You can tell a lot about a place based on its soup. I can't say much about anything other than the soup here, but the pork and shrimp wonton is delicious. I could easily eat a small bowl of this 2-3 times a week. The reason I'm reviewing a soup if because I'm in London for a work trip and one of my students developed pneumonia while we were here. THIS SOUP was the only thing the student could or would keep down for two full days. I finally decided to try it myself, and I can see why: delicate wontons that are perfectly thin, giving way to a succulent bundle of pork and shrimp. The simple green onion garnish on the broth is a perfect herbaceous touch. I've gotten this dish about 3 days in a row, and I'm not ashamed to say tomorrow will likely be Day Four: Judge me. I don't care. read more

We visited London last fall and this was not on the planned meals list at all lol We stayed near here and walked by multiple times a day to get to the tube station and it was always busy, sometimes with a line of Asian ppl out the door. At first I joked that if this were Singapore we'd be lining up by now just bc of the ppl outside and the same must hold true in London. But once I looked at the pictures of the lobster noodles I actually did want to eat here. This is not on any list in particular in eater or whatever. It looks like some random "jiudian" you can find in any street in China tbh but it turned out to be one of my top meals on this vacation of great meals. Glad we snuck it in on our last afternoon in London. The lobster noodles - not to be missed. Everyone at every table ate one. A businessman with a suitcase literally ordered as he walked to his table next to ours, inhaled a huge plate within minutes and left before we even got ours lol... Clearly this dish makes this a destination eatery for many. Iirc you can order a lobster any number of ways and it's just recommended to be served with noodles. I forgot what we chose but it was what we confirmed with the server was the way to go. Another thing that many Asian tables had was ginger scallion chicken. One of my favorite things is a good poached chicken dish, whether cantonese or hainanese. Theirs was an excellent version. One of my favorites. Very chickeny chicken, well balanced with scallion and ginger flavor, perfectly seasoned. No sauce served and no sauce needed. They had to look at my husband and confirm that it's bone in multiple times lol - I imagine this has been an issue for them before. They also have boneless chickens fwiw. Its been a while but we did order a couple apps that are less memorable by now. The whole menu looked great. If you had a bigger group you could try a whole bunch more on top of the lobster noodles, which I wholeheartedly think are worth a stop as a tourist esp if you are already going to be in the area for something else. read more

Mandarin Kitchen - One order of noodles here but you can get 2 - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

Busy Chinese restaurant. They are known for the lobster noodle, apparently. It takes so much digging to eat, and I'm not convinced it's worth the effort. But people seem to enjoy it. read more

Mandarin Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

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Very good Chinese restaurant right near Kensington Palace. It's a one minute walk from the Queens Way tube station so it's in a very convenient location. The first thing we noticed was the staff were all wearing masks and gloves and hand sanitizer was provided at every table. Thank you for being COVID-conscious especially when the rest of London doesn't seem to be! The Chinese food was very good - not greasy or heavy at all. I got the lobster noodles that they're known for with the ginger sauce. It was very good but my only grievance was the sauce made the lobster very slippery, almost gooey and difficult to crack open to get to the meat. I realize it's a lot more work but I wish they had cracked the lobster open in the kitchen and put the lobster meat on top of the noodles instead. Or, just cook the noodles in the sauce and then put the lobster in the shells on top, but cooking the lobster in the sauce wasn't as successful for me. If we ever went back I'd probably order something else off the menu. My husband enjoyed his dishes! read more

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Noodle lobster is amazing & delicious I highly recommend this place very clean busy You have to reserve before you come here They're very welcome I tried few place didn't like it at all But this place at London it's good read more

Mandarin Kitchen - Noodle lobster - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

Always get the king prawn fried rice for takeaway here after a night out and it's always banging. Service is really good too - staff is always friendly even when it's busy read more

Honestly was a bit disappointed with this place. The service was not amazing (pretty slow), and the food was only okay. That being said though, it seems like most people order the lobster noodles which sounds like a huge hit, but we didn't. We just had the duck and some string beans for a quick dinner. Overall okay, but wouldn't come out of my way to come back unless someone really wanted to. Would be keen to try the lobster noodles though! read more

Mandarin Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

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The Chinese food wasn't bad to taste. Place is very crowded. The Fried Noodles dish could have had more flavors but tasted all right. The Fried Rice with dry fish was a tad better. Restrooms are hard to get to through all the crowds in the restaurant. read more

Mandarin Kitchen - Fried noodles with Prawns - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

