Golden Pagoda

Disclaimer: I was definitely not sober when I ate here.
Was distressed to find it was too late to eat at Leong’s Legend, but this place was still open and we were hungry. Inside, it ain’t all that, but the food was (surprisingly) good. I had kung po chicken that was one of the better versions I’ve had recently, and we also had a half Cantonese duck, which was gorgeous. It was on the pricier side — I reckon that they are capitalising on being very prominent in a high traffic location, but I’m sure that deviating off some side streets would get a similar experience for cheaper.

I can only comment on lunch as I ducked in here for a quick bite between meetings. I recommend getting here by 12:30 pm because it is on a prime corner intersection in the heart of Chinatown and they really started packing in the people after that. I normally am a total racial profiler when it comes to selecting my Chinese restaurants and I usually look for abnormally high concentrations of «Blackheads» in a place as an endorsement. This is a tried and true formula for authentic success in most countries outside of Asia. In this case, however, had I stuck to that dogma I would have screwed the pooch. Despite the women next to me in full hijab, the family in front of me speaking French, the Nigerians that seemed to greet the staff like regulars, the large table of British businessmen conducting a meeting and the bloated white tourist group from America near the door, this place was damn good. There were a couple of us in the place that were Asian but it really looked more like a United Nations gathering. It has the hanging BBQ in the window to draw you in like a moth to flame but it also has a really nice dim sum selection and the best thing is the large picture windows on the main floor. That coupled with the nice location made for some excellent people watching. The food was great, the price was acceptable by London standard and the staff is friendly and accommodating. I walked away satisfied and impressed. Well done!

Pretty decent Chinese food, definitely plenty of food and seating and the atmosphere was good. I probably wouldn’t come back, just because it seemed very similar to many other Chinese restaurants I’ve been to.

They have awesome Dim Sum. Authentic and just like NY. Service is typical Chinese. Non communicative and appreciated.

The Hubs and I had a great meal here at the Golden Pagoda after a long day of site-​seeing.
As another reviewer noted, the GP stands out in Chinatown. It’s hard to miss there on the corner (see my photo). There are many options when it comes to Chinese cuisine in Chinatown so we took our time walking around, looking at menus. Everywhere we stopped someone was quick to approach us and try to lure us inside. I find this extremely irritating. The more aggressive they are the less likely I will patronize their business. The man who approached us at the GP was one of the less aggressive ones we encountered … and the menu looked pretty good!
We were seated upstairs at a corner table by a window (Yay!) and decided on our meal fairly fast. I ordered the Pepper Steak, my husband ordered a Duck Dish with Veggies, Hot and Sour Soup for both of us, and couple of bowls of rice.
It was an enormous amount of food. We probably should’ve asked about the size of the dishes, and if one dish would be enough for two people. Oh well.
Everything was delicious. It was so good that we actually ate almost everything that was put in front of us. It was one of those things where your mouth says Keep Going while your stomach says Whoa There Nellie! I’d loved to have gone back to the hotel after our meal and slip into a Food Coma for a couple of hours afterwards, but that was not an option. Our time here was limited so I powered through the rest of the evening!
In any case, we really enjoyed our meal. The atmosphere was nice enough. The food was great. The service was slow (by American standards) just like almost everywhere else we dined.
This is a great option if you’re craving some Chinese!

Was looking for some Chinese food with two friends, and we randomly decided on this place in Chinatown.
We were there at an odd time, about 3:30pm, but there were people seated at three other tables, which we took as a good sign.
As a frequent visitor of the Chinatown in New York, I have quite high expectations when it comes to dim sum, and I wanted to see how London would compare. I don’t know the names well in English, but I will try to describe them as the restaurant did. I ordered three of my favorite dishes: pork and seafood dumplings, vegetable bean wraps, and shrimp Ho fun pasta.
Everything tasted well cooked and yummy! I would give the food a ⁹⁄₁₀. My only complaint would be, compared to the dirt cheap prices of New York’s Chinatown, these dishes seemed way overpriced to me. For the three dishes and tax/​gratuity or whatever, it was £10.60.

yum yum in my tum tum should be the name of this restaurant! We got roast duck and pork belly and a pot of tea and it was all delicious and amazing! However the service was really lacking and it took us FOREVER to get our food when it wasnt busy at all and after we gave the card with the check it was about 15 minutes before they brought it back and we were on a bit of a time crunch so I docked one star! Still yummy though!

Imagine the scene: it’s 11.53 am on a Saturday; my 3 year old and wife are hungry; we need dim sum! But wait! We have an enormous buggy for the baby, festooned with all his big sister’s stuff– so no restaurants with too many stairs ! «In here! «I say, switching restaurant allegiance of many years on this basis.
And so, dear reader, what did we find? Well, passable (duck spring roll) to good (BBQ pork puffs) food, and very friendly and obliging staff. We even got our own semi-​private alcove. All very satisfactory– I will be back, kids or no kids– for pretty much exactly what you pay at most other dim sum places in Chinatown.

