Let's face it, Chinatown is a hub of massive competition between Chinese restaurants and thus quality and value for money is generally of a decent level all-round; which is a blessing that not many cities in the UK can boast of. The Oversea Chinese restaurant has been around for decades as a common and affordable place for dim sum, a satisfactory sit-down meal or indeed somewhere where you can have a quick meal to yourself and not feel awkward about it. So it is nice to have around even though it now no longer offers student or elderly discount. Nevertheless whilst the quality of the restaurant and its food is on the right side of average it is still not that remarkable. Like a safe bet and a familiar sight, this restaurant is nice to have around for an everday type of dining experience but not good enough to be a treat. read more

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On the main drag of Chinatown's Gerrard Street, it's actually quite hard to find decently priced roast duck. After legwork and careful tasting research, this is where the price/taste curves meet to offer best value for taste. I pop in here to get roast duck as a takeaway treat for me and my sister when I'm on the area. The duck portion is generous. Just make sure that they put some sellotape over the little pot of sauce that they give you with the duck. I've had the odd disaster before where the lid has fallen off the pot when it was in my bag. Sorry I can't comment in the crispy duck but the roast duck is yummy! read more

Located in Chinatown with stiff competition with several other Chinese restaurants in the vicinity, this place surely is busy and popular. It's a two-level restaurant that specializes in dim sum served all day long. When ordering dim sum, you'll find an order sheet on your table. Check the menu and mark the corresponding numbers on the order sheet with the quantities you desire. Dishes are brought one at a time so you have the time to enjoy each dish and they are piping hot. If you are unsure of what to order, ask the wait staff for suggestions and they are spot on. I had a great meal here. read more

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Chinese food ranges from home-cooked goodness, to amazing restaurants but there exists a huge dynamic of everything in between. So, this restaurant boasts nothing but awfulness. I WAS STILL HUNGRY after because I couldn't even eat anything good. :: Vegetables weren't even washed well - still sandy. :: The roasted duck? So oily, I'm pretty sure that amount of oil could fuel 1 McDonald's restaurant for a week. :: The soup? My chicken and mushroom was barely warm and the "seafood and tofu" was nowhere near fresh, and had barely a hint of taste - besides salty MSG. What was worst was the cleanliness and environment. Seeing fingerprints all over my plate PRIOR to usage? Disgusting, especially seeing it in the middle of the plate. AND! the downstairs where we sat was practically their bathroom - that's what it smelled like at least. The environment consisted of loud asian chomping and rude table manners, complemented by loud and rude asian staff. Is it really necessary by the way, to stand in front of your restaurant entrance to get customers to come in? Especially when you can't even communicate with them... A BIG HEADACHE this place is. read more

This is my favourite place in Chinatown to get Crispy Duck, especially when you've been out drinking in Soho, it's 2am, you're starving, and the thought of a greasy kebab or burnt hot dog really doesn't do wonders. These guys are open till 4am and they love the slightly tipsy super-nice drunkards that come in to enjoy a meal. Whether you're in during the day or the ungodly hours of the morning the waiters are always nice and happy to share the fun. The food is great, we all share a pot of Chinese tea and whether you order your old favourite or something new off the menu its bound to impress. The best part is the prices are quite decent - in a group you'll walk out paying between £10-15 depending on how hungry you are, we always share a few things like get our main but then share some steamed veggies - you do have to try and be good no matter what time of day! Keep up the great work Crispy Duck, I'll be in soon! read more

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Blog post with photos: http://foodieclaire.wordpress.com/2010/10/16/dim-sum-crispy-duck-restaurant-china-town/ Had been wanting to go to a dim sum restaurant in Leicester Sq. for a while having taken a half day I decided to treat myself to a pay day lunch. I had intended to go to New World but a work colleague told me to go to Crispy Duck. I made the right choice. Their dim sum menu is extensive, very reasonably priced, well sized and most importantly delicious. I had a great service and can now say that I've experienced traditional proper dim sum. I won't be going back to the likes of Ping Pong I can now see that they are poncy fakes! Do visit here if you can next time I will be trying New World :) I had: 1 medium Won Ton soup, black bean pork, prawn and chive dumpling and Vietnamese spring rolls (yes all to myself!) with green tea came to £11.90 read more

Oversea Chinese Restaurant - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

