When the dim sum is fresh everything is really good. My biggest complaint is lack of consistency because sometimes all of the food looks really tired. At a midweek lunch I had a minced pork and aubergines dish that was really tasty. On the weekends, this place gets crowded which can make it difficult to get a table but improves the quality of the food. I couldn't feel any rocking of the boat but I've heard some people complain about it. Try it out. There are much much worse places you can visit in the area. read more

Dim Sum on Sundays. My partner and I do this every 2 weeks! We have been a regular at Imperial China, Leicester Square ( China Town) for ages. We were quite disappointed the last time we were there. Yesterday, we thought let's try something new. My partner found this place and he assumed I would love it. I was quite a travel from my place. It was in Canary Wharf. I was anxious and grumpy as I was starving! It was 1pm when we arrived. I loved it! Lotus it was called. Lotus the Floating Chinese Restaurant. It was packed. There was a handful people waiting to be seated. We were greeted by beautiful lady dressed in Chinese Costume presenting pamplets for Shen Yun . 'Table for 2' I requested to the attending staff. 'No No, No please come after 2' he replied abruptly. How rude I thought. I asked if they take reservations. 'NO reservation, Come after 2' I was actually quite annoyed with is abruptness. But I wanted to have lunch there, it was crowded and filled Chinese originates. This could only mean one thing. GOOD FOOD! I am happy to overlook the rudeness, just to taste the food and judge for myself. We went to the nearest pub for drink while we waited. We got back to the restaurant quarter to. It was still packed and at least half a dozen on customers were still waiting to be seated. He recognised us and said 'Ahhh you came back.Wait i find you table'. Couple of minutes later he come back and offered a table for two facing the river. Lovely view. I loved it. And all his rudeness before just seemed to have disappeared. The menu, they server both Dim Sum and ala carte dishes. The wine menu look pretty good for a midrange Chinese restaurant. Couple of dishes caught my eye. Fried Ying Yong! I have not had that for ages. Rice with salted fish and sliced pork. I love this dish. We ordered a few classic dumplings , siew mai, char siu bau, crispy yam courgrates, cheong fun deep fried battered squids, rice with salted fish and sliced pork, stir fried pack choi garlic style and egg tarts; accompanied by jasmine tea. Everything was scrumptious. This has been one of the best dim sum I ever had. Bear in mind I am from Malaysia and we do have very good Dim Sums. We are definitely coming back here, and the next time we are going for the full blown meal. Meat, vege and rice! I highly recommend this place. Try it at least once. You will not regret it. Perfect for Sunday lunches with family http://thehungrybea.com/2012/01/30/dim-sum-at-the-floating-chinese-restuarant/ TheHungryBea.com read more

We have tried our fair share of Chinese food in all parts of London. Lotus is like our family restaurant that we love to go every time we want some good flavor of the east. Generally, we loved the service there as we have been there often and know few familiar faces even though some new recruits can looked a bit stone faced at times. The atmosphere is probably best for someone who wants to have quiet discussion and enjoy their food. The selection and the taste of dinner food is okay but I love their Dim Sum better than most of the Chinese restaurants that cut costs by using loads of fat stuffings to make it tender but unhealthy or reduce the size the dumpling dramatically. read more

The Lotus is my local Chinese restaurant and is one I am very happy about. The location is not bad, either a walk along the waterside, or a trip by DLR to Crossharbour station. As for the food, very good value as always and the price is extremely reasonable - maybe not as cheap as you would get it in Hong Kong or China, but very good for London standards. The menu is not bad either, decent selection with the odd mix of specials being introduced - for the specials, you really need to speak to one of th waitress' to get a good idea. I personally much prefer the lunch options over the dinner options - the Dim Sum is much closer to authentic Chinese food than the dinner menu - which is rather unfortunate as I had expected more on that front. One final note for those who generally split the bill - they have a minimum for the amount for card transactions, so beware. read more

Excellent Restaurant in an excellent Location. I've been here several times with both friends & family & cant stop going back because it's such a nice place. Service can sometimes be slow, but the food itself certainly makes up for that & the prices are not too bad either. It's in a wonderful location in the heart of the Docklands & Canary Wharf, so fairly easy to get too but a nice area to go for a stroll by the river on a sunday afternoon. Highly recommended to anyone who likes Chinese food. Enough said really! read more

Brilliant Dim Sum, well cooked and tasty and good servicethe Dim Sum desserts are well presented and a tasty palate cleanser too. Haven't tried the standard menu though read more

