Royal China (Harrow-on-the-Hill) — Restaurant in London

We visited on a weekday, when the maximum table occupancy was 50% throughout the evening, so there was no reason for a poor service. We were a group of 4 and all arrived within 10 minutes of each other. However, as soon as the last person arrived, the waitress pounced on our table asking if we were ready to order. We asked for a few minutes so that all of us could have a look at the menu. A couple of minutes later, when we had barely finished looking at the menus, she was back and asking to take our order. I could understand being rushed if there were lots of bookings but at the time we arrived, there were only 3 other tables occupied.

We were all vegetarian and one member in the group had an allergy. We asked if some of the vegetarian dishes could be made without the allergen and were told by the waiter it was not possible as everything was already mixed. Our friend said it was not a problem and ordered sweetcorn soup as a started instead and asked if they could put egg in it. The waiter commented sarcastically that egg was not vegetarian but we were asking for vegetarian food and then wanted to put egg in it so why were we asking for vegetarian food? We have never heard a waiter comment like this and were all taken aback. We ignored his comment and ordered.

The starters arrived and were ok, nothing special. The soup however, was completely bland and tasted of soapy water. Even with salt and soy sauce added, it was still tasteless. The mains again were ok, nothing that would set this place apart from other restaurants in the area. The noodles were very greasy though and we would not recommend.

However, whilst we were still eating, we were asked 5 times if we had finished. One time was whilst my friend had food on her spoon and was putting it to her mouth. The waitress was standing in front of her and asking her. Surely the fact my friend was still putting food in her mouth would be an indication that we were still eating?? I could maybe understand wanting to clear up quickly if they were busy and we had been given an allocated time slot to eat in but this was a quiet mid week evening.

When we finally got the bill, we decided that we would not pay the "recommended" 13% service charge but would add a 10% tip instead. When the waiter came to take our card payments, we told him this and he was really surprised and asked why we didn't want to pay it. We explained our reasons and said we were still paying a tip, just not the full amount they wanted.

If it was down to me, I wouldn't have even paid a 10% tip. Poor and rude service, average food and they have the gall to feel affronted when you don't want to give a 13% tip! Next time we fancy Chinese, I would save my money and have a much better time a...

A colleague and I visited royal China on a quiet Tuesday evening. Although initially ,it was a relatively friendly service, upon receiving our won tons soups as our starter, we noticed that there was a foul smell coming from the soup. When tasting the soup it became apparent that it had literally Been throughly reheated in a microwave until it was piping hot, but worse still it tasted completely bland, tasteless,smelly water. The won tons themselves were of normal taste and quality but the actual soup broth was repulsive. It’s seemed rather strange as it is a simple soup to prepare, so the only explanation could be the broth was not fresh or was quite old. I told the waitress to kindly take way a the soups and deduct it from our bill as we couldn’t drink it she took it away. All in all mistakes happen, however what ruined thee entire experience of the dinner was the manner in which the staff,manager,chef reacted to our complaint. The staff began to argue loudly and shoutamongst themselves to come to some conclusion, when they merely had to just apologise and remove it from the bill as I asked, as we haven’t touched it.. After about 5 minutes the manager came out talk to us and we told him the issue with the soups,he then stated that’s how the soup usually is and that he will talk to the chef. Instead of rectifying the situation he made us feel awkward and edgy. I order and eat won tons soup, all the time and I have never complained. The manager then returned to tell us He will refund it this time but won’t do it again. There was no need for him to prolong this process causing embarrassment for a mistake they made,a customer is always right and we had orders three other dishes as our mains so his level of unsettling behaviour was quite uncomfortable. We also waited over 30 minutes for our main bbq pork dish which would have taken 7 to 8 minutes to serve. they delayed our dishes and made us wait on purpose because of the complaint about the soups. The manager here needs to learn some skills in customer service, And learn not to make customers feel guilty for a genuine complaint. Avoid at all costs,Overhyped and untrained,backward staff who can’t conduct themselves with professionalism. The other dishes were Satisfactory but some of the pork was black maybe did this on purpose. Much better dim sum places and much nicer Cantonese restaurants then this,highly priced place...

Having had many undesirable experiences in this restaurant, we decided to give it another try for my husband’s birthday and we will definitely not be returning.

The restaurant itself was filthy, there was food all over the floor and the table and chair covers were very wrinkled. The plates that had our food on were dirty and the waiters were unpleasant, unwelcoming and no where to be seen for most of the meal. It took forever to get a knife to cut our lamb, the food itself was lukewarm and quickly went cold when they turned the air conditioning full blast. Then as we’re eating one of the waiters randomly comes to collect our plates without even a smile or a word as to whether we’ve finished eating. To top it off, the special fried rice was served with onions so I had to ask for it without. The waiter took away that plate and brought out another plate without onions. In th end, we were charged for the rice that was taken away! And when I queried this, the lady brought it back in a takeaway bowl and very rudely told me to check the receipt again before taking my payment. I don’t think we ever heard the words thank you or even bye at any point during our visit. Also, while we’re still eating, one of the waiters decided to start hoovering the mess on the floor lol it was actually abysmal. Worst thing about all this is not only are the prices not worth the food quality or service, the hefty 13% service charge is not optional, which I have only just found out is illegal!

A couple of years ago, when a friend of ours refused to pay the “optional” charge, they argued it for a while before agreeing to take it off. When we returned some months later, they quickly told us it was no longer optional. We will stick to our local takeaway, which has more reasonable prices and...