Tai Pan — Restaurant in London

Very disappointing.

Having decided to eat here with friends, in the knowledge that we fully expected to pay more for 'fine dining', especially as good Chinese food is never cheap, we ordered their most expensive set meal for four and prepared to enjoy a quality experience.

Service was pleasant, if not a little slow, (but they were busy), the starters were all 'deep fried', (there was nothing bespoke about them), whilst when it came to the main dishes, the amount of MSG that was loaded into almost every dish saw us struggling to separate the food from the thick and glutenous 'sauce' that whatever it was sat in. This was anything but fine dining and the thick, tasteless and stereotypical MSG laden bases for the various dishes was tasteless and to be very honest, far better was expected, especially for the price point.

Having had what can only be described as a 'very mediocre meal', we were then horrified to be presented with the bill, (remember, this was for four people and we only had a few soft drinks, no alcohol), for a total of £175.00. There was absolutely no way on earth, (or any other planet's surface), that we'd had a quality meal justifying an expenditure of almost £45.00 per person, but that's what it was and unfortunately, it was a lesson learned for all four of us.

Quality Chinese restaurants are few and far these days, which is why we thought we'd try Tai Pan for a change, but having endured the recent negative and revoltingly overpriced experience, we'll stick to The Good Earth in Mill Hill, as we definitely shan't be returning to the MSG factory in...

I went to Taipan Northwood for my birthday in February. I had not been to Taipan for 20 years but thought that I would like to go since it is on my doorstep and any restaurant that has managed to stay open for 20 years must be getting something right !! How wrong can you be.... The food was very over-priced (£189 for 4 hungry adult customers). I selected the Taipan Banquet which seemed to have a good selection of dishes which (I assumed) would be well done since their chefs would be used to producing the dishes. The starters were well presented but turned out to be (mostly) deep-fried, oily and certainly no better/special than what I could get out of the deep-freeze section of Iceland or Lidl. The highlight was the Peking duck wrap. But, again, this was not so special to justify the expense and something that I could have got from Waitrose (just around the corner) for less than 50% of the cost. The main dishes were pleasant enough but (again) the sweet and sour pork was so deeply fried as to be indistinguishable from wood chips or twiglets. The scallops were tasteless and swimming in a watery sauce. The chicken and cashew nuts were acceptable but not outstanding. The prawns were probably the only good part of the main dishes. In fact, the only part of the experience that was exceptional were the staff who were pleasant, attentive and always present. It is probably needless to say that unless something radically changes over the course of the next few years, I do not expect to return. Be warned, over-priced and poor quality food now at...

The lady in black suit Owner or manager Had threatened me that if I did not pay the service charge She would throw me out of the restaurant

Service charge is optional in the uk They cannot demand it be paid

As it is their bill is so high Some of the staff are very nice

Once I refused to pay service charge and they would not have it and after lots of confrontation they said ok I could get away with not paying the service charge. Then 2 weeks back I went for a take away for my son. And I felt so hungry, I got tempted into sitting and having a bite to eat and when I asked if I could sit The same lady said no in a cheeky horrid tone. Threatening that I was not allowed. So we went in today wen it was quieter And when we got a table, My son and I I was on my way to the washroom Before sitting down and she screamed at me in the corridor and told me if I won’t pay the service charge she would throw me out of the restaurant. We are not obligated to pay service charges even of the food and service was good.

How can I contact the food authorities in this country and how do I take this matter fwd I might contact the council And then the police

I was so hungry that I promised to pay the service charge We travel from far away to eat here. But get treated badly It’s so difficult to get a smile from them too And if they do It’s very fake They just simply hate human beings Karma will get these people

They mite close down with this sort...