New China

The taste Chinese dishes and hot-​pot meals are probably the best in China Town. I have been to this restaurant for about four times because of the good taste. But the customer service is literally the worst ever. I wonder about how they treat to their customer. Some waiters don’t care what the customers say. In this time, our family has waited for an hour for having the dishes of the hot-​pot buffet. Awful!
The waiters did not want to manage that complaints we made and tried to avoid us. How could they charge us for the customer service fees in the bill!
I am just writing this review for them to improve their services to the customers.

Three stars at best.
A group of us went for hot pot for £20 per person. The food was average at best. I thought they could have tried harder on presentation as well as overall flavour and freshness of the ingredients. I didn’t even bother touching some of the food as I couldn’t trust how fresh they were.
Service was bad. We had to walk up to the servers to put in order, follow up on orders not being served, etc. Don’t understand what all the staff were doing — there weren’t even that many customers. Can’t believe I had to pay even 12.5% service charge when they clearly didn’t deserve any.
Ambience is also cheap and unimpressive. I get that not all Chinese restaurants are meant to be fancy, but honestly, I’m surprised such restaurant still exists in such a competitive restaurant scenery in London.

By far the worst dining experience I’ve ever had in London and I have been living here for years. This restaurant is clearly a tourist trap and I am certain they are still in business only because of all the customers they have scammed.
We arrived as a group of three and ordered a hotpot with assorted ingredients, charged at £19.90 per head. The food arrived and when we nearly finished, another friend joined us and ate a bit of the food we have ordered. We NEVER ordered more food and stuck with what was initially served for 3 people. When the bill arrived, we noticed that they have charged us for 4 persons at £19.90 per pax. Clearly we took an issue with this and tried to explain that we didn’t think it was reasonable, but the staff got very agitated and accused us of not knowing the rules (which they did not explain to us at any point). They accused us for trying to eat without paying and that this was the norm in China (it isnt — some of us are Chinese and this sort of business practice would never fly in China). It was only after a very heated discussion involving the manager that they begrudgingly deducted the amount charged for the last person.
Overall; Never again, don’t bother going unless you feel like being fleeced for lunch.

Was here with a gifted Groupon and honestly I’m glad as paying full price here would have been an insult.
We had booked a table for Dim Sum lunch and upon arriving they were nice in seating us even though a few members of our party were running late. Once we were all together, we started ordering a bunch of the normal stuff you expect when eating Dim Sum.
This works for two reasons. It enables you to compare to similar fare you’ve tried else and work out comparatively how good each place is. Secondly, unless you’re quite adventurous you will normally already know what you like.
Food was promptly brought out and from here on out it was a disappointment. Almost verything tasted bland. The chilli oil we’d asked for earlier helped somewhat but I just couldn’t shake off the fact that everything either tasted very oily and bland, or very dry and bland, you get the picture. For instance the pork filled yam cakes are usually the highlight of my dim sum meal. Always. It’s the one thing that never disappoints. Expect here. Expect to taste much of nothing apart from the oil it’s fried in.
Some dishes arguably were better. The prawn ho-​fun and pork ho-​fun were okay, as were some of the prawn dim sum. However the standard shrimp and pork signature was again lacking. Meaty, yes. Lacking flavour, also unfortunately yes.
Given that we had a voucher for £40 off food and were 4 people, we still had to pay around £30. So it’s slightly more expensive than other places in Chinatown where 4 people could east for £50−60 in total.
In all I can’t in good conscience recommend this place at all even if you were desperately hungry given all the other good restaurants in Chinatown. Service and staff were great. However food is a real letdown personally.

I suppose you’re wondering at this point, dear reader, why it is that I selected New China whilst out on a Saturday evening on Gerrard Street. While Gerrard Street tends to go for volume vs. quality with regard to their numerous Chinese options, there really are some seriously good options in the area. As it turns out, New China is not one of those quality options, but it’s fast, cheap, and there’s a takeout window, so that’s while I found myself there.
Star 1: How were the service and atmosphere?
I can only speak to the carry out window, but I will say that my server was happy to explain the menu to me, as there was no english text. The order of spicy pork and rice came out within 10 minutes, so no complaints there. Star Granted.
Star 2: How were the portions relative to the cost?
While I didn’t take a picture, I was able to get a solid mound of white rice and a good chunk of «pork» (more on that in a second) for £6.90. That’s a good deal even if the quality of food was bad, which, as you’ll find, it was. Star Granted.
Stars 3 and 4: How was the food?
Well, it was good while it lasted, which was right up until I got a good look at the spicy pork and rice. For starters, very little of this mixture was actually pork, and instead consisted primarily of a sort of kimchi cabbage blend and some onions and I think carrots. What little was actually pork turned out to simply be thin strips of pork fat, so at the end of the day there was essentially no pork in the entire dish. What there was, however, was grease, and there was a tremendous quantity of grease. As in, I easily soaked my huge portion of white rice in an orange greasy mixture. Greasy rice? That’s not a meal. No Stars Granted.
Star 5: Would you eat here every day if you could?
There’s better Chinese elsewhere. No Star Granted.

