China Garden — Restaurant in Reading

Firstly i have put one star and that is very much pushing the boundaries! I would never step foot inside this restuarant for aslong as i live ( which after eating here today may not be long). I am still questioning myself as to why i sat and attempted to eat anything i was very slowly and relunctently served, chicken satays from the asda picnic section, and overcooked flat empty spring rolls for starters! Then came the main stuff.. a curry very clearly and obviously cooked in a microwave (hense my anger as to why i ate it) noodles cold on the outside of plate boiling in middle, while also being asked if i would like a drink mainly because i had not recieved the oroginal drink i ordered with said member of staff (only member of staff) So eat nibbled at the mains, i had to remove a lump of some kind of meat from my mouth as it was unedible to say the least, again i am unsure why i comtinued to stay in the restuarant ( it was Christmas eve) Then the middle course so betweem starters and main, came out after we finished the main! Crispy aromatic duck!! Well… what can i say, apart from that is a stone cold LIE.. it was rock hard, one end still quacking and the other boiling hot! Onions made out of paper and cucumber that had very clearly been sat on the side since last weekend! At this point we attempted to eat the duck had a mouthful, asked for the bill and paid the bill in full ( it was christmas eve) and left! We then had to endure a car ride home barely talking as we could not believe either of us allowed the other to consume anything served in this absolute hell whole of a restuarant!

Please please do not even contemplate eating here ever ever ever as u may die! I will comment in a few days to let you know how i get...

Food used to be much better before the place shut down in 2022? and reopened. On reopening, the food quality for the eat as much as you dare is now very poor and portions lacking. The mix starters taste cheap/frozen items such as prawn toast (with negligible prawn), seaweed (of an interesting shade), tough chicken satays (not much satay sauce). Our next food challenge involved rubbery duck with plum sauce and cucumber/onions ( these tasted like they had been sitting around) and between the aged cucumber and the plum sauce there was a distinct feeling that something was off.

Main courses involved very small portions of meat, majority of veg entailed large hunks of normal onions (ie cheap veg), the kung po has an unpleasant lemon chicken essence with a chilli style sauce that appeared to disguise other dishes too – some of the dishes had thick strips of carrot (not peeled). Not one of the dishes had any garnishes, eg carrot, turnip, lettuce etc or was there any attempt to beautify the dishes

Not once were we asked how the food was. Apparently the restaurant changed kitchen chefs over the last year (since the closure in 2022?)the food from the current chef is truly awful yet the menu prices went up in 2023. Over the last 2 years it has been cash only...definitely not worth the £25 pp + 10% service charge.

Advice to management .. change your chef otherwise you will continue to loose regular customers + sort out your card machine as the broken card machine excuse does not wash . Card machines can be got for less than £25 and other options such as sum up etc if you really wanted to allow your customers to pay by card... clearly this appears a cash only business..(draw your own...

A very poor experience in every way. We had the all you can eat menu at £25/person (plus 10% service charge non negotiable) this was a big mistake. The first dish of combo starters was of very poor quality, spare ribs that had no meat on them and tasteless spring rolls. At this point in a normal menu (not all you can eat) I would have ordered no more dishes and cut my losses and run. We persevered onto a crispy duck that was served with dried cucumber and dried spring onions clearly that had been standing around a while. The duck was just awful with some uncooked fat ie not crispy and just poor quality. We then went onto to a mains of chicken and black bean sauce. One mouthful of rubbery thin tasteless chicken of extremely poor quality and I gave up. Despite all the food that we had clearly been unable to eat left on our plates we were never asked once how was the food. It was just cleared away with no questions I assume the staff knew the quality was poor and therefore no need to ask. We were also informed before the meal that the credit card machine was broken and it would be cash only. Speaking to others, I know that in March of this year the credit card machine was also broken. Running a business on cash only raises my suspicion about the whole business ethics. There was just us and another group in the restaurant for the whole evening. I cannot recommend this restaurant in any way and will not...