Hong Kong Express — Restaurant in England

This restaurant is an object lesson in what becomes of old unwanted pubs. It's a brave attempt but it doesn't entirely suceed. The staff were warm, welcoming and friendly, top marks for service and were it not for this, only one star would have been given.

There is plenty of space but the uniformly solid and hard-finished surfaces make it rather echo-ey and not an intimate or cosy dining experience. However, they have paid attention to the decor with simple characters on the vertical surfaces, and a huge and striking dragon, like those used at the Chinese new year suspended from the high ceiling. Leaving a virtually full length pub bar in place makes the space read all wrong. It's still a vertical drinking establishment, but without the punters.

All of the visual and spatial anomalies could be overlooked if the food was any good. I'm sorry to say the dishes I ordered from the lunch menu were both lacking in their own ways. The hot and sour soup was glutinous - the texture of wallpaper paste over filled with unidentifiable items, yet which managed to be really bland.

The second dish, a roast pork and cashew nut thing was served up in a truly, disgustingly sweet sauce. The pork was rubbery and tasteless, the cashews had no crunch.

Apaullingly, I suspect these dishes have been 'dumbed down' to be the chef's idea of what the average UK diner wants - sadly not this one. OK so not all are brave enough for ducks bills or chicken feet, but this offering is pretty insulting. Could not some imagination and risk be injected into the menu to complement the daring step of occupying a distinctly un-traditional setting?

I really don't like leaving poor reviews but I think it's only fair to be honest. I wish the restaurant well but I dont think just offering the same sort of food as every other Chinese restaurant, but worse will cut it, sorry. China is a vast country with an incredible history and a mind boggling array of regional cuisine, could that not be explored? Or a home made noodle bar, refectory style? Vegetarian Chinese? Cuban-Chinese? Go on,...

Hong Kong Express in Newport could be improved.

Whilst dining there, I noted the following:

Pros:

The bar lady was pleasant and polite;

The main was satisfying;

The desserts were satisfying;

Prices were fair;

Relaxing music - speaker positioned could be improved though, as the sound was coming from behind my head.

Cons:

It would have been nice to be greeted by a staff member upon entering - arriving and being greeted by no one was slightly off putting;

The table wasn't laid out when we arrived - there were no forks or candles etc on the table;

Having a waiter/waitress come to our table would have been nice, as it got somewhat annoying having to order at the bar, and then having different staff deliver and take away our orders as the evening progressed;

The main menu on the table wasn't broad enough, in the sense that when we wanted to know what drinks were available (other than the wines), we had to go asking at the bar;

The telephone which rang four times when we were there, had a very annoying ringtone. It seemed to play a high pitched 'synth' style piece - very annoying;

When one of the staff saw the rain through the window, they blasphemed under their breath - not something I expect while dining;

The table flower appeared dry and dead - in addition, the table itself seemed cluttered, with several different menus on it that were not taken away once the main was delivered;

When we found the dessert's menu - on the bar - I found it to be sticky and not very pleasant to touch. In my opinion, the dessert's menu should be amalgamated into the main menu, as the main menu listed two desserts, when infact, the dessert's menu listed about ten.

It would have been nice if the door's overhead heater was on, to combat the cold draft experienced when people entered and exited;

The lights above our table were not switched on, making the table and surrounding area...

From start to finish the food and service was appalling. Firstly the hot and sour soup was extremely bland and ribs starter came out cold. when this was brought to the attention of a member off staff she just laughed it off as said that how they are as she walked away. Not wanting to ruin our family night out we sat hoping the next course would be an improvement... Unfortunately this was not the case. The food came out lukewarm. I ordered crispy chicken....this was a new level of crispy...it was extremely dry and contained bones. It was inedible. My partner had a different chicken dish and to our horror the chicken was raw. We asked to speak to the manager direct as speaking to other members of staff earlier didn't seem to address the issues. Once I explained the issues to him he proceeded to take my plate and start cutting away at the chicken, arguing with me saying it is fully cooked. I pointed out that it was glowing pink inside and he began to raise his voice to me telling me that that is how it is. He then told me it isnt possible for there to be bone in my chicken as it gets removed...even though i showed him the bit that I had bitten into. He then told me that there was nothing wrong with any of the food and we will be getting charged for it all. I was disgusted by the way he was speaking to me and the way he handled the situation. He just simply walked away from us with no further communication. Absolutely disgusted by the way we where treated and the standard of food served.such a shame as this used to always be our go to place for family meals. We certainly will no longer be...