Baby Buddha Chinese Teahouse in Norwich

Fantastic food, lovely dim sum and the beef in black bean sauce was delicious. Enjoyed the ice cream to finish too. Definitely recommend!

Updated 21.09.24. Consistently the best. and not just in Norwich. Just amazing, by far the best Chinese restaurant in Norwich [if not one of the best restaurants in Norwich], the chilli salt squid is incredible as a note to order.. Update - still without question still the best in Norwich, by a sizeable margin..

Overall the food were good, except the chicken (蔥油白切雞) a little bit over cooked.

I enjoy eating here a lot!! Better than what I anticipated before coming. Service was fast and friendly

We had 4 people with Chinese ancestry in our group. Everyone agreed the food was far too oily & salty. The rice was over-cooked.

We had 4 people with Chinese ancestry in our group. Everyone agreed the food was far too oily & salty. The rice was over-cooked.

Excellent food, brilliant range. Wonderful staff. Love it here.

I don't normally leave reviews -only if it's very good or very bad. This was very good. Great service, delicious food and VERY generous portions. Highly recommended 😊

I don't normally leave reviews -only if it's very good or very bad. This was very good. Great service, delicious food and VERY generous portions. Highly recommended 😊

The food is delicious, the portion is large and filling, and parking is convenient nearby.

Best Chinese food in Norwich, come here ever week or get it delivered, never have a problem always fresh and the best quality, keep up the good work

Family of four, we were late as I am rubbish with phone street directions, i was so pleased when the manager/owner said it wasn’t an issue if we ordered quickly, what followed was frankly as good a meal I have had in this country for Chinese food, salt pepper squid, utter perfection, pork intestine utterly delicious, everything very very high quality, I am married to a girl from Harbin, China and she agreed that it was some of the best food we have had in a long time, honestly better than a lot of what we have had in China, utterly stunning, I really need to get back, I just can’t as I am an hour away but it’s always on my mind, well done guys, I really hope I see you soon

Atmosphere great, service polite and acceptable, majority of food good quality. My only issue is that a portion of chilli salt chips cost more than a regular portion but comes out at half the size. And for that my overall score is 2 stars.

Really good food with great portion sizes Large menu lots of options Good service A bit of a mish match decor Not many parking options

Nice cosy and clean place with kind staff members

Delicious 😋 Shrimp dumplings, siomai, black pepper beef, and seafood braised noodles are recommended

Ordered a takeaway from here, loved it so much we ordered it again a few days later, so fresh, the difference in the dishes towards what we usually have elsewhere is huge! Definitely our new takeaway and norwich does have great establishments, well done for standing out We phoned the restaurant to amend our order, very friendly service. Will definitely visit the restaurant too. Only one small negative for me personally, the chips are actually fries, I prefer chips and assumed that's what I'd get. Overall though, 10 out of 10

Great team food. Sadly they add an extortionate service charge which means I will not return.

The food is fantastic, had three courses, Dim-Sum, soup then mains and every dish was exquisite (including the two the waiter recommended for us). The only reason for any points dropped was when a burglar alarm over the road went off halfway through the meal (not the restaurants fault but even so, after 30 minutes it would grate on anybody marring a top-notch day). WE will return as soon as we are able to get together again. Thank you

Real Chinese Food, draft Chinese beer and fair prices!

Surprisingly there are not too many Chinese sit down restaurants in Norwich and we went here on a recommendation. The service was very friendly and attentive and they went out of their way to make a specific meal for a fussy young person. The food was excellent, nobody was disappointed and the portions were generous too. It's quite a small place but the lager and wines that we had were great. I would say it was a medium price overall and the food and service were more than worthy of it. After 6.30 we could park outside for free, there is meter parking and surface car parks quite nearby, bear in mind if you park in Rouen Road it is up a quite steep hill.

I've been here on a number of occasions and will certainly continue to do so. Friendly attentive staff happy to help in any way possible. There were 4 in our group, we started by sharing 2 platters, the chilli-salt and the deep- fried, plus a portion of chilli salt chips. We then each had a main, a mixture sweet and sour king prawn, chicken noodle stir fry and Szechuan Beef. We also ordered egg fried rice. There was ample amounts of all the food, and as always, the flavours were beyond your normal takeaway dishes. This usually would be enough, but as we were celebrating, we also went for sweets, which made a pleasant change. We also had several drinks each and were happy with the final bill. Two of the group had never been and said it was the best Chinese meal they had ever eaten. Another great night from Baby Buddha.

