The Golden Palace

I tried this place out last week and the food was OK, but the guy on the phone was so damn rude. They forgot one of my dishes and it took 45 minutes after the first batch of food to be delivered.
I will not be using them again.

Another food website rates this place as the best Chinese in the area, so I had to give it a go. Cold nights were made for Chinese takeaway, or in this case, delivery.
Things were looking up when the person taking my order shouted down the phone at me that they didn’t have white rice, only egg-​fried. Odd, I thought, but in some areas, the more rude the order taker, the better the food.
The rude order taker than asked for my address, and when I started giving the house number and street, he shouted that he wanted my post code. Post code given, he then asked for my address. After hanging up, he rang back to ask what area we are in. Really? You take my post code and street address and don’t recognise that we’re in the adjoining neighbourhood?
Food arrives… tons of it. Not bad for £20, I thought. But then we started eating. It was stale, tasteless, and greasy. We ordered two hot and sour soups, beef ho-​fun, and ma po tofu, plus the aforementioned rice. We ate one helping each (mainly because we were very hungry and couldn’t wait another 45 minutes for another delivery order) and had tons left over. This food reminds me of the £5 noodle bars in Soho where you can eat all you want, but you have no idea how many days it’s been sitting out. Perfect for pissheads, but unacceptable for a Tuesday night meal at home.
If they were rude and stupid but had good food, that would be a winner in my book. Rude, gormless, and really awful food, however, makes me wonder how they stay in business, and better yet, how they got the top rating on the other website.
Don’t ask me about the next morning…

Golden Palace at 402 Garrett Lane is the local Chinese Restaurant in Earlsfield. Standard everything — décor, food (flavour, presentation, creativity), service, prices. That said, that’s often all we expect and all we want when we head out for Chinese food locally anyway, right?
The menu is extensive, with all the traditional favourites here. They claim not to use MSG and to be honest, you can tell, as some plainer dishes taste just that. Chicken and Vegetables; Beef and Vegetables — a little bland. However, their sweeter sauced dishes are quite flavoursome.
If you feel like entrees, you are going to have to deal with it being deep-​fried. Nothing really fresh or healthy here.
In conclusion, Golden Palace is a typical local Chinese restaurant, and if you are expecting the world, then head to central London! But I reckon you don’t mind about all that fancy stuff anyway.
(406 Garrett — Golden Palace Takeaway)