Oriental Aroma in St Albans

Feb 2024: SQUID TOO SALTY GAH Update: Another very positive experience. Fast delivery, hot food, high quality. Definitely coming back. -- Very good. Generous portions, tasty food, fast delivery.

Went in to order a delivery which arrives 30 mins later. Food fresh and tasty. Quality of meat on the ribs was disappointing and likewise the beef in the mixed noodles. Also felt the portion size of prawn crackers was mean (only 8 crackers) Otherwise yummy and staff were very friendly

Best food ! All of the food is fresh and worth the wait when they get busy. Brilliant customer service, always friendly and has the customers interests in mind. Would 100% recommend.

The best Chinese in Harpenden! After spending most my life visiting the same Chinese I decided to try somewhere new. Oriental Aroma is one of the best Chinese takeaways, they are very considerate with changes I wanted to make to the dish, the food is of a high quality and at a decent price. I would recommend taking a chance on this takeaway because you won’t go back to your old Chinese.

Nice. The food was abit pricey but the quality was worth it. The chicken balls were delicious.

Abit pricey but the quality of the food was enough to make up for it! Really delicious and definitely will be coming back.

Delicious! Great service, great food, yum.

Yummy! Food was absolutely incredible and everything was piping hot when I got it for delivery. Definitely recommend! Could be better if I didn't get so full from it! Haha.

Just picked up and returned with my meal - very disappointed. Crispy duck is very fatty, cold and not crispy at all. Noodles have congealed together and again are pretty cold. Feels like leftovers from last night. Only thing that is edible is the cucumber and onion that came with the duck.

Tasty authentic Chinese food and great value for money.

The food IS delicious BUT pricey for an establishment that has a mountain of boxes piled up inside the door containing disposable take away containers! It mars the quality persona of the business at it makes it look cheap. We didn't order an excess of food (1 starter to share, 2 main dishes, 1 beansprouts noddle and 1 egg fried rice) and I thought £38 for 2 was expensive for a takeaway.

Quick friendly service and great food

Had a fantastic meal here tonight great quality food and reasonably priced! Very many thanks!

refused to do delivery to me in the harpenden car park of the station, which is right next to the shop, said i had to spend 18 pound depsite the order being 15 and the driver literally having to come around the corner.

Wonderful food and lovely customer service, can understand why it’s so busy! Much much better than other local chineses with generous portions especially with noodle dishes, could barely Finish it if the food wasn’t so yummy :p. Would highly recommend for other local Harpenden families :)

Great food great service great staff. We are new to the area and we where recommend this place and we were so happy when our meal arrived. It was cooked perfectly and tasted so good. Can't recommend a Chinese place other than this place. Well worth it.

Superb and friendly service, good value and authentic Southern China cuisine. We're creatures of habit and have never been let down.

Avoid at all costs this company is usless and tell lies all of the time and make excuse after excuse about poor food ,poor service, poor delivery. I would advise you spend your hard earned cash elsewhere to save disappointment.Be warned stay awayThe only reason I gave one star is because I can't leave zero stars

Not happy with food as it had no taste not like the regent in Southdown,it was my husbands birthday so could not go to regent as it was closed,SO IF YOU WANT TO EAT HERE DONT ?

Well I'm sad to say the person on the phone has just hung up on us. They took an order at a pre-agreed delivery time, didn't deliver, chased after an hour, said it was on the way, didn't arrive, chased again, then told they did try to deliver but couldn't get an answer, so they threw the food away. Now we have a camera at the door - no one delivered at any time. So their driver either lied or attempted to deliver to the wrong address. They claim we said deliver asap which wasn't the case, we have a confirmed order to prove they made a mistake. Customer service non existent but to be hung up on is just not good enough for any business no matter the size. Another business that doesn't deserve to serve the public. Don't waste your time or money, make a sandwich

Don't get chinese too often as find some places are very greasy, but thought we'd try somewhere new. We got a huge selection of dishes and all of them were outstanding! The chicken balls were not stodgy (like they are at most places), the duck was delicious and din't contain any dodgy bits, the mixed starter was all fantastic, the noodles were really tasty and not greasy, all the other dishes were also great!