I've lived in Canary Wharf for over 10 years and this was my first trip to the Lotus. Its actually a nice walking stroll, but I'm not sure I will be hurrying back. The contrast between Lotus and El Faro (its neighbour) is immense. El Faro is a superb Spanish Restaurant while 50 meters away this Chinese is just average. Starters (mixed selection) arrived a little too quick after ordering but were ok. Nothing Special. The mains arrived within a respectable time, but they too were just average. I found it a little overpriced for just average quality food. £6 was the cheapest vegetable side dish! Staff were pleasant and good. The atmosphere was nice for a saturday night, with loads of families out for the night as well as bigger celebratory groups upstairs. I'm worried for the restaurant now that a new housing development is about to open where the London Arena used to be. I'll be interested to see how long it is before complaints of noise and smell (there wasn't any when I went) arise fro the new residents. Maybe it was our choice of food, but it needs to go up a notch to match the prices its charging. read more

What could have been an excellent dining experience (good food, wonderful location) spoiled by dismal service and unhelpful staff. Having called ahead and been told that there was no need to book we turned up and sure enough the main dining deck was half-empty. It was thus a little surprising when we had to flag down a waiter after twenty minutes for our order to be taken but nonetheless we ordered starters and mains. Our starters turned up piecemeal and we noticed that the waiter made no effort to serve the right dish to the right person. When our starters were cleared a different waitress came back with menus and asked if we were ready to order our main courses. We pointed out that we'd done that half an hour earlier. Eventually our original waiter appeared and found his note of our order. He told us that there was a large party upstairs and that service was very slow that evening; it was painfully obvious that our main order was not only late but had in fact been lost. After some considerable discussion (during which our repeated requests to speak to the manager were fobbed off) we eventually got a free bottle of wine and our main courses finally arrived. The food was very good but by this point we just wanted to eat, pay and leave. At no point did any of the staff we dealt with show any sign of genuine concern, nor did they apologise for not informing us that service would be slow despite having told us that the restaurant was not busy (when in fact it was). I would not recommend the Lotus. If someone did want to try it I would suggest asking on arrival for a clear statement as to how busy they are and how long it is likely to take to get served. read more

I used to live really nearby this restaurant. The boat style is very outstanding among all these modern buildings. The decor is just OK not particularly fancy. Their dim sum is served till 4pm as I remember. The portion is good and most of them are tasty. They taste like what I have tasted in Hong Kong. As for dinner, I recommend their BBQ dishes like roasted duck and soya chicken. They taste very good, just like the good ones in China town. As for the rest of the dishes. I would give a 6 out of 10. Price wise, they are OK, it's about 20 quids per head for dinner. read more

The food tastes like heaven. You must go there! From duck wraps to noodles there delicious. As soon as you walk over the bridge you smell lovely food . You must go there ! read more

Decent Chinese food. I live close by and the barometer is always to see it packed especially with the Chinese themselves.. I tried the dim sum which was good and the black bean dishes were tasty. Service was good and in typical Chinese style..FAST.. Good value for money as well. read more

I go there once in a while for Sunday lunch (dim sum). This is the only good place I know for dim sum in east London. Some of my favourite are Char-siu pastry which is a dim sum size pastry with barbecue pork as filling (does it sound weird? I cant tell cos I have been eating this for my whole life), egg custard tart and sticky rice wrap in lotus leaves. Food usually comes quickly and is usually piping hot which is important to me as a Chinese. I have also been a few times for dinner (which they do not serve dim sum). Food is ok but I am not impressed. read more

It is a shame that Bradders_in_e14 had such a bad experience. I have been to this place some ten times this year (2010). In fact, and very different to Bradders_in_e14's description, I always thought the service is outstanding. I don't know any other restaurant in the area with so many really many waiters. They are also very, very quick. The food is the best chinese (or even asian) food available in Canary Wharf. Would especially recommend to come before the early afternoon, and have the dim sum. Quite authentic. I once wanted to leave feedback (positive) about our waiter. I hence asked to speak to the manager. This was received with honest shock=was asked if there was anything wrong and what she could do to make it better. Even when I said it was "positive" feedback, she still seemed concerned. Nice and friendly place. A bit bare interior, but hey == its a boat! read more

Recommended by a friend or two, certainly didn't disappoint. The food was really nice, I had a quarter duck. Lots of comments about the service here but I found it to be more than satisfactory. Especially an older plump woman who was very warm and welcoming. It's a shame duck isn't in the £11 luncheon menu, but it's certainly worth paying for, and I'd recommend it even if you're not in docklands, it's worth a tube/dlr journey to get to. read more

I love the way they prepare duck. Will kill to know the recipe. The atmosphere is very romantic and relaxed.