Had a birthday dinner here with family. Excellent service and staff and very good atmosphere , food, great selection,see menu pics, and very tasty. Overall a very nice experience, it ain't cheap but you get what you pay for.

Sadly the quality of this once-favoured restaurant is slipping. We used to think it one of the best in the East of England. These days the results from the kitchen are disappointing. The dishes lack flair and flavour and the overall dining experience is average at best. The shared dim sum platter of a variety of steamed dumplings were leaden and chewy, and presented on a cold serving dish. The seafood soup noodle for two tasted of a packet mix, it included some fresh veg, however 4 king prawns and a few pieces of squid (£16.50) left us feeling underwhelmed. Service was pleasant but the overall experience was disappointing. This place used to be buzzing; on our visit on a weekday evening in the school holidays it was almost empty.

Good Chinese restaurant with imaginative menu. Portions generous

Really lovely place to eat, great food including the most delicious chicken and sweetcorn soup I've ever had, fabulous service and themed decor

First time here but the food was awesome, the staffs were nice, the atmosphere was good and the price was reasonable 👍

Beautiful cosy atmosphere created by screens breaking up the space. Good food, good service, priced as expected for dim sum.

Very dissatisfying experience we had there. Taste was below average and it was not worth the money at all.

This place is getting pricy, even more expensive than London. Unsure it's worth the money for the food.

Great but bit expensive.. considering we only had one dish each and rice and tea.

Pretty Nice food but a House special curry and some sweet and sour chicken is £40. What planet are these guys on? I also wanted a duck spring roll and just got given some wraps.. god knows how much they costed. Don't expect prawn crackers thrown in on big orders because they will laugh in your face. (As I pretty much got down the phone) I will buy the same two dishes for half the price at the china garden next time.

Very good food, first-time visiting and only for a quick bite to eat, but will return to sample more of the menu for a dinner

Came here for a get together with some friends and family. We had to pre- book as new it would be busy, being a Saturday evening. We arrived a little early, to be certain of getting parked. It was busy ,and we had to wait to be seated. There isn't much of a reception area, but it wasn't an issue. We were soon seated and the staff were very attentive, We decided to have a table full of starters and dim-sum to share, then have our own individual mains. Everyone agreed that the quality, flavours and quantities of food, were one of the best they had eaten. They have quite a few less well known foods such as deep-fried Pigs stomach, or chilli- salt frogs legs, to name but a couple. It cost us around £30- £40 per person inc. drinks and coffees etc., which I think is great value, considering what we all had. Will definitely be returning here more frequently. Thank you Baby Buddha.

Finally came here to eat with my son after wanting to for a VERY long time and after reading such glowing reviews, and honestly? HUGELY disappointed. My local takeaway is on a different level. I am 49 years old and have been eating Chinese food since about the age of 10 and have eaten Chinese food in many different countries and this place, for me, was below par. Also not the cheapest. I don't mind paying but it has to be good quality and here it isn't. The service was warm and friendly, but we went there for the food! Would I go back? That's a definite NO. DISAPPOINTED!!!

Ok, very noisy due to amount of people. Food service and staff very friendly

Very Expensive. Prawn Crackers £3.60 Chips £5 Soup £6.50 Really not worth the high price. And beware of service charge added to the bill. Very cheeky.

Very attentive and friendly staff Lovely clean restaurant The food was lovely and flavoursome and hot . The rice dishes are amazing Very good Portion sizes are very good

Just amazing, authentic, incredible flavours, highly reccomend the chili-salt squid, and prawn for that matter.. Amazing

We enjoyed our visit to this establishment. The service was good and the food was delicious. We are torn on whether we would return though. We acknowledge that quality is never cheap, but the pricing here seems excessive.

Genuine authentic Chinese restaurant, great food and atmosphere. Highly recommended.