I had a horrible experience here. I stopped by Chinatown to get dinner, seeing that this was one of the more prominent restaurants on the street, I decided to go check it out. I ordered two dishes, one was edible, the other was horrendous. I’m from the US, but I’ve spent quite a few years in China, so I know what I’m talking about. I would have given this place three stars for the food. However, The attitude of the waiter who was serving was disgusting at best. When I expressed politely how one of the dishes was quite disappointing, he tried to intimidate me by saying how they are the boss of this neighborhood.

Golden Pagoda easily stands out as the most prominently decorated restaurant along the eclectic stretch of Gerrard Street which harbours the bulk of the Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. In a gesture that is now fairly commonplace, they employ a lovely young lady as a maitre de type figure (she’s trying to get you to choose their restaurant.) Do not feel pressured to go in because of her and likewise, do not feel any pressure to eat at any restaurant along this strip as a result of their front of house soul stealer.
The large, bright sign indicating that they have a Dim Sum menu is somewhat misleading as it’s only served until about mid-​afternoon. So there is no all day Dim Sum. (Leong’s Legend is a good place to for some fresh Dim Sum buns and dumplings.)
I’ve been here a total of probably 5 or 6 times with mixed experiences. The menu is large and some of their dishes very authentic, although with a distinctive southern styling. I try not to be too lavish and generally order a roast duck with rice, a stir fried garlic pak choi or spinach and a pot of tea. If I am here with my partner, we will order a beef chow fun and an eight treasure tofu. The tofu, chow fun and vegetables have always been delicious, although sometimes they can be quite heavy on seasonings and it makes for a pretty salty dish at times.
The problems I’ve experienced here have began on my last two visits. I noticed last time that the pot in which one of our dishes was served had a very large, noticeable crack in it. I don’t think I need to explain exactly why dinnerware with cracks or chips in them should be replaced immediately. This was all made worse by the knowledge that Golden Pagoda does not use a dishwasher but employs cheap labour to wash dishes by hand. (Watch the bar closely, are they washing your tea cups and glasses in a small sink?)
On the visit before this, the duck and rice I ordered had not been warmed up properly. I have never been under the impression that the duck is freshly made. It hangs in the window all day and is microwaved before being served (although a little ritual surrounding hiding the microwave in the kitchen instead of keeping it in plain view behind the bar would be nice.) This time it had not been warmed up properly and was pretty horrible to deal with. Another small but petty complaint is that their duck and rice (or any other roast/​rice combo) doesn’t come with a bed of veggies like many other establishments in the area. It’s always nice to have a little bit vegetables, even as garnish, rather than have a plate of carbs and meat in a huge pile, drizzled with soy sauce. It’s pretty standard to include a little, so I can’t think why this place doesn’t.
The service here is no better or worse than any other place in the area. I would not say that they are rude, but being British/​Chinese my expectations really are not as high as say an American’s might be on customer service. Staff are curt but efficient. My tea is always being refilled, I always thank them, they always reply ‘no problem’ or ‘no need to thank me’ in Chinese. I never feel rushed into finishing my meal on the occasion my party have taken a little longer than necessary.
Beware of the fact that, as is commonplace in this area, a surcharge of 12.5% is included onto your bill. Generally I do not tip on top of this. Tips do not go into the waiting staff’s pockets but instead are taken by the management so that’s something to keep in mind if you are a generous tipper.

I’ve been to this place 3 times and each occasion the food has been to a reasonable standard. It’s bang in the middle of China town which also means tourist central. They offer set menus ranging from about £15−25 per person. The reason I keep homing back is that my girlfriend loves it here.
Examples are mixed starter (ribs, prawn toast, seaweed, satay chicken), the next course is roasted duck with pancake and spring opinion (the amount if duck depends on the group size). The mains are crispy beef, chicken noodles, battered king prawns, pak choi in garlic and rice. If you order anything off the menu by its self your wallet will have a heart attack, i. e Crispy beef £9.
The service is ok except they want you in and out pretty quick so they can get the next tourist in. Just for the record I’m actually a Londoner.
The décor is your usual Chinese themed restaurant and it’s very clean.
Would I go back. Yes because she will drag me there… lol if it was down to me then probably not.
All in all it isn’t too bad but it’s not somewhere you would rush back too.

Hmm… Is the Peking Duck supposed to be stone cold?
It was still okay, since it would have gone cold in the time it took me to eat it all, but I wished it was been warmer.
Decent enough place for Dim Sum and everyone seemed to be enjoying.
Tables seemed a little cramped and I thought it was strange that the waiter pointed out the service charge and mention Ed that it was for everyone, not just for me. Okay.
Probably would not go back.

