New Young Cheng — Restaurant in London

I go to Young Cheng for Dim Sum for years - always excellent, tasty, fresh, with a varied selection to choose from. If they come as a soup, the clear broth is always beautifully flavoured and aromatic. A particularly good deal during the day, when they have an extensive dim sum menu available and cheaper prices - compare to the restricted selection offered in the evening menu, at much higher prices.

The service is an issue, and not only for the sensitive souls: it can be plainly horrendous, brusque, unwelcoming and, in some cases, intimidating and violent. I had an awful experience years ago when I was literally thrown out of the restaurant by the manager because I said I'd rather keep waiting in line rather than share a tiny table for two sitting face to face with a complete stranger. He shouted at me so violently that two customers, halfway through their meals, literally picked up their jackets and left, completely freaked out. I tried several other dim sum places in the area but never found anything even remotely as good in this price range. Years later, I eventually went back to Young Cheng with foreign guests who wanted try dim sum for the first time. The service was a bit better. I went back today on my own, and am almost shocked to report the service was actually almost friendly...! I'm not saying it was great, but it was friendly - I felt considered and valued, even in the most basic way.

I completely understand the one star reviews I read here. It is somehow sadly reassuring to read I'm not the only one who's experienced and witnessed violent, racist or homophobic abuse from the staff and the managers. Should we endure any abuse and racism...? Of course not. Could it be that the honest, bad reviews posted here and elsewhere eventually forced the staff to change attitude and deal with us with more respect? Possibly. I hope people will keep posting honest accounts of their experiences at this restaurant. If they keep being racist and intimidating, I agree with the reviewer saying they should be investigated, as this is simply not acceptable in a place like London in 2016. If they are indeed making an effort and becoming more welcoming, I think we should mention it too - they might be learning that word of mouth in powerful and quickly amounts into either good or bad business.

And if someone knows an equally good or better place for dim sum in this price range in the West End - please tell us...

After my recent visit to this place I was left with a very disappointed view. There are 3 main reasons for this which are listed below: The waitress that took our order was very rude and even shout at us. The cups and tea holder was dirty The food was questionable to eat.

Which are in detail below.

The food I ordered was mainly dim sum( har gou, Sui mai, char Sui bun, Shanghai xiaolongbao, chicken feet x2, pork ribs, sponge cake, scallop Cheung fan, beef tripe etc) a portion of rice and some sort of pork meat.

The service I had from one particular waitress on the first floor was very bad. When I placed the order she told me "wait a second" which I can understand because it was busy.

However, when she actually came to take the order and asked " What drinks are we having?" Which we decided Chinese tea, but when one of my guests wanted to change to water she looked at us like she wanted to swear and maybe more but I didn't want to find out .By this time I felt like telling the manager about her services and wanting to leave but I heard this place was good for food so I stayed.

Furthermore, when I received the Chinese tea and I was about to pour I checked the cups and one of the cups was very dirty and used. Also, this caused me to check the tea holder which I noticed the lid of the holder was very dirty. All of this made me question the food that was coming a lot.

When the food came I was so relieved also feel cautious because I heard it was good for the food but when I compare with the other places I been for dim sum I find it to be average and the reasons above. The reason being is that there are other places that I have been to that are a lot better. But I would say the best dish was the pork meat in sauce in a black pot.

Overall experience: It could be...

I was down for the Platinum Queen’s Jubilee and visiting my sons as well. We always eat at the place next door but the queue was a mile long, for obvious reasons, and we were too hungry to wait. Big mistake!

We got a table straight away despite the fact that all over Chinatown was crammed and long queues. Let that be a warning to all. Service was at a snail’s pace, and the food arrived in one dish at a time. First off was the extremely expensive starter of 4 miserly pieces of overcooked prawns sesame toast with literally 2 shreds of carrots (£8.50). We ate it because we were starving and it went down with a good dollap of chilli oil.

Next dish was the sweet and sour chicken served again on it’s own. Doughy and hardly any chicken and tasteless. Then another 15 minutes wait came the prawns dumplings - diabolical. All this time, the 3 of us were being polite about sharing such measly amount of food.

Finally, my king prawns fried rice arrived. I wished I had taken pictures of the dishes served that afternoon because the rice dish consisted of rice with a bit of egg and prawns thrown on top. No soya sauce, peas and whatever normally goes in that dish. Inedible and lukewarm. We called the manager over to explain our disappointment so far and being drip fed with our order. Not interested. Apparently we should have not touched any of the food as now he cannot knock them off the bill. We cancelled the last 3 dishes as they were taking too long to arrive and asked for the bill.

They had the cheek to add on service charge of 10% which we refused to pay and they were not happy bunnies.

Never in my life have I ever eaten bland and tasteless food in any restaurants and this now takes the top spot of being the worse meal and the...