Joy King Lau

Pretty Average
The staff is very friendly and attentive. The restaurant is clean and very presentable however the overall ambience is little lower than what we were expecting for the area/location. And the food … portions are very generous and the presentation is good. Prices very reasonable. However, it's the flavour and texture of food that put us off. Starters: prawn toast – average, spring rolls (both veg and non-veg) – poor, very oily on the outside and the filling was soggy. Main course: poor – both seafood and chicken were very chewy. Vegetarian dish, fried tofu with stirfried veg was marginally better. Egg fried rice didn't taste fresh. Noodles were okish. Beer (tiger) was good but could have been a bit more chilled. Overall the restaurant didn't live up to our expectations after reading all the previous reviews. For Sat. evening I was expecting a bit more atmosphere and better quality (fresher) food. My recommendation would be to spend a little bit more (10%) and go to a couple of pretty decent Chinese just round the corner on Lisle Street (or spend a little less and pick from a huge variety of Chinese restaurants on Gerrard or Wardour Streets.

This place is a hidden secret! Don't be turned off by the basic interior and loud/shouty staff – people line up here for a reason! The 4-storey's of this restaurant have been packed every time i've been and it's been a regular haunt of mine for 6 years. It's best to go for weekend dim sum and i'd recommend going with a big group of people. That way you can order a million things off the menu, sit back and watch the bamboo baskets stack up on your table. It's one of the cheapest and most authentic dim sum restaurants i've been to. I always walk/roll out of Joy King Lau very satisfied and with money left in my wallet!