Food taste authentic with little twist; crispy noodles are just fried enough to be crunchy not over fried the gravy is just enough not over powering the dish, chicken with salted fish fried rice is good not too salty or fishy, stemed gailan is still crunchy not over cooked, mushroom with tofu has a good mixture of sweetness and saltiness, the eggplant with minced pork has an excellent mixed of spiciness but not over powering, the roasted duck is ok but i had better from another restaurant on the same street block read more

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Food was pretty good, the service was terrible, I had one glass of water for my entire meal. My partner ordered the noodles and never got it we asked on the sulfates and it still didn't come out. read more

Mandarin Kitchen was our first stop for Chinese in London. The restaurant was clean and welcoming. The smells coming out of this place were amazing. We started with the Steamed King Scallops with Garlic Soya Sauce. The scallops were huge, and the sauce light, yet flavorful, with a robust garlic soy punch. For the meal, we split Yeung Chow Fried Rice (Pork & Shrimp), Squid in Black Bean & Chilli Sauce, and King Prawns in Mandarin Sauce. This meal was a-mazing! 惊人!!! The regulars next to us had two lobster and a whole fried fish. This looked so good, and they said that they never stray from the lobster. Later, I seemed to see a pattern here: everyone gets something lobster here. Sad we missed out on the trend, but we really enjoyed our meal. The service was friendly and kind. We were served quickly and carefully. Our drinks were poured for us to start. The jasmine tea was a wonderful accompaniment to the meal. Did I say 惊人?! Amazing! read more

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Service is A+ . Food is outstanding!! I love this Restaurant. Make a reservation if you can. Exceptional staff works hard.

I have to thank author Kevin Kwan for getting me to this place, because I literally was reading the sequel to Crazy Rich Asians on my flight the day before - and that's where I first heard of Mandarin Kitchen. In the book, the lobster noodles here are described as one of the "trifecta" of Chinese restaurants in London (the others being roast duck from Four Seasons and...I forget the last one, whoops). So we walked to the restaurant and I already knew what we were getting - we also ordered a salt and pepper chicken wing appetizer just to add to the meal. The lobster tasted SO good (I'd say fresh, but I'm not a seafood expert so not sure if that's the right term; the noodles were fine but the lobster really made the dish). They serve it in front of you and give you a pick, as well as plates for the shells and lemon water (I hope for washing your hands, because that's what I used it for...) The chicken wings were also delicious - perfect amount of crunchiness and a great contrast to the tossed noodles. If you're looking through the menu and can't find lobster noodles, that's because (I learned from the receipt) it's actually the lobster with ginger / scallion + noodles. One star off because the serving staff made me feel somewhat intimidated (not sure if I was projecting after reading a book about rich Asians frequenting the restaurant) - I was actually kind of scared to ask what the lemon water was for and just copied another table. Awesome food though! read more

Mandarin Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

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First and foremost--service and the gentleman that helped us get a reservation for the next evening (since they were completely booked the first night we came there) was so nice! He even remembered us by name. Service was really top notch. The seafood was really fresh and the lobster in ginger and scallion sauce is not to be missed. Be forewarned though that the noodles they recommend to go with the lobster is an extra £6 charge. The MP for lobster in April was £36, which might seem pricey but is basically what any higher end restaurant would charge for a lobster dinner. I next time I'd skip the noodles and get rice--but that's personal preference. We had three appetizers to start and the prawns were the best! So juicy. The vegetable lettuce wrap and scallops were forgettable. A really great dinner overall and literally seconds away from the Underground station. read more

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Within walking distance to our hotel. We tried this restaurant since we were getting hungry and wanted soup and noddles. I would say it's one of the best tasting hot and sour soup I have encountered. We had to wait for several minutes to be seated. It was full despite being already late...around 9:30pm so we were surprised. It was no big deal waiting less than 5 minutes. Service was good. Our server was attentive. No qualms there. Since it was full, there was moderate noise but nothing big. That did not bother me. Food quality was good with prices fairly priced. Certainly not quantity driven I would say. Favorable experience overall. read more

My Points Index {100}: Authenticity 40% Food 30% Service 10% Price 10% Ambient 5% Cleanliness 5% Authenticity 4/5 Food 4.5/5 Service 3/5 Price 3/5 Ambient 3/5 Cleanliness 2.5/5 77 points Remark: The scallops. read more

I went for dinner with friends and had a fab time. We ordered crispy duck, lobster noodles, mafo tofu and string beans. Everything was solid and flavourful, with my favourites being the lobster noodles and string beans. Whilst the crispy duck was great, it wasn't too different from other roast or pecking duck I had had. Mafo tofu was good too, but not spicy or strongly flavoured as I would have liked. Service was okay, but when it got busy, we found it very difficult to get anyone's attention. Otherwise, interactions with staff were very limited (not surprising for a Chinese restaurant). Ambience was spacious and clean, but nothing fancy or sophisticated. Great to have a casual meal or even celebrate an occasion, but don't expect anything too decorative. read more

