China Tang at The Dorchester

My husband booked this restaurant as a surprise after looking at reviews and recommendations as a pre valentines dinner. We dont often treat ourselves to a posh restaurant so I was really looking forward to it.

The atmosphere is pleasant with a 1930s feel which I really liked. We had cocktails in the bar area before dinner and they had a good selection of drinks.

However when it came to dinner I have to say how disappointing it was. The food was so average. We had some dim sum to start which was fine but nothing special after which I ordered bean curd dish with rice and my hubby ordered lobster tail at £42 and a prawn dish. The lobster was just ok and for the cost you would expect it to be amazing but it wasn't.

The desserts were slightly better but again nothing special and for a restaurant of this grandure and expense you expect much better.

The service was also nothing amazing very average not much attention to detail, they did not make any recommendations all of which you would expect.

Overall disappointing and would sadly have difficulty in recommending this restaurant to others.
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5 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 2
Thursday, February 14, 2013

We went to China Tang to celebrate my mum's birthday and we unanimously felt it was one of our worst Chinese restaurant experience. We are a Chinese family who eat regularly at high end Chinese restaurants. We appreciate both northern and southern cuisines.

The food was mediocre. It was not greasy but for this price range, it should be the case. We had the jelly fish, drunken chicken and salt and pepper squid as starters. Drunken chicken is one of our favourite dishes and we tend to gulp it down as soon as it arrives, let alone complaining about it. However this drunken chicken was poor in our opinion because of the excessive use of alcohol in the dish. The taste of booze was way too strong. The jelly fish was well prepared with the right balance of flavours and crunchiness. The squid was probably the best dish we had there. It was light and had a delicate flavour. Then we had a whole lobster in ginger spring onions with noodles. The lobster was fresh and tasted good but the noodles was soggy. WIth the noodles sitting in a sauce, the type of noodles used and timing are key to achieving the right level of al dente. There are a couple of other places in London which are more masterful in attaining that with less money. For mains, we ordered the fried grouper from the specials menu, morning glory in ginger and preserved bean curd, assorted three mushrooms, braised bean curd with vegetables and stir fried chicken with spices. They are dishes you find in most restaurant menus in China Town for a fraction of the price. China Tang’s version of the dishes was not more refined, in fact, I would not recommend the assorted mushrooms as it was very bland. For desserts, we ordered a chocolate pudding with black sesame ice cream. It was lovely. We had tea and did not order wine. Our final bill came to just under £250.

In terms of service, the quality was poor. For a start, the receptionist did not ask for our coats until I requested so once we have reached our table. My parents do not speak a word of English so I enquired if they had a menu in Chinese. I did not expect them to have menus in Chinese but I did expect a friendly enthusiastic response. Instead one could easily sense the snobbish attitude which seemed to be the staff's common attribute there. We asked for the jelly fish starter to be made without chilli. This was to accommodate my mum as she liked that dish without chilli. We went on to order more spicy dishes. However when we asked for chilli sauce after ordering, we were greeted with the reply of "but you did not want a dish to be spicy.' This level of unprofessionalism is not acceptable in any decent service base business.

It was a Friday night, so the place was fully packed and noisy. The ambience was not relaxing, somewhat chaotic. We did not like the way the cutlery was directly laid on a table without table cloth, perhaps on a napkin might be better. We felt this was slightly unhygienic and did not reflect fine dining but we were aware these were personal taste. Having said that, I would say the general lack of refinement and attention to details were China Tang’s biggest problems. For instance, a leaky goodie bag at the end, poiselessly pushing our coats to us instead of helping us with them, lack of smiles, not able to recommend signature dishes. In conclusion, it is a place I would not visit again or recommend to anyone for this level of price range.
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Angelina
2 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Saturday, June 30, 2012

I hate to write reviews that are overly critical but I don't have much choice. China Tang is ridiculously expensive for food that is not as good as some of the better places in China Town if you know where you are going and are also a quarter of the prices and twice the portion size. There were a number of things that niggled especially as we were paying top dollar for the experience. The ambiance and decor of the restaurant is very nice as were the quality of the cocktails we ordered. However we ordered our starters to be told that we would have to have our mains first as there was a lengthy wait for the crispy duck. Not being funny but surely a restaurant of this standing should be better prepared and should not run out of its signature dish?

So we ordered our mains and ate them before the starters. A combo of salt and pepper squid (delicious); scallops (bland) and Szechuan prawns (average) arrived with side orders of mushrooms and stir-fried rice (so so). Portion sizes considering each main was £20+ were daylight robbery. The starter finally arrived Back To The Future style after the main and to be honest was pretty delicious, what little we got of it. We ordered a whole Duck, it didn't feel like we got a whole duck. The menu states its ordered in two parts. You get the breast filleted into small pieces with pancakes. There were far more pan cakes then duck breast. The rest of the carcass is taken back and shredded and sauteed and returned to the table, What we got was the smallest dices pieces on a tiny saucer. Not sure what happened but no way had we eaten a whole duck between four people. I can't really tell you what happened as I don't have a clue. £46 for a whole duck where we got tiny amounts of meat (no matter how delicious) is a rip off. All i can say is I will never return to eat at this restaurant with service like this when you are treated like an idiot. I hate it when you go to places like this that are as expensive as this and you leave looking for the nearest kebab shop as you're still starving!