You kids have got it all wrong! Despite the name, this place is much better utilised as a dim sum joint. Duck is too expensive, even in more modestly priced outlets such as this one, so I recommend tucking into the little 'hearty parcels' instead (well done to anyone who got the small Cantonese joke there). Dim Sum finishes around 3pm(ish) so get there for lunch and be prepared to crawl home because your legs won't work after stuffing yourself for no more than a tenner. The menu (with pictures) ranges from steamed dishes such as the staple Shaomai, to fried dishes including some excellent calamari. Personal favourites of mine are the Scallop dumplings and the pork cheung fun (mmm slimey). Be prepared to queue on a weekend as it can get very busy. Also, has anyone else noticed that there seem to be an infinite number of floors to this building? read more

Not bad! Located in London's Chinatown, this place has pretty good dimsum. The fried noodles dish tasted quite bland and wasn't that special but their other small treats were good. read more

Food:3 stars Price:1 stars As a Chinese grown up in Guangzhou and live in US now, their food didn't leave me a good impression. Their Roasted Chicken was pretty good, but others are not even close to the original taste in my memory. What they surprise me the most was they charge ￡11 for the write rice for 2 people, which was almost cost 5 times more than the rice in the same kind of restaurant in NewYork. Their prices are include the service fee, so you don't need to pay the tips; but even so, their prices are still very "impressive" among the same type and level of restaurants all over the world. There are many other restaurants near by with better food, dining environment and service, so my suggestion is to make your choice wisely. read more

Selecting a restaurant in China Town is always a little hit and miss. Just wanting a small bite before catching the train home to Brighton, we were perusing the menu when a friendly Chinese girl popped out in to the cold to encourage us in. I appreciated the fact that we had chance to review the menu before we got harassed! We were shown to a table by the window on the first floor. The clientele included a good mix of Chinese diners, usually a good sign. We decided to order the mixed h'orderves for two followed by half a crispy duck, washed down with a couple of tsing tao (a little on the pricy side seeing as I watched the waiter pouring the beer directly out of a can!) The h'orderves were a bit hit and miss, mostly tasting if they had been hanging around for a while. The spring rolls were hot and fresh but the seaweed was soft and tepid, the chicken and ribs a little tough and chewy and the prawn toast was just average. The duck was a good sized portion, and tasty if a little dry, and the pancakes a little floury. That said, the staff were very friendly, and were happy to provide my boyfriend with the hottest sauce available on request. We didn't try any of the main dishes so I unfortunately can't comment on these, and although not a terrible experience, I've definitely had better meals in China Town They do sneak a hidden service charge on to the bill as well, so do check for this before paying. read more

We had just arrived from a 7 hour journey from Taunton to London and were famished! The bf kept exclaiming "crispy duck" and we knew we needed to have some. So I got on the trusty old yelp and found the aptly titled Crispy Duck. We were promptly seated upstairs and got the preset menu for £13.50 a person. We started with the crab and sweet corn soup. The boyfriend loved it, I am not a fan of sweet soups but the taste was ok. Next came the crispy duck. The duck was just crispy enough and the plum sauce was sweet and complemented the crispness of the duck. Any sweeter and it would have been too much. After the duck we were served our mixed veggies, sweet and sour pork, and king prawns in black bean sauce. Yum, yum, yum is all I got. I ate this all over the fried rice that was to accompany these dishes. Once the meal was finished we got up and waddled our way out. read more

DO NOT EAT HERE UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET RIPPED OFF This is the worst restaurant I have been to in London. I went in with a friend and we ordered the dinner for two combo, which we thought was £23 pounds. But they actually had marked in very tiny writing that it was £23 per person. This sort of of trickery is not acceptable. While this is expensive normally it would not be outrageous. However, we did not receive nearly that amount worth of food. In fact we were not even remotely full when we left the restaurant. To make matters worse the service was absolutely horrible. It took them 90 minutes to get us all our food. They kept coming out and telling us it was coming to keep us there but it took way too long. When it finally came it was lukewarm and mediocre tasting, not to mention the tiny portions. When I asked the waiter for chop sticks he told me "no, I'm too busy." Also, we asked for tea and they tried to charge us £5 for it when every other table, which were full of Chinese speakers, got the tea for free. My experience here was so terrible I would give them a 0 if I could. I would advise anyone reading this to walk to one of the many other Chinese restaurants on the street. read more

