Cafe de China in Thanet

Amazing food, just like every visit I've made here

Excellent food & Excellent customer service 👌🏻

Would recommend this place. lovely food loved every single bite

We decided to come here whilst staying in Margate as it was listed in our hotels room folder, upon discovering that this was also a sit down restaurant we decided to came as there is not such one in our home town centre. I rang in advance to see if there was a need to book and was told by a member of staff that we could just walk in. On arrival, we found a clean and spacious restaurant with a varied menu with good choices of fare. Staff were friendly and efficient and we even stayed for dessert. It is easily on our list for next visit to Margate.

Food ok many times they make mistake not nice staff .... and check yours bill becouse they dont day but they charge extra money for service:/

Absolutely love these guys. Owner from our own town and they absolutely love us to. Foods great service is great and we are always treated well as this is mine and husband's preferred place for anniversaries. Worth the drive and anyone who says different is obviously not worthy of their service. Although not a buffet you do pay for the plates you do not manage to eat but you can take this away with you if you wish. Can't fault our fellow friends

Customer service was poor from the start. I wanted to leave but my companions were hungry and did not want to walk into Margate town to look for somewhere else to eat. So we stayed and ordered what turned out to be average tasting food. I think if you’re in a large group then it works but as there was only three of us we were shoved on a table next to the toilets and the washing up area so not a pleasant spot to eat dinner!

We have probably been coming to Cafe de China on our annual holiday to Margate for over 10 years, and it never disappoints. The lady who manages it is always so accommodating to our party of 10 or more in some years, and the food is always excellent. Highly recommended.

Small group of 5, two of us have been here before a long time back and it's still as good as it used to be. I had read some of the low rated reviews before I left but experienced none of what was said. The staff were polite and easy to understand, the food was brought out in a timely manner, everything was well presented. We didn't feel rushed or anything. We weren't the only large group, and the venue is large enough to cater for lots of groups. I'll definitely be coming back here, and recommending it to my friends.

Good food, nice feel to restaurant HOWEVER, be aware that the price advertised isn’t correct, we thought it was £24.45 each for all you can eat however on the back of the menu away from the pricing is a 10% discretionary service charge!!!!!, this is NOT evident when you are ordering from the ‘ all you can eat’ menu!!!!!, they don’t tell you about it either!!!!, stealth charges are not a good thing, so 2 adults and 1 can of Pepsi came to £59!!!!!!!!, NOT HAPPY 😡

Recommended on the day by a local (McDonald's worker) the food was great, pick 4 dishes for £10.90 and every dish was exceptional tbh. Not the usual place I'd walk in, but we're glad we did. Wasn't busy at all.

Horrible and racist staff, would never step foot in this place again! We just came into the restaurant. We were completely ignored by the first waiter and he went and attended to the people behind us. We then found a table OURSELVES and another waitress came and asked how many people were here to dine. There were 4 of us and then she told us to sit down. 2 mins after we sat down, she asks us if we had a reservation, we did not. She then told us to get up and leave the restaurant. I was shocked with her disgusting and rude behaviour and we promptly left. I am so happy that we did not spend our money in such a place. They should train their staff to be more welcoming and maybe a course in customer service since there clearly wasn't any! It won't kill anyone to mention that it's important to have a reservation or that their restaurant is full so they are not taking any walk ins at the moment. The complete absence of respect is surprising and I'm sure more customers will be put off visiting if this is what their staff is like.

The waiters were very rude to us. When we were about to order our food, they told us to get up from the table in a rude manner because there were reservations for people waiting for that table. They should be more polite. I feel like she is racist.

Upon entry we told the waitress that we wanted a table for 4. They told us we could sit down however once we started looking through the menu, they were extremely rude and told us to leave simply because we didn't make a reservation. The problem is not that we didn't have a reservation, in fact we completely understand if the restaurant is reservation based, the problem was the way in which we treated and told to leave. This should have been told to us from the very beginning ( before we sat down and looked through the menu). Instead the waitress told us to leave in a very rude manner which was also very humiliating. Regardless, we left without causing a scene and we will definitely not be back ever again.

I had an extremely disappointing experience at China De Cafe. When we arrived, the waitress seated us without any issues. However, shortly after, she asked if we had a reservation, which we didn't. When other customers arrived, we were asked to leave to accommodate them. This treatment felt discriminatory and left me feeling very upset. It seemed like we were being pushed aside for other customers, which is unacceptable. She felt racist towards us. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone based on this experience.

Absolutely loved it ! Food was lovely and the staff were lovely I recommend!