Our experience was very terrible actually. With so many other choices around, we were surprised how bad their service was in that they were actually rude to customers (not to us, but we saw how they treated others who, in our mind, were not rude in kind), while the food was, at best, average. We are very familiar and even comfortable with the Chinese restaurant way of efficiency over pleasantries, but what we saw went beyond this general rule of thumb.

Das Golden Pagoda befindet sich inmitten Chinatowns auf der Haupt– und bekanntesten Fußgängerbereichsstraße, der Gerrard Street.
Das Lokal mutet von außen nicht zu modern, also eher traditionell chinesisch an. Das Personal ist chinesisch-​professionell — Freundlichkeit von Herzen schaut anders aus.
Das Essen ist in Ordnung bis lecker, aber für mein Empfinden auch nicht mehr. Wir hatten Ente, Chicken und ein vegetarisches Gericht, alles hat insgesamt gepasst.
Der Preis war denn auch etwas happig. £ 60 ist schon né Hausnummer: Reis kostet grundsätzlich extra, Mindestverzehrzwang bon £ 10 und 10% Servicepauschale kommt noch oben drauf. Herzlichen Dank auch!

This is so called «tourism food» which does not mean the best. The restaurant provides acceptable foods and their hospitality is nicer than the rest of those on the street.

The food was quite nice but as with many of the restaurants in china town. the service ain’t all that. One of the team members was actally quite rude when my friend asked if she could take her chopsticks home. he shouted ‘noooooo’ at her! it was actally quite funny! She was just wondering! The food was decent, I can’t complain about that but whe nthere is vast amounts of competition in the immediate area you’d think a lttle customer service woun’t go a miss!!!

I come from an area where good dim sum restaurants are plentiful and I’m used to carts being pushed around while the women yell out what they’re carting and try to shove dishes onto your table in the hopes you’ll just let them. Golden Pagoda was much more tame. You order the dishes you want and waiters bring the out to you in an orderly manner. Now for the food, the shiao mai (similar to pork dumplings), shrimp chang fun (shrimp in rice noodles), turnip cake and tripe were all just ok. Nothing tasted as good as I’m used to. The turnip cake could’ve used a little more flavor and could’ve been pan fried a litte bit more. The bean curd roll was a little bit better. The chicken feet and bbq pork buns were actually very good. So overall I just thought everything was okay. Good place to get a dim sum fix and the prices weren’t too bad.

We had heard Chinese food in London is excellent, and when we asked the concierge at our hotel where to go, he told us to get off the Tube at Leicester Square and «go anywhere.» This proved to be sound advice; we picked Golden Pagoda because it seemed crowded enough to be good, but not so crowded we couldn’t get a table.
We didn’t exactly go with authentic ordering, but everything we had was great. We loved both the fried wontons and the potstickers. I had a beef dish with ginger and mushrooms that was great, with a wonderful nose-​blowing-​but-​mouth-​not-​burning sauce. My husband, normally a spice fiend, picked the lemon chicken and I have to admit it was tasty. We liked the fried rice a lot as well. Everything tasted fresh and made to order. Our server was swamped, but as helpful as he could be and pleasant enough. The price tag was the best part– after a couple of extremely pricey meals, cheap and good Chinese food was a breath of fresh air.
Londoners, if this is standard Chinese for you, I am jealous.

Came here late at night for some greasy Chinese food. It is fairly authentic and the food was tasty. The crispy roast suckling pig was a bit salty. However, it was nice be able to order a big dish of Chinese vegetables (water spinach) after being in London for a few days.

Mapo tofu is rapidly becoming my ‘benchmark meal’ for chinese restaurants — I don’t understand why this dish isn’t more popular. When I walk into a restaurant and see half the tables eating duck, beef & black bean, egg fried rice, and singapore noodles, a tiny part of me wants to grab the nearest person and shout THERE’S MORE TO CHINESE FOOD PLEASE TRY SOMETHING ELSE. So far the rational rest of me has stopped me from doing this — but one day…
Um. So, yeah I ate mapo tofu at the Golden Pagoda. Aaaand it was pretty good! The beef was finely sliced from a decent cut, not mystery mince. The tofu wasn’t freshly prepared, just prepackaged stuff (for the best tofu I’ve eaten so far in Chinatown head to Haozhan) but still OK. There was a pretty decent meat: tofu ratio, nice spicy sauce that wasn’t slimed up with cornstarch, and lots of added veg (including fresh peas as far as I could tell) and flavour adding stuff (prawns! yay!).
House red wine tasted pretty reasonable and is priced fairly enough.
Only slight letdown is the size of the rice portion. While perfectly cooked, it was a little on the miserly side.
Overall though, not at all bad! Oh — and promise me to try something you wouldn’t normally order next time you go to a Chinese restaurant!

DIM SUM — lunches
DISHES — evening dinner
excellent
food is awesome
service is great
price is humbling, for all
the food ;)