Crystal China in Southwark

I had high expectations for this place as the restaurant lookd appealing. Decided to stop and grab a takeaway on way home to West London. Well i was well and truly disappointed especially after spending £42! Special fried rice was very pale and tasteless. Salt and pepper wings ok as was salt and pepper squid but nothing special. Crispy chill beef had a water sauce with lots of onion but again tasteless. Wontom soup watery and a tad salty. Maybe i chose a bad evening but I'm sorry I'm giving my honest opinion. Highly disappointed!

The service was excellent! The food was also quite nice. Just be aware if you’re not used to very sweet food, you should ask for a bit less sugar in your meal.

Acabo de pasar cuando iba de camino a casa desde Essex. Me sorprendió gratamente. Tomé algunas decisiones simples, pero lo que tuve fue bueno. Los precios eran justos y había un agradable personal joven y amable para hacerte sentir más como en casa. Estoy seguro de que me encontrará allí de nuevo cuando estoy en la zona, especialmente con (limitado) aparcamiento justo fuera de la puerta.

They’re currently doing an unlimited dry hot pot and the portion size is amazing with fast service. Will definitely recommend! :)

Great service, great food, also very speedy.

The store is big, the service attitude is also very good, the spicy hot pot is also delicious, good reviews!

I was there and the boss yelled at the Chinese waitress with very bad words - I cannot believe this could happen in UK! And they didn’t give us the pre-meal snack but they did give it to any other tables! Won’t go there again. This is insane.

Beautiful fresh and very tasty food. With very friendly staff. All we're so kind to my autistic son. They had LOTS of deliveries going out and after we got our food we realised why. I suggest, instead of ordering to your home, go there and try it fresh from the kitchen. You won't regret it. Thanks again. We'll be back

I’ve eaten a lot and it’s a must-have after class. Highly recommended!

Taste very nice, and in really large portion!

The grilled fish is generous and all kinds of food is delicious！！

The grilled fish is delicious and the portion is generous! ! ! The taste of the spicy hot pot is also great~~ The service attitude is good, I will come again if I have the opportunity.

¡Comida increíble! Gente muy agradable y un gran servicio! Necesitábamos pedirte recomendaciones ya que todo parece sabroso y puedes confiar en ellos con su opinión.

Honestly wasn’t that impressed with the food or the staff I would give this a miss. Food was delivered at awkward times mains came then noodles came 15 mins later some plates arrived cold some plates steaming hot

Absolutely awful greasy and old oil

Excellent food and charming service... thoroughly recommend :-)

Buena comida, personal y servicio. Restaurante limpio y ordenado. Excelentes precios. (Algunos alimentos extraños para un paladar occidental, pero no dejes que eso te desanime!) Muy recomendable.

One of the best Chinese restaurants I’ve been too, I like that the menus have pictures, usually I find Chinese menus overwhelming to choose from. We went during lunchtime, pretty much empty, no need to book. Good service, staffs were very attentive and immediately gave a new pair of chopsticks when it was accidentally knocked on the floor. They put small side dish (for free) on the table when we sat down, had some pickled vege and peanuts. We ordered the dry hot pot, beef and ox tongue, salted egg yolk tofu, boiled rice between two of us, it was so much food and we ended up taking the leftover away. We underestimated the portion of the dry hot pot, it came in a massive bowl and it was very spicy - they have 4 levels of spice, we went for level 2 and it was just about right (or maybe a bit too much), you can mix it with the salted egg yolk tofu to balance it out. Tasted very authentic Sichuan numbing spice, but make sure you drink a lot of water cos it does make you thirsty afterwards. For dry hot pot, we chose beef tribe, lamb (wouldn’t recommend, it is not the thin sliced lamb but soft and very little lamb flavour), lotus root, enoki mushrooms, fried tofu puff. The beef and ox tongue dish is a cold spicy dish, goes nicely with rice but quite heavily salted and flavoured, it is good as a side dish to share.

I like to order Spicy pig ears, steamed buns and lotus root on delivery. They are so kind, include extras for me, and package everything nicely. Far superior to any other Chinese restaurant delivery I've tried; thank you ✨🪷✨

Since I moved to this area, and I frequently ordering from here, the lemon chicken it's became my favourite, the quality of the food it's good and they always surprising me with some extra little present. Amazing restaurant

It is very delicious and cosy restaurant. We will definitely come again!

Food was amazing and very authentic - the waiters were very friendly and attentive.

Very good price-portion ratio! Very authentic. The price-performance ratio is super high. Their dishes are not oily and the portions are large. I recommend it.

Trash, very average, tastes bad

Very tasty food and good service. Interesting dishes to try.

