Secret Kitchen Chinatown — Restaurant in Melbourne

The food is below average; I find the truffle fusion in some dish a bit much, and the colored skin makes it seem less authentic. Additionally, the dumpling and rice paper roll skins are quite thick.

The service varies; not everyone provides the same level of service, especially the manager. One male manager doesn't talk at all, which I find odd. While this might be acceptable in Hong Kong, in Melbourne, its all about hospitality and customer service - especially Manager. For example, when someone asks for soy sauce, a simple response like 'sure, I'll bring it over' would be appreciated instead of just nodding and no response. I don't know if they understood or what. This is Melbourne, there is no need to be rush at everything, the entire place is not even fully booked. Please remind your staff to treat each customer with care, this is not a place to be rush and just eat. The food is not even good to be honest, I would say people are here to gather as a group and enjoy the experience.

There is a lack of explanation for the dishes, and I strongly suggest a complete FULL menu for foreigners would be beneficial. It is not useful to have best selling dish stand on the table. Considering this is Australia, it's common for guests to have dietary needs. Many staff members struggle to explain the ingredients and simply ask do you want it or not.

I'm Asian, but I felt embarrassed bringing a group of 10 colleagues here. None of them knew what was going on, and some had dietary requirements. The staff was not very helpful. In the end, I had to explain everything, bring knives and forks myself from the station. I had to find a complete menu online to show my colleagues and explain all the ingredients. Considering the price of this restaurant, I would expect some sort of brief explanation and service to...

SURPRISINGLY GOOD CHINESE RESTAURANT Secret Kitchen ticks lots of boxes; quality food, nice ambiance, extensive menu and decent toilets. It is a little bit more expensive than some of its competitors in Chinatown (especially for live seafood dishes) but it's worth it for the added quality. The only thing that could improve is the customer focus of the wait staff. If it was a cheap eats place, you wouldn't expect good service but here, when everything else exceeds the benchmark, you should get better service. It that's improved, it would definitely be a five star experience :) We were seated at a comfortable table on the ground floor towards the back of the restaurant. Plenty of space and the chairs were very comfortable. For a large, popular restaurant it was pleasantly quiet and we could carry on with a normal conversation without having to shout. Well done on the acoustic dampening! We(partner and I) elected to share a few dishes between us. Chicken and crab meat soup was tasty and had a perfect consistency. Snake beans in blackbean sauce were cooked to perfection (we asked that the bacon served in the dish be omitted and the dish got ordered as served as the "no meat dish") The stir fried green vegetables were quite good. the cantonese beef had an overly sweet sauce but was otherwise OK. Two bowls of steamed rice saw us through the meal. For drinks, jasmine tea, sauvignon blanc and sparkling water. All up it came to just under $170 for the two of us. People with mobility issues will be pleased to know that although there is a flight of stairs from the ground floor dining hall to the first floor toilets, there is also a lift. Good for a quiet meal, a banquet, a business dinner. Accepts cash and cards and is...

Heard lots about this place. It however did not live up to expectations at all. This review is of the city store. On one of Melbourne's hottest day no ac & no airflow in the restaurant, it made for an uncomfortable yum cha session. Before my bum was even parked on my seat, I was reminded I had to be out by 1.15 pm i.e. 90 min, usually not an issue, until it was then written on the top of order card and then he just walked off no offer of tea or water. Really ? and no amount of "excuse me" or arm waving was going to bring him back. He was gone ! Food cart arrived, we proceed to choose and ask for soy sauce chillies and tea.."asked one of the ppl not pushing the trolley, i can't do that".

Now getting the attention of ppl not pushing a trolley is an art form.

As for the food well...in this town the standard is very very ordinary, definitely needs chillies and soy sauce. Then there is the theatre of ordering the special, not everyone can take your order, who can well that's another art form. Save yourself the trouble, there is nothing special about it unless you count the special way of ordering it as special. The staff mostly were nice enough however of the 60 min that I was there, there were a few that was just outright rude (these ppl have no place in an industry trying to recover), in one instance a customer informed the foh staff that the dish was not what was order, she just shrugged her shoulders proceeded to record it when the customer reiterate that's the wrong dish, then there was a 3 ways discussion in Chinese with other staff members in the middle of the restaurant. Nothing special and expensive save your money there are plenty to...