Amazing food. Probably the best chinease I have had. And reasonably priced !

It was our first time using this takeaway and picked up a family Saturday night takeaway. When we got back my wife said she got a metallic taste from her food and when I tried mine it was the same and when trying everyone’s dishes they were all the same, truly awful tasting food. It a a lol went in the bin and had to order a pizza. Overpriced disgusting food.

After our usual Chinese shut down we have struggled to find anywhere as good. We came across Oriental Aroma tonight and were not disappointed. It was delicious and we will be back.

Have been coming here for many years and have always had good food. Sent an email during veganuary to ask about what would be suitable and the response couldn't have been better! They confirmed the dishes I had enquired about and was happy to advise further if needed. So glad to still have my favourite chinese staying loyal to Oriental Aroma

Some of the Food was bland wont call again for that but will give a last go at other options

Very fresh, delicious food. Collection was very quick and staff were friendly .

Very tasty food and love the staff there

Had a great chicken curry from there recently but the one fault from being perfect is the quality of chicken. It just doesn't seem great. Before Great Wall shut down their chicken was quite tasty but Oriental Aromas seems like cheaper bits.Other than that the curry sauce is lovely, chips beautiful. Please improve your chicken quality if you read this. These round bobbly cuts of chicken aren't the best unfortunately.

Absolutely love it, couldn’t recommend it enough!! Been coming here for years and everyone I know orders here and loves it.

just moved to harpenden and cant get enough of their food

Have been getting food from here for years and is consistently excellent. We are yet to find anywhere near as good as this.

This place used to do such great food that we came from miles away to get it. The last two times, both within December, have been just dreadful. We ordered chicken balls and when our relative bit into it, it was Prawn. Thankfully he just had an intense dislike of prawns, not an allergy.Last night, we celebrated with a take away again, we thought we'd give them another chance. The rice was congealed and clearly just taken out of the fridge and microwaved. The batter was soft and gooey. The taste was mediocre, the sweet and sour sauce far too sweet. Never again, well have to find another Takeaway nearby!!

We got a takeaway that sounded great, lots of great dishes. The reality of it was everything tasted the same. The whole thing was disappointing. Don't think I will bother again.

Absolutely great service and mouth watering food. My favourite is Singapore special noodles. Amazing

It was so nice, it was hot and fresh and the best Chinese I’ve had in a while. I highly recommend

Fab take away with good home delivery.

Collected a takeaway from here this evening and, towards the end of my 15 minute drive home, they contacted me to tell me that they had forgotten one of the dishes. I had to then turn round and drive back to collect it. I told them that the rest of the food would be cold and suggested that they may want to recook the order. They said that there was nothing they could do and, sure enough, I came back with a bag of cold food. Will never use again!

Usually really enjoy the food here, but having just received our delivery there are 2 missing items and one dish cremated. When I phoned to let them know they agreed to send replacements but wanted me to pay the delivery charge?!? Not the customer service I was looking for...

Just love it. Best Chinese food in Harpenden.

Love this place!! Food is always amazing!! Great taste and always fresh!! Just wished they delivered to redbourn.. but apart from that 5 stars..

Delicious, fresh and tasty. Great menu with lots of vegetarian options including quorn and tofu. The quorn katsu curry is delicious, they also offer a slighter smaller rice portions. Won't be getting my Chinese food from anywhere else.

Loved oriental aroma 5 years ago and now back to its best!! Best Chinese takeaway food in Harpenden.

Great food, great service, generous portion sizes.

Oriental aroma never fails to amaze me the food is always fresh and the quality of the food is outstanding. The customer service is brilliant and it’s always been worth the wait when it’s busy (still is surprisingly quick even when it’s packed). Oriental aroma is one of those places where you could order anything on the menu and you’ll know you’ll love it. I live in central London n every weekend I travel to harpenden just oriental aroma as it’s the best oriental kitchen me and my family have ever had. I recommend oriental aroma for everyone as even if ur a picky eater it’ll definitely have something you’ll fall in love with !