The worst Chinese food I've ever had

Fried pork with chili pepper, the meat is a little fat and lean, I don’t know which part of the meat it is. Not very chewy

Un excellent restaurant aussi bien pour la qualité de la nourriture que pour les choix nombreux et tout cela avec un excellent rapport qualité-prix

King prawn fried rice is dry , it doesn’t have no taste or flavour

This place kept us going through lock down and honestly is probably the best Chinese restaurant in the area. Food is great, well priced and good sized portions. Will be going back and ordering take out for as long as it’s around.

A noi è piaciuto molto!tutto ottimo.locale semplice e personale molto gentile e servizio rapido.mentre eravamo lì abbiamo visto diverse persone prendere da asporto. Lo consigliamo!

Very tasty food, 100% recommended. Great value for money.

If you want to eat authentic Chinese food this is your place, the staff is very attentive and friendly, located just over 10 minutes from Tower Bridge in London.

Really amazing chicken feet and hot pot

Food was excellent and service was good! Portion size was enough to fill our bellies and there was still enough to takeaway with. In all I had a great experience dining there

Friendly service. Good food. Nice neighborhood find

Crystal China is one of the best Chinese restaurants in the area, offering an excellent choice of authentic spicy dishes, including hotpot and the usual duck, seafood, rice and noodle dishes. The food is delicious, well-prepared, and service friendly and attentive. The restaurant has a good atmosphere and seems popular. I highly recommend Crystal China for anyone looking for tasty authentic Chinese food at great prices, we’ve been a few times and we’ll definitely be back again.

The first time I went to this restaurant I didn’t like it at all. I felt it was too authentic Chinese. Even though I’m half Chinese I’m not big on the things that western people find a little uncomfortable. However the second time I went I went with someone who was much more aware of the menu. This place does an amazing dry hotpot. This is the speciality; and it’s really really good. You need to choose what goes into the bowl, so ask for their recommendation. When they say it is the best dry hot pot in London, I’m sure that’s the case. It is absolutely delicious. The egg fried rice is also excellent, my friend said that you can tell that they cook the rice in the egg water. I’m not exactly sure what that means but the egg fried rice was also really rich and flavoursome.

I’ve heard that authentic Chinese food isn’t nice from friends who’ve lived over there and if that’s the case then this is definitely authentic. I ordered a takeaway for the first time after living in the area for years as it always seems like a busy place. This isn’t a menu like we’re used to in the UK - frogs legs, pigs feet and intestines etc - maybe that should have given me a clue on the menu. We stuck to fried rice variants and some garlic chicken. It was bland as hell. The fried rice was yellow, the garlic sauce was weirdly gelatinous and everything tasted of nothing. The only decent thing were the spring rolls, probably frozen. I’m glad we made it through the night without food poisoning from how dubious the whole thing was and I won’t be going back. Rather go to a regular Chinese takeaway and have something that actually *tastes* like food.

Nicht gut: Zähes Rindfleisch, langweilige Maultaschen, schlecht abgeschmeckte Saucen, kann ich wirklich nicht empfehlen.

The food was good and the restaurant called to check my booking, which was appreciated.

Nice location, fried rice was good and beef in black bean sauce . Didn’t like th sweet and sour pork it was too crunchy

It was great, but now their portion size shows how stingy they are with the protein really damaging this place.

Great authentic Chinese food, amazing staff and service. Never disappoints. Highly recommended

Very tasty fresh food. We enjoyed it very much !

**Not Recommended for American Visitors** We encountered significant payment issues at this restaurant, as they do not accept U.S. dollars or U.S. credit cards. Despite using our U.S. credit cards without any problems throughout our stay in London, this restaurant insisted on cash payments or local issued credit cards even though we successfully used our credit card here just a few days ago. When we were forced to withdraw cash from an ATM, the nearest machine was out of service. We had to walk about a quarter mile to find another ATM, which was very inconvenient and frustrating. This experience was highly unsatisfactory. Be cautious if you plan to visit, as this is the only place we've encountered in London that does not accept U.S. dollars or credit cards.

It’s not delicious. The spicy chicken is actually coated in flour like salt and pepper chicken. It’s also called Chongqing spicy chicken. It’s not crispy and salty. When will London’s dining scene stop being a scam?

Great food and reliable. Best Chinese food in the area.

Food was very nice , just a shame couldn’t order extra sauces ie curry or bbq

Come all the time - really enjoy it - especially the aubergine in yellow bean sauce! Staff are friendly and the food is great. Also try the dry pot

Good food and service, reasonable pricing!

Service and food was great. Not so much of an atmosphere as it was not very busy, but great for me.

If not the best , one of the best Mala Xiang Guo I ever had in the UK . I tried different restaurants in major cities like Manchester , Liverpool and Cardiff , but I cannot find them appealing to my taste buds like this one .

