Chinese Cottage in Gwynedd

We live local and go to Bala New china takeaway, far superior and how it should be done. if I had a dog I wouldn’t feed anything from this takeaway to it, gave it 2 chances but as little as we order takeaway food, this is unedible.

Food was tasty and quick service

Visted whist in the area .... id seen some reviews so wasnt sure what to expect... but was very surprised... the food was great .... so good I visited twice in a row ....although they messed up my order the 2nd time .... but what I got was still nice ... worth a visit.... cash only ...

To be honest, I wish I’d just cooked. Not horrible but wouldn’t order again

Genuinely one of the worst meals I’ve ever eaten. We spent £60 here and ended up driving to a shop to buy frozen pizzas instead. I usually ignore negative reviews as these can be one-off experiences but for the first time for me I should have listened. One review states “avoid everything fried, or with sauce” it could not be more accurate.

Had the special fried rice and chicken in black bean, it was very nice indeed and would definitely go there again. My wife had honey chicken with boiled rice and that was excellent too.

If you are stuck, desperate and have no other choice, then consider this location. Order something without sauce & non fried as they can’t do either of these based on previous reviews and my experience. Keep the bill low to just fill yourself and save money. My chow mein was okay, I did request dry, so hard to mess up. We had a mixed starters where they put bbq ribs in the chicken satay box mixing the two. The fried salt and pepper prawns was put into a sealed box causing some horrible goop/jelly. First Chinese meal where I have been this disappointed.

Not a bad Chinese at all, the only one in the area!

Dirty all food here is disgusting catered for 6 of us all taste disgusting completely unacceptable clues in the rating

Food was not nice, gravy on a chicken chowmien Sauces moved like jelly and tasted even worse wouldn’t recommend

Amazing food. Very generous portions and the taste was spot on! I tried a lot of Chinese places and this one is my top 3. The lady in reception was very polite and helpful too. Cheap as well. What else you can ask for during the holidays? Thank you

The food is good but when I ordered the King Prawn and Ginger meal the Prawns were VERY small and ginger was chopped in large chunks over took the Prawn taste. Otherwise its good quality

Had special fried rice (had a sauce in it) and a char sui curry. Really tasty. Pawn crackers, beautiful.

Great little Chinese takeaway! We arrived in Dolgellau for a few days and really fancied a Chinese. Although there are mixed reviews we were starving so decided to order. The young lady who took our order over the phone and served in the shop was really friendly and polite. We ordered sweet and sour chicken hongkong style and special curry with chips and rice and a portion of prawn toast. All of the food was hot, fresh and delicious. Portion sizes were good and we can honestly say it is one of the best chinese takeaways that we have ever had. Definitely 5 star and would recommend 😊

Disappointed. I had the chicken chow mein. The noodles in the base of the tray were OK but a bit bland. These were topped with a glutinous layer of pale tasteless something with chunks of what looked like steamed chicken in it. I ordered some separates sauces, these also had no flavour and had the same slimy texture. Boiled cornflour and water I reckon, with minimal added ingredients. The sweet n sour sauce was most peculiar as you can see in the photo. Got the impression that all this stuff was prepared separately, then assembled. I'm used to there being a wok and seasonings involved. Sadly, I'll give this place a miss from now on.

Disappointed. I had chicken chow mein - the noodles in the base of the tray were OK but a bit bland. These were topped with a glutinous layer of pale tasteless something with chunks of what looked like steamed chicken in it. I ordered some separates sauces, these also had no flavour and had the same slimy texture. Boiled cornflour and water I reckon, with minimal ingredients. got the impression that all this stuff was prepared separately, then assembled. I'm used to there being a wok and seasonings involved. Sadly, I'll give this place a miss from now on.

Worried by other reviews ..but no need. Lady in shop was very helpful. Food really good. Spare ribs amongst best I have had. Chips superb. Curry good. Sweet &sour really nice. Can't fault it!

