Water Lily Chinese in Braintree

Terrible experience from start to finish. Our food didn’t turn up, so we called to check on it and were told it had already been delivered. We assured them that we were still waiting and hungry, but they insisted otherwise. Eventually, they agreed to redeliver it. When the driver finally arrived, she seemed confused, claiming she’d already given us our order but didn’t recognize us at all. Very odd. To make matters worse, when we called to confirm the food had now been received, the man at the shop was incredibly rude, implying that we were just trying to get free food. It was clear the delivery driver made an error, but instead of taking responsibility, we were made out to be liars—an absolutely unacceptable way to treat a customer. As if that wasn’t enough, they even got our order wrong and sent the incorrect rice. The driver came back quickly to correct it, looking guilty and uncomfortable. After finishing our meal, I decided to visit the shop in person to address the situation with the rude staff member. Suddenly, their story changed: first, they claimed the food was given to my neighbor (who I know was out at the time), and then they switched to saying it was handed to someone in my alleyway. I even showed them camera footage proving no delivery was made to my house, and only then did they stop with the excuses. If you make a mistake, own up to it. Don’t accuse your customers of lying. We won’t be ordering from Water Lily Chinese again, which is a shame because we were regular customers. But after this disgraceful treatment, we’re done.

Extremely neglected property with filthy kitchen. A visit from food inspectorate urgently needed. Should be shut down now!! Avoid unless you are happy to risk food poisoning. AVOID UNLESS YOU WANT FOOD POISONING.

Best Chinese takeaway in Halstead. The honey ribs are a must have.

We bought here because Jubilee is shut but never again food and service are diabolical.

I was disappointed, the quality has deteriorated a lot. Reason and was unreliable. The food was horrible.

Foods ok But time given to pick up is double what your told 30 mins usually but actually 1 HR or more

Chips were over fried and food was very dry

I ordered my food at 17.08 it was delivered to me at 17.25 and the prawn balls were burnt. The chips looked anaemic and everything tasted like you just been heated up. Spoke to the manager and he didn’t know what to say other then nothing was heated up. It’s the worst CHINESE I’ve had ☹️

Water lily is got to be the worst I’ve ever had stay away trust 🤮

Excellent food,tasty and enjoyable, Friendly lady on the phone,delivery has always been around 45 minutes for local village which i believe is really good

First time ordering and yes, I did have to wait, but it was delicious. Will be ordering again.

Food was awful. Rediculously under portioned, duck was awful. Beef curry had 5 pieces of beef in it. Very disappointing.

Good Chinese and friendly service. Crispy duck is great, lots of meat

Absolute filth!!! Avoid at all cost came with hairs in the food and greasy and just all around un-eatable avoid avoid avoid! Even then there rude and shout at you when you call and explain...don’t waste your money

Was told an hour wait but waited an hour and half. Ordered £60 of food and it was awful apart from 1 dish(chilli beef) 2 chicken chow meins both had micro bits of chicken, 2 BBQ ribs both hard and stringy. 2 house chow meins both had 2 prawns but no chicken and no pork.2 Singapore noodles weren't too bad but had no meat. Never again. Basically paid for a load of old crap☹️☹️

Ordered from here last night however will not be ordering again !! I ordered one dish and they still managed to get it wrong 🙃 how! i do not know i asked for no pork in my dish and when i opened it there was 1 prawn 1 strip of chicken and 10000 peices of pork. Could understand if it was a busy evening and they was rushed of there feet but this was at 9pm after ive just finished work not what i wanted. Never again

Orderd last night was delicious. Food was nice and hot and gave us a free drink.

Ordered for the first time tonight and we were not let down. Great service and delicious food. Will order from here again.

Used them a lot never had a problem with them

The best takeaway in Halstead. Been using them for years now and always delivered on time as agreed. Reccomend to all.

First time trying this place. Got one of my dishes wrong and the crispy chilli beef did not taste of chilli at all. Was also warm when arrived, not hot.

Very poor from service too food. Plus my review was not important too them. So bad I had to bin it if you live in halstead dont use this one plus the food and service was disgusting

Good food on first visit. Would recommend thus far.