RUBY Cantonese and Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Lichfield

Two of us made a first visit here on Sunday 20th August 2023: from the street frontage, the premises outwardly appear tiny, but do not be fooled - upon entry, you are warmly greeted and accompanied into a rather long, narrow, yet spacious and attractive dining gallery of low ceilings, muted lighting conveying an intimate atmosphere, and to a given choice of table.

Insofar as Sunday dining options are concerned, first-time visitors like ourselves were initially confused by two 'Set Menu' choices running concurrently - a 'Sunday Banquet' or, for a further £4.00, an 'All you can eat' option. The subtle variance between these is:

SUNDAY BANQUET: a myriad of Starter/Main/Dessert options allowing the chance to sample ten different dishes across this range, only one of which is a Dessert.

ALL YOU CAN EAT: a perfect choice if you haven't eaten in two weeks and want to explore every possible taste available, have an addiction to a particular choice of dishes, or simply want to 'Pig out' - you have a two-hour limit to do so.

We took the 'SUNDAY BANQUET' option - and were not disappointed in the least. Initial Side Dish of Prawn Crackers and dip aside (we tactfully avoided eating this until we could actually see the portion size of following offerings), subtly-sized portions appeared thereafter that gave us a very enjoyable and varied tour through the Chinese and Cantonese 'World of Food,'

Our choice allowed us to thoroughly enjoy a new culinary experience in the company of a very personable, friendly and amusing Head Waiter/Manager - but left us sufficiently satisfied, and didn't overindulge either of us to a level of discomfort afterwards.

We will certainly return again, possibly on a weeknight when things are quieter - but full marks for a great...

We got there and was waiting 15 mins for our table we was before another couple and they got seated before us and we had to ask to sit in the restaurant part as was put in bar area. We was 10 mins early for our table as well. Had to wait 20 mins to order didn’t have many options for drinks and what they did have weren’t available. Menus deals weren’t explained and menus was covered in tip ex and felt unclean and sticky. X2 pints were flat and had to be sent back. Asked for prawn crackers and they didn’t come out till after the starters and was accused of being hostile for asking for clean cutlery. Cutlery had food on had to asks for napkins and had to ask for cutlery once all our starters had came out. BBQ ribs had no meat on and food was cold. Had to go bar for drinks and the service was slow and staff was moody. Won’t be going back. We paid £30 for our starters and cancelled all our mains. Tried to charge us for drinks we didn’t even drink. Manager was rude and staff wasn’t pleasant and didn’t empathise at all and didn’t seem bothered at all. Said they was understaffed and a staff member was sat on their on phone and not doing anything to help. Not a great way to end Mother’s Day was very disappointed will not be returning. We ended up grabbing a takeaway on...

Food was what is expected for the price (this isn't a cheap and cheerful ask you can eat buffet), but the staff were very unaccommodating. It felt like your were expected to fit in with their rather odd / rigid ordering system and if you wanted anything different, it was too much to ask. When we arrived our table wasn't ready as it had been double booked. We were scolded when we had 1 less guest turn up then planned and told we couldn't order starters before everyone turned up (sometime was stuck in traffic) and when we explained we had 1 vegetarian in the group and didn't necessarily want to order 8 veggie dishes (as one of our 6 courses) we were essentially told, tough that's how it works.

I also felt the staff were overly pushy, trying pressure us to order more drinks, something that made the dining experience even less enjoyable.

This kind of inflexible service doesn't make me want to return to what was nice but not unmissable food and I chose not to tip because of the very...