Imperial China

It's not the cheapest option but it ended up being a good last minute default. They do pretty reasonable dim sum too (not to my mind anywhere as good as Yauacha, or as cheap and joyful as New World or Dragon Castle), and their meats have always done the job (without filling my soul with any real joy). It's a big old place, a little prettier than some of its near neighbours and accessed over a tiny bridge past a concrete carp pool, just for a welcoming touch of clarse…

I think as I've been eating a fairly substantial amount of Chinese cuisine recently, my palate has improved slightly. There's some disingenuity as to what counts as ‘true’ Peking Duck. My belief has always been that this is what you get when the bird has been cooked, marinaded and airdried (as you'll often see in Chinatown windows). With the skin separated from the rendered fat and crisped up to a shiny, dark, plum coloured top sheet, it's eaten first with a dipping sauce before the remaining sliced meat is wrapped in tiny pancakes with onion and plum sauce. I'd contrast that with aromatic crispy duck (the type you tend to get in most Chinese takeaways) which tends to give you an oven cooked duck where meat, fat and skin are broken up roughly with forks and served together in those pancakes.

No garlic dipping sauce for the skin as you sometimes get with Peking Duck, just packaged pancakes and the usual hoisin, but I was impressed by the duck itself, with its soft fatty flesh perfect underneath shards of crisped marinaded skin.

Of the other dishes, shared BBQ pork was a touch too sweet and so juicy as to feel faked, crispy beef was similarly sweet, albeit with a good chilli kick, but neither would bring me back. There were some perfectly acceptable noodles and an excellent aubergine hotpot that probably would bring me here again though.

With a couple of beers and a few starters, we were looking at £35 a head. Not bad for what we'd had, but you can do cheaper and better round here.

The service was abmissable, the waiter, or waitress because you never got the same one twice, kept forgetting to bring the relevant dishes, and in one instance, mine actually, I was waiting for sweet and sour pork, to go with my rice, and the meal was almost over before they remembered to bring it

Went to Imperial China with 2 friends and a child. Food was very average which surprised me after the brilliant reviews I read. Noodles with beansprouts were a bit greasy, and chicken with cashew nuts was plain bland. No prawn crackers offered at the start of the meal, which was a bit surprising. Pong Pong prawns on sugar canes were nice (recommend for the kids!), but next day after the meal I cannot recollect what I was eating – nothing stands out. Wine was OK. Service is below average due to half of the waiters not speaking any English – they would call someone else who can speak! They had difficulties understanding how many portions we ordered and how exactly we'd like that cooked. We asked for 3 fruit platters (each platter for min.2 people), instead they brought us one tiny plate and claimed it is for 3 people! At that time we just gave up, it wasn't worth the struggle.

Overall, food OK, but nothing which would make a dining out occasion really special. The kid (7 y.o.) loved watching the koi carps in the pond, though, kept him entertained.

I recently organised a hen evening at Imperial China and following on from the previous review, it was simply fantastic and I would definitely recommend it for a similar party. The room was nicely decorated with a good karaoke system. The service was friendly and professional and the food was quick to arrive and very tasty. The price of £27.50 for a two course set menu was incredibly reasonable considering it provided a whole evening's entertainment. Very pleased I chose this restaurant!

I recently organised a hen party in one of the private karaoke rooms at Imperial China. I was a little nervous having read some not great reviews. But having had a brilliant time I wanted to put a good review up to counteract the less positive ones!

The food was fantastic. Some of the best chinese food I've ever had. The vegetarian and the one with food allergies (there is always one!) were very well looked after. Two less people turned up on the night and we were not charged for them (even though the small print says you will be). There was so much food and we did feel bad that so much of it went to waste. The house wine was very reasonable – £12.90 a bottle and was very drinkable. They left all the empty bottles on a side table – I guess this was in case anyone wanted to question the bill at the end but we felt no need (but I thought this was good). The staff and service were amazing. Very attentive and polite. They were a little quick clearing the plates away and ushering us out at end of the night. The place was very clean and very plush. The karaoke was great – very up-to-date and easy to use. All the other rooms seemed to be having a good a time as us. I (along with all the 25 strong hen party) were very impressed and no one had a bad thing to say about it. We had the £27.50 set menu and drank A LOT for 4 hours. The final bill worked out at £50 a head which we all thought was very reasonable.

I would heartily recommend this restaurant for any sort of party for the private rooms. And having sampled the food, I would say the a la carte menu must be great and will certainly be returning for a meal.