China Red — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Excellent presentation and decor. General layout is very well done. The vibe is good as well. Quite impressive. However, just based on the food, I'm leaving 2 stars. If it was about half the price, I might not be as disappointed but I genuinely didn't enjoy the meals here. 9/10 things were extremely bland in flavor and the rest was only acceptable.

It's a shame to see dishes including meats like lamb be so boring in taste. I feel as though the meat was wasted when they cooked it, not when I decided not to eat any more.

After my first dish, I started getting many different things and in very small portions because I felt I had to sample around before committing to a real amount. Just didn't really find anything worth consuming in any enjoyable way.

I'm going to, right now, let the manager know how I feel and see how that goes. Hopefully I can pay a children's price or something but I'd feel ripped off at the normal weekend price.

That conversation didn't go well. The manager was not very understanding. Just heard me speak and quickly responded with "Sorry but you must pay full price."

And so I will but I'm leaving this review. I know good food because I've had it. I hear the food standards in Scotland aren't like I'm used to in California and so far, I'm feeling that to be proven more often than not. This buffet was probably the most disappointing of my food experiences here, both in service and in taste.

So if you come, try very little portions of a few things and see if you want to continue. I'd advise letting the manager know you didn't like what you had before...

First time at China Red with 8 friends. I booked in advance as after reading reviews I knew it’d be busy. We were shown to our table immediately with literally no wait and Kelly our server introduced herself and couldn’t do enough for us. She was very cheery and friendly and was always over making sure we were okay. She went over the food stations to let us know where and what we should do as it was our first time there. The food was hot and delicious and I’m a fussy eater, but there was more than plenty to cater to all tastes. The choices are many from starters, main and desserts. There is also freshly cooked foods like steak, fish etc. There was a queue for this but not a long wait considering it is freshly cooked in front of you. Fresh crepes too and my friend loved the chocolate and banana one. She said it was delicious. All of our plates and cutlery was swiftly taken from our table once we’d finished with it so there was never any uneaten food, used plates in front of you. The staff are amazingly swift at this. Once again we would like to praise and thank Kelly for her amazing attentive service. The price for the evening was fair and worth every penny. Please be assured that if any of the group are in Edinburgh we would have no hesitation in coming back here even if we had to wait for a table it would be...

The overall experience was satisfying and in just less than £20, this is definitely worth your money! The restaurant’s decor is decent. The mix of reds and lines introduces you to the culinary world of China and its many provinces. Although there are parts of the restaurant that are darkly lit.

As with any other buffet, if is fast paced. Never quiet. So don’t expect a fancy, candlelit dinner with soft violin music on the background. It’s a buffet. And it’s unpretentious.

The food - diverse. From vegetables into different meat. There’s a lot of choices for everyone. I particularly liked the teppanyaki section - where you can ask the server to cook various protein such as beef, shrimp, and even scallops , in a teppan in front of you! So they serve it nice and hot!

The dessert section though, isn’t as great. (And maybe I’m not a dessert person myself). But my girlfriend enjoyed (or atleast was attracted) to their bubble waffle. And you also customise your own waffle, with few ice cream flavours and toppings to choose from.

Again, for it’s price you get a hefty meal with flavours that are satisfactory to your palate. This is almost like the Chinese take away menu, but elevated. And Chinese take always are amongst my comfort food. So, China Red really hit the mark. And many more!...