Haidilao Hotpot in City of London, Westminster

It's an establishment that has lost its tradition. The crab Linguine was drenched in heavy cream, garlicky and nothing refreshing. The Pappardelle lamb ragu was gamey and fully coated with oil. I am glad the ricotta ball saved the meal because the focaccia was cold and soggy. This is probably an unusual experience.

Friendly staff & tasty food. Thanks to Nicole for helping to organise a wonderful dinner.

I paid £11 for king prawn FRIED rice, but I received plain BOILED rice with prawns. The rice was very bland and fluffy. I contacted the restaurant and they agreed to send a replacement. However the rice was not much better. Very disappointing to spend £11 on fluffy rice I could've cooked at home. Avoid if you want tasty, authentic Chinese fried rice.

Excellent food, EXCELLENT service! Very attentive to the customers needs! Unfortunately, they do not serve egg drop soup (which is why I dropped in) but… the food was delicious and I left with my belly full!

OK. Here we go......I bit my tongue on this one in the restaurant, as I hate to be the party pooper shaming my friends nearly 300 a head lunch. Food was well prepared, tasty, but was simply not generous enough. It felt like a light lunch despite going for the main event (and being TOLD we were having the wine flight), and although precise cookery, nothing really stood out. Mainly due to the lack of portion generosity (yes yes, I know it's Dim sum). The food came in fits and starts and we were never really party to the dishes' philosophies, inspirations or any technical explanations, other than the basic X with Y and Z and a few buzzy words you'd expect to hear in a high-end Asian eatery in London. Really quite poor service and atmosphere for this level of accolade, even if most of the service team themselves were lovely. Initially enthralling bustle of the many staff and humdrum of the kitchen (adjacent to our table) in reality made it hard to comprehend even the basic spiel of the offerings. I've done a fair few top end restaurants of late and this was scraping 1* in my view. Due mainly to the lack of pomp and ceremony amid the quite frankly average service, poor atmospherics, and lack of context (I appreciate these aren't the strict criteria). My main issues were the lack of transparency in pricing and the uninspiring wine program. Yes, we were given Dom Perignon 2013, as well as the more budget end of Schloss Johannisberg's riesling spectrum, but the wines to follow were easy to source from UK retailers, and simply mid-range gumph. We were not once offered any insight into their origins, and the rationale for how they were paired (with, admittedly, some complex less wine-friendly flavours). I'd have expected some more umami focused wines, and why feel the need to serve a red at all? The Sauternes with dessert was pleasant but it was young and easily sourced (from Majestic) for 15 a half bottle. Not exactly special or interesting. I'd have expected them to be serving something with some age, oxidation or distinct character if I'm honest, rather than the namesake 'badge of honour'. A couple of major hiccups that left us sour, a bit salty, and certainly not sweet.... 1) Asked if we fancied some Champagne before we kicked off....... it was tempting by the range on show, but luckily my friend queried the prices up front and we were simply told it's 37 per glass (I believe in reference to the Ruinart Rose. Woof). We quickly asked for alternative aperitifs and were presented with a cocktail menu at a shade less ridiculous prices. Of course, monsieur sommelier was not forthcoming with this and wanted to flog the pricey stuff. What a terrible way to build rapport with your customers at the outset. 2) The lack of pricing transparency continued to the conclusion, where we were offered a choice of 2 coffees. Little to our knowledge they were not included, and were priced eyewateringly at a respective 9.5 and 15 pound. Shameless. To boot, there was zero effort from anyone in the kitchen, or the latterly present main man, to greet or acknowledge us, and we never received the promised menus. I've corroborated my views with others' who have visited on recent occasions. The petit fours were delicious, but the plum shot will unfortunately last as a sour taint for much much longer than intended. No doubt chef and team have worked their woks off to get where they are, but I personally wouldn't venture back or recommend - maybe the 2* is a great ticket to 'single visit/ international churn', but in terms of sustaining a business and maintaining an enduring reputation, I doubt it's a very good strategy. Apologies if you're reading this and are past the pay wall of no return on your booking. My advice would be.....if you care about value for money or your wallet's contents, keep a keen eye on that pesky cheque, and certainly get your coffee round the corner.