We ordered a delivery as we didn't know the area. The food turned up 45 minutes late and was cold, this was after I had to chase it up. Totally awful experience and a waste of money.

It was quite cold in the restaurant, food wasn't as hot as it could be. Very small amounts for the money, al you can was expensive.

Everyone cooked in dirty oil, it all tasted the same, the lemon chicken , was one if the worst bits of chicken I have ever seen. Such a shame, as used to be good value money, we will won't be going back, ever! But the staff are all lovely and welcoming.

Good food quick service 👌 had a great lunch very happy

Brilliant service. Highly recommended

What an amazing meal everything piping hot and delicious well cooked and plenty of choice the restaurant is clean and tidy and I will be back with company very soon

An absolute awesome experience, the food was amazing as well as the service. I highly recommend this place for the best Chinese food in Margate. We got so engrossed in our lunch I didn't even get to take any photos....

Second time I have been here. My husbands 1st. We went early 5.45 pm for a belated Valentines/ Anniversary meal. Staff great but not over bearing. As food was finished we were asked what we would like next. All hot and served lovely. We had a bottle of Merlot £19.99 so reasonable for a restaurant. We had a lovely filling evening. People arriving seemed to be having a lovely time to. We didnt hear anyone complain about anything Outside doesnt look to inviting. My husband had reservations when he saw that. He was pleasantly surprised. We would go again

Food and service were both good however it was cold in the restaurant which really does let the place down.

Ordered for delivery which hadn't arrived after the estimated 45mins. I called after an hour and was told the driver had left. After 20mins I called back to find out where the driver had got to and was told they had checked and the driver was on the way. 10mins later still no food so called back and was told driver had just left and they hung up the phone. Still no food 2 hours later and I asked if they could cancel the order online so I can get a refund and again they hung up the phone. Terrible service.

Excellent dishes. Warm, hearty people. Quick service. I would prefer Chinese music but apart from that, great. Try the ice cream in a coconut shell, pretty cool.

They charge you for your plates you don't finish when you pay for "all you can eat" We've just left here, all in all good was alright tasting hygiene was fine nothing special but the prices were ridiculous and for two people ended up spending upwards of £80! Also we opted for the all you can eat option that they offer for £26.45 which is reasonable. Read the info on the menu that you couldn't take any of your unfinished food home which is understandable. But we're not told at any point nor was it written that if we ordered a dish and didn't finish the entire thing we would be charged full price for that dish! So order carefully as when we argued this the staff were rude and dismissive of the fact that this should have been told before hand.

First of all, I’ve never experienced such absolutely abhorrent customer service. All of the staff here are extremely rude and it is clear all they want is your money. We arrived at the restaurant at 7 (bare in mind our booking was for 7) and waited for at least 5 minutes standing around in the restaurant before the staff even bothered to come and greet/seat us, this should’ve been the red flag that sent me running out but i made the mistake of saying. After going through the painful process of speaking to the waitresses (again extremely rude and have a horrible attitude), we were brought our lukewarm food that left a lot to be desired, not only this but they took it upon themselves to merge our food orders for a table of 4 people, we ordered 3 portions of something and they would bring out 1 only responding with an eye roll or more terrible attitude when asked for the rest of the dishes. About an hour into our meal, one of the waitresses came over and tried to rush us onto the mains (an extremely limited selection) and once met with rejection began to shout and scream about how we have been here over an hour and a half and we are only allowed this last order of food (“all you can eat” apparently) and that we needed to leave despite other customers having been in the restaurant longer than us. All in all the service experienced here is utterly disgusting and I wouldn’t subject my dog to this treatment let alone myself, this place is a typical money pit designed to rinse you of every coin you have all in all whilst treating you less than human. And get this, they have the nerve to try and add a 10% “service” charge, you get better service from your school canteen lady and you don’t see her asking for handouts. TERRIBLE RESTAURANT DO NOT VISIT!!!!!!

Slow service, small portions, high prices, cramped room, and over priced! One small plate only for entire meal. Don't bother.

Car park at rear £6.95 (NCP used to be free) food good, tasty but slow service and mix up over bill.

Awful place. All you can eat was a lie. Went as a table for 20 and they kept bringing out tiny portions. They gave us 1 round of starters which were supposed to be for a 2, (we were sat in a four) then they gave us shared rice which would feed 1 person in our table of four. Ended up ordering 4 times just to feel full. Was an absolute joke.