I visited the restaurant for my mother’s birthday in July 2023 and we left disappointed, the food was prepared differently to the standard from our previous experiences. For our starter, we shared a salt & chilli platter, although this tasted ok, we found the chicken lacked seasoning. Our main course included egg fried rice, mixed meat fried thin noodles and chinese roast belly pork. The rice was very bland and lacking in flavour and the belly pork was very overcooked. We have always enjoyed the food in the past and eaten the majority of our food but not today, the staff kindly asked if we wanted a doggy bag to take home – with respect I wouldn’t give it to my dog! Overall, we left very disappointed with the standard of the food, there appears to be a significant change to the way the food is prepared and cooked, either the management has changed or the chef was either on holiday or drunk! May I add, the menu prices have increased significantly too, there is also an optional service charge with the bill. Please beware, this was automatically applied without my authorization, again very disappointing. To conclude my review, I have been going to the Baby Buddha on and off for the last 10 years, I have made recommendations to my friends and family, even my colleagues in my line of work, I however will not be returning or providing future recommendations.

Food is typical of cheap Chinese takeaway (overly sugary, starchy). Some dishes are slightly better but waitress clueless and advised badly. Would not accept to change the dish, even after I told her it is really bad.

Went for the first Time the other night and loved it. Food was on point and service was second to none

The restaurant was very cold , several customers asked if they could put some heating on. The crispy duck was average but the main courses were congealed and looked like they had been sitting in a pan for quite a while. Was very disappointed with the whole experience.

Brilliant evening meal. Food spot on, scezuan beef, and salt squid, good service and would visit again.

The salt and pepper chicken was dry and chewy. The meal overall was pretty expensive so I was quite disappointed.

Had a takeaway and it was excellent! We ordered the dry ribs, grilled dumplings and crispy chilli beef and was 10 out of 10.

We went for a birthday meal and had a wonderful time. We were encouraged seeing Chinese families eating here - suggesting authentic Chinese cookery. We were not disappointed. The starters (mixed fried) and main courses were superb -5/5. These two courses were as a good Chinese food as I’ve ever had. I had a mixed belly pork and duck dish, with hoisin sauce. Wow! Stunningly good belly pork, with perfect crackling, and succulent flavoursome duck. My wife and daughter had sweet n sour chicken and dick with pineapple. Traditions sounding takeaway fare - but apparent SO superior to previous tasting. The only slight negative was ordering Singapore rice ‘for one’ and getting enough for 3! The otherwise very helpful young waiter had said the rice choices were ‘for one’. My daughters dessert of waffles were apparently superb. However my wife and I had banana fritters. These were the most disappointing part of the meal. The batter, syrup and ice cream were lovely. BUT the bananas were hard, very ‘seedy’ (the centre black core) and not at all sweet. They were either very unripe OR (perhaps more likely) were in fact plantains The only reason for an overall 4/5 is because of the banana fritters. The rest of the meal was wonderful and we WILL be returning. I would also add that the service and speed of service were excellent. With an improvement in the bananas and a wee bit more experience & training for the (very pleasant) young trainee male waiter, the evening would’ve been perfect. We’ve really found somewhere we like a lot.

Absolutely amazing food and service! Food was all so tasty and fresh. Service was really good friendly and helpful. A nice selection of drinks too including some cool Chinese soft drinks which makes a nice change from coke etc for a non drinker

Ate here on Sunday 4 December 2022. Didn't book in advance, but I suspect this place can get very busy. Great service. Wonderful food. Reasonable prices. Well worth visiting.

Was recommended to try Baby Buddha by the door staff at the Murderers. Service was exceptional from the moment we arrived without a booking. The menu is very varied and it was tough to choose what to have. We had prawn crackers as a quick appetiser followed by four mains with noodles and rice. Everything was hot and looked really nice. Flavours were wonderful, the meal was delicious/ Would really recommend this place.

What’s happened to this once loverly restaurant? Went there 5.45 last Wednesday. Half the restaurant is reserved for the family and the rest is just uninviting and cold. I note they no longer do Dim Sum at lunch so my assumption is that the chef has gone because the food was tasteless, cold and appalling. For the Sweet and Sour chicken I think they went to Tesco a bought battered chicken slices and the sauce was like jam. Everything was floating in oil. Haven’t been here for two years, it use to be amazing .. all gone I am afraid.

Sehr leckeres, frisches chinesisches Essen, freundliche und flotte Bedienung, gutes Angebot von Speisen und Getränken. Allerding nicht allzu preiswert!