BEST CHINESE TAKEAWAY EVER! The quality of the food is 10/10. The delivery services are extremely fast. The food is all fresh. The portions are very big and I literally can’t get enough of it. The staff are very polite and welcoming. I highly recommend oriental aroma to everyone who’s got a taste for real oriental food. Definitely one of the best oriental kitchens in the uk!

Amazing quality! The sweet and sour chicken was to die for. The portions of the food are extremely generous. Definitely the best Chinese takeaway I’ve ever had by far!

Wonderfully tasty and unbelievably quick delivery

Fantastic Chinese in harpenden ! always great, fresh food. Not greasy food like others place.

Waited 45-mins to collect the wrong order. Staff seemed very disinterested and didn't care that I had paid for the wrong food. I had to wait over an hour for a delivery with the correct order - it didn't arrive! Phoned up and the other girl behind the desk didn't know anything about a delivery - she told me I could wait a further 30-ish mins for a delivery - I said no. Went back to the store and they accused me of not even ordering from them. A few stern words later and my call log on my phone... they 'found' my order - and managed to get my money back. Won't be ordering from them again.

First time buying. Despite ordering early it took over an hour for takeaway to arrive. The Pad Thai was not Pad Thai as never seen it reddish and no one liked them. I don’t who said generous but we found it expensive for smallest portions we have had from a takeaway. We were starving so ate it but wouldn’t recommend.

First Chinese takeaway ordered. The chap at the till couldn’t care less and when I asked if the dishes were good he said that I might like it. I might not. Frankly, the quality is average.

Glad it’s back to oriental aroma but sad they no longer supply a fresh cut of duck to shred at home. I was not impressed receiving pre shredded duck which I guess comes delivered to them in a massive bag for them to heat up and ship out

Sorry..this was a mishmash of supposed different oriental food..it was a fail on all counts...very bland and not cheap

Had an issue the first time I ordered from here as their site said the orders were confirmed but then they never recieved them. To be fair to the owners, they offered amends. We've since gone back and the food is great. Highly recommended compared to other Chinese takeaways in the area!

very good chinese takeaway in harpenden. enjoyable

Creo que el dueño intentó cambiará su nombre lo bastante bueno antes de llevar pan y no fuera tan ha revertido parte trasera.Fue llamado por un tiempo para hacer tal vez un par de meses y tenía un menú diferente, lo que me gustó realmente. Coreano pollo y platos diferentes, que eran geniales.Quizá la gente de Harpo no estaban preparados para platos un poco lejos de la tradición china menú para llevar.De todos modos conseguí una toma de salida y estaba bien, había estado cantando las alabanzas de Jade Garden en Harpo para comida china calle gerrard pero de calidad parece que tienen nariz practicado en calidad y servicio, así que se pegan allí un poco.

Absolutely delicious every time. Top food, great service. Highly recommended 👌

Sadly there isn't there anymore. All there is now is just a noodle/sushi bar with no place to sit in for the family :/ What a shame :(

Regularly order from do delicious. Food has always been delivered within the time stated and arrives hot. Singapore noodles and the curries are very good.

Simplemente el mejor llevar chino en la zona. Escribo esto con la autoridad de alguien que ha pasado tiempo tratando de encontrar el mejor, y este es el lugar. La comida siempre fresca y gustos. La calidad es alta. Las costillas son increíbles, como también lo es el chili rallado carne y el pollo ahumado - son mi favorito. Han tenido recientemente un cambio de marca para añadir sushi y otras partes y piezas pero la calidad y la vieja menú. Hay que probarlo.

