Le Shanghai à Lens — Restaurant in Lens

I'm a believer in honesty and whilst I understand mistakes happen, the actions of a company to resolve them speaks volumes. I will however try to provide a balanced review. I have eaten at this restaurant three times previously, we have a 4yr old and always book for 1800hrs to try and get home for 2000hr and bedtime. On each previous occasion, the service has been ok, if a little slow to sort refills for drinks etc.

Well yesterday, once more, we booked for 1800hrs with some friends, in total there were 4 adults and 4 children, a 7yr old, two 4 yr olds and a toddler. We arrived, had a drink and ordered food around 1825hr and had a pleasant conversation with the staff about pronouncing certain foods on the menu, all was good.

The starters arrived and were lovely, fresh with a lovely pickled salad and the table was cleared at a reasonable rate. This is where it all went horribly wrong, mains came for the children, no condiments were offered, i had to walk up and get replacement cutlery and then some sporadic meals were dumped across the three tables. My wife and i had ordered a meal for two and by 1930 it had still not arrived.

By this point noone had been back to ask if we wanted any drinks, noone asked if the food was ok. I went to the front of house to ask where our food was and she said she would check. 5mins later a different person came to see what our problem was, it took a further 30 mins to get our food. Whilst the staff apologised a lot, they still didn't ask if we wanted drinks nor clear the dirty plates for the other 6 people at our table.

We finally got our food around 2010, again, lots of empty platea around us, we had to go to front of house to request desserts for the children (they were part of a meal deal) and we eventually left at 2040hrs.

My biggest issue through all this....there was no complimentary drinks, no discount to apologise for such poor service. Simply a 'sorry theres a new girl'... It was obvious that the 'new girl' wasn't the issue, it was the grossly understaffed establishment with queues out the door of people waiting on takeaway and a kitchen that could not cope.

It is a shame that a restaurant which such good food and a great garden for children has such underwhelming...

It's my first time here and I have to say that the food is pretty good. Although it took a while for the food to get here, it is not a fast food restaurant. So don't expect to get your food within the next 10-15 minutes. Even if there's only 5 customers in the restaurant. I got the Stir Fried Noodles with Chicken and the Stir Fried Duck with Basil. If you order off the menu and not the buffet, the portions is good for two people. So unless you can eat a lot, I would ask questions about the food you're ordering. I couldn't finish mine so I'm taking it to go. Just FYI, if you pay for the buffet, no take out. When is comes to drinks, it's quite small. Small enough you could finish it like in 3 gulps. The environment is very clean and very oriental (obviously, just thought I should add this). As for the wait staff. I can say that they're great. Depending on where you are sitting, it's hard to see them and or get there attention. I just kinda waited around till the walk by. Long story short, I'd recommend this restaurant if you have some sort...

Enjoyed dinner (plus play time for the kids) here with my husband's new boss and new coworker + families. Definitely family friendly with the playground in the back to let the kids run their energy while the parents enjoy adult time with other parents. We didn't do the buffet, there was a nice man who so kindly provided us English menu's! Super helpful. And they also have a special kids section (for 11y.o. and under) with a 3 course meal inside the menu (so awesome!) As for my meal, I ordered the duck with peanut sauce, rice, and fresh salad on the side. The duck was cooked just right! My husband ordered the sweet&sour chicken with steamed rice, while my kids ordered off the kids menu, they both said their chicken dish were delicious. Our waitress was also super kind and nice. Very happy with our dinner. We'll most likely come back to this place!

Super unique restaurant with bonus playground for us first timers in the area and delicious food!...