Enjoyed our Chinese very much! Chicken chow mein, beef in black bean sauce and kung po chicken all hit the spot 👌👍 Minus one star for the slightly odd sweet and sour sauce.

Literally just gone straight in the bin 😷 . Now I feel sorry for the bin having to put up with it . Worst Chinese we’ve ever had

Having read a number of other reviews on this site, I was wary. However I did not need to be concerned. The lady taking the orders was very friendly and helpful, and the food was excellent. The takeaway was quite busy with a steady stream of customers, so if it’s as terrible as some of the reviews make out this would seem unlikely. My order was for young chow fried rice, sweet-and-sour chicken, and Schengen Singapore noodles. All the dishes were excellent, see photo.

Avoid if you can, had chicken chow mien and chips, the chicken mien was the WORSE ever chow mien, not really fit for human consumption, I can only describe as like jelly, went in the bin, chips just about edible no salt, not worth the £9.50. Asked for a extra plastic tray to split into two but they wanted more money.. and cash only

Had the sweet and sour chicken in the sauce with egg fried rice, rice was nice, but the sweet and sour... The sauce was like having a plate of glue, it was gooey and didnt sit right with me at all. Families curry was the same, gooey and too thick. Don't think I will be eating here again sadly 😢

I ordered special fried rice and it came with a sauce that tasted like gelatinous gravy. It was not like anything I've had before from a Chinese!

Brilliant Chinese! Stopped here to grab some dinner on the way home after a long day of hiking and everything we ate was amazing! Ignore the bad reviews like some of the other reviews say, because I’m so grateful I did, 100% worth a go! Constant stream of locals coming in to get food as well so you know it’s good! The lady that served us was super helpful as well!

Really nice staff and great takeaway, no idea why there were one star reviews this place is as good as any Chinese I’ve had, don’t get put off, we certainly weren’t disappointed!

After reading negative reviews we were almost put off from ordering. So pleased we did as the food was really good and the lady who served us was lovely! Really not sure why there have been negative reviews but I would say order and see for yourself. Apparently there are two versions of chow mein a dry one and one with sauce all I can think is people aren’t aware of this. Honestly couldn’t fault any of it and that’s why I decided to review as the negatives seem so unfair. Would definitely return

Maybe I was lucky but my meal was fine, yes the curry sauce was a tad thick but loads of flavour. Also loads of meat in the Yung Chow fried rice. Will stop again when I need food.

Really disappointed. Asked staff if mixed starter enough for 2 and told no, only one of each so ordered 2. The chicken satay was mixed in with ribs and then piles of tiny soggy spring rolls. more than enough for 2 if it was actually edible! Sweet and sour sauces gloopy and tasteless. Rice brown mess. Waste of £50 and won’t be going again!

Food was a bit bland and the sauces were gelatinous. They got two of our dishes wrong even though they were read back to us! The staff on the counter were friendly. It’s not the worst Chinese meal I’ve had but hard to recommend getting a takeaway from here.

Worst meal I’ve ever had. Definitely won’t be going again. Curry was tasteless, beef strips disgusting, rice was dry. Only thing the was nice was the prawn crackers, seaweed and chicken balls. Spoilt my birthday meal.

I have been coming here for years to enjoy the delicious food on offer. I definitely recommend the 5 spice chicken wings. The staff are nice and welcoming.

This is great find, the food was good and there is lots to chose from. We enjoyed Sweet & Sour Chicken, Chicken & Pineapple with Plum Sauce & Special Chow Mein all were tasty. The side dishes of Salt & Pepper Ribs, Egg Fried Rice and Chips were good. The curry sauce and prawn crackers were particularly spot on. Both times we went to the Chinese Cottage the staff and service was good, even during a busy Saturday service. Would definitely recommend and hope to return next time we're in Dolgellau.

We had a special curry tonight it was beautiful would highly recommend, very filling ..