I can't put a number on the fantastic meals I've had from here, it's great quality, beautifully cooked and super tasty. I can't recommend it enough and the staff behind the counter are the best

He usado Oriental Aroma durante muchos años y nunca he tenido nada pero fresco, sabroso, consistente alta calidad y servicio con una sonrisa. El mismo equipo de personal parece ir a genial, incluso durante la hora punta. Han cambiado y actualizada la oferta de menú y no sólo se mantienen las mismas antiguos platos durante los años que demuestra que tienen una pasión por la comida. No suelo escribir una crítica para una comida para llevar pero no me molestó para ver una reseña negativa que dejó una crítica que a mí me parecen completamente extraño. Estoy seguro que ninguno de sus felices clientes habituales que pensaría que escribir una crítica de TA pero como han proporcionado muchas comidas deliciosas para mí durante los años es tiempo he dicho muchas gracias!

Have tried all of the Chinese takeaway and this is by far the best. Quick delivery, good size portions, very tasty and reasonably priced.

Paré aquí en mi camino a casa el pasado año. Estaba sucia y olía mal. Me hubiera gustado pero no pedí de todos modos y me dieron un horrible grasienta desastre de una comida. Yo estaba enfermo después y no volver. No entiendo cómo tiene buenos comentarios!

As long as you manage to phone your order through then you shouldnt have to wait too long! The food is tasty and staff are friendly and helpful. We now have switched using OA from another Harpenden takeaway as they are far more consistent. The dishes taste fresh and come in great little boxes!! If you are after a Chinese Takeaway, these people are definately worth a go!

Oriental Aroma has served Harpenden well for many years and deserves to continue strongly.The quality of the food is good, the variety of the food is wide, the portion sizes are more than enough and the service is second to none for a take away operation.The delivery service is very good, when you make the order, ask them when they will deliver and they are usually within ten minutes of the estimation.If you are on the way home from the station ready for a take away or at home and feeling lazy, Oriental Aroma can be a good choice to make.

We haven't been here before and although I love Chinese food I was fed up of the usual takeaway bland, greasy food. We looked on trip advisor and decided a drive into Harpenden from St Albans was order.The menu us slightly more expensive than our local but worth it. The shop itself is clean, bright and airy, you can see the chefs cooking in the back so you know everything is fresh.The food was lovely, we tried a variety of dishes and they were all great. The best thing was it wasn't greasy and I didn't have to drink about 2 gallons of water during the night because it wasn't to salty... AMAZING!Its a takeaway with a difference as it feels like they actually care about the food rather than churning it out. For example, we ordered chicken katsu curry, when we got in the car I notice once corner of the tub lid was broken so the air could get in. My first though was that's annoying I will go back to change it because it will go cold, but then I realised they had done it on purpose so the crispy coating didn't go soggy. How good is that!We will be returning soon I hope to try more dishes off the menu!

Had food from here on many occasions and, for me, the reason I keep coming back is the food is well presented and packaged, the service is always polite and I've not yet been disappointed by any of the food ordered. Which is not something I can say for the other local Chinese takeaways.

We picked up a takeaway from here at the beginning of the month. Fantastic as always. I like watching them cook it through the back. The lady at the counter couldn't be more helpful.

We have been going to Oriental Aroma for over 10 years and have never been disappointed. Food is excellent, value very good and have never been let down by delivery or timing for collection. We have tried others but really - nothing has yet come close for us

As someone how has travelled widely through South East Asia - I cannot sing this places praise too much.The quality and service is exceptional.well done and thanks :)

Just what We needed, love the American takeout box's !Really friendly delivery food piping hot.Can highly recommend Salt & pepper Prawns Beef & black bean sauceRibs

Called in on a Friday night for a takeaway but they had a lot of big orders ahead of me and a half hour wait. However the friendly staff were happy to speed up the order if it was nothing that took too long and mine was ready in 10 mins and I only had to change one thing I wanted! Tasty too

Best Chinese food I've eaten in a while! I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is craving Chinese. Great food and great service! It was amazing!

This is now our go to take away. Delicious every time. Sadly we're over in Wheathampstead and they don't deliver that far but it's worth the trip to collect it.