Mandarin Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

Terrible. This place was down the road from our rental. Always packed so we decided to give it a try on our last night in London. Big mistake. After being seated outside the wait staff ignored us until we flagged one of them down. We had some questions, but the server couldn't provide any information about the various dishes. In response to questions about flavors or help choosing between dishes, he simply pointed to the menu and nodded. Our party of 4 ordered 4 dinners (lobster noodle, prawn w/crispy noodle, chicken w/vegetables and sizzling steak) a beer and a lychee martini. The drinks came out first. Nothing bad to say about the beer, but the martini was all syrup; tasted devoid of alcohol. Food that came out (and not all of it did) was served so sporadically we were not able to dine together. After a long wait, the lobster noodle came out, followed by the prawn noodle. The lobster is what they're known for. It's nothing special and IMO ridiculously priced for what it is. The prawn noodle was a soupy mess, with supposedly crispy noodles buried under a slimy white sauce. When you dig out the noodles, they're chewy and soggy. The only flavor to this dish is an unpleasant, bitter aftertaste. Two of us tried it and agreed it was disgusting. Tried to send it back, but the server either didn't understand or pretended not to. Regardless, that member of the party still needed a meal so he ordered chicken wings. The third dish (chicken vegetable) came out much later and in two parts. The vegetables came out first, and once they were good and cold, the chicken came out (at this point, we've been there at least 45 minutes and only one of us had eaten). The chicken was extremely salty, and coupled with the cold vegetables was also a huge disappointment. After an hour or so of waiting, I went inside and asked about the fourth entree (sizzling steak) and the replacement dish of chicken wings. Spoke with a gentlemen who I assume was the owner or manager. He checked with the waiter and then told me he would "rush" the chicken wings. I asked about the sizzling steak and he was at a loss (looked like it was crossed off the ticket). He said he' look into both dishes. I told him not to bother with the chicken or steak and to please give us the bill for the food we did receive. While we waited for the bill, the owner came outside. I assumed it was to apologize for the terrible experience, but no such courtesy. Instead, it was to chat with a guy who was standing on the sidewalk next to us and pet his dog. Finally got the bill and, insult to injury, it automatically included a service charge. Paid for the awful experience, and then went down the street to eat at a pizzeria. read more

Amazing restaurant. We got the lobster noodles, mushrooms with sauce, and fried pork. Best Chinese restaurant I've been too outside of China just for the shear consistency of dishes. Some restaurants have one or two dishes that are amazing, but at Mandarin Kitchen everything is amazing. Bravo! read more

Mandarin Kitchen - Lobster Noodles - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

Absolutely would recommend this stop. Definitely recommend having a reservation as it was packed. Friendly service with great advice on food recommendations and excellent food overall. We had a decent sized group and ate family style, so there were to many dishes to recall. Standout for me was the appetizer platter and the lobster with noodle. read more

It was an amazing dinner. Not too formal but well organized and operated suitable for business occasion as well. Very high cost performance. Looking forward to visiting next time! read more

Mandarin Kitchen - Lobster noodle was amazing! - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

Lobstah noodles. LOB STAH NOODLES. Lobster noodles!!! I've lived in Singapore for 18 years and have experienced a wide variety of chinese food. Mandarin Kitchen is as close as I can get to chinese food of authentic standard in London. Food 4/5 Superb Lobster noodle (a must must must) Lobster so fresh it slid off the shell... slippery goodness Mushroom with black truffle Layers of stewed mushroom goodness paired with an aromatic waft of fresh truffle They serve Movenpick ice cream Vanilla/ mango but really any flavour from them is bomb. Move over haagen daaz! Red Bean pancake asian style Crispy, chewy and filled generously. Please let me know what else is great here. Can't wait to try other dishes! Xo read more

I'm glad that my friends from Sin took me to Mandarin Kitchens for dinner and is my first visit to Chinese Seafood Restaurant. I strongly recommended the Lobster Noodles, is the biggest lobster i've had in London, very tasty and the sauce was perfect ! After that, we had Almond Fruit Curd and Red Bean Pancakes as a dessert. The Red Bean Pancakes was just alright for me as i'm not a red bean fan. I love Almond Curd not too sweet just my taste. read more

Mandarin Kitchen - Lobster Noodles - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

