Four Seasons

I was not impressed with this restaurant, my boyfriend and I was awfully hungry and stumbled across this restaurant which had a queue outside of it. Naturally we assumed this was a good restaurant as many customers were waiting to go inside.

 

The downstairs part was very busy and a man came to take our names and told us it would be 15 minutes before being seated. When it was our turn, we were told to go upstairs- as I went up the stairs, I passed a door which looked like a staff room for the waiters (little did I know) this is where we would be seated.

A waiter opened the door and took us to our table, the upstairs was crammed! And too close for comfort as you could not have a conversation without everyone else hearing you! – The upstairs was just jam packed with tables and chairs with hardly any space to move. Definitely not a romantic place to go for dinner.

 

The prices for the food was double for something as simple as rice and stir fried vegetables, but that is because it’s situated in the middle of Central London.

There was one thing that I thought was highly cheeky! Was with our spring rolls they gave us a small bowl of what looked like Soysauce- I dipped my roll into this and said to my boyfriend “This does not taste like Soysauce, it tastes like Leaperrins, Worcestershire sauce”, to which my boyfriend replied

“Ofcourse it is, because they left the bottle next to the till behind you!”

 

I was shocked!- I’m not asian but even I know that was a pure mockery especially to those who know Oriental food very well. I would not go back there again! Unless you enjoy being crammed into a sardine tin room!

The service at Four Seasons is atrocious. There is always a long queue so waiters try their best to make diners eat up, pay up, and get out to make way for other customers.

Not too long ago, I had dinner at Four Seasons with a friend. He was not very good at using chopsticks but insisted on using them. Halfway through our meal, a waiter rudely snatched the chopsticks from his hand and gave him a fork and a spoon. 

A little later, before we could finish eating, they cleared our table without asking if we were done and served our dessert of oranges. We were too shocked to say anything. We then took our time with the oranges but were interrupted by the arrival of our bill which we had not asked for.

We ignored the bill and carried on talking as we were not ready to leave. Not long after, the waiter returned and literally asked us to leave.

I did the roast duck that everyone raves about and do not intend to. If you are vegetarian like me, you might want to think twice about going to Four Seasons. Their food tasted average to me and I am sure you can find similar food in other Chinatown establishments.

The best place we have tried on the main china town sreet so far. Good food, reasonable sized portions for what we paid. The service was also good. The duck is especially good.

Kinda disappointed about the food and service. The interior needs a bit of a redo.

The Roast Duck. That is all.

Absolutely nice duck! The duck sauce is amazing, definitely worth a try. The restaurant itself is quite tiny and the waiters rude but I’m guessing thats what you get everywhere from a chinese restaurant in China Town.

Venue of choice for roast duck and roast meat in Chinatown. Takeaway and enjoy a delicious meal in Central London!

Their duck may be good but the service is very bad. Rude staff who are not totally honest with the way they write down the bill. They add the service charge of 12.5% but trying to hide it at the same time. I think that is sheer dishonesty!!!

I have to confirm that their roast duck Cantonese style is delicious. It's the their speciality here. The skin tastes good, the flesh is tender and juicy. We ordered half of a duck (£11) but we could not even finish it! Fortunately they do takeaway.

The rest of the menu is not interesting. We had some Fu-jian rice, with carrotts, asparagus, duck and scallops; it was greasy and insipid. I would rather come back for the duck only!

The room is clean and commonplace, the service is OK.

Best roast duck in the world? That's what Financial Times writer Nicholas Lander reckons and it was his write up about Four Seasons that led me there. I'm not too sure it's the best in the world but it's the best I've had in London and on par with the roast duck I had at the considerably more upscale Peninsula Hotel in Beijing.

One piece of advice based on my experience at Four Seasons: forego the rest of the menu and just order the duck. Everything I've tried on the menu is pretty good but nowhere near as good as the duck. Besides there are plenty of other decent Chinese restaurant around Chinatown.

Full post and photos @ www.thecattylife.com

I totally adore Four Seasons. I LOVE their roast duck and really, if you can ignore the rubbish service (it's a Chinese restaurant afterall), you'll love the place.

Things to note about Four Seasons:

• It’s a dodgy little Chinese joint, not a five star hotel.
• There’s one at Queensway and one at Chinatown. You’ll find me at the Chinatown branch.
• They serve half duck or whole duck…
• With or without bone at the same price.
• People get take out from there all the time, sometimes to take overseas (no joke the duck is that good)…
• So it’s rumoured (I haven’t seen this) that they have a “special container” to pack duck for overseas travel!
• Wow that’s hardcore!
• There’s always a queue at Four Seasons…
• And you can totally make a booking but you still have to queue (beats me).
• They work on turning the tables over so when you receive your main, expect to also receive your oranges and bill…
• But with your bill they also give you kool mints, which I love.
• Customer service? There is none, but who cares.

Great food but slow service and the fact there's only one toilet to service too floors seems strange; especially when it wouldn't look out of place in a squat!

I'd be back for the duck though!

Probably the best roast duck you’ll get in Chinatown.

Something has to be said about the terrible service though. Waiting staff there just make sure you seat, eat, pay and leave. Oranges were placed on our table before our meal was finished and we were given bill without us even asking. On top of all that I don’t remember any of the staff even smiling at us!

I recommend the Bayswater branch over this one. It’s the same delicious duck but at least the staff there have decent manners.

For those who are familiar with four season in queensway, here you can get the same duck. Delicious and succulent. But the other dishes are just mediocre, so I suggest all Chinese duck lovers order ducks to take away, and don’t bother queuing to get a seat. One of the best ducks in London.

Four Seasons call themselves 'roast duck specialists' and not for nothing! This is their new branch (the one other branch is in Queensway) and is already very popular. Their dishes can be quite pricey compared to the average in China Town (around £8 each) but there are less expensive rice dishes e.g. rice + a good helping of delicious roast duck is = £4.90. So with tea and service charge you can get a very decent meal for about £6. Expect to pay more if you want to try out the more flamboyant dishes though.