Zen China Restaurant

I don’t mind the dated décor even at such price level. The view is great of course but almost nothing else. Steamed scallops in shell were over-​cooked and rubbery. Har gau was passable as skin was starchy tasting. Veg hot n sour soup tasted like they accidentally dropped the entire pepper shaker into it. Sweet and sour pork was scarlet red and I don’t even think the meat is fresh. The biggest let down was the stir fried mix veg and egg fried rice. Simple and basic they could be but really looked and tasted like they can’t care less in that kitchen. Sorry, didn’t bother with the photos. Was watching them slice the Beijing duck skins off the birds for other table… Will feel better if they had trained the guy with the knife. One star up as the waitresses do try hard. And the rose by glass saved my evening. I hope they read this and resolved to get better… For the sake of the spectacular view on Big Ben and Westminister Bridge outside the windows.

Went and I felt really sorry for the owners. I’d be heartbroken if this were my restaurant with beautiful views of the river and only three tables filled at 7:30 on a Friday eve. As you can imagine it was eerily quiet with all of us speaking in hushed tones as if in a library. Chinese spa music was softly playing in the background. Service was awkward. Most of the food was not very good. The hot and sour soup was thick like hair gel and tasted old. The spring rolls bland. The salt and pepper squid was soggy. The Peking duck however was pretty damn good. The third best I’ve had in London after Hutong and min Jiang. They serve it here with a fair bit of duck meat and the second course as a salt and pepper duck was rich and tasty. The duck was well trimmed of fat. It’s also the only time I’ve ever had Peking duck and not wondered what happened to the rest of the duck. Alas, i would not go back. It is just too awkward to have dinner and all you can think about is how they can afford this location. The other dishes are what I can get from the local takeaway.

After enjoying the views from the London Eye, I got hungry. I was craving Chinese food and little did I know that this place was in super close proximity — County Hall. Hard to find if you aren’t looking for it but there were signs advertising this place and a nice fellow who told us exactly where to go. The inside is nice and big. There was only one group at a table. Felt like me and my mom had this place to ourselves! The view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament is a huge plus.
Lucky for us, it started to rain while we were enjoying our dinner. As for the food itself, loved the fried rice with beef. The chicken with the sweet and sour sauce on the side was pretty tasty and the vegetable egg rolls were amazing. The food got an A.
Taking one star off because I felt like we were a burden to the servers.

It was not exactly what I expected. Food was great (some of the best duck I’ve had in a long time) but way overpriced. Another blip is the staff’s inadequate behaviour. They did not have knowledge of some of their dishes and also managed to mix up our order. Well, it was rectified and all but did we really have to go through all that on our private night out? The space was not that big and quite noisy actually.

I came here for the crayfish. But not as good as I expected and not the same as the one in China. Noisy and the service is just so so.

