it having clearly been her fault and remained 'in a mood' with me until we left.

Cocktails are lovely and very reasonably priced for the West End. A must try is the lemongrass and lime cocktail.

Overall I like the food and the drinks but not the service. However I would return happily but might try a different branch as they're all quite local.
Comment on this reader review

Amelie
7 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Monday, June 07, 2010

Huge selection of dishes, but every single thing left me feeling let down. Got the impression that they just keep churning dishes out and leave them sitting there and keep them warm until some unlucky customer chooses to fork out the best part of a fiver for them.

Service was below standard, but below standard has really just become the new standard in the majority of these chain restaurants.

For the amount of money that i had spent on the meal for 2 (£60), I left feeling positive I would never return.

Go to Chinatown for Dim Sum, and then use the remaining cash to go again the week after.
Comment on this reader review

Richard
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Friday, May 14, 2010