Absolutely love this place always a regular stop if I'm here staff are amazing and service is excellent food is lush

Ordered from just eat chicken skewers was cold, to cold was worrying. Nobody wants to eat wondering if they will be ill. 25 pounds for oderves and quater of duck for 2 and still hungry. I won't be back not worth 2.3 hours of hard work for.

Very expensive if you're a small Eat

Went for dinner yesterday with my son, we both had the £24.99 per person and choose anything from the menu and as much as you can eat. Not a buffet which we prefer as food not sitting there all day etc. It’s a really lovely way to try things you have never tried before on Chinese and Cantonese food. Portions are small in a positive way so you don’t get full up quickly, leaves you space to try different food. Have to say we really enjoyed it. A great place to hang and chat while enjoying delicious food experiences and beverages were cold. The young English bloke that serves us really lovely, friendly and helpful. We’ll definitely be back. Just so you know they do 10% off on birthdays under 10yrs old eat for £10.00 but needs ID. Thanks guys for your lovely food and service 😊

Food absolutely mediocre. Satay chicken overcooked and dry, chicken balls burnt, beef with veg had like 2 bits of beef and a load of random veg chucked in with watery tasteless sauce. Spring rolls again burnt and tasteless. Chicken with cashew nuts was again watery sauce a load of random veg 4 tiny bits of chicken and a tasteless sauce. One of the worst Chinese meals ever had. Take your business elsewhere and dont waste your money or time with this place.

Ordered pork dumplings, they were nice! But the chilli beef tasted like dessert. No spice at all.

Food was cold.. and tasteless Waited 1 hour and 55 mins after being told it would be under 45 mins for delivery Delivery driver was rude Lady on the phone was also very rude and not helpful at all

Overpriced 2 tiny plates of food for over £10 went to weatherspoons for a beer and burger afterwards

Lovely food,when it came to pay they are now charging £2.50 per person service charge,nothing anywhere to state this,won't be going again

Food was really good. But I found waitress racist. The way she served us the food and other in the room was too discriminatory. I found the lady extremely rude. Gave 3 stars bcoz of the food. Would never visit again.

We visit Cafe De China at least every six weeks for an all you can eat table service buffet. The service is impeccable, the owner and waitress staff are polite, caring and always in good spirit even on a very busy Saturday night. Highly recommended a visit. There is no other Chinese restaurant as good in the area. Very reasonably priced too.

Great food, good value for money, drink are a little expensive

Service was very bad this women soo rude

Absolutely disgusted with their behaviour. Ordered food this evening on the phone, was told 15 minutes, ended up waiting 45 and one of their customers who was eating in was bad mouthing me and got out of he’s chair and squared up to me, the restaurant then decided to kick me out after waisting my time, I will never ever order from their again and have already told so many of my friends not to, they need to learn how to run a restaurant before they run their mouth, absolutely disgusting service and they should all be ashamed of them selfs. Good luck running your business this year, if it lasts

Fantastic meal will be going back there

Food is ace.... No complaints at all... All round good food and friendly service... We will return

Don't waste your money..awful, inedible food which took 90 minutes to arrive but had to be thrown straight in the bin. Vegetables smelled old, 'vegetarian' chicken was like playdough, wonton were just crackers. Only thing that was edible was the prawn crackers and they were free

Great chicken noodle soup .chicken chow mein was great

Food greasy not very nice. Seems everything is being done on the cheap. Such a shame.

Can’t complain about the all you can eat! Absolute Deal if you like this food! Good Margate spot for a sunset

The food was horrible! I ordered chicken with pineapple, special fried rice, seaweed and dish with variety of veggies. The chicken has a taste… like it was soaked in the toilet. That dish was not just with a bad taste.. it tasted like it wasn’t safe for consuming! The special fried rice was super dry and overcooked, to be honest I think that it was at least from yesterday. The seaweed on the other hand were too salty, oily and dry at the same time. The veggies were alright, until I tried the haricot beans… it was so bitter, that it completely destroyed my appetite! I’m super disappointed as it wasn’t like this before. Maybe they changed the chef. I don’t know, but I’ll never go back there again.

Visited whilst on holiday with my husband and the food was lovely. I got the chicken chow mein and my husband got the special Foo young. A lovely restaurant, no complaints whatsoever.

Very dirty restaurant I complained they just said you eat or get out never never eat here

Very good facilities. Even though was busy , staff were very accomodating and quick on service. Food was very nice.

