Red N Hot

Very disappointed. Poor service. Waiters only came when you waive them. For simple things such as getting a cup of water, you have to wait them for a long time. They might even forget what you’ve asked for after 10 mins of wait or go out to smoke regardless your request. Foods are okay. Not sure if the kitchen was clean. Overall, there’re many other options having better services nearby, this one won’t be a good choice.

I’ve had fairly solid meals here a couple of times– the ma po tofu is rather good, and it’s often full of non-​western types — cheapish and goodish. Yes, the service is terrible, but I would say «brusque and efficient’, as I got used to in SF and NY chinatown.

HORRIBLE SERVICE! Paid 25pounds for the buffet including drinks and mandatory service charge for ok food and terrible service. Okay, when you go to a Chinese restaurant, you half expect the service to be bad, but this was utterly unacceptable. The waitress talked about us in some dialect, gave our food to us like it was garbage, and poured our drinks like we were cows. DO NOT go to this restaurant, many other restos near leicester square that are cheaper and actually are sufficient and give a cr*p about their customers. Will never return and will never recommend to anyone.

I came here for one thing and one thing only — HOT POT. I am an advent fan of the hot pot culture and have been looking for a decent place for something to cure my craving but am afraid to say that this just didn’t do it for me and I continue on my quest to find better.
Firstly the price was a bargain, £20 per person, all you can eat. There was a wide selection of food — beef, pork, prawns, load of vegetables, etc. though I felt some of it might not have been too fresh (frozen). My favourite thing was the sauce table — where you could make your own dipping sauce though it could had helped a lot if they had labelled what everything was as we mostly has to guess.
This all sounds acceptable so far so what want wrong? The service — the people there did not seem to be too interested at all at what they were doing or what you might have wanted. I understand from a Chinese point of view this is almost expected of Chinese restaurants but come on?! I was there with my sisters and we all speak Chinese but I hate to think if someone who didn’t speak Chinese want there as it didn’t seem any of the waiters spoke English. Surely that is a requirement with opening a restaurant in the UK? Downstairs look seemed really nice décor-​wise but try not to be seated upstairs where it’s a different case all together. It was a bit shabby and even a bit dirty — with all the tables and chairs too close together (which is dangerous considering all the hot pots being brought in and out) and ventilation was terrible, what with all the steam from the hot pots. The food was acceptable but really with service and place as it is, I won’t be heading back anytime soon.

I just read the previous review –but fortunately this unfortunately named restaurant is now open again. The outside looks a bit odd, a strange blend of classy and mess in different places. Please re-​do the menu table on the outside Owners!
However the inside is quite nice, very comfortable and the lunch specials are great value and very tasty. My favourite is the hot and numbing beef noodle soup, not too hot but you can ask for it to be less so if you are nervous. Its full of a really tasty mix of well cooked gristly beef bits, noodles and a really tasty sauce, not really quite enough to call a soup but I love it (so did the Chinese friend I went with the last time), delicious honestly! The Szechuan staples of Kung Pao chicken, Ma Po Tofu and sea fragranced aubergine are all delicious as when I have had them they were full of the wonderful spicy aroma of freshly roasted and ground Szechuan black peppercorns and chilli.
Definitely worth going a little out of your way to for a delicious spicy Szechuan lunch for well under a tenner. I will be going back, I feel another craving for the hot and numbing beef noodle soup…

Decided to go here as I am a fan of Sichuan food. In short, it’s not as good as what I had in China but on par with places like Empress of Sichuan and Chilli Cool.
The menu looks quite intimidating when you get it. A small book of dishes. I of course had to try the Sichuan chicken appetiser, which I find is quite telling about the restaurant. It was surprisingly good, a bit spicier than in other places, and a good indication of what was to come. Pea sprouts were a nice contrast to the spiciness, then the pork lavishly topped with chilli & sichuan pepper which was tasty and came in an enormous portion. Ordering one egg fried rice and one boiled wasn’t a great idea as they were so bit you can share one for two people. In the end there was food left, all the portions were so big.
Definitely one of the nicer Sichuan places in London. Don’t be discouraged by the area or the exterior of the restaurant. Recommended for your Sichuan fix.