Sorry to write this the lady behind the counter was friendly and polite unfortunately the food was well below expectations ordered a chicken curry boiled rice special curry fried rice both rices were edible and ok the curry in the other hand !!! Couldn’t eat it if you can imagine child’s slime with a hint of curry flavour then you can imagine what the sauce was like unfortunately I will not be returning for any more from these

Best food and value for money in Dolgellau. We had two takeaways on our visit and it was top notch.

Was very good. Had crispy chilli beef, chicken chow mein, sweet sour chicken balls, sweet sour chicken hong kong style and beef and mushroom. Everyone enjoyed it.

I think we come on a busy time, but didn't mind to wait. I will advise ordering over the phone, then just come to collect. We enjoyed every bite of traditional Chinese food. I think the bad reviews are only from people who don't specially fancy oriental cuisine.

I think we come on a busy time, but didn't mind to wait. I will advise ordering over the phone, then just come to collect. We enjoyed every bite of traditional Chinese food. I think the bad reviews are only from people who don't specially fancy oriental cuisine.

I read a lot of the reviews before ordering. A mixture of 5 star and 1 star and it's certainly neither. There's a great selection to choose from and is at a fair price. The quality is varied. Everything was cooked well, plenty of chicken in the dishes we ordered which was cooked as you'd expect. The flavour however can only be described as bland. A lot of corn starch is used in the dishes it would appear. The chow mein was in a corn starch based sauce which was odd as it's usually a dry dish. The lemon chicken was just in a cornstarch sauce and the sweet and sour sauce whilst still had the familiar notes of the sauce was almost translucent. All the basics are there and with a little spruce up of the dishes/ingredients and it could easily be 5 star. Definitely not 1 star, still enjoyable and hits the spot for that Chinese craving.

Absolutely awful, fatty tasteless bbq ribs, bland special chow mean, poor chips and prawn toast, 75% went into bin. Never again

If you’re really hungry…and have finished chewing anything else you can find then it’ll do. Char Sui curry was just little bits of pork without any five spice flavour in an oily sauce of sorts. My wife’s ‘mixed vegetables in sweet and sour sauce’ consisted almost entirely of chopped cabbage which was a first for me in that dish. Even worse was waiting for the meal to be cooked and sat on the benches in the shop that were so sticky that when I stood up it was like peeling myself off Velcro. I won’t be returning, not recommended .

I don’t think the 1* reviews are warranted although don’t get me wrong it’s not the best Chinese I’ve had by a long shot. I suppose a lack of competition can be blamed but if you are in the area and fancy a Chinese it’s not bad. What was frustrating was the lack of menu online so here I attach some photos. The duck pancakes were very nice at least.

My Partner and I were stuck for options for food and wanted some easy take away food. After nearly being scared off from the bad reviews, we thought we would give it ago. To our surprise, the food was really tasty and came in a fast fashion too! If I'm honestly a little overpriced, nonetheless, it was tasty and nothing like what the bad reviews say. Ignore the whiners, this Chinese gives good food. In-fact, I rarely write reviews on Trip-advisor, however, id like to set the record strait for this business.

Food took a long time to arrive Never seen tined peas before in a chip shop Chips where over done The only good thing was the staff young girl was so helpful

First time user - good service and lovely food

Not a bad little chinese takeaway only problum was very under staffed so your wait a good while for your takeaway, us was 35mins so abit long

After reading the other reviews I was nervous about ordering from here - I am glad though that I took a chance as the food was tasty. We all enjoyed our meal - thanks

It's a decent Chinese, tasty food ready quick and authentic. Is it Michelin star? No... It's a local Chinese.

Shocking Chinese food. I wish I’d read the reviews before wasting my money on such tasteless, MSG loaded, gelatinous food. It went straight in the bin. Shocking and never to visit again.

Good(ish). Fyi if anyone likes nornal chicken noodle soup, do NOT buy it from here. Its completely different and tastes like jelly.

