All reader reviews by Adrian

Imperial China

Went on a Saturday night, about 8pm.

The restaurant was packed: had to wait 30 mins for a table for two. Staff were polite and courteous on entry.

We were finally taken to a table on the first floor, and soon realised that this was possibly the worst place to have a meal. Three rooms were booked out for various events, one of which seemed like an overzealous hen night, and hearing them through closed doors was not a problem: it was still impossible to hear my partner in conversation. The table was severely underlit also. It probably wasn't possible to ask for another table, seeing as we waited for this one for ages.

The menu was quite reasonable on paper; shame it wasn't in the mouth. I ordered the dim sum platter, special fried rice, and (my favourite Chinese dish) fried squid in spicy salt and pepper. The dim sum was nice, although a bit rubbery. The special fried rice was tasty, although quite on the greasy side. The biggest disappointment was the squid: not hot on arrival, solid coating, and extremely tough to bite through, possibly indicating that they had been reheated at least twice. For £9, this was the worst version of the dish I had ever tried: my local takeaway does it for £3.50, and it's infinitely better than here. My partner had the Portuguese style curried vegetables: they arrived like they had been left to stew for ages. Every part of the dish was the same colour, and the bamboo shoots seemed to had given their flavour to absolutely everything else.

The male toilets were absolutely filthy, and seemed like they hadn't been cleaned once in the day. The taps trickle water like some kind of torture device: so slow that you wish you hadn't put soap in your hands, because it would take ages to rinse off.

Service was attentive and quick however. It could be the extravagent exterior, with its mini-bridge and stream, that draws people in. Shame the inside didn't match...

Monday, October 27, 2008
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 4