Enter a realm of superior seafood, where lobster and other shellfish of exquisite freshness and expert preparation will boldly take you to worlds where no humans have gone before! After 4+ miles of fun-filled sightseeing and urban hiking from the London Eye, we were so glad to see our destination: dinner! We love seafood and were like sweet-toothed kids in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory! The heavenly and varied selection of crustaceans, bivalves, mollusks (sea cucumber, abalone), and fish made us uncharacteristically indecisive--but in a good way. Our server recommended the lobster, and after seeing a neighboring couple savor it, we were sold! Normally, we enjoy our seafood as pure and simple as possible, so we were considering to have it raw or just steamed. Our server seemed a bit more than suggestive in getting us to order it with ginger, scallion, and noodles--a popular choice--which we were really glad we did :-D To start, we had Phoenix Prawns with Chili and Scallions. At first, it was a sight to behold: each prawn was BIGGER than most lobster tails! The accompanying sauce appeared to be strong, but served to complement the incredibly flavorful crustacean. Then, the lobster arrived and we were stunned by how incredibly flavorful it was: totally superior, cleaner, and more succulent than any of its Maine relatives served at $$$$+ restaurants! The ginger and scallions complemented the meat incredibly well, and the noodles were just perfect texture and seasoning as a complementary component for the star crustacean. Not only could you taste the pristine freshness, it was clearly visible as the meat was plump in every crevice right down to the tiny swimmerets. Another point that stuck was how easy it was to extract the meat from the shells. When we asked our server how the lobster was so tasty and so fresh, he pointed out that they get them straight from the Scottish Sea and the chef is an expert in carving up the lobster so that all of the pieces cook perfectly and the patrons have an easy time eating their meal. By that time, we were quite satisfied but curious to try dessert. Since our server was perfect so far, we asked him to select our dessert: a hearty and palate balancing red bean pancake. All in all, this was a seafoodie's dream. I understand how the service can be perceived as brusque to efficient (the bus persons are a bit blunt), but showing an earnest interest in the restaurant and having a great server made for a wonderful evening of food and service. When we stayed in London, the currency exchange rate was far more disadvantageous for Americans--everything seemed to cost double. The exceptions to the rule were with Starbucks (everything was half the quids as supposed dollars, and their sandwiches were amazing!) and Mandarin Kitchen, which proved to be a relative value for such a memorable experience (~47 quid for 3 amazing courses). I just wish I could teleport to Mandarin Kitchen every now and then :-P read more

It didn't look much from outside. But the inside was quite nice. The food was great. I especially liked the jellyfish and smoked chicken. It was refreshing and tasty. The asparagus with mixed seafood in XO sauce was lighter flavor. But the hot pot eel in chili sauce was yummy. The eel wasn't fishy and it was very flavorful. read more

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You could easily walk right past this place, but once inside it's actually quite nice. And popular. We went early or would not have been able to get in. They were no tourists (ok except us), mostly locals who knew about the restaurant. The food was great and the service (once the staff all arrived) was very good. This will be our go to place for Chinese in London; no more hit & miss in the Center of town. read more

The food was on par with this establishment's overall rating, but wow: I've never felt invisible like this. The wait staff simply exhibited zero interest in selling me anything after my initial order. They appear to be efficient at moving food from kitchen to table, but it stops there. Dining should be pleasurable, not a bland participation in food distribution. Eye contact? Not happening. There are too many other options in the neighborhood for me to return here. read more

Visited here with 4 more colleagues Saturday evening. Ordered Beijing duck, lobster on the rice, and so many. Those two signatures were excellent, brilliant and impressive. I would love to come back again soon. read more

Mandarin Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

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Sometimes I do not want to write a long story as some would prefer to see what's delicious instead of knowing that I just arrived from Paris and was looking forward to seeing my friend from college and her husbad for dinner as they recommended this place. Lobster noods and the duck! Those were delicious. And, shark fin soup, too! read more

Mandarin Kitchen - Lobster noods. - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

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Location is closed until September. Wish this was updated before making the trip! Reason for 2 Stars.