Middle of the road Chinese, taste just like every other Chinese. Cheap as chips and filled my belly.

Not bad at all. Lovely service and Bean Curd options too.

Have to say that we were really nervous ordering from here after reading reviews across different services but we need not have been. We are fortunate enough to have a couple of good Chinese/Cantonese takeaways where we live so we do have a certain amount of expectation when it comes to the food we receive and I can honestly say that this did not disappoint. I had a Singapore chow mein, Singapore fried rice and chips with my son. Major plus point... the noodles are the more traditional thin ones rather than the thick ones that are more commonplace, little minor point... perhaps a smidge too much salt in the chow mein. All in all really enjoyable and if we lived local, Chinese Cottage would be a regular treat.

No need for bad reviews, best Chinese place around, never had a bad meal, 25 years of ordering. Proper good, obviously some people can't handle having to wait, best Chinese ever!!

amazing flavours and a top notch blessing to have eaten here, i’d sell both my kidneys to eat this again. i’ve never felt love like this before kind of feel like kidnapping the chef and forcing him to marry me so i can taste his marvellous flavours all hours of the day , lots of love, ur soon to be wife xxxx

£2.70 just for the boiled rice! Chicken is tasteless and fatty like those fast grow chickens and the curry sauce seems very cheap bland and watery Poor quality

Awful, gloopy, tasteless food ... hands down the worst chinese I've eaten. Wouldn't last anywhere where there was competition. Massively overpriced too. Thankfully we have an outstanding one where we live 😆

Really nice Chinese, worth a try!

We were unsure about ordering after reading a couple of bad TripAdvisor reviews.. but our meal from chinese cottage was exactly as expected and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We had set menu for 3 and it fed 4 of us to satisfaction. Would order again and would recommend others to give it a go and not feel scared off from negative reviews online.

On holiday, first night so ordered in! Absolutely delicious food. Only collection but not a problem as no huge wait. Can’t beat it!

Awful Chinese. Tasteless gluppy. The beansprouts in the spring rolls were soggy and past there best and tasted very soapy. It cost £40+ it was a total waste of money. Only one Chinese in Dolgellau so they have monopoly but it doesn't mean they can...

This place looks pretty rundown but we fancied a Chinese so gave it a try. The food was very bloody and tasteless. The chow mein was ok but the quality of the food was poor. This Chinese wouldn't last 5 minutes in an area with...

everything is a bit to expensive and for me the food has no taste my brother likes it but for me this it tasted of nothing and for the price I paid I was expecting something tasty it's very over priced

Not sure who was cooking but 10 out of 10

A Chinese restaurant that exclusively serves cottage pie

Great welcome. Prompt Service Food was not as good. The Chicken was SOGGY & tasteless. Huge turn-off. Never eaten anything resembling this Chicken before, totally tasteless. Hoping it's a lifetime OneOff

Poor quality food and low level and standard of cooking, a poor example of Chinese food, the food is inedible, this is a waste of money, a disgrace to serve people this rubbish.

Plenty of great things on a giant menu to choose from. I would recommend the salt and chilli prawns or chicken and the crispy duck from the starters, Satay beef, sweet and sour prawns/chicken Hong Kong style, Singapore noodles, yellow bean chicken and char Sui...

Ordered a meal for 4. The meal came with the usual side dishes one expects. The shop was packed with local folk which tells me that The Chinese Cottage has got the formula and pricing right for the area. Definitely go again for a Chinese...

Went to this take away tonight, placed our order and told it would be ready for collection in 20 minutes. 40 minutes later we asked if our order was ready to be told what order!! They had completely forgotten and not started cooking the food....

Always willing to give somewhere a chance despite some poor reviews so my love of Chinese food meant that was the case here. I have certainly had worse food but can't say that this was great. Not up to my local Chinese takeaway back home...

This place has had some negative reviews, but I can only say that we had a great meal when we visited. Food was well cooked and arrived in the time that we were told. Definitely worth a try if you’re hungry and in Dolgellau.

