Royal China Restaurant, Docklands, London

Top quality Chinese food any time of the day, but it’s my favourite for dim sum. If you’re going at the weekend be prepared for a long-ish wait but it’s definitely worth it. An extensive menu, always prepared to an excellent standard, I keep coming back to Royal China again and again.

‘Alright’ isn’t what you’d expect from Royal China though. Their prices are higher than in Chinatown, but I couldn’t see the difference. Dim sum is such a specialist area that a change of dim sum chef can affect the quality of food at a restaurant, and word spreads fast amongst the local Chinese community when this happens. I like the Canary Wharf location though, so I’m going to give Royal China one more try when it gets warmer, and have some dim sum by the Thames.

I’ve eaten dim sum all over the world and I swear this is the best I’ve ever tasted - better than Hong Kong! You have to queue for a table even if you arrive as they open on a Sunday but it’s so worth the wait. Paper wrapped king prawns are phenomenal, great cheung fun - specials are always worth a try. And it’s SO reasonable! Prices are fantastic. They’re really family friendly too - both my children love eating there. It’s amazing - try it.

One of my favorite places to get Dim sum. The food is fantastic for Dinner as well as Lunch. Staff are efficient, polite and very friendly. Interior is classy and authentic but the toilets are a little dark.

This waterside restaurant has some great views especially around sunset. You may find the prices a little higher than the average Chinese restaurant but let me assure you it is well worth it. The Salt and pepper mixed seafood is a favorite of mine as well as the chicken and jelly fish dish both cooked to perfection.

I would advise to book well in advance for both dinner and lunch.

Since I have never been to China, it was only when I went to the Royal China in Canary Wharf that I realized that all the chinese food I had eaten prior to this occasion was CRAP!
In fact I don’t know how the Royal China’s food compare to the real chinese food in China; I know it’s great food regardless. I know because of the richness of flavors, of tastes, the quality and quantity of ingredients, the freshness of products.
Gold crispy fried chicken; or noodles with ginger; prawns or fish even the traditional sweet and sour (either pork or prawns) dish: everything has a richness of flavors that nowhere had I experienced before. Also the Sunday morning Dim Sum experience. Even the long wait on Sunday morning, when they operate a waiting list first to come - first to be served, didn’t put me off.
To the great foods add a good attentive and quick service, add the nice decor of the restaurant, the comfortable seating and the view of the river. Ideally one should arrive by boat, dock at the Canary Wharf docking station and just get to the chinese food feast!

Am truly surprised how others have rated this place so highly.

Personally, I find the food to be totally unauthentic, with the menu hardly impressive either. The Dim Sum is sometimes served warm at best which is truly out of tradition and the speed at which food is served is horrendously slow. Just to add, the attitude of some of their waiters is poor - sometimes a little too cocky for their own good.

Perhaps a decent view and benefits from being the closest Chinese restaurant from Canary Wharf, but I would say that is about it. For the price charged, there are better options in London.

Excellent top-class Chinese - not cheap but the food is worth the price.

They do some excellent deep fried Noodles, which you can’t get elsewhere, lots of authentic Chinese dishes on the menu. Dim Sum is not bad either.

Good atmosphere inside - again very upmarket.

Decent Chinese food but a bit expensive for what you get. I didn’t like the twice-cooked pork and for some strange reason they chopped off the ends of the bok choy, which was otherwise good. The mabo tofu was the best of what we ordered. It might be worth going back to sample some other dishes but I’m going to try my luck elsewhere first. I think London can do better than a 3 star Chinese joint.

Royal China is one of the upmarket Chinese places outside of China-Town. Located in Canary Wharf if has prices to match but the decor and food are very good.

In short: There is often a wait for a table so it’s good to arrive at a time other people might not. The food is also slightly higher priced that you might expect and if you add drinks it’s going to be a big bill (evening menu). For Dim-Sum it’s very high quality with only a small selection of generic dishes.

I enjoyed this Restaurant a lot, but they need a few more floor staff for the busier periods. In addition there doesn’t appear to be free parking unlike other Chinese restaurants nearby.

I really liked their Tofu and Aubergine dishes, very good. Great place to take a date :)

They could improve the seating layout a bit and the number of staff, but overall it’s a great place.

Now I did a poor review of Waga’s round here, this is totally the other end of the scale, absoloutely fantastic food. Every dish is worth a try. It is not the least expensive meal you’ll ever eat but you really are paying for authentic quality. The cocktails are not a bad price though (£4.50) and if you want to go for broke the Sancerre is very nice (around 28 quid).
The service is not exactly smiley - they do take themselves very seriously but it is one of the best chinese restaurants i have come accross in the capital. The portins are generous though, so be careful not to over order.
I have only been at the weekend or the evening but I believe they do a lunch special which seems very good value, so if you work around here I can recommend stopping by for a bite.

Also the view of the river is pretty special. Be a great place to take visiting parents.

This is a lovely waterside restaurant, decorated in black, royal blue and gold.

I always come here as part of a large group for colleagues’ birthday lunches.

The staff are friendly and the service is super efficient, which is great when you only have an hour for a lunch break.

The menu features safe stand bys like sweet and sour chicken but you have to sample the dim sum. It is superb. They also have a set menu for lunch which represents better value than the “a la carte”, although it’s still pricey enough for it to be an ocassional treat rather than a regular Friday lunch-time outing.

Booking is essential for lunches.