Food here was amazing. The duck is MEATY! Probably an England thing, but compared to the duck we eat in California this one has way less fat and is much more tasty. I'm jealous. We also ate some veggies and dim sum. The bamboo+beef meatballs were as good as any SF Chinatown dim sum/bakery shop meat I've had. The fook yuen fried rice was good too. The zhaliang (rice-wrapped chinese donuts) were the right consistency and not soggy. Their xiao long bao was mediocre, but that's because I'm spoiled by taiwanese XLB. The staff was very friendly, the tea was good as well and I am definitely glad we stopped in here. read more

I'm not sure why this place has as high of a rating as it does. I landed in London Christmas Day and figured Chinatown would be a good place to find an open restaurant for a hot meal. A quick Yelp search brought me here, and the first red flag should have been we were seated immediately even though every other open restaurant in the near vicinity had a line out the door. We sat on the second floor, and our table was filthy with grains of dried rice and stains under the thin piece of paper they put on top of the tables. Service was also incredibly slow, as the 3 waiters working the second floor had too many tables to juggle and every table was getting frustrated. Now I normally don't mind a hole-in-the-wall restaurant with non-existent service if the food is delicious. I got a 2-meat platter with char siu and roast duck, stir-fried Chinese vegetable with bean curd and chilis (came without any bean curd, but service was so slow we cut our losses) and egg fried rice. Overall our dishes were really incredibly greasy and we felt sick by the end of the night. read more

One of the restaurants in Chinatown that opens before noon - think possibly the only one. Maybe that is why the service was not so friendly - knowing you don't have another choice. We ordered a few items - but a couple of them came wrong (not exactly what we'd ordered). The server, rather to acknowledge the error - pretended they were the correct items. We didn't bother arguing - we were hungry and on a strict schedule to catch our train. read more

Oversea Chinese Restaurant - Shrimp bonnet, roast duck rice vermicelli noodle soup, steamed beef rice noodle and fried calamari - Chinese Near Me - London, XGL

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This was the first Chinese I ever went to in China Town. Well priced, good service and the char siu bau tastes just the same as in Hong Kong. It may not have as many frills and spills as others but being there at Chinese New Year was brilliant. ***The dim sum is fantastic! Go for 11ish on a Saturday or Sunday for the freshest dumplings*** read more

Traipsing through Chinatown is an experience in itself, and picking a restaurant can be difficult with so many delicious looking ones in such close proximity. I decided to apply my internationally patented rule of "go where the queue is the longest" in choosing the Crispy Duck last weekend and was happily rewarded with some of the tastiest food I've had in a long time. Generally, my rule is foolproof - the more people waiting, the better the place will be, and the Crispy Duck was no exception. Though of course there was a bit of a wait, the woman at the front was cheerful and quick and we were seated in exactly five minutes, just as she had predicted. After pondering over the extensive menu, I decided to go with crispy spring rolls as an appetiser and kung pao chicken with house special fried rice as a main. Wow - I was blown away! The chicken was nice and spicy and packed the punch that I was looking for, and I couldn't get enough of the amazing rice with its bits of prawns, pork and egg mixed together in a perfect blend of flavors. The best part of the whole visit - not only was it fantastically delicious, but I got out of there paying only £15 or so for my huge feast and a beer. I've read the other reviews saying that the Crispy Duck is open until 4am which just means that I'll be back on my next traipse through the area, even late at night! read more

Chances of finding authentic dim sum in Europe are very slim, so it was a must for me to eat dim sum in Chinatown. My friends took me to Oversea, their go-to dim sum place. The restaurant functions like most HK dim sum joints: you order your tea and write down the dim sums that you'd want. I ordered my usual dishes: har gau (shrimp dumplings), beef tripe, shrimp rice rolls, chive dumplings, custard buns, etc, and Oversea did a great job in satiating my palate. Service was fast and not obnoxious (unlike many Chinese restaurants elsewhere). For 6 people, we paid £9 per person. Great bargain! read more

When my friend said he wants to meet a friend for Crispy Duck at london's chinatown, i thought they have both lost their mind. I mean, we are in london, shouldn't we be having bangers and mash, mushy peas and the likes? One bite from their duck shut me up good though. Not only were the duck tasty, it's also juicy and overall a delicious dish! We also got lobster noodle and wanton soup, but the duck remains the star of the meal. So much that we got another portion even though we were pretty full already... read more

Wow. What a find! I'm Chinese and grew up on dim sum. This may be the best dim sum I've ever had outside of Hong Kong. Everything was fresh and tasty. Try... Pork buns Siu Mei Steamed pork ribs Egg roll It was awesome!!! Portions are perfect. The three of us shared 7 dishes and walked out feeling very satisfied. read more