Okay, so I read the reviews before I visited, I also picked up a menu. We are away on holiday, self accommodation, so minimal cooking is priority. Checked over the menu and decided on dry consistency meals, with seperate sauces. Prawn crackers, as per all...

Rather shabby looking Chinese takeaway, just a hundred metres from the bridge. The food however is excellent. The sweet and sour chicken, the pancake rolls, and beef chop suey are all highly recommended. The only downside with this place, is that they only take cash!...

I travel all over the UK and can easily say nothing comes close to the great food you get at this Chinese! Please ignore the bad reviews as this place really does deserve a visit, fast to prepare and never missed anything off our order...

Very disappointing with this meal. All the sauces seemed to all be gelatin with a different flavouring. The sweet and sour sauce was pink as opposed to orange. The sweet and sour balls were overcooked and very doughy. Chow main was dry, ordered egg fried...

The food was alright. It isnt as good as i hoped.... but it was alright considering the fact that i was really hungry and wanted a simple takeaway.

Went in and ordered and was told there would be a long wait. Food came in five minutes and was not too bad for what it was. However, when you are miles from anywhere, needs must but I won't return.

We ordered chicken curry, it was a slimy mess. Sweet & sour chicken, we could taste corn flour. To be fair, this is not the first time. We needed a quick meal after a 4 hour journey.

First Chinese that the food didn't taste anything like it was supposed to according to its name. Odd flavours.

Best Chinese food in the Snowdonia area. All cooked fresh and very tasty, happy to adapt recipes too.

What can I say - they missed off 2 items and got one of the dishes wrong - ie no spring rolls and 2 tofu dishes instead of a meat one.

Reasonably quick and friendly service but the food was poor. Difficult to tell what was what. Every dish swimming in the same brown gloopy stuff that had the consistency of sloppy jelly, very odd and very unpleasant. The sweet and sour sauce was bright pink and so gloopy it wouldn't pour. The chicken balls were soft, doughy and greasy, the fried rice was dark brown, clumpy and greasy. A family of four, we usually polish off everything when we have a chinese but most of this one ended up in the bin. On a positive note the prawn crackers were good but thats about it.

Supongo que recibes lo que pagas, ya que la comida es barato y la calidad es bastante mediocre. Me hubiera encantado pague un poco más para la mejor comida.

We treat ourselves to a take away from here from time to time. We are never disappointed. Plenty of choice and good prices too.

La comida es buenísima, mucho mejor que cocinar yo! Altamente recomendado, un poco si, pero bien merece la pena esperar, obviamente populares

Casa Chino visitó para llevar un sábado por la noche y estaba bastante lleno. Después de un vistazo rápido en el menú decente - Pedir y dijeron que sería un buen 30 minutos. La orden se lea para nosotros y era perfecto. El menú era...

Hemos probado este lugar un par de veces antes y no grandemente impresionado. Sin embargo, dio otra oportunidad esta noche y disfrutamos de nuestra comida y a buen precio (4 adultos y 2 adolescentes de menos de 40 libras). Volveré de nuevo.

Esperé por 40 minutos para que la comida era horrible y caro para lo que estaba

Taking into consideration that I usually eat here maybe once a fortnight, you'd imagine that I usually find the food nice, however, this time it was atrocious. Firstly, the lemon chicken which I ordered had so little chicken it was as if I was chewing greasy batter, which I was. Secondly, the service which I received from the not so hygienic man was appalling, which is a shame as the usual woman is lovely. Finally, I'd like to comment on the fact that my chicken noodle soup tasted like cat piss with a hint of the dirty pot in which it was served. Although, the chicken chow mein was actually quite nice, and I enjoyed my girlfriends leftovers. I almost forgot to mention the piece of metal in my mothers egg fried rice which she nearly choked on, lovely.

