Xi Home Dumplings Bay — Restaurant in London

Like mentioned by other reviews, the customer service of the restaurant is terrible and the management is a mess.

First off I have been visiting the main store in Covent Garden for years and I truly appreciate the authentic freshly made dumplings and I can say the dumplings are the best of the town. And they manage to keep the food quality up to the standard in this new branch.

However I was totally disappointed with the waiters’ poor services. Not to mention they lack the warmth and friendliness like the main store does, they seem to be rude, annoyed, and unwilling to fulfill customers’ expectations. We were at the restaurant around 7pm looking for a table, and told to come back in 30 mins and leave the phone number and they would call me if there’s a table. But when we were back 30 mins later the same waitress told us that there would be no table available until 8:30pm and said ‘if we didn’t call you that means we have no table’. Well, I mean, you are right. That’s just unexpected and not pleasant to hear. I understand it was the Chinese New Year’s Day so the restaurant could be busy. But they could have simply told us the restaurant was full instead of giving us hope that we would get a table.

We then ordered takeout. And like other reviews said, please avoid ordering delivery from here. After i paid the bill i was told the food would be ready in 15mins. I headed back to the restaurant 15 mins later. Not ready. I was back another 15 mins later. Still not ready. Then I was told it took them another 15 mins to prepare. I almost asked for a refund.

I’m not complaining about their inefficiency. The expectation management is the key. I was not the one who requested a table available in 30 mins or takeaway food ready in 15 mins. The restaurant gave us the expectation then disappointed us (with poor attitude) which is totally unnecessary. Just tell the customer you can’t do that. Simple as that.

I used to be a big fan of Xi Home. But now, this unsatisfactory experience really holds me back from...

Xi home dumplings obviously specializes in dumplings with seafood from Dalian like abalone, sea cucumber etc but the signature dumplings are quite expensive like £27 per portion and it doesn't say how many from the menu outside!! I have already had my fare share of these sort of dumplings at similar restaurants. Anyway, finally paid a visit because of the Haggis dumplings and discovered other dishes which I tried as at both branches. My first impression of the new branch was a bit disorganized as there were so menus for the haggis dumplings so it was hard to order them. It was late January yet they still had the Christmas menu on the table as well as the window. After waiting for a while, I managed to find the physical haggis menu as there was a pile of them near the counter. The haggis dumplings were a little different from what I imagined because it turns out that they use chopped offal like lungs and liver and not actual haggis. The taste was ok but a bit gamey. The dan dan noodles were seriously good because it is not the usual peanut broth. It has fine noodles tossed in sauce made with chilli oil, Sichuan pepper, sesame paste and garlic topped with minced meat and pickled greens. What I love about it is the super thin noodles which hang the sauce well and the finely chopped pickled green. Overall you get this lovely complex taste with the Sichuan spices and aromatic sesame paste but the only thing I did not like was the sweetness. To summarize, I prefer this branch over the Charing Cross one which is a...

Went there for dinner on a Friday, and we were not disappointed at all.

Service is very helpful, friendly, and fast. We ordered two drinks, they got one of them wrong but immediately brought us the right one in addition to the one we didn't order.

As for the food, one thing that's worth pointing out is that you could get half portions of most things, which is good if you're only two people and want to try a variety of items.

We got the lamb skewers, which were nice, tender, and well seasoned. We also got the Mackerel dumplings, which while good, I thought that the more traditional (and less expensive) dumplings were actually better. The port with peeled chilli pepper dumpling were probably my favorite, and I didn't think were spicy. The pork with chives and prawns are a classic. The taro shredded rolls were delicious, a bit on the sweeter side for a savory dish, but a nice break from the other items in terms of flavor and texture. We also got the panfried dumpling with cheese. I usually would say anything with cheese is better. In this case, although they were tasty, I'm not sure the cheese added much.

All in all, I think this would definitely go into my rotation of...