Yen Lin — Restaurant in London

Was told about this place a few years ago, was in the area so thought I would check out the hype.

Entered the restaurant felt as if I was attending a wedding from the 80s with the decor. I didn’t care about this as long as the food was good.

Was told they only had a table for the next 30-40 minutes as they was fully booked- very strange as 80% of the tables were empty.

Food arrived very quick. The food was nothing special, I expected better from what I was told. The chicken Spring roll was extremely oily and had a fishy taste, when you open with a knife, you get the oil pouring out from the pastry. Chow Mein was bland, not much taste, had to keep adding the chilli and Soya sauce on the table to make it taste better. Black bean chicken was decent hence why I gave the food a 2/5.

Service was just extremely terrible, I had read previous reviews about this and thought it can’t be that bad but wow it’s extremely bad. Here is why:

Told by staff only 30-40 minutes to eat which I agreed to as me and friend are quick eaters- very strange as restaurant was 80% empty at the time. By the time we left it was around 70% empty.

Whilst eating our food, was told by the manager to stand up so they could rearrange the tables so they could squeeze in a few others customers on our table.

25 mins into eating our food, manager came with the Bill and credit card machine to our table. This was really annoying as mentioned before the restaurant at this time was 70% empty and were told there there were 2 people waiting to take seats.

Staff and manager are completely rude, no manners and have no customer service skills.

Definitely would not recommend this restaurant. Spend your hard earned...

I've been going here for some years now and everytime the food is spot on...never had to complain and to date nothing. However, what does get to me is the smell that sticks to your clothes which I really hate. My next point is to do with some of the staff where like yesterday there was an older women who sat in the corner near the kitchen area having a drink which I didn't think much of even though I was not keen on it but then she started to stare at customers and began staring at me whilst I was looking at the menu, a male member then joins her where she (trying to be discreet but fails) points the male member of staff with her eyes at me and I could understand what she was on about then before I knew it he sends one of the female members to my table to ask if I was ready to order - now I understand that they are looking after the customer but this came across as if to say hurry up and order. Not only that there is a new female member who kept messing things up and even as you are finishing your dish she would come over and ask if you had finished in order to take the plates away...I just found this rushed behaviour rude and unwarranted. The place needs a refurbishment to welcome it into 2019 as oppose to 1980 and requires a strong extractor. To the management of this place these minor things are noticed so please take note and correct them before things get...

Heard so many great things about this little niche Chinese restaurant close to Goodmayes Station for a number of years and took my family to visit there.

Everything on the menu was halal and they don't serve pork anymore although they do serve alcohol on the premises.

I ordered the Yen Lin Chicken Soup 🍲 as starter and that was absolutely devine. I've been told the Hot & Sour Soup is an excellent choice and will definitely think about ordering this for next time.

I ordered the Manchurian Chicken with gravy along with the Manchurian Mixed Special Fried Rice which included beef, chicken and prawn which was absolutely delicious and not greasy at all. The Garlic Chilli Chicken was another great choice and can definitely taste the flavours.

We also ordered the Manchurian Chicken Chow Mein and that was one of the best Chow Mein I've ever had and again not greasy at all.

Food is pricey but definitely worth paying extra for the quality. The staff were excellent and were very efficient and brought out all the food barely five mins after ordering and we went just after they opened at 5.30pm!

Would definitely most likely to visit and also order takeaway for collection. Wish they delivered takeaway but understand if they don't need the likes of JustEat or Uber Eats as even when we were dining, the amount of people coming in to collect their...