Ping Pong (Westbourne Grove)

Good food, well at least the dim sum are - just about everything else I've tried is rather poor...also note it's all pre-prepared and expensive for tiny portions.

I too was made to wait at the bar whilst empty tables sat around and pay for poor over priced cocktails (not sure there was any alcohol in mine). £7+ for a large (660ml) bottle of Tiger beer is way to steep - even the curry house Cobra scam (remember how they used to do a decent pint in your local?) seems cheap in comparision to this level of pricing.

Sadly a symptom of the times...a franchise doing something reasonably well and therefore able to overcharge and squeeze the margins.

So good dim sum all be it mass produced, most other dishes poor / under sized and over priced margin squeezing all round.
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joey_deacon
4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Friday, February 26, 2010

As Johnny Rotten famously said: 'Ever feel like you've been cheated?' The food at Ping Pong Westbourne Grove is good but that doesn't make it a decent restaurant. Far from it as they've got so much else wrong here. I won't go back, not that I'm sure it matters to Ping Pong because they've probably become too successful to care. I agree totally with a previous reviewer. The person in charge of assigning customers to tables totally ruined our evening. Despite plenty of empty tables we were made to wait by the bar for over half an hour until we had to start chasing him for a table. Be aware that all this faffing around about tables is just a greedy ploy, a delaying tactic to get you to buy more cocktails at the bar.
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Maximus Londinium
2 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, February 17, 2010

This is certainly a satisfaction - guaranteed evening out. I have yet to experience a bad meal here, and if and when I feel like treating myself to I know I can always return here and not be disappointed. There are many weird and wonderful side dishes to choose from that should be sampled before being dismissed as too odd, like the pickled red cabbage and turnip dish. The pak choy is another favourite and very reasonably priced. All very presentable too.

Better than my local chinese restaurant, at any rate.
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Mel
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Monday, September 21, 2009

Having Lived in Notting Hill for the past 18 months I have been to the ping pong on westbourne grove 2-5 times a month since I discovered it. I feel it is one of the best meals out you can have in the area, it has the most awesome vibe (on fri and sat nights it's always packed) but the staff won't stop smiling and are always happy to help in any way they can, I'm yet to find a cocktail that the barman can't make (on or off the menu) and the Hoi Sin Duck Rolls rock my world. My 2 favourite things are 1)all the waitresses are HOT and you can spend under a tenner or over a ton depending on how flush you are feeling. I haven't been to any other pingpongs but don't need to, I'm happy with my local
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Jon Thompson
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Thursday, April 16, 2009

I had to give this restaurant zeros' as we didn't get to eat there. We came in, asked for a table for 3 (optimistically thinking we'd get seated straight away since the restaurant wasn't full and we counted at least 3 available tables) and then proceeded to wait...and wait...and wait...

At one point one of the waiters bustling by happened to suggest we sit at the bar which we did. Did the barman take our order? No, he was trying to look busy and not in any mood to even look up. Did the waiters come back and try to seat us? One (I think he was the manager) attempted to say that he'd get a table 'cleaned up' for us, at which point he conveniently vanished and said table stayed empty and forlorn; otherwise all waiters could be seen flocking around the kitchen area (something exciting must have been happening there).

After 10 minutes of feeling like the invincibles we decided that we didn't like Ping Pong that much (at least not enough to be treated so shoddily) and we left for C&R down the road which was a much better option.

Avoid like the plague if you like to be treated like a human.
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, March 09, 2009