Been here twice now. A modest looking restaurant but the food is excellent, authentic and very plentiful. Always a good sign when plenty of the customers are of Chinese heritage. The staff were really nice and helpful when checking for my dining companion if food was vegan or not.

Very solid Beef in black beans and egg fried rice. Delivered and fresh!

Mapo tofu is delicious. I really enjoyed the meal.

So we stopped in here for a quick takeaway and honestly they are amazing! Could not be nicer. I can't recommend them enough if you are craving good quality Chinese and are in this area. I will definitely be coming back.

I visited Crystal China yesterday at 1:30 pm, and was informed that their break time starts at 3:00 pm. Throughout my meal, the waitress displayed a consistently resentful demeanour, reminding me multiple times about their impending closure and rushing me through ordering and eating. At 2:45 pm, I was asked to settle the bill, and by 2:55 pm, I was being urged to vacate the premises, despite still eating. When I requested a takeaway for the remaining food, the service was subpar – the takeaway bag was dropped, and there was no effort to rectify the situation. While packing, the waitress cleaned the table with obvious reluctance, even resorting to banging dishes. It was only upon my departure that the staff engaged in loud and jovial conversation, seemingly oblivious to the poor customer experience. I've been to numerous Chinese restaurants in London, including multiple visits to Crystal China, I can confidently say that this was the worst service I've encountered. The overall atmosphere made me feel unwelcome, as if my presence inconvenienced the staff. I understood it was a Sunday afternoon, but what was wrong with the guests dining there? Despite attempting to address my concerns with the cashier, their dismissive attitude only added to the disappointment. Such an experience is truly regrettable and reflects poorly on the establishment.

Very good Chinese food at very reasonable prices. The furnishings are a bit simpler, which is absolutely fine for me. However, the 12.5% ​​service charge that is otherwise very common in London is not added to the bill, which is a commendable exception.

Reserved for Chinese new year dinner for four. Starter Chicken feet tasted rubbery like they only started marinating them today and not much flavour. Pork dish had completely gone bad and smelled awful so we rejected it. We were kicked out exactly after 1.5 hours as they indicated when we booked. Overall nice attitude with the problems we encountered but the food hygiene and quality/flavour was disappointing. Everything seemed so rushed during Chinese new year but they still used unfresh pork.

I had a delivery instead of mixvegetables I received a small can of sprite - spring rolls they were really tiny

Are you OK? Master, I like your food very much and I want to learn it.

Went to this restaurant as a birthday booking. From arrival to departure the service was amazing. The staff were really friendly & the food came very quickly.

And when she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad was at Crystal China. This restaurant has served us for years and it is bipolar. But the overall trend is south. Tonight my meal cost £70 and was terrible. There was 1 teaspoon of plum sauce - just as well because even that was poor. The chicken kung po and chicken chow mein went swiftly in the bin after the first few bites. And it was cold. What more can I say. Finally the end has come for me. Good luck if you choose to stay.

Delicious authentic Chinese food with fresh ingredients in a relaxed welcome & down to earth vibe. Highly recommend! ✨

Nice local place for Chinese food

This spot is good because we get to try new things that didn’t try before and it was really good. Not far from London Bridge.

We have lived in China and learned to appreciate the cuisine. The food we had at crystal China was authentic and delicious. The service was first rate. We will be back before we leave the area.

Food was very nice. At the beginning of our visit service was not great just standing at the door not sure weather to seat our self or wait to be seated, staff took a while to engage with us, once seated had to ask for the menu. but after that food was very nice although the starter of Seaweed, prawns on toast and capital spare ribs did not come out together and seaweed was cold by the time the rest came out. all food tasted very nice. I ordered a Bacardi and coke which was definitely not a Bacardi tasted like a house rum. We only ordered what i would consider typical English Chinese so not things like chicken feet or ox tongue etc, they have an extensive menu.

If you can't eat spicy food, I would recommend not to order the green chillis.

Leave your choices up to the manager! He has never let me down and I have been eating there for more years than I can remember!

Service was very quick, we visited at about 7.30 on Easter Monday. Food was excellent. Would visit again.

I previously used Crystal China for an Uber Eats delivery and, having on that occasion tried the more British-Chinese style takeaway offerings, decided to try the more Sichuan style offerings when I chose to eat inside the restaurant. I wasn’t disappointed. We ordered the Sichuan spicy beef flank, Special cooked braised pork belly and the dry hotpot (the restaurant’s unique selling point) with lamb, black fungus and bean curd skin. With rice, this was extremely filling and we took a takeaway box. Service was quick and friendly, and the restaurant was packed with what appeared to be regulars. The only thing which I found odd was the choice of cutlery offered - fork and chopsticks! Perhaps the best of both worlds to appeal to different types of clientele :)

Very poor experience delivery 30 minutes late cold food Cheap ingredients experience prices Not impressed

Must try their dry hot pot! You can’t get it anywhere else in London and it’s delicious, spicy and very reasonably priced as the portions are huge. Definitely get spice levels between 1-2 as anything more might be a bit too much

Really nice authentic Chinese food.