I've eaten here on a few occasions and always been impressed with the food. The dishes are served really fast too so there is little waiting time for the food to arrive which is great. The average price dish however is £14.80 (without rice) which is high for Norwich. The egg fried rice is £6.50 which is extortionate; the menu does advise its for 1-2 people but its definitely not enough for 2 and a large portion for 1 person which makes it at pointless sized dish and very expensive.

We love Chinese food and Baby Buddha is head and shoulders the best and most authentic Chinese restaurant in the area. The food is all of a high standard. The staff are helpful and the dishes themselves are extremely tasty. I had the schezwan beef and my wife the seafood noodle soup. Both excellent. The dim sum were exceptional. we will be regular visitors.

It was good to see a number of Chinese families eating in the restaurant and also the menu was both in English and Chinese . The food quality was very good and there were many interesting dishes available that do not feature on the normal...

Visited with my wife and son over the jubilee weekend. Haven't been in a while. Got to say the food was amazing as always. They are struggling with service, but so many places are now as well, due to staff shortages.

The food was fine, nothing awe-inspiringly brilliant but definitely edible. The service was really slow, possibly because some of the staff were also cleaning in order to get away on a Sunday evening but we felt that trying to automatically add the 'optional' 10% service...

Hard to give a review after getting a cold but the takeaway was to the side. Had a pint while I waited. I had beef with flat rice noodles, which was good and the beef was nice and tender. Lost my sense of taste so hard to tell how the food tastes. But overall it was good. About 20mins wait but had a pint. Staff nice.

What an absolutely brilliant restaurant. The food, the service, the staff were all excellent. Couldn’t fault it. I would highly recommend

Had a great meal here with two friends - Had to wait some time for a table due to the fact we had not booked and things were busy

If you want an authentic taste of South East Asian dim sum this is the best they've got in Norwich. If you're used to a wide selection like you get in Chinatown in London, then you need to go to Chinatown in London.

Excellent food and service but quite expensive for what you got

Good food, with authentic cuisine

Enjoyed a fantastic celebration lunch here on Friday. The dining room is elegant and the senior front of house lady is charming, warm and helpful. The food is elevated - freshly made dim sum, different mains alongside more familiar dishes, no gloopiness or MSG overload,...

Amazing place I had the soup what a size of a bowl a meal itself wonderful food very nice staff there will go there again hope to take my Chinese girlfriend there next time

Good quality chinese in a city where chinese restaurants are few on the ground. Big portions but expensive. Order few dishes as the quality is high and the portions are bigger than the average chinese restaurant.

Baby Buddha Chinese Teahouse had been recommended to us as the place to go for proper authentic eat in experience. Extremely helpful and friendly staff as we were not totally sure how much dim sum to order, the lovely, charming lady helped us with our...

Had an absolutely wonderful meal, great value for money, nice sized portions. Good selection of dishes on the menu.

Returned for the first time in a while due to lockdown. The food was fantastic. Tasty, fresh and quickly served by friendly waiting staff. My particular favourite was the Chinese roast belly pork and spicy lemon chicken. Can highly recommend this restaurant, we came for...

Came here on a very busy Saturday night. Food arrived with a massive size and very tasty. Had to wait a bit long but the waitress was friendly and helpful. She gave us free prawn crackers while we were waiting. Authentic Chinese dimsum and fusion...

Still the best Chinese resturant in Norwich.

Lovely food and attentive staff definitely recommend this place for authentic Chinese food.

Food and dim sums , to die for, wine not so good.

Came for dinner at 5.30pm on 15.12.2021 - not busy at all, only a few tables occupied. Walked in without a booking. Haven't been here for a few years, menu has been drastically shortened to basic dishes. Boiled rice was £3.75. Toilets are near the entrance/bar. Free WiFi. Metered parking outside the restaurant or opposite, 80p for 15 mins then 30p after. There is a lunch deal but I didn't take much notice of the offer. Would come again as it was tasty.

To be honest, I don’t know why you’d order takeaway from any other Chinese in Norwich.

Baby Buddha always been my favorite place to order takeaway. Food always arrived warm. Their curry is the best!

Came here on a busy Saturday night. The food was briliant! Had to wait a bit long since they were busy. But service was very good. The rice is massive. Should ve ordered smaller size. The salt and pepper squid was a very good starter dish. My favorite was the belly pork and prawn tofu balls. Saturday night was a bit full of noise. A typical Chinese restaurant! But we all did enjoy it! Staff were friendly. Definitely gonna come here again. #babybuddha

Really yummy and authentic - Great service and atmosphere :) thank you!