Absolutely awful, some portions came out cold. The staff were rude, we had to ask for more drinks multiple times. Added a service charge on the bill at the end that when I asked if optional was told no. Then saw on the way out on their menus that it's a discretionary service charge so I didn't actually have to pay it. Almost £10 just for the service charge as our bill for 2 adults and a child and 3 drinks was over £80. Will not be returning. TY8 is so much more worth it, better food and friendly service.

£10,90 a head for 4 dishes well what a waste of money no joke 4 forkfulls of chicken chowmein and it was gone ribs nice but no meat rice was the smallest portion possible one dish that was prawn orientated had 3 prawns and to add insult to injury they add 10% to the bill so had to go into weatherspoons and have burger and drink for just over a fiver so keep your hard earned cash and avoid cafe de chine if you want a hearty meal

Excellent food, service and good prices - thank you Cafe de China

Tried this place for dinner, and went for the All You Can Eat option which includes any dishes on the menu. (Note, this is not a buffet restaurant, your dishes are cooked to order, and served at your table) Priced at £22.95 p/p Mon-Thurs. £24.95 Fri-Sun. Food was banging, fresh, nicely presented, and perfectly cooked (Salt and Chilli King Prawns were amazing) and all the other dishes we tried were very good too. Mongolian Lamb was very nice, served with deliciously crisp and fresh lettuce leaves, and a plum sauce. And I tried some Duck, in a honey and lemon sauce which was also very good. Being a Thursday night, the restaurant was very quiet, so service was very swift. Staff were very pleasant and attentive. However, the restaurant felt a little cold inside, and lacked a little atmosphere. But that may be very different on Weekends, when I would assume it is busier. But all in all, I couldn't really fault this place for food quality, value, hospitality, and front of house cleanliness. I would definitely go back again, and will at some point. P.S. Please be aware, that a service charge of approx 10% will be added to your final bill, so if you spend £25, the service charge will be around £2.50 extra. But still represents good value, as the staff were very friendly.

We went there as a family, and there was plenty of choice and the food was tasty and hot. The staff were courteous and efficient. It is in a lovely location on the seafront in Margate and we saw the sunsetting over the sea from our table which was nice. We all said that we would go back to eat there.

Visited on a weekend so the place was crowded. Prices have increased significantly but this has been my experience for some time now in all restaurants. Service was poor. There were really only 2 people waiting on the tables and we didn't receive our first dishes for nearly 45 mins. My advice would be to order the next dish as each dish is presented. The food, once served, was excellent.

MUST READ....Asked a Random question to Google for a restaurant to eat by the sea.... Chose this place so we left gravesend for Margate.... Best question ive asked google for a long time! Fresh cooked food to order... Loads to select from... Staff are Amazing and its worth every penny!!!!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.craig from Kent :/)

Foods really tasty and authentic. Staff are really lovley. Only gripe is the unavoidable service charge!!!

Good cheap lunch deal.Great price

My noodles were over cooked and I had never seen a noodle soup made with egg noodles before…it didn’t taste great. Worst part was that I asked for chilli oil and they have charged me for it: chilli oil in a Chinese restaurant is like olive oil in an Italian one and essential. When I asked why they had charged for it, the waitress said because normally people do not ask for it (???). I also asked for hot water (common in China to help digestion) and they brought lukewarm one because apparently it was a matter of health and safety: what about the tea then??? Disappointing and far from being a honest, traditional and authentic Chinese business. Such a shame.

We were a party of 5 who visited Cafe de China to celebrate sons birthday. 3 meat eaters 2 vegetarians. The vegetable “chicken” satay is not vegi protein it has the taste and consistency of balls of bland mash potato. The spicy bean curd starter bland and tasteless. The main course tofu dishes bland tasteless and undercooked in my opinion. The chef needs to taste his food! There was one dish in particular the looked like tripe in jelly. It was so undercooked inedible. We should have complained earlier but I didn’t want to spoil my sons birthday. We barely ate a thing for just under £25 a head. No offer of discount due to inedible dishes. Vegetarians left hungry. This all you can eat set up clearly hopes you won’t eat much on a visit because it’s so poor but ones things for sure you’ll only ever go once!

Had a fab evening here for the works' Christmas do.. very good quick service, attentive staff, and brilliant food. Thank you! X

The servies was bad staff rude and slow food did not come all together so half the table had to wait and to make things worst food was very bad and over priced for what we had

I mean.. it's fine. It's an all you can eat.. the food is fine, you get plenty of it.. it's easy to share and order more.. but.. personally I think you get better value from just ordering (and paying for) what you actually want. But.. a decent place for trying a bunch of different stuff.

Nice restaurant with very good food.. friendly staff and good atmosphere. Reasonably priced. Certainly worth a visit.

