Wong Kei

That joke isn't funny anymore

10 Jul 08, 12:16 Well below expectations

This was a regular haunt when I was a student - back in the 'not-quite pre-decimal days'. It was cheap, and funny to come here. The service is notoriously awful, angry waiters who don't want you to sit with your friends, the wrong food turning up, being charged on the bill for stuff you didn't order (ho! ho! hilarious!). The trouble is, the joke wears thin, well, for me it wore thin about 15 years ago. They could get away with this IF the food was any good - but it's not. it's the worst kind of generic, horrible 'Chinese' food. There are some decent Chinese restaurants nearby - these guys are giving everyone else a bad name.

Not Funny

27 May 08, 16:56 Below expectations

There was a time when this place was superb and you went fully expecting to be insulted with your treatment it was there thing. Not now the joke has gone and leaves only a mediocre service and menu. There are far better restaurants serving far better food only dooors away so unless you still crave poor service move on

Zhiou's Favourite..

21 May 08, 18:36 Above expectations

This is Chinatown legend that nearly burnt down a few years back. In my first year at University in London we’d go there to get cheap food and see the waiters get annoyed when you insisted that you only had a credit card.

There’s still a strict cash only policy and it’s still cheap food. It’s not the best restaurant in China town but take into account value for money, it is.

A friend (Zhiou) from the Chinese mainland rates this as his most authentic/best value restaurant in China town. Where else in London can you get a selection of starters , noodles and a few beers for £12 a head in the middle of London.

Also it is vast inside. I've only ever made it up to the third floor but I'm sure they're are more floors above.

What an atmosphere.

25 Apr 08, 14:18 Beyond expectations

Wong Kei's is an experience for all to be had! You enter and get rudely shown to a table. They have big round tables and you may share with total strangers.You just can't help listening in to what they are speaking about! You order your food which is amazing and reasonably priced for London central. (I recommend the £12 set menu; starters, duck etc. The food is then thrown at you and you are get a horrible look when you ask for the bill. It may come across that the service is awful, but it is not. It has it's own style and I love it! I am sure they don't get much in tips but oh I love a lovely party with an atmosphere!

Baaaad....

24 Apr 08, 16:53 Well below expectations

I was disappointed about this restaurant. The place is not clean and the service is very rude. I was really uncomfortable and I didn't enjoy the dinner. Food was not good at all, even if the restaurant is not expensive and you can't expet so high quality, food is really poor.

Cheap and not Cheerful

09 Apr 08, 22:09 Below expectations

I have given this two stars though I've been to this restaurant the most out of all the Chinese ones in Soho. Because of, you got it, the service which some people I am aware would be appalled at. They bark at you and practically throw your food at you, they even got T-Shirts printed to endorse their style of service, saying 'Upstairs' on one side and ' Downstairs' on the other. (I think you can purchase said shirts.) They know they're onto a winner and probably laugh at us, coming there to be abused...and with all those floors they must be raking it in!!! Good sweet and sour chicken though and my friends used to swear by the barbequed pork. However, next time I go I will be inspecting their menu for Shark Fin Soup as this MUST be taken off ALL Chinese menus before these animals are completely destroyed.

Huge restaurant

11 Jul 07, 21:29 As expected

I'm not a great fan of chinese food, but out of all the chinese restaurants i have been to i find this place enormous! I've only been to this resturant on the one occasion and the waiters were not perfectly friendly and welcoming but they do tend to give you fast service! I enjoyed going to this restaurant because the food was cheap and cheerful!

Service not included

04 Jul 07, 15:57 Below expectations

Three floors serving perfectly decent Chinese food, at very reasonable prices in the heart of Chinatown, with endless free supplies of delicious green tea. So far, so good? Yes, but as the bill states (perhaps not realising the irony), ‘service is not included’. Only go here if you have a very high tolerance of sullen waiters banging plates down in front of you, have an intense dislike of the words ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and thoroughly enjoy being loudly accused of blindness if you misread the bill. Last time I went, the waiter physically shoved me into my chair because I did not sit down the instant I arrived at the table. This is the only place I ever feel entirely guilt-free about not leaving a tip.

Can't believe these reviews

03 Jul 07, 20:47 Well below expectations

I'm sorry, but when I go to a place it's so sit and relax and enjoy myself while I eat. It doesn't have to be amazing, but I do want to enjoy my food.

I can understand the idea of being amused by the level of rudeness, but really... it's a bit stupid. Avoid this place. Greasy food delivered by impatient rude waiters in OUR country? You're having a laugh aren't you? With about 1600 chinese restaurants next door? Oh yes, sorry - you were having a laugh....

Cheap, tasty and entertaining!

15 May 07, 11:40 Above expectations

I can only imagine that owner of this place is a cross between Easy Jet's Stavros and a Storm Trooper General. Let me explain, the food is laughably cheap for china town, at less than £4 for a plate of decent tasty (wok style greasy) food you can only celebrate. On the flip-side you will be welcomed like a fart in an lift, a really small lift with no air vents. You will be immediately shoved upstairs if you are sober (the place is massive about 4 floors) or downstairs if you're not. Your order will be taken as they hand you the menu, and you food delivered before the waiter can be bothered to say, "thank you." You will get free green tea (which is very tasty, and you only have to leave the lid open and they will replace it with a fresh pot at no charge!). After sniffing your food for the first time, another waiter will throw the bill down in humble silence in front of you and rush off so as to avoid the embarrassment of the copious praise you will wish to bestow upon him. Don't bother tipping they won't remember you, and don't take anything personally, just sit back and enjoy the show! Well worth a visit or two.

3* because I expected bad food, bad service

07 May 07, 20:46 As expected

After hearing so many bad experiences that my friends had in this restaurant, I decide to try it myself.

1. Food: Blend and greasy, thats probably why you see customers pouring their food with soy sauce etc.

2. Service: "Super-Fast" is probably the term I would use to describe. Waiters expect you to order food as soon as you sat down. So, make your decision before going into the restaurant.

After you have eaten 70% of whats on your plate, expect your bill to be slammed on your table.

As soon as you have paid, there will be people waiting for your table!

WK is probably one of the cheapest Chinese you can get in China Town, but you really get what you pay for.

(Overall I will give it 1-star rating if I have never heard anything bad from this restaurant)

Amusingly Rude

03 May 07, 15:57 As expected

My mate loves this place for one specific reason. The fact that the waiters are so rude. He finds it something of a challenge to get a waiter here to be even slightly friendly, and he always seems to fail. I came here with him one day and literally had plates snatched away, bills slammed on the table, no please, no thank yous.

Apart from this, the food is really good and really cheap. We managed to get food for 3 people for under a tenner, something that hardly ever happens in London. The food is good too, albeit slightly greasy, but for a few quid per plate, I shouldn't complain.

The place is massive and is always packed. Maybe other people secretly love the insane level of rudeness of this place too!