Most definitely NOT the best choice around. Imagine how creative and flavourful can Chinese cuisine be, well it is definitely not here…

I’ve been to London several times and eaten at several restaurants in the chinatown and this restaurant was by far the best. I’m from China and I can say this place has very authentic sichuan food. I was actually hooked when I saw their photo of the potato strips stir fry, the potatoes were cut into really thin slices and that’s the kind of stuff I’d see in China. I ordered that, as well as the water boiled fish, fish in super spicy broth. Both very fresh and aromatic. The portions were also extremely generous. I took the leftovers home and made a second meal just out of the spicy broth. I’ll definitely go back next time I’m in London.

This is one of my «always come back to» places when I am in London — and I have had multiple fine meals here.
I have a rough rule that is true 80% of the time — and it applies on Gerrard St.
The quality of a restaurant is correlated with the amount of non-​standard meats that appear on the menu.
Places which have lots of organ meat, odd seafood and the like — tend to also have great vegetarian dishes and great standard meats and fish as well.
On Gerrard St this is definitely true — because a lot of the restaurants — despite the Chinese appearance — are «corporate» and offer a «same old tourist menu».
You can tell which ones these are. Just go up and down the street and compare menus.
You will notice between six and ten near clone menus of safe Cantonese stuff — and another few dyads and triads of their own clone menus.
These various clusterings are obviously branches of the same place — and they sell serviceable standard food with one or two calculated interesting risks on the menu (this year its octopus.)
New China is a bona fide indy with a huge menu of interesting stuff.
I have eaten here multiple times over the years and forgotten exactly what I ate when.
But a most recent feast on eel balls with chilis (mild but the dish was fine that way) and tofu laced with shrimp in a savory brown sauce reminded me of why i love this place.
There are other non chain places in Chinatown and a careful examination of menus will help you pick which ones these are.
But New China is a fine choice.
((There is one rap that the other Unilocalers do note — and they have a legitimate gripe.
There are two levels of service at New China — for «Chinese/​Chinese friendly» and for «tourists». If you are on tourist mode — you can do poorly both on service and on food.
They have a red menu (for Chinese — note the red color) and the black menu for anglo tourists.
YOU WANT THE RED MENU.
Also Chinese tend to get seated in the basement and tourists get seated on the ground floor which is crowded and drafty.
Holding out for the basement is not as important as holding out for the red menu — but it doesn’t hurt.)

Poor food, I would say for unaware tourists. Don’t go there. They brought us two very oily dishes extremely spicy, with the flavour of a dish detergent, almost impossible to eat. Then salty fruits, desserts were just non Chinese icecream.

Still one of two favorites of mine in Chinatown.
Their hot pot isn’t exactly a deal — 20 quids for the soup base and everything else a la carte, a sit down for two can easily run up to 50 quids. There are plenty of other AYCE hot pot options in the immediate neighborhood with each capped at £25 max per head. That said, New China is probably best as a straight and narrow family style restaurant.

A sad place. Avoid.
Obnoxious waiters, shady pricing, and cramped quarters can all be written off as character– if the food is good… unfortunately the food is not good. In fact, it’s terrible.
The steamed dumplings were overly gooey and made from questionable ingredients. The grilled dumplings were advertised as having 7 or 8 per dish, but only 4 came, and the odd tasting dipping sauce didn’t sufficiently hide the freezer burn.
There were boxes stacked in the corner of the restaurant– which makes me wonder how well the kitchen is kept if they’re willing to leave a mess in public view.

Ok, first of all this is probably my favorite Sichuan restaurant in the world outside of China. I used to go here several times a week when I lived around the corner in Covent Garden, and believe me I had a choice. If you think the hostess is «rude» that’s just the way Amy comes off at first; she’s real Chinese, not Americanized, and that’s how they are. She’s actually hilarious, calls herself «Miss Saigon» because that’s where she’s born. After my first year as a regular, she stopped charging me for booze.
New China is the first place I hit when I go back to London. I miss the spicy beef stew like nothing else. I’ve tried to replicate it at home but can’t. Everyone I’ve ever taken there has raved about it, because I was lucky enough to have been taken there by a Chinese colleague, so I know the secret: Order from the Chinese menu, not the tourist one. The food is authentic and delicious. As for the 12.5% service charge, read your bill? It’s less than we tip in the States.

