Upper River Restaurant — Restaurant in England

Absolutely Hong Kong local taste. I like this very much. Super highly recommended for their crispy noodles. So much memory in Hong Kong. Before, most of the time in UK I would rather cook Hong Kong food myself but now I need to come back more, because this restaurant is so good, not the strange dishes designed for westerners in Chinatown.

The food are excellent. I have ordered a dish of char siu/barbecue pork and roast duck （叉燒拼燒鴨）, a dish of pan fried king pawns crispy noodles in black bean sauce(豉椒大蝦干燒麵）and two drinks iced (lemon) tea. Chau siu and roast duck are super juicy. The crispy noodles are my favourite, hardly seen in UK. It is different from the noodles in wok-to-X.

The service is good. I heard a few review said the service was not good and I think it is misunderstanding. First, I think it may be due to the different expectations from Hong Kong local food to the wok-to-X or so-called Chinese food in Chinatown. Second, I think the waitress is not rude but with limitation in English. She is not so good at English and therefore the words used may be not good enough. It requires being considerate but this is not a place to expect a inhuman Hidilao-style Chinese master-slave service. The waitress is actually very friendly to me When I speak Cantonese, she is like my old friend. I am happy and comfortable with the service.

The location is convenient. It is 6 minutes to York Minster. It is absolutely a good rest place of tea time after the visit. If you have one day trip in York, it is good to have dinner here before the train to leave. It is 15 minutes walk to the station. Besides, it is accessible for wheelchairs and baby stroller. Seats are limited and better reserved before.

One thing to notice is the payment CASH only (when I went there). Otherwise, you may need...

If you are missing Hong Kong cafe style fast food then this is the place. Food is average but we enjoyed our visit here. First impressions - not good and would usually put me off but we were visiting York and wanted to give this place a try. It’s very messy as soon as you walk in, kitchen stock all over the place and the open kitchen is at the front too. So probably explains the stock, easy to access. We were seated very quickly. It’s very informal and menus are these ring binders, lots of information on dishes with photos to accompany. Lady asked if we were ready to order, I asked if we could swap a Macaroni soup with frankfurter instead of ham (this is what my young child wants to eat and if you have children, you know how fussy they can be). The lady pulled a face and exclaimed she didn’t know how to charge for this. Her manner was abrupt and unexpected and I didn’t really know how to respond. So I told her I would pay for the complete dish, tell the chef to leave the ham out and charge me for 2 extra frankfurters. She seemed confused by this still, and another lady stepped in. She was clarifying what I wanted in a very polite way but thought that this caused unnecessary attention and it was very uncomfortable. So, I have been to Hong Kong many times and understand that some do have an abrupt manner and don’t mean to be impolite but it does come across as rude. Just feel that not everyone is as understanding, and it will put other diners off. They use fresh Ho Fun noodles, was cooked well and tasty. Our other dishes were braised beef noodles- good flavour, tender meat and was enjoyed. Char siu, fried egg with rice - meat could be roasted more for flavour and presentation wise, it looked and tasted bland. All in all still a nice place to go for a quick meal but not for us...

Food is a 2/5, service is a 0/5. Would not recommend.

I saw plenty of reviews about this place on YouTube, and I thought I stop by York on the way heading north to give it a try.

I arrived just after they opened and the restaurant was already full, seeing it being so popular I thought the restaurant must be good so I gladly joined the queue and I was told I was first in queue and will be seated as soon as someone leaves.

About an hour in, some customers walked up and I was informed by the restaurant that they are now the first in queue since they had a reservation. At that point it seemed reasonable so I didn't think much about it.

Just a bit later a group of 4 without reservation turned up, they're behind me but somehow they were offered a table before me and I was left waiting in line. The only explanation I got was that they had a table for 4 ready.

While there were communication with customers, their organisation is poor and far from being satisfactory.

Food wise, I ordered Curry beef brisket and noodles (咖哩牛腩撈麵) and milk tea. Both the wrong drink and food came. The curry brisket is also bland, there's a distinctive lack of curry flavour despite its look.

Their service and food did not meet expectation at whatever price point. Despite how much I'd love to promote businesses run by fellow citizens of HK, it breaks my heart to say I won't be able to recommend...