Got a takeaway from here as I was busy at work, ordered half a duck which turned out def not to be a half, it was so soggy as well! Main dish, chilli chicken was so bland I could have been eating cardboard! Don't want to be harsh as I love Chinese but this is not good

Absolutely lovely food and great service. Shame they don't have a branch here in Swanage! Miss this place!!

We ordered set meal for 4. The wait was far longer than the promised 30 mins (took 50), but that serves as a testament to the popularity of this place - staff were working flat out! Great tasting food, but they forgot to add pancakes for the crispy duck. Would go again :)

What can I say been going here for years, and nothing changes which is exactly how they keep the custom! Best Chinese around and amazing curry source iv ever tried! Help staff and never fail to deliver on excellent Chinese!

As an expert in takeaways i'd always rank Chinese last after Indian, Pizza, Kebabs etc but after a chance encounter with Oriental Aroma I have to say I am about to be converted. Both the Singapore Noodles and the Peking Chicken that i've had this week have been superb and the ribs are also top notch. The food as mentioned is pretty much cooked in front of you and they were happy to cook one of the dishes without Prawns for me. The portions are of a good size too with nifty little boxes and not the sweaty looking tupperware boxes.I will thoroughly enjoy working my way through the menu in the next few weeks. Keep up the good work!

I had a meal from Oriental Aroma whilst i was visiting friends in Harpenden recently. As someone who's a bit complacent about takeaway food this place really impressed me. The food is that of a quality restaurant, very tasty and with some dishes new to me. The menu is well thought out, with a great range, the ingredients are clearly fresh and when you go inside there is a professional feel to the place from the food cartons, the staff uniforms, the unusual drinks in the fridge and the fact you can see the food being prepared is a bonus. The portions are a good size, not too big so it's okay to try a few dishes. Really good.

The food here is the tastiest and freshest Chinese I have tasted for years! The fruity ribs were an absolute treat and all my dishes were very tasty and far less grease than usual takeaways! I just wished I lived closer but is well worth travelling for!

This is the way chinese food should be done - ordered sweet and sour chicken and got one of the best cooked takeaway meals in a long time. Unlike a lot of chinese takeaways these days, when you order a chicken dish - you actually get chicken as the main part of that dish as opposed to other takeaways which fill your box with cheap vegetables and hardly any chicken.You can tell the chicken is premium cooked - it tasted great! A bit extra sauce wouldn't have gone a miss but hard to fault. And very friendly service too!!

We have used this take away for many years and was so glad when it reopened. Had a takeaway from here on Saturday night had to collect as they do not deliver to Redbourn, it was an hours wait even for collection but that just shows how popular it is. Food was piping hot very tasty and generous portions. The girl who takes the phone calls and money has the best customer service skills ever! A real credit to your takeaway. Highly recommend

I Love Oriental Aroma... The food is fantastic and I love the traditional take out boxes. As always the food and service was great and the staff happy to reccomend dishes if your unsure what you feel like. The best crispy duck with pancakes.

good food but only one phone line which is usually engaged

I will have to move to Harpenden, this takeaway restaurant serves very enjoyable food. We ordered on the phone and picked up the meal, everything was fresh and tasty and didn't taste at all " synthetic" like some Chinese meals do. The portions were just right. When visiting Harpenden before I have always felt it lacked really good restaurants, there are places to eat out, but, not enough are outstanding, the standard of this takeaway and Godfreys fish and chips means the lower end of the market is first class!

I don't know what has happened to this takeaway, has it changed hands recently? In the past, we had enjoyed the occasional takeaway from Oriental Aroma but I think we will find somewhere else in future. I walked in off the street and was told there would be a wait for half an hour. That was bad enough but it was actually a wait of 45 mins in the end and even the staff thanked me for my patience. When I started to unpack my order I didn't think it looked enough and sure enough there was a dish missing. There were only 5 in the first place so it doesn't take a genius to count using one hand. I rang to complain and was told they could deliver the missing dish but deliveries were currently taking one hour. Pardon me? Not willing to wait that long, we went down and collected it. Perhaps I would have been better just to deliver the order back. The spring rolls were tasteless, just cabbage and bean sprouts with the odd colourful bit of carrot - for £2.20 each! The special rice which was supposed to contain pork, prawns etc etc was again lacking in colour and tasteless. All very poor value for money and certainly not worth the wait. There are plenty of other eateries in town!