Open letter to Kate Moss; listen darling, always been a massive fan of yours and I know your friends with the proprietor but really recommend you head down to Soho and checkout the likes of The Mayflower where you'll get a meal that is twice as good and a quarter of the price.
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4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Monday, May 07, 2012

This is by far the worst Chinese I have ever been to in my life and I was fortunate to dine in many Chinese restaurants across the globe. In London Princess Garden, Kai, Yautcha and Hakkasan are all much better than China Tang. The food was on the whole tasteless and way below my expectations. The service was pathetic as the waiters were rude and seemed disinterested in their work. On the whole, I would not recommend this restaurant as it is a huge waste of time, if I wanted to enjoy the same dishes I would go to Princess Garden in Mayfair as the food is far superior there.
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2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Thursday, January 26, 2012

We were surprised to read some of the reviews so wanted to inform readers of our experiences of China Tang for a more balanced review. Good experiences are seldom written about, it's mainly the bad you hear about.

Having visited China Tang 4 times (well spaced out, as this restaurant is for special occasions only unless you have limitless funds) we were met with friendly but efficient staff. Once we had to wait for a table and were happy to sit in the cosy bar area and enjoy some of the yummy cocktails. Can we just point out here that other inconsiderate diners are responsible for tables being late, it is rarely the restaurants fault. They can't kick people out!

We have never had the same waitress therefore do not get special service as implied by a previous reviewer who mentioned "regular diners".

Having eaten in many excellent Asian restaurants and visited many Asian countries we have a good understanding of the vast range of Asian cuisine and still believe China Tang is up there with the best. Sadly many of the reviewers did not sample their best. Their speciality Peking Duck is delicious as well as the squid, lobster, beef - we could go on and on - and the staff have always recommended dishes when asked.

And the desserts? Wow, a very clever chef indeed. We have tried 10 different desserts during our visits (due to the occasional menu changes) and all have been amazing. From the warm chocolate pudding and the exotic fruit plate which always hit the spot to the scrumptious banana cake (my favourite) but there are many more to enjoy.

Our only "bad experience" was when we heard the Australian general manager's rant at a waitress which was completely uncalled for. Dealing with the public is difficult enough without having a manager like that! Luckily we have never seen the woman since but all credit to the waitress who put a cheerful smile on afterwards and just got on with the job.

All in all we love China Tang, the setting is beautiful and we would highly recommend the food and the staff (apart from the GM who isn't there often by all accounts so shouldn't spoil your experience!).

Don't be put off by other people's bad reviews, this really is a restaurant for a special occasion.
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Jo
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, March 23, 2011

This is probably one of the worst dining experiences my wife and i have had for a very long time. Celebrating my wifes birthday we decided to take 2 friends to China Tang. Our table was booked for 9pm and on arriving we were told to take a drink in the bar as the table wasnt ready, After one hour and 15 minutes and many conversations with the useless manager we finally sat down.

The service we received from our waitress was rushed and unhelpful especially as we asked for her advice as we hadnt been before, she wasnt interested in our helping us. After trying tasteless dim sum and watered chicken soup the duck and pancakes were served, it was now 11pm. The duck costing £45.00 was sliced before our eyes and tasted lovely however we were given just half of the duck. When we asked why we couldnt have the rest the manager advised us that the second half of the duck would come later. "Why", we said "we want it now.

By 11.30pm our main courses still hadnt come and so we kindly told the manager that we were leaving and after some discussion we did not pay for what we had. The manger of the restaurant was extremely rude and did not care about how we were treated often interupting us to kiss hello "regular diners" as he put it, instead of trying to make our dining experience worth while.

I strongly advise people against this overpriced badly managed restaurant and will tell anyone that askes never to go there.
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Richard
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, February 27, 2011

We went to this restaurant two weeks ago, on a Saturday night. We managed to find a table for 6 the day before, at 9.30 pm. We were received at the bar, which has a very good feel, but left there until around 10.30! The restaurant is very big but packed and noisy. The food was great, I disagree with the other reviews in this sense. We had several dishes including Pecking duck, crab fritters, chicken with vegetables, lamb, noodles..they were all great. I was also impressed by the chocolate desserts, including the chocolate dumplings. I would go back every day only for those! Overall a place worth going back to
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Marta
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Sunday, October 24, 2010

We ate at CT on Sunday 26th Sept. A treat by a friend, sadly, I suggested it going on what I had previously heard.

1st of all, we arrived at 17:30 hours, we were asked if we had a reservation, pouir answer was no, but were showed to a table right outside the kitchen which was noisy, we changed tables.

The room was cold, the a/c was to cold. We had the table for 1,5 hours, and it took them ages to complete the meal w hich was just a starter each & 3 main courses.

LONG wait, ill advised menu and what the food was. Starters arrived 25 mins after ordering. Then the main courses arrived in dribs and drabs. one meat dish, then noodles, then 10 mins more before other mains arrived. the noodles were cold by then..

OK food, too expensive for the service and quality. Theyre catering for people with more money than taste.

Not a good choice and wouldnt recommend going there, choose Royal China or other chinese that have been recommended here by other reviews.

NO apologies for the delays, quite the opposite of questioning us on our views.
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Anton
2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Love the Dorchester and wanted to love CT

Been twice, once social and once with work, so it had its chances to impress. Disappointing - good but not great Chinese for £££.

Too crowded tables unless you are special in some way e.g. hotel guests/loads of cash

For the money far better going elsewhere like Hakkasan for special food & great surroundings or Hunan in Pimlico better food at half the price
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mcgregor - View all reviews by this user
5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Terrible service, terrible food, terrible atmosphere. Waste of time, waste of money.

This place is designed for people with more money than sense, the botox must be tampering with their tastebuds. The owners should be ashamed at their extortion. What ever happened to opening a restaurant because you make good food and people welcome. How has it come to this?! Eating at China Tang makes me despair. Don't go! Support your local Chinese instead.
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Alma Patterson
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, July 20, 2010