China Red

The Family went to China Red last Saturday night (24th April) as we were celebrating a couple of birthdays so there was seven of us to accommodate. It was our first visit for a while and we were all really looking forward to it. It's located in the City centre on Hertford Street, 2 minutes walk from the Lady Godiva Statue, 5 minutes from the Cathedral and a little more than 5 minutes walk from the train station.

The concept is quite interesting; it's fixed fee eat as much as you want, but the food is cooked fresh when ordered. So the staff come and take your order and then the food comes and if you want any more the staff take your order, more food comes, and so on and so forth. The only rules are that once you've finished your starter course you go on to the main course and you can't order any more starters, simples! Oh and did I mention they have a Karaoke Bar above the restaurant? I'll not mention that further as I've never ventured in, save to say that you access it through a doorway next the entrance to the restaurant out front on Hertford Street.

As the food is all cooked fresh to order there can be a gap between ordering and the food coming as in any restaurant, the advantage is that the food comes out fresh and hot, not like your typical buffet where food can often sit for a while and go cold before you eat it. The other advantage is there is no rugby scrum at the buffet when something popular comes out of the kitchen, you sit and chat and the food comes to you, great for party bookings (although watch out for the 10% surcharge for tables of 8 or more - not sure how this is justified seems a bit unnecessary to me).

The welcome was quite friendly upon entering the restaurant and once we were over the small issue of a table mix up we were seated in the middle of the dining area. The red and black decor is quite nice and has a modern feel to it whilst it pays homage to its Chinese heritage in a martial arts film kind of way.

The service was pretty good on this occasion, last time we went we had an hour wait between starters and main course, it was busy but no apologies were offered until we complained to the manager, who, to his credit, only charged us for one meal (there were 2 of us) which made up somewhat for the poor experience but there was no real apology I felt it was more to get us to leave to stop others overhearing the complaint. However on this occasion there was no need to complain the service was acceptable. It should be noted though we did have to re-order several things after not everything we ordered was delivered together, this wasn't an issue as it followed within a few minutes, but it happened twice during the course of the evening.

As there were 7 of us we ordered quite a few different dishes, the portion size is reduced form what you would expect to get from a Chinese takeaway, or if you ordered it as a main from a Chinese restaurant as your only main, but the good thing is that it means you can try several different things, perhaps things you would not normally order in a restaurant, without having mountains of food to contend with. Be careful though as there is a warning that they will charge you extra if you leave too much food. It's understandable that they would have a policy to stop people ordering lots and leaving most of it, seems perfectly sensible to me, especially in our waste fuelled society.

The highlights for me were the Crispy Duck, Yuk Sung (although there were no rice noodles served with it) and the Hot and Spicy Garlic Beef (needless to say that all main course dishes - I think - are available in Beef, Chicken, Prawn, Duck and Vegetable, but I thin for some there is even a shrimp option). The menu is quite extensive for this type of restaurant model and most people will be catered for, there is a large selection for vegetarians, people with more specific dietary requirements may struggle, so call ahead of time to check out their ability to accommodate you. I should note that although the food is nice its not up to good Chinese restaurant standards, but it is good compared to your standard Chinese buffet type arrangements.

On to some of the negatives, it can get quite busy and the service suffers as a result, some of the staff appear not to speak English very well or they are not confident speaking in English and so often they have to send over another member of staff to talk to you, this is fine but it can often take a few minutes for this to happen, which again lets the service down, and to those who don't realise what is happening it can appear rude. The drinks are obviously not included in the price and they only offer a small selection of drafts drinks, most are bottled and can bump the tab up significantly. Typically a 250ml bottle of beer is £2.50. Also ensure you ask for tap water if that is what you want, if you ask for water you are likely to get mineral water at over £3 per jug, not a problem if that's what you want but if you weren't expecting it then it can come as a shock wen you get the bill. However biggest negative for me, which would make me think about going again is that some of the food tasted incredibly salty, and this makes me worry that there is an awful lot of salt in the food, which is obviously not good for you, see the following BBC article for concerns over salt levels in curry (not strictly the same, but food for thought - no pun intended) Warning over salt levels in curry

In summary we would think twice about going back again, the concept is good, the selection is good but the execution is not up to the promise, food is obviously not up to good quality Chinese restaurant standards, it is Chinese canteen (as opposed to Cantonese) style (although I have had far, far, worse from Take Aways in Coventry). The food is probably on a par with other Chinese buffet establishments in Coventry, such as Wing Wah or the Dragon Phoenix, but it is guaranteed to be hot at China Red.

So the scores are as follows:

Service 3/5
Speed 3/5
Food 3/5
Price/Value 3/5
Front of house appearance 4/5
Accessibility 4/5

Overall: 20/30

So if you want to check them out you can find them at:

China Red Cantonese Restaurant & Karaoke Bar
58 Hertford Street,
Coventry,
CV1 1LB

Book a table now on 024 7622 9333

http://www.china-red.co.uk/


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