China Hand — Restaurant in South Kesteven

We made a last minute booking as we had a weekend away in the area and were not familiar with the area. We came across the restaurant on Google and liked the reviews. We were offered a table in the garden area as the restaurant was full, and were warned at the time of booking that there may be a bit of a wait for the food as they were busy.

We needn't have worried. The "garden" area was actually an under cover decking area which was basic but very comfortable and sheltered from any rain or wind. Heaters were available should we need them. Immediately on arrival we were offered a basket of prawn crackers to tie us over until we had ordered/received our first course.

We ordered a sharing platter and some shredded duck and again apologies were made for any potential waiting times. However, within 15 minutes we received our starter which was absolutely amazing. All the food on the plate was delicious and fresh. The prawn sesame toast was without doubt the best one we'd ever tasted. We didn't have to wait long for the shredded duck which was a very generous portion and delicious.

My husband and myself ordered a few different main meals to share and everything was brought to the table piping hot (the rice is served in a thermos basket allowing it to stay hot throughout the course of your meal). All mains tasted fresh with amazing flavours.

Staff were friendly and attentive. The owner of the restaurant made a point of checking up on all customers personally which was a lovely touch too. I would definitely highly recommend a visit to try their food and without a shadow of a doubt we will be back again...

Visited for the first time last night to discover that actually you can just go in for a few drinks not just to eat, (hence slightly limited menu). The atmosphere lends itself to this too. It's not got an overly stuffy restaurant feel so I can see why people would do this. We did go to eat and found the service and food excellent.

The food tasted really fresh and we liked the presentation too. Because it's a bit more bar-like they had a really good drinks selection including large gin selection and prosecco which you can't always get at Chinese restaurants.

Relaxed, laid back environment with music. A bit different. Although the menu was smaller than other Chinese restaurants, it wasn't a problem because we simply asked for what we wanted and they just made it for us.

They handled covid well, specifically asking us to use the sanitiser as we came in. All staff permanently wore masks and they seated people at table spread out from other customers. The menu was disposable and you entered what you wanted on the menu with your table number (including his you wanted it served - together or in courses etc) which they took away when you were ready.

On top of all that they were open...

Not the best experience. Had a vegetable set menu. The vegetable skewers consisted of onion, pepper, and really hard cauliflower which was not edible.

Soon as we arrived, there was mayhem with table arrangement and general administration of waiters. Starters arrived 1 hour 10 minutes after we ordered. This is a bit unacceptable considering we had pre-booked and pre-ordered. How on earth took this long is beyond me.

Mains were okay, not that bad but the vegetables were really hard. But what ruined the whole evening was the hardness of the rice, most of it was rock hard and uneatable.

When it came to paying for the bill, I made my comments about the hard cauliflower and rock hard rice, all I got was a smile and the card machine pointed at me. They should have at least taken 10% off for the abysmal food. I’ve had better food from takeaways.

I cannot recommend China hand, the toilets are also filthy and could do with some money invested in them and throw out a lot of the rotten metal ornaments. A bit of a dive and I cannot...