红星中餐馆 Red Star Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Oxford

Don’t be tricked by the positive reviews!!! Me and my daughter came to Oxford as tourists and wanted some Chinese food since we are Chinese. We came in and there were no problems till we ordered the ganguo chicken. So recently I’ve been unable to have spicy food due to medical reasons, and I asked before when we were ordering if the food was spicy. The waitress said only a little bit not much. And I made it clear that a little was ok but I can’t handle a lot. They said ok no problem and our other dishes came soon after. But once the chicken came I took a bite and it was unbelievably spicy and tough. Even my daughter who eats spicy Mexican food found the food to be uneatable. I let them know that it was way too spicy and a guy who I assumed was the boss came out. They kept asking me if I specified I didn’t want spicy and I told them to ask the waitress. The waitress talked with the others and looked around for my order to see if she wrote it on there. And lo and behold she did. But instead of admitting the mistake they instead started to gaslight me saying “I should have told them no spicy at all”. I responded by saying I made it clear I couldn’t handle spicy food and that I shouldn’t have to say that, what I said was enough. So I asked for it to be redone. And since I understand Chinese i heard the boss say “oh just do something to it don’t remake it” to the girl taking the chicken away. I told them that they would have to remake it since the dish was so spicy and the chicken soaked up all the chili. But they didn’t listen and when the dish came back it was just as spicy. They took some peppers out and just gave us the same dish back. And they constantly kept coming to the table saying “ oh well next time you’ll tell us u can’t have spicy”. Their attitude was horrible I will...

The food there is fine, the price is okay, and the portion is generous. I gave it two stars due to its unprofessional service and potential ignorance of food allergies.

We had been required to change tables two times. The second time, the food was served, and we had already started eating. Even though we had to move all the food, plates, glasses and chopsticks by ourselves, they asked us to change the table just to seat the new customers.

I also ordered takeaway food for my partner, who was vegan and allergic to animal fat. I emphasized no meat in the dish and explained why when I placed the order. However, I still found pork in the dish. I requested them to cook me another one and told the staff again the one with pork contained animal fat and my partner could not eat it. They promised me they would cook a fresh dish and not use the food from the old dish (by taking the pork out). Despite the staff confirming firmly that the dish was fresh with new ingredients, my partner got running tummy overnight. The following day, my partner still has strong stomach pain at the moment when I am writing the comments. The dish I took from the restaurant was the only dinner he had, apart from the home-cooked rice. Of course, there may be other reasons for my partners' bad tummy, which I personally think the probability was low based on the above-mentioned experience.

If you care about the experience of the services, I have to say Red Star will not be an ideal choice. But the food there is fine, not the best but not the worst for sure. If you have food allergies, you may...

OVER-PRICED, ABYSMAL SERVICE - Since they have expanded they are unable to keep up with customers, you are rushed in and rushed out. My friend and I dined there yesterday evening and the service was abysmal. Our order was taken incorrectly not once but THREE times. We had three different servers who did not listen/did not understand the issue. My friends main came out with our sides of rice but we had no chop sticks/cutlery for around ten minutes. My main didn't arrive for another 20 minutes and in the meantime, one of our side dishes never arrived. We kept being given duck spring rolls despite not wanting them and not ordering them! In the end the waitress just gave them away to a neighbouring table for free. The server actually came back to argue that we had ordered duck spring rolls. I myself don't meat and we only ordered fish items from the menu. We asked to speak to the manager and all he did was laugh and gave my friend a free beer, didn't even acknowledge me! We left feeling drained (emotionally and financially!) we spent £60 on what was over-priced food with terrible service. We will never eat there again and I will actively be discouraging others from wasting their money there when there are much better restaurants in Oxford. The food was okay but not worth the hassle and money. If you want decent, authentic Chinese food, just go across the road to Cafe Orient. They have never gotten my order wrong and the service is much better! Ps. I never write reviews but we were so upset I had to in order to make sure others don't go through what we...