Checked website for opening times as it was Sunday. Open from 5pm for take away and 5:30 for dining in. Co-ordinated public transport and set off on a very cold wet night. Tried calling at 5:25 to see if restaurant booked but got answer machine...

Service was quick and attentive. Dim sum was oily and not very tasty. Mains were large, fine but nothing special. Probably won't go again - they need to sort the dim sum especially!

Went on a Sunday evening, only us and one more family at a table . From taking our order we waited 50 minutes until our food arrived . The staff were more interested in seeing to takeaway orders. When I asked what the delay was...

Amazing food and excellent staff! Probably the best, freshest Chinese meal I've ever had. Note portion sizes, they are massive!

Absolutely LOVED this place despite the price. Every time I have ordered from here it's been brilliant and flavourful. So much so I recommend it to anyone looking for somewhere that's better than your usual Chinese. Ordered last night and it was horrific. No flavour to the rice except oil, the crispy pork belly was soggy yet somehow also burnt, as was the duck which was also way more oily than duck usually is. The noodles were practically mush and the noodle dish had a lack of flavour to it just like the rice. Might have been a bad night but I don't think I will risk spending so much money here again, unfortunately. Edited to add - after reading some of the other negative reviews and the smarmy replies left by the owners here, I will gladly not spend money here again if this is how you treat people who spend money with you. Try being a bit more diplomatic to your customers when there have been issues with your food. Even McDonalds appears to have better customer service!

Excellent food just lighting a bit bright

Lovely restaurant if not in the nicest part of Norwich. We went by taxi. Friendly obliging staff. Excellent Dim Sum pork and prawn dumplings. Rest of food was good but not as good as these.

Overall food was good. Mixed starters on warm side. Staff could do better. Waiting for drinks while waitress was on her phone eating. Took dirty cutlery off starter plate and put on table to use for mains. Generally looked uninterested most of the night. Prob wouldn't have bothered about reviewing but took service charge which they never deserved

Good authentic food very pleasant friendly staff. Recommended.

First time I’ve written a review, I’ll keep it brief! This isn’t the worst Chinese I’ve had in Norwich however it may just be the worst I’ve ever had! Apologies in advance if the chef was unwell and was not available! Good reviews, shame mine...

This place is an awesome find. The staff are very friendly and helpful. The menu has a wide selection of both traditional and westernised cuisine. Which we took full advantage of and ordered a variety of dishes. All of which were of outstanding quality. I...

Good food, often late but the food is worth it

Absolutely gorgeous food, so delicious. Staff are lovely A****

Had a lovely meal and the service was really friendly and welcoming. Decided to start with the dumsum and then had a variety of dishes for our main. One of the best Chinese’s meals we have had in a long time.

At last found a truly marvellous Chinese restaurant in Norwich... Great choice.. Good service ample portions if a little pricey.. Singapore Vermicelli to die for..

Great tasting dimsum as good as I've had in London or elsewhere!! Service was very attentive without being intrusive and we had to sign in on NHS app write our contact details down plus they too a temp reading of us both before allowing us in, very happy that they take it so seriously. Well worth a visit if you enjoy Dim Sum

Been a while since we last visited Baby Buddha. Read some bad reviews but tonight it excelled. Clean, welcoming, staff very helpful and pleasant. Food was even better than we remembered. Delicious tasty and we eat everything. Thoroughly enjoyed our return visit.

Lovely food and super staff. Would recommend a visit.

Disappointing experience. We have always loved coming to Baby Buddha for dimsum, we have not been since COVID pandemic, the menu was reduced which would be ok if they included a few more of the staples and fewer variations of pork and/or prawn dumplings. It may seem like a minor issue but the chilli oil we got offered today was not Chinese chilli oil with chili flakes. We also paid £2 per person for a pot of tea with refills included, but when topped up it was far too weak and not enough tea leaves were added in the first place. Also not enough vegetarian options for my vegetarian friend, they also stopped making egg tarts!!! Food was ok in general, but I would not go back there due to the drop in standards.

1st visit to this restaurant, it won't be my last! The food was amazing. Lovely atmosphere, friendly and welcoming. Chopsticks a must!