Imperial China — Restaurant in Worthing

I used to go here as a little girl with my Nan and grandad and recently returned to it to see if it was still good

It’s the nicest Chinese restaurant I’ve ever been to. The staff are incredibly caring and attentive and always try to make your evening special.

I went there again tonight and a table next to us were quite upset because the place couldn’t guarantee ‘no nuts’ in their cooking. Huh? It’s a Chinese restaurant...there are nuts everywhere in the cooking (coconut, peanut, cashews) Probably not the best place to go if you have a severe nut allergy? The manager handled it so well even when the table was getting loud and quite rude, he offered plainly cooked food or steamed food and in the end he, quite fairly, said that as he couldn’t 100% guarantee the absence of any nuts coming into contact with her food due to cross contamination, he’d rather not put the person at risk. He even made sure the tables next to the fuss had a free drink as a sorry for having their meals disturbed. Food is great and presented well. Everything is really clean and the ambience is calm and relaxing. The manager makes time to say goodbye to everyone as they leave and say hello when people walk in (if he can, when he’s not being a host to all the tables!)

Yes food is a bit pricey but no more than any decent Chinese in the area :) worth it...

Ate out here as a family of 9.

To book we were required to pay a £10 deposit per person (which is removed from the bill at the end). Parking is on street but you may have to have a short walk if there is none in the immediate area, there is all along the seafront though with meters charging until 6pm.

The greeting was warm and the service throughout was really excellent with plenty of water being brought out and plenty of attention.

The quality of the food was very high, some of the best I have had and the decor and ambience was very high class.

The portion sizes varies from a bit small to reasonable. We especially thought that the mixed orderves which we ordered were not generous at all....only one of everything each....which is not great when you're paying £11 a person!

The crispy duck portions were fairly good but a few extra pancakes would have been nice.

They even did us some chips for a fussy child and some chicken balls, both of which are not on the menu.

As to the main dishes I felt these were generally good enough sizes....with warmers distributed to keep the food temp up and some served in very unique "bowls" like carved out pineapples.

It was expensive coming in at nearly £30 a head when there of those were children and we didn't have a lot to drink but...

Booked in for a family dinner for 5, and just like the consistently good reviews, we had a smashing time.

Chinese can get a bit of a rough reputation, but this was a refreshing experience with a variety of panache and quality. The staff were all faultless and perfectly presented. The menu was outrageously broad. And the food was ultimately of the highest quality.

So quick run down, we had prawn crackers (nothing to report), salt & pepper chicken wings (super tasty), pork dumplings (could have been crispier, but otherwise okay), chicken satay (spot on). We threw a crispy duck in to the mix, which was also bang on the money, before we dipped into mains.

We went for one of the sizzler plates (think it was sea bass with pepper and black bean - I'd argue this was a little bit of a let down as delicate fish with strong sauce was perhaps not good match, although individually the fish and the sauce was good) and I had the lamb, pepper and chilli, which was absolutely delicious.

Finally we had a bottle (or two) of Sancerre which was far too easy to drink. Overall the place gets a 5-star review because of a combination of excellent service and food. There are elements of "you can get this at your local Chinese" but these guys just make it feel better. Will not...