Summary:
+ Great location to take out of town guests, amazing view of Big Ben and the Thames
+ Really good food, authentic pecking duck
+ Reasonable price for central London (esp for half of a duck)
+ Off menu specialties are very tasty: spicy stir fry pot (麻辣香锅), spicy crayfish pot (麻辣小龙虾)
— Don’t expect great service
I discovered this place on Chinese Twitter. They happen to make two of my fav dishes: pecking duck/北京烤鸭，and spicy pot stir fry (麻辣香锅）.
Despite the underwhelming reviews, the food is actually really good!
The pecking duck is authentic. The slice it in front of you, separated the skin and the meat, and it’s served with shredded green onion, cucumber, wraps (in a steamer) and two different dipping sauces. The sauce was a bit sweet to my taste, but it’s an insignificant problem comparing to the joy of eating REAL pecking duck outside of China. They also ask you to choose a way to prepare the leftover duck meat (and bones), I’d always opt for soup.
The stir fry clay pot was really good as well! Spicy, numbing, full of flavour, and it has lotus root in it (my fav stir fry veggie). They are not on the menu but you can ask for them. There are a few different types: beef, pork, chicken, seafood and mixed, all accompanied by assorted vegetables.
But I do understand why it has such a bad rating on Unilocal: the service!
Our server didn’t seem too patient and had no smile at all, but he did take the order right and delivered pretty fast. I don’t usually care too much about services for a regular eating out so wasn’t really disappointed. However, it all went down hill when a large group of people walked in. They didn’t make a reservation and was hoping to get two adjacent big tables. The restaurant was quite empty but there were only 2 big tables at the back, and one was currently occupied. The servers were obviously annoyed and they didn’t hide it, outraged by the guests who forgot to make reservation, and refuse to seat them. After a lengthy discussion between the organizer or the group and a waiter, he finally agreed to let them wait, very unwillingly. What makes the situation worse was that he refuse to let them sit at smaller tables while waiting, but also didn’t tell them to wait outside, so about 20 people were just standing in the middle of the restaurant chatting with each other, while other guests were trying to enjoy a private dinner conversation with the view of Big Ben… While they are waiting several people sat down at the small tables, and one of the waiters looked furious because he had to cleanup after. When the big tables were finally ready and the guests moved over, the waiter intentionally threw menus around loudly to show his anger, again ignoring the fact that there were other innocent guests around trying to enjoy their dinner. I was amused, but I don’t think others were feeling quite the same.
The whole attitude was unnecessary and completely unprofessional. The restaurant is at a great location with a perfect view of London landmarks at night, the venue is spacious and decently decorated, and the food is good. I can see that it’s trying to create a fine dining ambiance, but the service is seriously below par, which ruined all the other effort. My advice for the restaurant would be to train the servers how to act professionally, or pay them better so they can stop being grumpy all the time.
That being said, if you are not going with a giant party without reservation ahead of time, you are probably fine =P.

Came here in late March for a friend’s birthday. This place was really hard to find even though it’s near somewhere iconic like the London Eye. If not for the guy who wears a Zen China vest I wouldn’t have known which way to enter the restaurant.
We came here mainly for my friend’s craving for Peking Duck. Needless to say, the Peking Duck met expectations. The last I had Peking Duck was my trip to HK in ²⁰⁰⁹⁄₂₀₁₀. This is the only Chinese northern-​style cuisine I love (my tastes are more Southern) and it was really good. The rest of the food was not so memorable and even though the interior was really nice (as well as the amazing views of Elizabeth Tower and Westminister Abbey) there weren’t many people there and it was pretty much a quiet atmosphere (we were easily the noisiest and biggest group of customers).
I recommend this place for Peking Duck, interior and excellent night views. Be prepared to fork out a decent sum of money for it though!

I loved my stay at this restaurant. My husband and I both love Chinese food and we often visit different places around London. However, we’ve never been treated this well and with such respect. The food is freshly prepared and served with a smile. I highly recommend the place, as it’s the best we’ve ever been to.

expensive but delicious chinese food! I really had a good time with my partner, he loved it.

Almost tasteless food. There was no indication for an extra charge for non tap water. And they also didn’t indicate a £4 charge for each serving of rice. Terrible service. I would have rather gone hungry/​given my money to McDonald’s. Don’t.go.

I love Chinese food especially the kids they are mad about the noodles they have on menu. We had a nice dinner here. Staff were also very friendly.

Stopped here last month with a friend of mine and it was a pretty nice experience. My friend is a Chinese food addict and she was eager to try this place out, so we went there. Frankly I’ve got to say that I wasn’t expecting much, but when we got close to place I was mind blown. First of all its a spectacular building both inside and outside, adding to that its huge. Also the design inside is authentic maybe from the 18^th or 19^th century, cant tell for sure.
The staff are friendly and welcoming, also they are Chinese as well as the band that plays in the restaurant, I suppose same goes for the chefs. I like how there’s a strict discipline and yet style. Everything is being served like in a top notch restaurant, which doesnt mean that this one isnt.
Food is fairly nice, cooked and served from really experienced people, making sure you enjoy your stay and dishes. The prices are average for a Chinese restaurant in this part of London.
I’m looking forward to visit this place again and have even better experience.

