Li's Hot Food Bar in Craigavon

Short Summary: Very delicious Chinese food for the region (especially so fresh out of the kitchen). The dishes were a little too saucy but vegetables were crunchy and fresh. Ambiance and service left quite a bit to be desired though, enough to drop the score to a 3/5. Not at all accessible for wheelchair users. Barely accessible for those with mobility impairments. No change tables for families and far too noisy for anyone with sensory issues. Long Form Review: This place seems to have rebranded at some point, so the door sign and menus say “China’s Finest”, however the address and phone number are the same as this existing Trip Adviser entry. The ambiance was quaint and uninspired. Cheap decor and messy table settings, with empty soy sauce bottles that look like they haven’t been cleaned in a while, were not very welcoming at all. However, the tables themselves seemed very clean and the space warm (physically, the radiators were on and it was nice to be warm). Menus (which were stapled together in the wrong page order and had manual price changes in one but not the other) were brought out promptly and orders taken as soon as we were ready. I wasn’t thrilled with silverware being brought to the table despite our having already asked for and received chopsticks (disposable btw) but that seems to be a local quirk. Drinks (2x Tsing Tao Beer and water) came out right away, and the starters (Mini Vegetable Spring Rolls, Prawn Toast and Salt & Chilly Prawn) were not too far behind. We were impressed by the flavors and textures of everything. The prawns were perfectly cooked, the spring rolls were not greasy at all and the prawn toast was crispy on the outside and perfectly done on the inside. Great start. Regrettably from there things got a little strange. The plates were cleared and we had a 45 minute wait for our meals. Not “terrible” but we were one of only 2 tables in the place and dining with a 5 year old which made it a little frustrating. There was no indication that it would be so long, especially after the starters were so fast, so it was very upsetting for our child who had realized how hungry they were after eating the starters and really wanted their main; we had no explanation to give them about why it was taking so long. What made it even harder to enjoy the rest of the evening was that during this wait the phone would not stop ringing for more than a minute at a time (and was set to extraordinarily loud). Take out orders were flying out of the kitchen and out the door at a rapid fire pace and yet we (and the other table) were not even offered a top up of our drinks. No one came to check on us unless we called for help. We ordered a pot of tea. Received two coffee mugs and English breakfast tea in a pot. Now, this could be explained as a simple miscommunication, but let’s be honest, when one orders tea with dinner at a Chinese restaurant, when has one ever meant English breakfast tea? That got corrected quickly enough and yet we were still not offered any more water or other beverages. When it had been an hour since we placed our order, I asked if we should just ask for our food to go… the staff member informed us then that they had “just asked the kitchen to cook” our dinners “since it had been so long”. I don’t even know how to unpack that… so I won’t even try. When the food finally came out (more on the food itself in a minute) rice was served on plates instead of in bowls, and I then had to order the two additional beers, additional hot water for the tea and ask for a bowl for the rice because I was tired of waiting for baseline standard service to be offered. Now, thankfully, the food (the dinners) themselves were very very good indeed! We ordered: Roast Duck in Oyster Sauce on fried rice Satay King Prawns on boiled rice King Prawns on fried Udon Noodles Mixed Vegetable Side Bamboo and Water Chestnut Side These were all very delicious. As we’ve become accustomed to, there was too much sauce on all the vegetable and prawn dishes, however, they were well seasoned, a great consistency and not greasy. The flavour of each dish was unique and added something different. The vegetables were fresh, very crunchy and very bright in colour; we were well impressed. The Bamboo and Waterchestnut dish was a little plain in comparison to everything else, and very large for the fact it only had two vegetables on it, so I definitely recommend that one to share and only if you LOVE bamboo and water chestnuts. (It’s really good though!) At the end of the visit, our child needed the washroom, so we ascended the stairs. We had to climb over a vacuum cleaner and a fire extinguisher to do so, which is to say that in addition to the stairs being super steep to begin with and the restaurant’s seating area being 2 steps up from the very narrow main entrance, this establishment is definitely not mobility/accessibility friendly at all I’m afraid. (Also no real room for buggies or high chairs. There were no changing stations in the bathrooms and the phones would make this place impossible for anyone with auditory sensory/focus issues.) There was no toilet paper in the ladies washrooms when we got there, however, a staff member showed up very quickly with paper rolls without us having asked. I was handed two rolls at the door to the washroom (which contained two stalls and a sink) so I, as the guest, restocked each of the two lavatories (?)… that was certainly a first in all my years. Haha We were able to pay by card, which is always great, and the staff gave us take away boxes to take our leftovers home. We had to ask for a bag but got one quickly. As we got ready to leave our little one was given their choice of lollipop from a big jar from behind the counter, a nice touch. All in all this was a pleasant enough experience, simply because the food was so delicious, BUT it could simply be so much better. It could be so so so much better, if: the service was faster and more forthcoming, if the decor was a little more authentic, the tables better stocked, the chopsticks not disposable, the crockery suitable to the cuisine, the tea loose leaf instead of bagged, the stairs not messy, the ambiance more enjoyable by turning the lights and phones down, separating the take away area from the sit in area, not having the delivery order bag prep area be a dining table right next to seated guests and by increasing the focus on sit in customers (who can be upsold, which I think they forgot). Our bill came to £86 (something there about) and they could definitely have made more money on our table if they had paid us more attention, offered us more drinks, and/or if the wait was shorter. Then we would have ordered more drinks and probably would have wanted dessert too. That would have been nicer for us and better for them. We hope to try again sometime, maybe as a couple instead of a family, and maybe later at night when there may be less focus on takeaways/deliveries.

Delivery took 2 hours, app should not let you order if it's that busy, you should be offered a refund when it gets to an hour and a half. Def won't order off the app again, if I ever order from this Chinese again I will make sure I ask how long it will be first. 2 hours, without even an update call, is just ridiculous.

I ordered a munchy box the box showed different dishes chips noodles rice ect but I wasn't informed when I ordered I had to pick so on arriving I opened a box of fried rice and hard chicken pieces with onion rings discussing and cold I have never ordered from this place before and definitely won't again

A solid chinese all around. Foods always piping hot and you're usually not waiting long

food was cold and hard, for all that there was. for an all you can eat buffet you would expect there to be at least a few different types of food out... how this place is still exsists is beyond my understanding......