We went to New China the other night after wandering around Chinatown looking for a place to eat and finally settled on this place. I would agree with most of the comments made already and I would add to stay away from the fixed prix «combined per person meals». The portions were small, the food wasn’t very appetizing and its hard to know what you ordered as it all comes out on one plate without any explanations.
I will say we ordered shark fin dumplings off the fixed prix menu and they were good… though it was my first time having them so I had no comparison.
Overall, I don’t think we would ever go back there… the dinner was only salvaged by the company.

Decided to try the hotpot at this restaurant with my Mum today and it was delicious. Service was friendly and the unexpected complimentary dessert was a winner. However, none of this was worth the price. Fair enough that the hotpot was £25.80, but I don’t know where they got the extra £6 they charged us for. If it was for the pot of tea, service and the complimentary dessert, I’d sooner set up my own little hotpot at home. Never again.

Huge mistake coming here. Situated in the the overly touristy China Town area lies New China. We were hungry after a long day and were walking around and saw pictures of dim sum at all the restaurants but none of them served it for dinner except for New China.
After trying to ask the rude hostess some questions we were suckered into eating here.
Worst Dim Sum I’ve ever had!
I’ve had better dim sum from the frozen food section!

If there is a god of Schezwan Sauce somewhere in the sky, he should strike this place with his thunderbolts of Kung-​pao and righteous outrage. It would be a mercy/​honor killing.
I understand that Chinese places in this area of town are not necessarily the best and my expectations were not high, but I’ve had a few decent meals in this part of town and thought, «Hey! I haven’t tried this one yet… maybe I should?» Answer: you should not. The food is absolutely of the WORST quality and flavor and it is not necessarily that cheap either.
My two companions ordered chicken and beef dishes. One was too sweet and sugary to finish and the other was glazed with something I can only describe as flavorless goop. I ordered a noodle and pork soup with veggies. You can always tell the quality of a noodle soup by the flavor of the broth. You know what this tasted like? Metal. No joke. It had a metallic taste and the pork was full of gristle. I was really hungry so I ate it (yeah, I’ll eat table linen in a pinch) and almost immediately became slightly ill.
Cherry on top?
THEY TRIED TO OVER-​CHARGE US! Its a big tourist area and they very conveniently don’t put any of the receipts in English and I had to go through each menu item we ordered and add it up twice with the waiter not listening to me until he realized that he had been charging us for the other table’s drinks.
Even so, they added a 12.5% service charge for shitty service which was not clearly printed on the menu or articulated at all. This experience left me angry, annoyed and with tummy rumbles like I was carrying the god of Schezwan’s immaculately conceived Antichrist baby and he was practicing his baby lightning moves.
Ugh. Go anywhere but here.

«Oof». Personally, that’s a noise I like making while eating because it generally means I’m meeting my match, spice-​wise. I made that noise a lot during my meal at New China.
Szechuan is, famously, a fiery cuisine. I love spicy and, save for a surprising run-​in with a habanero chili earlier this year in Texas, these days I don’t often get to that involuntary sweating stage. It took two mouthfuls at New China. Now that probably won’t be a recommendation many will appreciate but those of us who like food with an endorphin rush should probably head down there now. Service was friendly and helpful — they attempted to warn the two English faces off the «three chilli» rated Bullfrog Soup — prices are pretty decent and, for me, there was also the nostalgia value: when it was a Dive Bar, this was one of my favourite places in London.
Best Chinese food in the area? No. Fun and eventful and memorable? Definitely.

It may not be a clever idea to try and go to Chinatown and have some Chinese on Chinese New Year — but even considering that the restaurant was overcrowded, neither the service nor the food were acceptable. The took ages to arrive (more than 1 hour for a soup?) and was cold when it arrived, and not very tasty at all. The lack of service (or confused service) added to the general perception of this place not being worth the money spent.

I came here after wandering around Chinatown, trying to find a non-​Cantonese style Chinese restaurant. New China was just what I was looking for.
We ordered a soup dish with pork meatballs and winter melon soup, super spicy beef, and stir-​fried string beans. Each of the dishes was flavorful and delicious. Their service was not great, but it was fast and efficient.

Not the cheapest place for eats in China Town. For dim sum, this place is really expensive ranging from £3.50 — £5 per dish, sticky rice in lotus leaf being the most expensive. Drinks are overpriced as well, £3.50 for freshly squeezed fruit juice! Also, beware, the small print on the menu states that there’s a 12.6% discretionary service charge! Normally I would refuse to pay the service charge and just tip the waiters instead, but unfortunately we were in a hurry and my boyfriend couldn’t be bothered to recalculate the bill so ended up paying the full amount including the 12.6%. Made me so mad!
The service was alright, the waiter was congenial but the food was average. We only ordered 6 dim sum dishes but they took so long to come (waiting 25 — 30 minutes for dim sum is a HUGE no-​no) that they ended up being oversteamed and when you tried to pick them up the dumplings broke apart.
In conclusion, overpriced for average food. As agreed with CaribQueen, you could do better in China Town.