Amazing restaurant! View is breathtaking and place is perfect for some private celebrations. It's also a good choice for romantic dinner. But whatever occasion brought you there you'd search for another one to go soon again. read more

This place seems to be full all the time and the main reason for that is the food. Although the location is really great. I mean who wouldn't like to have their lunch on a floating boat? The scenery is just breathtaking there and there are a lot of windows, so you can admire it from each and every table. Additionally the decoration is very well-picked, it is not overdone and doesn't outshine the simple beauty of the nature outside. I haven't tried a lot of the dishes on the menu, mainly the dim sum menu and a couple of the main dishes, but all of them tasted delicious and seasoned right, not too bland, but not too spicy either. I would recommend trying the vegetable spring rolls and the scallop dumpling for your first visit there, as they both taste delicious and you won't make a mistake ordering them. As for the service- all the staff are very friendly and efficient, even a little too attentive sometimes. They tend to not keep track of who is serving a certain table, but never the less that's not a problem, you might just have to remind them that you have already placed your order. Otherwise they are always there when you need them, so you won't really have to wait for your food or get a cold one, and the same goes for the bill. read more

Been there several times for lunch as working in CW. Fast serving, average taste, good price. Good service.

I came here over the weekend for a Chinese New Year celebration with a group of friends, and it is a fantastic find. They don't take reservations so we came at 12 PM, right when they opened, and were allocated a large table upstairs for our group of 13 people. If you are not able to grab a table when they first open, it's a long wait! Service was chaotic because of the large influx of people at the same time, and it took a long time for us to get our food. They tended to bring out a dish or two at a time, and they also brought food first to the Cantonese speaker in our group and it took much longer for the rest of us to get our orders. Dim sum turned into over a 2 hour affair. But the food is incredibly well priced, authentic, and delicious, and I would hope that normally things are a little more efficient. The final bill was only £12 each! I was shocked by what good value it was and would definitely come again. It's worth the trek out to Zone 2 and not far from Crossharbour station on the DLR. read more

Extremely disappointed. The worst Chinese I've ever had in London. The portion is small and the food is not really authentic.

If I want go to Chinese restaurant I always choose Royal China. I prefer going to Docklands then Bayswater, as the restaurant is newer and brighter. You can never go wrong with the food there. Whatever you order is really tasty and tastes like real Chinese food not like European Chinese. read more

this is one tasty little place if u like chinese food, the menu is very wide and the choices are very vivid, lovely little boat that is docked up and has a very nice water view all around u, i recommend the soft shell crab with the garlic on and the tasty ospare ribs that fall off the bone with a tasty hoi sin type of sauce very nice indeed, the actual name of the resturant is THE LOTUS its on pepper street E14 just off limeharbour isle of dogs the phone number for reservations is 0207-515-6445 open Mon-sun 12pm till 22:30hrs u won't be disappointed read more

Not quite as good as the Royal China, but still worth a visit, I had a great time and would definitely go again, but I have to say I only tried the dim sum... but if you like that, you'll like this! read more

Poor, inattentive customer service, fruit flies and freezing cold washroom. Nothing more to say

We booked the restaurant for my 5oth birthday. As we we got in we where met by dancing, singing monkeys which escorted us to our table. Not sure if they were real monkeys or not but the entertainment value was second to none. it didnt take too long before the waiter with 3 arms came to take our order. At first my girlfriend was a little shocked by the extra arm, but soon came round to it as it made having all our dim sum arrive in only one trip. That was pretty impressive as we ordered about 50 dishes.. one for every year of my life. The food really came to life. Quite literally! The prawn stood up and started to do what looked like a belly dance, before doing a triple back flip into my mouth. Now how the chefs trained them to do that is beyond me I would definitely recommended the lotus to anyone who is after a great meal. This was a truly great experience and one which i will never forget. read more

went to Floating restaurant for Dim Sim and I found their good in general is OK/good, especially the vegetarian dumpling which is one of the best I had so far. Scallop dumpling is very average, doesn't taste like scallop at all, won't recommend their chicken rice either, very strange meat combination inside. There are not so much food to choose from, I think it is the UK standard, as most Dim Sim places in Australia offer so much variety, I could be wrong, only been to two Dim Sim place in London. If anyone knows a decent Dim Sim place pls let me know! read more

Best dim-sum I had in London. I loved the food here. We STUFFED ourselves and it was only 17 pounds per person, which I think is affordable for London. read more

Fantastic food, service and atmosphere. I can't wait to go again.

Only had take away. Good.

Never ever come back to this resteruant anymore. I am absolutely fuming about how I got treated. They don't even deserve one star. Me and my partner have been waiting outside for the restaurant to open. He went to the toilet just before we were about to be sited. The resteruant owner said I cannot have a table until my partner is returned so I got to wait although I have told her I can order straight away as I know what we want. She just ignored me then called the next customers. I said hold on, what happened if I am one person, can I have a table for one. She then lead me to the back corner of the boat dumped the menu on the table. I mean what on earth is this!!!!! The worst part is actually the lady in front of us got a table straight away when the owner asked how many people and the lady said they are somewhere in the restaurant....:. She didn't get ask to wait for her family to return back to the queue... what kind of service is this? I come to this restaurant all the time and have been treated like this! I will never ever in a million years going back to this restaurant again and I wouldn't recommend my family and friends to go just in case they have been treated this way!!!! read more