Castle Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Lewes

Oh dear. Having chosen this restaurant partly on the strength of customer reviews, we arrived at around 6 on a (very) wet Saturday evening. First impressions were good. This is a very well presented eatery, in the historic heart of Lewes. The dining area is comfortable and there's adequate space between tables. The less mobile should note that, as is common in buildings this old, 'the facilities' are downstairs.

We were seated very efficiently, as this early in the evening, there was only a single party of four dining. Staff were well presented and didn't hover .... thank goodness, I thought. Our tea and a dish of prawn crackers arrived promptly.

Having examined the menu (quite reasonably priced), we ordered. My friend opted for chicken chow mien, I went for pork with beanshoots and water chestnuts, with a special fried rice apiece and a portion of honey glazed ribs to share as a starter. So far, so good. The rice arrived after a reasonable 10 mins or so and they were good sized portions .... and this is where the wheels began to come off.

My pork dish arrived, with apologies, a good 5 mins after the rice. 10 mins later, neither my friend's chow mien, nor the ribs had arrived. After getting up to find out where his meal was, my friend's chow mien eventually arrived, but as lukewarm as was the rice by this point. The ribs never did appear, with the waiter (who'd clearly failed to write the order down correctly) claiming we'd not ordered it! By this stage, we decided to just eat what was there. My pork was a very acceptably sized portion and had it still been hot, would've been delicious. Not so my friends's lukewarm chow mien, with a chicken content which wouldn't have annoyed many vegetarians ..... i.e. very very little. So cold was it, by now, that most went uneaten. At this point, we cut our losses, paid and left. At least it had stopped raining!

This restaurant could be a real gem .... if the kitchen staff got their act together and the waiters paid attention. Whether or not it does will, however, be up to others to judge, as we won't...

Response to owners response:

EDIT 2: I think it's incredibly disingenuous to accuse me of "abuse" when I am clearly using the word to describe the situation, not the individual. The best thing you could have done was stay quiet and take it on the chin, or, you could have apologised and acknowledge that expecting a customer to take food out of a bin for inspection, or to send someone down, is not only inappropriate, it's bizarre and shows a complete lack of faith in your customers feedback. Having used you for many years, one would assume having had no negative feedback before, that you would believe us. So sad that you felt a need to make this even more embarrassing for your business. I suggest you leave this now.

Just awful tonight... They used to be great but it was inedible. Put in the bin as the smell was bad too.. very odd. Restaurant were called with a friendly feedback, but were asked to remove from the bin ? So they could collect? Totally mental. Just refund and move on, don't make the...

I had read online that the food was good but OMG!!! It was Sooo good. I had Tofu Satay skewers, fantastic flavour to the satay sauce and nice firm tofu. Then I had Veggie chicken with cashew nuts in a yellow bean sauce and egg fried rice. Chicken with cashews in yellow bean sauce was my go to for years, love that sauce. I was worried it wouldn't be the same but boy oh boy... It was wonderful, tasted just like it used to. Also the 'fake' chicken was so realistic I did a double check to make sure it wasn't actually chicken by mistake. tore a piece apart and examined it thoroughly. It wasn't meat but such a great flavour and texture. There's so many items on that menu I am dying to try, can't wait for payday again when I can treat myself to some more. And there was so much I could only eat half of it, so I have further delights to enjoy later or tomorrow. Food came really fast too, and was piping hot. With the added bonus of some free prawn...