Lanzhou Chinese Beef Noodle — Restaurant in Zone 1

Scathing Review of Lanzhou F7: A Masterclass in How Not to Run a Restaurant

Where do I even begin with this culinary catastrophe? From the moment I stepped into Lanzhou F7, it was clear that the staff had collectively decided that basic hospitality was optional. No greetings, no smiles—just the overwhelming vibe that we were intruding on their very important time of not serving customers properly.

Service? More Like *Self-Service

Six people, one menu. Because, you know, sharing is caring—except when it comes to common sense. When I dared to approach the bossman (who, by the way, was clearly fluent in English when talking to his staff), he suddenly developed selective amnesia and pretended he couldn’t understand a word. Instead of answering a simple question, he panicked, called over his staff, and started rapid-firing Chinese like I was some kind of threat. Sir, I just wanted to ask about the food, not your secret noodle recipe. The way he shooed me away like a stray dog was truly the cherry on top of this "customer service" disaster.

The Food: Mediocre at Best, Overhyped at Worst

Let’s talk about the food—because calling it "okay" is me being generous. It’s the kind of meal that makes you think, "Wow, I could’ve made this at home with half the effort and twice the flavor." But hey, in Pakistan, if you slap a fancy name on your restaurant and serve vaguely passable food, people will line up like sheep. Congratulations, Lanzhou F7, you’ve successfully fooled the masses.

Final Verdict: 2 Stars (and That’s Being Nice)

One star for the food not giving me food poisoning, and another star for the unintentional comedy of watching the staff operate like they’ve never heard of customer service before. Pro tip to the management: The customer is king. Maybe try remembering that instead of treating patrons like an inconvenience.

Would I return? Only if I develop amnesia and forget this...

when we arrived, it was packed. We had to wait about 10 minutes for a table, which wasn’t bad considering how busy it was. The air-conditioning worked just fine, which is always a small win in crowded underground spots.

We were there for one thing: noodles. Here’s what we tried and how it all went down.

Beef Noodles

This was the dish I was most excited about, but it turned out to be a bit of a letdown. The broth was bland and leaned oddly toward desi flavors — yes, there was dhaniya in it. The noodles were served in huge quantity, but the beef? You’d have to go on a treasure hunt to find it. For a bowl labeled “beef noodles,” it felt more like noodle soup with beef as an afterthought.

Dumplings

These were solid. The spice level was just right, and the filling had a nice balance. They were enjoyable. If you visit, this might be your safest bet.

Hot & Sour Potato Noodles

I loved the idea behind this one. It sounded like something spicy, tangy, and full of character — but what we got was spice overload. It was so hot it actually numbed the taste buds. The flavor didn’t get a chance to shine because it was buried under way too much chili. It's a real shame because this dish had real potential.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve ever had authentic chinese cuisine or orignal ramen, this place might not hit the mark for you. The dishes feel tweaked for local preferences, but in doing so, they lose a lot of their...

The food was good, however, it's not something I would try every now and then. This was my first time in Lanzhou and although I expected the place to deliver more, it did not. Don't get me wrong though, the food was amazing, it's just that it wasn't amazing enough to make it my go-to place. I tried their beef noodles which I'll give a solid 8/10 and their dumplings, which were REALLY GOOD, so I'll give them a 9/10. Besides that, Lanzhou is not good if you're looking for the best bang to your buck, since the prices are on par with other well-known Chinese restaurants in Islamabad yet the place itself fails to deliver the value in terms of the ambiance, service and hygiene.

Let me be more elaborative, so apparently they use tap water for cooking which in my humble opinion, is not the way it should be, at least the water should be filtered considering the fact that it's used a lot in soups, broths, noodles etc. Also, their staff is very limited so you'd have to wait a considerable time before your order is ready. Also, it's visiting their restroom made me realize how Lanzhou really needs to improve the ambience and other amenities besides food. The restroom was way below hygienic.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience even if it wasn't the best one. But they really need to make improvements in terms of their seating, service, ambience...