This place is famous for its lobster noodles and rarely disappoints, although to be honest, I have had better in Singapore. Quite expensive so best to go on special dates. A lovely place to meet a friend for lunch as it is quieter and has a different atmosphere at lunch time. So, this is a really good Chinese restaurant. However, my favourite Chinese restaurant is at the other end of the road and has the best duck in the entire world! read more

Got an order ToGo! Singapore Street Noodles was the Bomb! The crispy duck was cold, as if they nuked for a min and it was cold and hot! Pitiful! Food Good but attitude was bad. Oh the could at least offer Soy Sauce or Chop Sticks before you get back and realize they didn't put in bag. Reduced to one star.. took back just to make aware, and nothing but attitude from hostess. read more

By the end of my three week trip to Europe I actually had a yearning for Chinese food. The only other Chinese meal I had in the previous three weeks was at Crispy Duck on my second night in London. So here I was back in London on my final night, and my cousin suggested Mandarin Kitchens. I was told that Mandarin Kitchens is one of the higher end Chinese restuarants in London with its white tablecloths. I soon found out they charge pretty high end as well. For our party of three we had a Fish Soup, Steamed Seabass, and Lobster Noodles. The soup was flavorful yet pretty standard, the steamed seabass was good, and you'd be hard pressed to screw up a dish that's laced with a whole lobster. While I know we may have ordered some of the higher price items on the menu, I never would have thought three items would cost 65 bucks. Oh waaaait, it was 65 quid. And back then that equated to $130. So there ya go, $130 for a three item meal for three. read more

I was unfortunately very disappointed with the restaurant, regardless of the fact that the food on everyone else's table looked excellent! All the dishes had that gooey, gelatinous texture that I absolutely can't stand. The Chicken Friend Noodle was tiny ramen noodles, half of which were fried, the other half were undercooked, as was the chicken itself. I had one bite of this dish and pushed it aside. Gross. What is cool is how there is a while part of the menu for Lobster, Crab and Dover Sole, cooked in a variety of ways. We had the Sole steamed in a garlic and spring onion sauce which we loved - very healthy and tasty while still keeping the full taste of the fish in tact. Only thing is that when we asked what the dish was more exactly, it was descripbed completely differently - I guess I don't speak Chinese which is a downside here. I think this could be a good place, but the service is rude and the menu needs far more explanation. Maybe I'll be back, but probably not. Too bad Royal China was closed last night. read more

Tried to dine here on our first night in London after seeing reviews. Went in around 5:30 and were immediately asked if we had booked a table. We said no and the gentleman began looking at his res list. I pointed out to him that there was ONE table seated, and no reservations for about 1-1.5 hours. I mentioned we didn't take that long to eat! Again he slowly looks at list. So slowly. I said to the man, never mind we will go somewhere else. Gee, I hope all those reservations showed up. We went a few doors down and had AMAZING Chinese food and service from the entire staff! read more

This is one of the worst Chinese restaurants I have ever been to! I have been told that this is English Chinese food, and if that is the case, English Chinese food is horrible! This place has ok service and nice, comfortable Ambience, which is the reason I gave it 2 stars instead of 1. The fried rice tasted off, and the chicken was not good! I do not recommend this place if you live in the United States and are not used to this kind of Chinese food. read more

The best Chinese seafood in London. Which isn't that grand a claim, since there's not much competition. The lobster noodles are probably the best thing on offer here, though recently it seems they're using less ginger. This upsets me. You literally cannot have enough ginger in any dish involving either noodles or lobster. With a dish consisting entirely of noodles and lobster it would take the entire ginger output of a small nation to reach the optimal amount in my eyes, so possibly take this advice with a pinch of salt. The small scallops are masterful, the larger scallops less so but worth eating if they're claiming to have run out of the wee ones. They haven't, they're just hoarding them for the staff to eat when the place closes. I'M ONTO THEM. The drunken chicken is also worth a mention. read more

Great service! We had the lobster noodles after reading about it in China Rich Girlfriend. The lobster was good but the sauce on the noodles could have used some more seasoning. The spicy chicken was not spicy and was more sweet. Good quality for the price. read more

Have been a fan of this restaurant for quite some time since I arrived in the UK back in 1996. However, the last time I went before recently was around 2001 and since then there has been a change of management. The head chef, owner and general manager have all left and although the menu is the same and the restaurants' initial look hasn't changed, the food certainly have. The famed lobster noodle is no longer as good as it used to be. From gastronomical, it has turned ordinary. To be exact, the lobster was overcooked and the "Jian Mian" noodles its cooked with isn't texturally as good as it used to. Also, the restaurant's old decor might have been good in the 90s, but now it just looks tatty and rather dreary. The other seafood are still pretty good. If you go, go for the seafood as the typical Chinese meat dishes are all too common. Food 7/10 Value 6/10 Location 5/10 Atmosphere 7/10 Service 6/10 read more

One of my favourite restaurants in Queensway. The lobsters in noodles is delicious, along with the family favourites such as roast/crispy pork. Not the cheapest but certainly worth it. Good service but I recommended booking ahead as it gets busy! My go to place when catching up with friends! read more