So quick with our food and very friendly 😋 enjoyed every thing .

Brilliant service from start to finish. Food very tasty and hot. Reasonably priced. Will most certainly return again...

Polite service from the start, lovely hot food snd reasonably priced, will return.

The Food as Gone Down Hill sorry to Say

I never make a reservation, always a warm welcome, they still wear masks,feels like you’ve been out to a restaurant,the bill is not a shock, they ask us where would I like to sit, good choice of food and plenty of it, nice and hot, cooked to order.October 16

Absolutely stunning service and food. I've been twice so far and both meals and service has been outstanding. I love in Ashford and the 45 minute drive to get there is well worth it for the great experience. Definitely going to visit again. Thank you for the great experience

Friendly staff and lovely food. All made to order and delivery available.

Probably the best all you can eat Chinese in Thanet great food and friendly staff

Very disappointed. They have different prices on different menus for Chinese and foreigners. I don’t understand. Chinese version menu is more expensive. Cheating, the Chinese menu is on average three pounds more expensive than the English menu... Compatriots, don’t go.

Great food and service, cannot fault it.

Utter rubbish. Almost comical how slow the service was. Ironically we'd all paid for all you can eat, but came away hungry. Just took so long to receive any of the food or drink we ordered.

Great food Great service, has to be checked out at lunch time 😊👍🏾

Best Chinese food around. Very helpful and friendly staff. Always make us feel welcome. The buffet is very good value. Stairs at front so not suitable for wheelchair users.

Westernised Chinese food. It's as expected. Nothing too fancy nothing to moan or to shout home about

Great people, amazing food, great service 👌

Just had a birthday celebration here, we waited over an hour to get any food then lots of things were missing so had to order it again, then the waitress was talking to our oldest guest standing behind her, wearing a mask , in front of a really noisy group ( no problem with that) but there was a lot of noise generally and our guest wears a hearing aid so couldnt hear properly or see the woman's face because of the mask, then behind our backs she had the cheek to make a gesture suggesting our guest was mad🤬 I'm very glad I didnt find this out until we got home. I have only given one star because theres not an option for none. Terrible service and rude staff.

Great lunch at a great price and staff are always friendly

Lovely freshly cooked food, delicious!

We eat here for celebrations. On this occasion it was my birthday. It was busy and had a nice atmosphere, the service was OK considering the number of guests. All the food was well cooked and hot when served. Nothing was too much trouble and the servers came around frequently to ask if there was anything we needed. Lovely evening I look forward to visiting again. We also got a 10% discount with proof of my date of birth. It had to be within three days of the visit either side (nice touch)

Very good food, freshly cooked, taste bud overload 😋

overpriced food,slow service (not even busy) waitress didn't know what one of the dishes actually was! warm coke in a can at £2.40 a can and then slapped with a 10% discretionary service charge ! ( it is on the menu somewhere if you read the thing from front to back ) won't be going back !

The restraunt was freezing cold, albeit they did bring a heater when I requested, but didn't do much. Food one-dish nothing to write home about. Will not be returning.

A fantastic find, fantastic service. Fabulous food

Wonderful food and friendly staff

Had a lovely meal last night food was great and Simon our waiter was very attentive and friendly deffinaly go for the all you can eat great value we had a lot of food 18 disches which would have been £111.70 for £49.90 👍

Lovely food, fantastic and friendly service, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves

After booking a table for valentines night we were really Disappointed which isn't normally the case here , we turned up waited 10 mins to be seated , then while sat heard other people complaining about the wait for food and drinks in fact 3 sets of couples had been in here an hour and had nothing at all , After 30 mins waiting for just someone to come and take just a drinks order ... nothing at all, a waiter went over to a group and asked if he could take there order and they said said " yes our food we ordered it over an hour ago and our drinks" ...Needless to say we got up and left and went elsewhere...problem there was all they were thinking was £££ as the place was packed even people still standing outside to come in ,only 2 people taking orders yet 2 at the bar just talking. Really Really disappointed, yes I know it's valentines night but they shouldn't have kept taking bookings and seem more interested in the phone ins and take away side of things , ohband the price too booked over ther phone 17.50 per head turns out it's 25.95 per head as its valentines night but not told untill your sat and looked at the menu that was just slapped on the table ....

Total rip off ...charge £25 pp and was not offered additional dishes had to keep asking for the waitress.Waitress are rude !!!. Only intreseted in taking your money.. Canterbury was a much better restaurant..

Very salty and abit over priced for what it was. Reasonably prompt service