I hadn’t planned on going to Red ‘N’ Hot but the hectic build-​up to Christmas can alter your plans. We had intended to try the ‘leave it to us’ option at Haozhan but Mr Wine was running late due to work and my day at the office wasn’t that great either. I then made the mistake of trying to do some Christmas shopping before meeting Mr Wine.
Anyway, by the time we met up at 8.30, we were both a bit frazzled and in the mood for less sophisticated fare. Having decided against old school Cantonese, we plumped for this Sichuan restaurant on Charing Cross Road. First impressions were positive with a predominantly Chinese clientele enjoying their food in a smart contemporary dining room.
Most parties went for the huo guo Sichuan hotpot cooked at the table so much so that the front door had to be kept open for ventilation (although this didn’t stop the smoke alarms going off !). On another day, we might have gone for this but after a tough day at the office, we were happy to let someone else do the cooking.
The menus are fully bilingual with selected pictures and I began to order in my wobbly Mandarin but as it turned out the lingua franca of the wait staff was Cantonese ! To the relief of all concerned, I switched to Cantonese to make it clear that we were familiar with Sichuan food and that we could handle the heat.
Although listed as an appetiser, the kou shui ji or mouthwatering Sichuan chicken with a lip tingling spicy sauce (£7.80) came with the mains. This insipid cold starter was the most disappointing dish and wasn’t remotely lip tingling — the overriding flavour being sesame.
One of my Sichuan faves is shui zhu niu rou or sliced beef Sichuan style lavishly topped with chilli and Sichuan pepper (£8.80). Unfortunately, they bought out rou pian or sliced pork version, if we weren’t too frazzled I would have insisted on actually getting the beef but we kept the pork. This dish was as expected although the pork was a tad chewy and the beef would have been a more tender option. The spice level was less than Chilli Cool and Mr Wine reckoned it was on a par with Bar Shu i.e. although far from lacking heat it could have been spicier.
The other main was quick fried fish slices & vegetables (£15.80). I’m not sure what the fish was but this generous portion was perfectly cooked. It wasn’t meant to be spicy and we intentionally ordered this as a contrast to the spicier dishes.
As well as steamed rice, sides of water spinach with garlic (£7.80), dan dan noodles (£3.80) and minced pork dumplings with chilli oil (£4.80) were ordered. These were all competently rendered; especially the dumplings which had a home-​made feel. Mind you, the chilli oil dressing could’ve been zingier as could the dan dan noodles.
Neither of us were in the mood for wine and with a couple of beers each, the bill was £35/​head including service. However, I did over order — the portions were very generous and I ended up taking home the leftover pork and chicken. Analysing our order, I reckon it wouldn’t have cost much more in total for a party of four somewhere in the region of £25/​head i.e. pricier than Chilli Cool but cheaper than Bar Shu.
Although there was a cock-​up over the beef and the drinks took their time in arriving, the service was above par for Chinatown. I guess this was due to the waiters not being your stereotypical surly servers banter, charm and good humour are rare qualities in Chinatown so we could forgive any minor lapses.
Verdict: Although the mouthwatering chicken came close, there were no real shockers. Whilst Chilli Cool remains my favourite Sichuan place, I’d recommend Red ‘N’ Hot if you were out and about in the West End.

Red and hot is a chili-lover’s dream. It is a nice reasonably-​priced and central Szechuanese restaurant on Carting Cross Road. They do not take bookings, and are often packed so be warned you should allow for queuing or arriving early or late. Among the must-​have dishes in this loud bustly and largely Chinese-​frequented place are the «Sichuan Style Lavishly Topped with Chilli & Sichuan Pepper» dishes, which are the specialty. The Szechuanese hotpot is also good but be prepared to spend the time cooking your own food, and it IS copious, so I’d recommend 3 people minimum before going for that. It is cheap, cheerful and good food, although the service is sometimes a little. Definitely my Szechuanese restaurant of choice in London at the moment.

I had been considering trying this restaurant for shabu shabu.
However, on walking past yesterday, it was shut. Closer inspection revealed a notice from the environmental health inspectors that the restaurant was shut due to rat and cockroach infestation of the kitchen
Eugh!