ZUJU — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

We walked past this place that was full of Chinese people eating which is usually a good sign. How wrong I was. The starters were fine although I had a hint of meat that was off that could have only been my pork dumplings. The main meal was the worst Chinese food I have had served to me in 51 years. The beef speciality dish was over seasoned greatly with a great deal of salt and pepper (unpalatable) the beef was so tough there was a real chance of choking, the few pieces I did eat I had to tear it with my fingers and teeth. The chicken Szechuan was a large mound of crispy batter covered strings with no sauce whatsoever which did not relate to the luscious looking photo on the menu. My wife asked if this was the correct dish they had brought out and was assured that it was and the photos don’t always relate to what is served. My wife asked for a sauce to go with the dish and the waitress returned a minute later with a very very small dipping dish of sweet chilli sauce. Both meals were inedible. When the waitress came back to lift the full plates which had barely been touched I told her this was the worst Chinese meal I had ever had in 51 years. Her reply was sorry - our chef has 30 years experience. If there was a post without a star I would have hit that button. Keep walking past this restaurant as China Town is 100 yards...

BEST RESTAURANT IN NEWCASTLE! The food, the atmosphere, the vibes are just all so perfect. i have always been a great fan of Chinese cuisine, and to come across this restaurant as i was walking past i was immediately drawn in by the lovely bouquet of flowers they had besides the table (i noticed when i later visited that there are fresh flowers on every table, a very nice touch) it seemed like a very nice, clean and well kept place. We ordered 4 dishes to share between the 4 of us that went and it was more than enough, the serving sizes are very generous. We ordered 'water boiled' panga fish, it was one of the best fish dishes i've ever had the fish was so soft and the spicy kick was just perfect. I think we also tried the Sichuan diced chicken, yum！it was crispy chicken then cooked with lots of chillis, it was quite spicy but still so delicious. i can't possibly recommend...

I was a fan of the previous restaurant here, La Yuan, so I came hoping Zu Ju would be as good as if not better. It's a nice space and they keep it tidy & clean.

Others mentioned following staff recommendations so I did this. The waitress recommended that I order the braised pork off the specials menu and I followed suit. For me, literally the worst Chinese dish I've had in years, possibly ever. This dish is so sweet it was practically a dessert.

As mentioned by others the service here is borderline surly. Perhaps because my waitress seemed to be a Chinese national she seemed a lot friendlier with other Chinese speaking customers.

I'm hopeful that the rest of the menu has better dishes but why anyone would recommend the braised dessert pork is completely beyond me.

edit: Thanks to Zu Ju for their professional reply. Will give it another try when I'm back...