Jia — Restaurant in London

This place doesn't even deserve my time to write a review but this time I cannot ignore the rude attitude of the staff and manager. As a dim sum fan living in Chelsea, I found it convenient place to eat dim sum. I tried really hard to ignore every single time how I was treated for the sake to eat dim sim without the need to go to Piccadilly Circus. However, the experience in the restaurant is beyond acceptable and this is the end for me. I won't spent a penny in this place and I hope my review will be helpful to warn other people who intend going to this restaurant. If you haven't been in the army, well this is the right place to visit to get the experience - you will never see smiling people, you will receive orders, you will get yelled/screamed at, and at the end they will ask you to pay for it

First, when you enter the restaurant - If not the angry manager, you will be met by an angry waiter. make sure you are not waiting for anyone else. If you do - just forget about being seated even if the place is completely empty. They will start screaming at you immediately and tell you to go away and come back when everyone has arrived. No matter if the whole restaurant is totally empty - you will be seated at the smallest possible table accommodating the people you are with. Beware, you CANNOT chose a table. You are told where to sit and you better follow the orders, otherwise you will get screamed at and offered the option to leave the restaurant immediately.

Let's assume you survived the entering process. You sit on the table. You won't know at the beginning, but if you don't order a lot you will be told that you need to spend at least £15 per person. So imagine, you enter in an empty restaurant - you get seated at the tiniest table and then told that you need to spend at least £30 (for two people). Makes sense... NOT!

Now you obviously took the menu. As you might not be a Chinese, you might not know what most the things in the menu are. But... don't dare asking for explanation. They waiters are "too busy" to deal with you and explain you what they offer. At no point, anyone will smile at you. At no point anyone will care if the food they served is liked by you or if you want something else.

One positive note - as soon as you are done with something - the plate will be taken away. They just want you to be out as soon as possible.

At the end you will be given a bill and the service/tips will be included in the bill. But no matter whether you got screamed and treated badly, you will be asked to pay for it.

At my last visit, I decided to draw the line. My dim sum love couldn't beat the anger of being treated every single time like as if I am no one. I go to spend my money in this "restaurant" and no matter that I would go at least once every month, I didn't get a better attitude and always treated as if I disturb them rather than feed them with my money. I entered, I insisted on staying on the ground floor as there were free tables and as expected i got screamed at. Unlike other time however, the manager was more than aggressive. I tried to understand how I deserved this attitude but all I got was some barking in Chinese. As I insisted getting the name of the so called "owner", I was threatened with police. I said go for it - I haven't done anything, didn't touch anyone... I entered in peace and asked to sit on a specific table and the very next minute - I get screamed at. So after bluffing... the manager decided to call the police... here the funny story starts. The police asked what was the issue. The lady was barking on the phone failing to make up a good story to make the police come over to waste their time. When the police understood that the lady was in her period and just wanted to screamed at everyone for no reason, they refused to come. The manager freaked out and started requesting to ban me from the restaurant and that she has the right to do so. I started wondering... how many times did she request banning clients for no reason. Answer was - so many times that the police couldn't...

I walked past this place and it was fairly empty and quiet (only one other customer), so I decided to go in for a relaxing lunch on my own.

I ordered a few appetisers and a main meal, because I wanted to try a few different dishes. I also ordered a pot of Chinese tea.

The food was alright, nothing I haven't eaten elsewhere, but I really liked the cute little plates that they were served on. The music was also very soothing.

I only managed a few bites of each dish before I was full, and a middle aged waitress came and asked if I was done. I said yes, and asked her to pack it away for me.

Less than a minute later, a younger waitress comes up to me and asks if I need anything else. I said no, because I just wanted to sit there and finish my tea. Again, less than a minute later, the waitress pops over with my bill and just puts it on my table.

I felt a bit annoyed at this point, since I felt they were trying to rush me, but I still took out my purse for the money. The bill came to £35, including a 12% service charge, but I didn't mind the cost because I was treating myself after an exam.

As soon as I place the last £10 note down, the young waitress comes over and takes it. She soon comes back with the change. At this point, I'm moving pretty slowly, making it clear that I'm sipping my tea, but I still take half the change and leave another £2 on top of the 12% I've already paid. She appears immediately, and actually opens the bill to look at the amount I left before taking it!

I just chalk this up to her curiosity, and keep sipping my tea (there's still about half a pot left). However, two minutes later, the same waitress comes up to me and tells me the table is booked!

It has been less than 45 minutes since I came in and ordered, and she was desperate to get me to leave! I told her I understood, and she says that she's just telling me in advance, and I can finish my tea first. But then she just picks up my half finished tea pot and waits there while I finish the mouthful left in my cup!!

I've honestly never had such blatantly unwelcoming service, especially since I actually had a good impression of the place at the start! (It helped that the workers spoke Cantonese as well..)

My family runs a restaurant themselves, and they always make sure to let the customers know if they need the table back by a certain time (usually no less than 2 hours of eating time), out of courtesy. If these people had let me know in advance that I needed to be out the door in 45 minutes, I wouldn't have sat down and ordered so much in the first place!

I came into this restaurant wanting to treat myself, but ended up leaving very disgruntled. I don't mind spending money on good food, but the food honestly isn't worth the appalling service, unless you're looking for a fast...

DON'T COME HERE FOR THE SERVICE... BUT...

If you read the other reviews on this restaurant, the concurrent complaint is always about the service.

And yes, the service is appalling, if you're looking for high-end (think Nobu) experience.

But if you've ever eaten in Chinatown, you'll know it's part of the Chinese eating experience. Rudeness became a selling point for many of the old stalwarts on or just off Gerrard Street.

You're coming in this place to eat, not use the Wifi (they don't have any), not to have a business meeting and definitely NOT to hang out.

They want you in, eat your food and gone!

But if you can tolerate that, or even make it part of the occasion, the food really is worth it.

The Tempura Mixed Vegetables (£6.50) had genuinely the lightest, freshest Tempura Batter I've ever encountered. Which is a big deal considering the variety of choice we have on offer here in the World's Capital. And the serving way more than ample for the two of us.

My guest unable to have pork ensured we went for the Grilled Vegetarian Shanghai dumplings (£4.50), again a perfect balance of taste, texture & spice. Served with a wonderfully thick & dark soy sauce and the beautifully presented Vegetarian Dim Sum platter (6 pieces including a Crystal Skin Dumpling, Mock Lobster Dumpling, Vegetarian Black Pepper Duck Dumpling & Satay Truffle Dumpling) (£6.50).

The Mango and proneto sago dessert (a chilled soup of fresh mangoes, coconut milk and promelo grapefruit with sago) (£3.90) was a wonderfully refreshing finish to the meal.

We shared the four dishes between the 2 of us (I forgo my dessert as Black Sesame paste dumplings coated in ground peanut had sadly sold out on this occasion)

It's just slightly more expensive than average, but definitely worth the additional charge.

When we visited the place was literally packed top to bottom with Chinese customers, barely a word of English was spoken.

In Chinatown you would have expected that, but in South Kensington, not so much.

You get the sense people travel to eat here... and I'd suggest you do the same.

If you're looking for attentive service, go somewhere else (Yauatcha probably more your scene), but if you're looking for efficient service and don't mind being encouraged to leave once you've eaten, go and experience some of the best Dim Sum in town for an extremely...