As a big fan of chinese food I can say that I’ve tried a lot of restaurants serving that type of food.
The only one I can recommend is Zen China Restaurant! Fantastic food and service!

My Husband and I decided to give this place a go as we were staying in Marriott wonderful quick service and the food was extremely authentic. Do not understand the other review of a takeaway as all the food was prepared fresh. My husband’s father owns lots of restaurants in Paris and has a keen eye for quality and a gripe of bad service. He was impressed and would take his business clients here to wine and dine during the week. The only thing was this place was hidden and quite quiet when we went for a weekend. We are both from London and eat out very regularly so we understand what to expect from a restaurant with a panoramic view.
Would say if your regard voluminous food as being ‘good’ then this place is not for you. It’s all about cute cutlery, lovely portion sizes and freshly prepared foods. It is also very clean which, sadly for London, is not the norm!

It was only OK. Decent views but spotty service– could hardly get our glasses of water refilled and it wasn’t even crowded. And they were slow to take our order and slow to bring the food. Also the food was ok but nowhere near worth the price. And maybe this is standard in London but £3 for an 8 oz diet coke with no refills is a joke. And the bathroom in the basement was out of order so we were directed to the staff bathrooms. These things happen but it was not handled gracefully. If you want to charge such high prices, the service should be great.

We went to Zen China on a Saturday evening, restaurant was a little quiet. We were staying at the Park Plaza and this was a few minutes walk. Our table was on the raised level and we had fantastic views across Westminster Bridge. We ordered a few drinks, crispy duck, beef in oyster sauce and a chicken curry with steamed and egg fried rice. We were expecting a lot from the restaurant but have to say that it was over priced for the quality of the food. Interesting that previous reviews rate this as one of the best Chinese restaurants in London, I would have to say there are many that are better.

Not that impressed by the quality of food. Used a Groupon which gave £120 worth of value for £39 but the food was something you could get at the local takeaway store for £5.

OK food, not great service. But the views are spectacular.
If you’re a Londoner, I would not bother with this place. The food was not bad — in fact the Peking duck (real Peking duck, not the crispy duck you usually get in Chinese restaurants) was spectacular. But the service was inattentive with a lick of pretend politeness that almost smacked of feelings of superiority. And you can get similarly good Chinese food elsewhere.
But if you are a visitor, the setting is great. Located inside County Hall, a grand old building by the river that formerly housed the headquarters of the London County Council. You get great views of Big Ben and the houses of Parliament, which in the evening are beautifully lit up. Just don’t go expecting too much.

Really lovely place… perhaps one of the best dining views in all London.
The food was «pretty» and very elaborated and was actually good. We were a group of 4 and we all ask different things and end up trying each other dishes and was everything lovely. Price was ok too.
Will go back.

We had a very good lunch here for £22 for two of us. We ordered 4 steamed dumplings, a bowl of duck noodles and a seafood plate appetizer, jasmine tea and a diet coke. They bring a plate of amazing prawn crackers and dip whilst you wait for the food. This was fortuitous as it took a long time to bring out the meal. We had been told the dumplings would take an 10 – 15 mins and were OK with that, asking for the other food to be brought out first, but we had no idea it would take such a long time. Judging by the elaborate and beautiful lay out of the food, I expect they took ages with the presentation. The dumplings were great and the seafood got a big thumbs up, the noodles were tasty but a bit greasy. The view out over the Thames to Westminster was so lovely that I expect no-​one really minds waiting in such a lovely setting.

Located inside of the same building as the London Film Museum, this was the best Chinese food we’ve ever had. Ruined the local stuff we get. The dumplings were so good we ordered another round after we finished our food. We waited another 15 – 20 minutes just for those four more dumplings they were that good! The spring rolls were excellent as well. We shared a Kung Pao Chicken, which was good. The price was very reasonable though they have some crazy expensive menu options as well. Depending on where you sit, you can see Big Ben from your seat.