Great service, good food and nice atmosphere.

One of the best dry pot in London, been loyal customer with them for about 10 years. Never disappointed! If you have their loyalty card, that’s even better value for money.

Great place for Spicy Dry Pot, Spicy Fried Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

Good very dry no sauce despite my message notes asking for sauce

The dry spicy hot pot at this place is delicious!

I traveled to London and after the meal at this restaurant I felt like I went to Beijing too. Well done, excellent.

This place is stupidly good. It is a no frills restaurant with incredible value and quality of food. Plus a fair number of different dishes if you want to try or already like things like pig trotters - liver etc. Starters are great but not stand out cheap. Mains great value. I ended up going twice in three days with friends also new to the place. If you want a dish suggestion Sichuan Spicy Beef Flank is plenty for two at £14.90 plus the rice or noodles on top. (I would still have thought it value at £25 to £30) Nice staff. They serve the food and leave you to get on with it no annoying faffing.

We ordered take away from them. It was 5 of us and not a single person was happy with their food. I ordered green beans and minced. What I was was lots and lots of over salted beans with almost no mince. Seriously there was maybe 10 grams of mince in the whole dish. Egg fried rice was bland. The order took ages to arrive. Almost 40 later than what the app had initially calculated.

IMPORTANT TO READ I had a terrible experience at a Chinese restaurant that I visited on Chinese New Year's Eve. The food was mediocre, and the service was appalling. To begin with, a male staff member wearing makeup was downright rude to us. He tried to take away our plates and food even though we hadn't finished our main courses yet. He told us that we could only eat for two hours, but he never mentioned this when we arrived. To add to our disappointment, the food took a long time to arrive, from 40 minutes to an hour. Furthermore, the special fried rice they served was awful! The chicken tasted rotten, and they admitted that they had used leftover chicken from two days ago. This is unacceptable, and I believe that this restaurant needs to be inspected for safety and hygiene. Finally, when we asked for the bill, they said that they only accept cash or WeChat Pay, which they never mentioned upfront. This made everything so inconvenient all of a sudden. I suspect that this was their way of avoiding paying taxes because they knew that they would have more customers and sales during Chinese New Year's Eve. I believe that this restaurant needs to be checked by HMRC to ensure that they are paying their taxes. I strongly advise against visiting this restaurant, and I believe that it needs to improve its service and hygiene standards.

Went for Lunch with Work and had the set menu for 4 for half of our party. There was tonnes of food. Could easily have fed 5 or 6. Food was tasty and not at all oily or greasy. A lot of vegetarian options for the vegetarian half of our group too. The staff were very helpful in recommending dishes for them and brought them all out promptly

The food is strange. It’s not like Chinese food, it’s just FOOD, terrible food. And we don’t think they made the food in a healthy way. The waiters and waitresses there are SUPER RUDE, and you won’t have a good experience of dining there. They treats their guests too bad to gain any respect. It does not worth a try.

Came here for dinner. Service was good and so was the atmosphere. We got the sesame prawn toast, spring rolls and fried squid to start- all were great portions and very tasty. For main we got the dry hot pot of lamb, lotus root and noodles- level 1 was still quite spicy but it lacked any other flavour. I wish there was more to it. Our meal with a discount was about £40 which is good.

Delicious fresh food with generous portions.

Never disappointed..always good tasty food

Rice very overcooked, chicken satay very dry nothing seemed fresh:-(

Too late takway service not only one day every time . And unprofessional behaviour with delivery driver

It was pretty spicy, but so good!!! I would humble your spice level - I thought I was good with spice but I would get a 1 out of 4 next time. Definitely one of my favorite spots for dry pot. Very well priced as well.

The staff is exceptionally friendly and courteous. I ordered the dry pot and morning glory vegetable; the portion sizes were good, and the food was delicious.

Good food, was ready very quickly. Staff is very friendly. Do be aware, the food can get really spicy

I love Chinese food. I tried the hotpot for the first time, it was a MISS. I don't know what they put in there but it did not taste right. I will try hotpot elsewhere just to confirm if that was the right taste or flavour.

The food was really bad none of us could eat it. Soggy food, very bad taste. Dunno, maybe it was like that because the delivery was late half an hour.

for anew year eve good choice for all off us a family coming togother.Excelent food.enjoyed very much .

THIS RESTAURANT IS THE BEST! the best china restaurant ever the food is AMAZING the staff are lovely so many flavours in the food wow

This was so amazing, and authentic sechuan food as well. The dry hot pot is one of a kind where spices are well suffused with the ingredients and crystal china is one of the only places that I know that does it. 11/10