Dumplings' Legend — Restaurant in London

Worst dinning experience EVER! Read reviews before going to this trap!

I don’t like writing negative reviews, but this place merits one.

We went to this place with a couple of friends visiting London for their first time. Such a big mistake and awful experience. I wished we had read the reviews, as they consistently highlight how rude staff are.

Initially we were nicely welcomed in by their front desk staff. However, as soon as we went in the nightmare started. As we were sitting down we were told we had to order in 5 minutes as the kitchen was taking last orders (fair enough, the restaurant closes at 11 pm, and the kitchen closes at 10 pm). Whilst we were looking at the menus we had 3 different staff rushing us into ordering. I wished they realised rudely harassing customers does not speed the process, instead they could have offered some suggestions to help us with our order. Still, we were understanding and we ordered the food very quickly. Unfortunately we were not allowed to order drinks, as apparently the bar service also closes at 10 pm. I understand the kitchen stops taking orders as they have to prepare the food, but I don’t understand why they could not serve drinks, as I presume they are not making their own wine on the premises.

Food came quickly but with no explanation in relation to the different dumplings, which we would have appreciated as one of us was vegetarian. As soon as the food was served, a very rude lady came with the bill and payment machine (they did the same with all the other customers). It was around 22.15 pm. Usually we would pay if staff asks politely, but considering how rude they have been throughout, we said we would pay at the end, as we feared once we had paid they would start pushing us to leave. Up to 5 staff members came over asking for the payment. They even had the audacity to add service charge! We obviously declined paying it (it is the first time in my life I refuse service charge, and we dine out A LOT). We finally decided to pay as trying to eat whilst continuously arguing with them was incompatible. As soon as we paid, they started cleaning with a very strong product, so we were forced to leave. It was 10.25 pm We chose this place because it closed at 11 pm (as indicated in Google, but we also confirmed with them). If we had known they wanted to close at 10.30, we would not have gone.

If you are still reading, food is quite mediocre so definitely does not compensate for all the rudeness. Dumplings were quite dry and the sauce plates were almost empty.

I hope you enjoy eating anywhere else...

Legendary worst dining experience ever

The food was very average and the service was extremely rude, pushy and unhelpful.

As a group of four, we approached Chinatown on a Wednesday night, shortly after 9;30 pm and found this Chinese restaurant on our way. Outside, the closing time was displayed as 11 pm, same as on Google maps. This was a decisive factor to choose this restaurant as other places in Soho were about to close. The apparent owner welcomed us in at five to ten, with still plenty of customers inside having dinner. Our first surprise was that they immediately asked us to order as the kitchen was closing in five minutes. The staff told us this even before sitting down. First adverse sign We decided quickly, almost on the go, order placed. Then they urged us to order the drinks and we replied that we needed a few minutes. No, you need to order now as we are closing. Well, then some water and a beer, no time to really choose anything beyond that. Second alert. Food was served quickly and while we were trying to settle down after such initial rush (it was just quarter past ten), we were urged to pay the bill. We replied that we wanted to enjoy the food and would pay shortly. Third warning. Incredibly to tell, but then up to five different staff members came to our table to ask for payment! This caused us an intense stress and we said we would pay later as they were closing at 11? Very annoying. The staff increased their pressure by start cleaning the floor with an awfully smelling bleached water, on top of most of them standing literally 5m from us and staring at us. This was very disturbing and unacceptable at all. No other choice rather than asking for a container, put our food together and leave. I was clear that I wouldn’t pay for service charge, which made the staff look angrier. It wasn’t deserved at all after how badly they treated us. We also made clear that our review wouldn’t be great. The staff didn’t care at all, they just wanted to close and go home. While leaving, one of them even showed very bad manners with the middle finger. Rude is being kind with them. No customer care at all. No sense of a dinner being an experience and requiring more than just 20 min. They should not have let us in if they wanted to close before their public closing times. Of course, we won’t visit ever again and would recommend you to think twice. There are plenty of restaurants around which will likely be far far better than Dumplings Legend....

Where to begin...

First of all, I'll start with how there are better quality restaurants (close by) when ordering dimsum. Although, the waiters/waitress were relatively attentive, the rate of dishes came out from the kitchen was slow and disorganised despite us ordering all at one time. Est. time between dishes 15mins+. They brought out the first rice dish (no source no nothing) then another rice dish about 20mins later. An hour and a bit after ordering then came the first dimsum dish. Not sure if anyone else has had this kind of experience at other dimsum restaurants, but this is the first time I've ever encountered such a poor service.

Secondly, I want to highlight how after care is extremely poor. As we all paid separately, they (a senior member - like manager/restaurant owner) added a few pennies onto my CARD payment (by rounding up) when I clearly stated the exact amount. We all know the economy right now, so every penny added can affect us. Plus imagine if they did this to EVERY customer, and/or every bill how much they are racking up.

In addition, when we were making our way to leave, whilst still at the table packing our belongings, they (senior staff) kept chasing us out (even though they said good bye) this was done approx. 5 times in 30s - 50s intervals. I'm not deliberately counting timestamps but just to give you some perspective.

Thirdly, food. I order prawn dumplings, those of you who know the dish are aware it's called 'hargou', for some reason almost every seafood dimsum dish ordered was (served with) chives. Since when did they have chives in hargou. Crab dimsum was they same but it pretty much tasted like vegan with little or not crab meat present.

Lastly, other aspects being the area was cold, perhaps we were in the direction of the door despite being at least half way inside the restaurant. I would comment that the ground staff were ok, but upper management and customer service needs work. Maybe promo one of your regular staff members at least that way the level of service won't drop significantly.

I won't be going here again. (2.5 star rating)

Please bear in mind this is a party of 5 and the bill came up to approx...