My wife and I live in St Albans and for years have struggled to find a decent Chinese restaurant in the area. After craving a Chinese and checking tripadvisor reviews and friends recommendations we gave up trying to find a good Chinese here. I checked tripadvisor to see if there was a good Chinese restaurant or takeaway close to where we live (either radlett or harpenden) and found Oriental Aroma. After reading the rave reviews I thought I would give it a go and was quietly optimistic. My wife and I have just finished our meal and absolutely loved it. From the moment you call to place you order you know you are onto something special. Really friendly service and can't remember customer service like it. We ate far too much thanks to the generous helpings but a sitting here happy as can be. We ate our way through sweet and sour chicken, beef in black bean sauce, a couple of noodle dishes and social fried rice. All the food was fab and will definitely be ordering from here again. The food is also packaged in the classic boxes you see on TV episodes from the US which adds to the experience. Iri

After years of eating take aways from the other Chinese's in Harpenden, we decided to give this one a go! Great food, nicely packaged and tasty. Will definately be using this as our regular take away. The other chinese;s in Harpenden seem to be good one week, poor the next. So far the consistency here has been good!

Go here all the time, lovely take away place friendly and really good food with the best curry sauce!

Never disappointed with this place. Always ready on time, piping hot, full of flavour and good portions. Would highly recommend.

We had our first takeout from here last night after discovering on trip advisor that this is the number chinese in Herts - we were not disappointed.The food was noticeably better than the usual takeout - fresh and no gloopy sauce in sight.We particularly enjoyed the steamed dumplings and king prawn wonton soup - highly recommended.Only downside is that they don't deliver to St Albans!Definitely worth the trip, on the basis of the food alone.

You can really taste the quality of the ingredients and food preparation; great menu and the iconic packaging makes the food taste even better! Looking forward to many more meals from Oriental Aroma - a great find

Just discovered this little gem after a friend recommended I give it a go. The helpful staff were very flexible and happy to advise me on gluten free choices, they even created a stir fried veg dish to accompany my ribs.. Food tasted freshly cooked with bright flavours. Have now ordered from this joint 3 times and quality has been consistently high. Highly recommend!

I've had quite a few meals from this place and have never had a dish that I didn't think was up to scratch. The kitchen is open, which is always reassuring, the service is friendly and efficient, and the food isn't greasy. It's head and shoulders above the other Chinese takeaways I've tried in Harpenden.

My girlfriend and I were highly impressed with this surprising little takeaway. Don't be put off by it's rather bland appearance, the food is superb. As always we completely over ordered, so we had a good range to sample. Everything was well prepared and had an individual flavour.A great treat for when cooking seems like a bit of a chore!

Do you know what, I have never had a bad takeaway from here, and that kind of standard is usually a challenge to maintain.There is the typical range of dishes available, but some of them come in the those fancy pagoda style boxes which somehow make it taste nicer, and they also do a deal on adding boiled rice to a dish for only £1. My personal favourites include the salt and pepper chilli ribs -which is a huge portion - and also the Spicy Singapore noodles which is also a very generous amount. If you empty it out into a bowl you'll not think you can eat it. But you usually manage it. They also deliver and will deliver at a certain time if you give them sufficient warning.

I have been a regular of tong wong in Dunstable for years so tried something different - the bar b q ribs are to die for I am addicted, the chow mein is wonderful and comes in boxes where they pack allot in - really nice, the main dishes are lovely to but those ribs oh the ribs!! It may be a little more pricey than others in the area but it is worth it - you can wait a while but thats ok happy happy happy