Firstly, it's caveat emptor - buyer beware - and know that there's a 10% service charge atop the already stonking prices.
We opted for the set meal for two at £33.95 per head and with 3 diet cokes our bill was a tad under £85.
So be very aware before you dine that the prices are very high for what is truly cheap food, cheaply made. We enjoyed what we had but we would not go again.
We didn't grumble at the prices charged as we knew the cost on ordering. We hadn't noticed the service charge as it wasn't there but snuck in at the end. Although devious and underhanded it would not have made us leave anyway.
The service we got cost just under a tenner on top of high food prices but it was impeccable. Faultless and attentive.
We sat outside, just at tea time on a beautiful warm day on aluminium chairs, on a gentle slope with Windsor castle behind us.
The most notable memory going around that day was the huge number of jumbo jets flying low overhead as Windsor is on Heathrow's landing flight path. You'd need to live in a castle to cut out that continuous noise.
So to the food here. Again this followed a pattern for us with Chinese and Indian with starters good then next courses fair and then poor.
The starter platter was very good - crispy 'seaweed' which is deep fried green cabbage; 2 each of vegetable spring rolls, chicken skewers, pork ribs (that were very good) and prawn toasts. On the toasts I'm unsure if the filling was warm water prawn as the texture and colour were quite spongy and odd tasting.
The platter was accompanied by a dish of chilli sauce and one of peanut sauce and this part was good 4 star.
Next we had just alright duck and pancakes with Hoi Sin sauce. This, from a jar Cantonese sauce, was thick and tasty.
As usual the duck was accompanied by (6) pancakes, sliced cucumber and spring onions. We expected the duck skin to be crispy but it wasn't and at the price we expected the skin, fat and meat to be separated out - it wasn't. This wasn't the tastiest duck either and the meat portion was small so just about 2 stars.
The last course was poor indeed; sweet & sour chicken and a chicken & black bean. Both came with one serving of rice and a side of tasty vegetables in garlic (broccoli, carrot, Pak Choi, bamboo shoot but no water chestnuts).
There not much else to say about the two mains as they didn't wow. In fact they were so poor tasting - Marks & Spencer's comparable Chinese ready meals do taste far better and each has more chicken.
The battered chicken pieces we got served here in the sweet & sour were very small pieces - like a kids meal - and neither sauce was as flavoursome as they each could be, and should be for the high price demanded so 1 star.
If I'd bought these mains in the Red Panda in Belfast as takeaway I'd pay £16 for both with two fried rice portions and free ace prawn crackers thrown in.
So all in all it wasn't anywhere near great, rather it was just alright with only a few highlights. It certainly isn't remotely worth the extortionate price paid, not close, even without the service charge it's double what it should be for the cheap food cheaply made and served.
The best thing as we reflect was that it wasn't really awful but at £85 it should have been far and away much, much better.
Oh and while they have WiFi its not for customers. read more