Was a little worried after the negative reviews but decided to take a chance. We arrived around 7pm to find 3 people waiting for orders. Decided to have prawn curry egg fried rice and chicken Szechuan and prawn crackers which came to just under £15. It arrived with 15 minutes and it was still hot after our 15 minute drive to our holiday cottage. They have a 5 for food hygiene rating which is higher than our Chinese at home. Others may have had a bad experience but we certainly didn't.

Good food served efficiently, you can also telephone an order ahead and collect when ready. A long and varied menu.

frozen reformed chicken pieces the quality is really very very poor burnt fried rice also is overpriced in a big way I for one wont be buying here again so fed up with these places buying cheap products rather than offering quality ingredients I will be traveling away to get my Chinese meal in future that's what i would suggest everybody does tooits a real shame because it used to be fantastic but i am talking about a lot of years ago

This has got to be the worse food I have every tasted the chicken noodle soup was disgusting and so was the chicken chow mein they both tasted the same and the taste was like a beef stock cube and the chicken was like plastic I couldn't eat either. I telephoned to say how disgusting the food was and the next morning I returned it to the shop which was not open so I hung the bag on the door to show them that I had not eaten either of the take aways. I was not from this area and I was leaving that day if else I would have waited for them to open for a refund. My advise would be to not go there it is disgusting.

The food was too salty, too sweet (even the sweet and sour sauce), too gloopy and generally revolting. On the plus side the young lady behind the counter was very pleasant and the prawn crackers were delicious.The portion sizes were generous.

If you like your meals gloupy and inedible, then this is the place for you. It is open after 9pm, and they are friendly though. So they've got that going for them...

There isn't much to say here. The food was edible and we didn't have to wait that long, despite a decent number of people being there (not local people, tellingly). Oh and the prawn crackers were top notch. That's where the good stops. The curry really wasn't great, just about ok, and my wife's sweet and sour sauce reeked of pure vinegar and was some kind of fluorescent hot pink colour, that neither of us could eat. If it was cheap then fine, but at the cost I would expect a lot more. We won't be back.

Saturday night fancied a quick takeaway. Took over an hour wait due to bad management. Note to management, please take care of existing customers before deciding to fulfil big orders received after existing orders. Note to customers: because you pay up front you have no option but to wait. Unless you have an hour to spare , don't bother!

Ordered on phone (on holiday in area) was told 15mins. Got there on time, only one other person waiting but we had to had to wait further ten mins for our order. Incredibly scruffy, run down, grotty place but a pleasant enough young lady behind the counter, was very surprised to see a 5 hygiene rating poster, but there it was! Sum-up of the food; a real mixed bag. Duck & plum sauce was excellent, S&S chicken excellent, but then it went seriously downhill - both the special fried rice & chicken chow mein could only be described as being doused in gravy, very odd and not at all nice. Oh and the chips were only half cooked, raw in the middle. So there you go, a real mixed bag and we won't be going there again.

PLease note this is a review of a takeaway establishment.Well we were on the way to our caravan on the coast, and at 7pm at night feeling very peckish as neither of us wanted to cook when we got to our destination, so we thought try a takeaway, to save time and eat at our destination. Parking in the area is also non exsistant.Something simple, 2 curries one boiled rice and one fried rice and spare ribs(dry), It wasn't a quick pit stopm, despite the only one ordering the food, their was an 1/2 hour wait before the food arrived.One we arrived at our destination, food is what we required, or what we hoped for !1/ The boiled rice was globuals of rice stuck together, looked like it hadn't even been rinced.2/ The Fried, rice, totally unedible, the rice was hard, and black, drowned in dark soya and thats all you could taste. 3/ The curries, the chicken looked like processed pieces, the sauce didn't have a particular good taste, very watery, the onion was cooked perfect !4/ The spare ribs, were the lightest shade of red every, more of a light pink colour with no taste, the meat was tender, but nothing to taste for.Would i use it again, No, not a chance, and i would not advise anyone else to use it either, probably one of the worst i've ever had.