We went with a bunch of people and everyone got something different. We opted for one of the family meals and it was a great deal.Way too much food for 3 people. I remember crispy duck, a chicken dish, some absolutely delicious and the star of the meal, a spicy shrimp dish, soup, rice, and some other stuff I don't remember, all for 13 pounds each. I would go back in a heartbeat. read more

It's one of those dizzying number of restaurants on Gerrard Street - and it's small - not a lot of room. But if you can get in when there's room, sit down, order the roast park, crispy duck, some rice, and thank me. It's the real stuff. read more

A spur-of-the-moment trip to Chinatown for dinner found us at the Crispy Duck. We've had our share of good and bad in Chinatown and this is definitely in the GOOD side. Very reasonably priced, exceptionally quick and efficient service and delicious food. One to remember next time friends or family are visiting and want a little Chinatown adventure. read more

I wanted dim sum and thought for my first dim sum experience in London let's hit Chinatown. We went into the first restaurant we found with both the ubiquitous sign of good food, carcasses in the window, and a clear sign advertising dim sum. The Crispy Duck won. We were lead through the dining room into some tight, dodgy stairs into the basement where I was pretty sure we were going to be trafficked. Instead, it wound up being another, darker, emptier dining room where we were seated and given both a regular dining menu as well as a dim sum menu. I was initially confused about the seating arrangements because the upstairs dining room wasn't full. But, this basement dining room quickly filled up so we didn't feel discarded or lonely for long. The dim sum itself was lovely. We ordered five plates and a couple beers and the total was exactly £19.80. However, the bill we were given was for £21.80 and was delivered on a plate advertising the virtues of tipping. If I hadn't done the math, we would've tipped on top of the already added gratuity because there was nothing that said it had already been added. Tricky. Besides the check dodginess the experience was fine and the food was very good and very filling. Happily, my first dim sum experience in London was a good one. read more

Wanting to try the Chinese food in London we decided to stop here for dinner. Not realizing that the dining room was split between 5 different floors we were seated on the 4th floor. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem but I had my 88 year old grandmother in tow with a bad knee. We ordered several different dishes...hot pots with preserved vegetables and pork belly to sauteed pea vines in garlic sauce. All in all everything was good. Nothing spectacular stood out which is why I gave it my average 3 star rating... If I am back I would probably try some other restaurants just to see what they offer. read more

The Crispy Duck Chinese restaurant in London's Chinatown is one the numerous Chinese restaurants in the area. What makes this restaurant better than any of the others? Hard to say to be honest but in it's own right the quality of the food is excellent, the service is as good as anywhere else and the atmosphere is on a par with other establishments. I would recommend the spare ribs with salt and chilli, crispy duck and the chicken satay. Works out at around £25-30 with a beer. read more

If ever you fancy a quick munch after clubbing, or well any time of day really, you can't beat Crispy Duck. It is by far the more better of the other restaurants in China town. The food is cheap and the menu is extensive. Some dishes can be a bit hit or miss but the congee dishes are nice as well as the rice dishes. Don't worry if there is a group of you and those that come after you get a table first. The staff know what they're doing and will get a table to accommodate your whole group as and when a table becomes available. read more

I was dragged here once and ordered a sweet & sour chicken dish. A very standard dish and I was served very standard fare. The service is fairly friendly but altogether there is not much to set this place apart from the countless other Chinese restaurants in the area. Before you visit Crispy Duck you might as well go go Haozhan restaurant, which is right next door. It is more expensive but you will be rewarded with some very decent food. read more

I've been coming here since my university days when it still went by the name of Hung's. Perfect to roll into at any time of day or night with pretty good food and staff who know how to hustle you into a seat. I like their congee (excellent as a alcohol mopper-upper) and veggies, but have somehow never tried their (now) titular crispy duck. The menu is quite big, with a few more random dishes that you may not find outside of a Chinatown. My standard general fall-back in Chinatown if I don't want something specific or fancy - a good all-round chinese restaurant. read more

A teenage me stumbled into China Town's Crispy Duck restaurant about a decade and a half ago. I hadn't been to Asia at that point... actually I'm a little embarrassed to admit it but I hadn't eve tried Chinese food at that point (my parents are Irish and do not eat out. Ever). So I hadn't tried it. Until that fateful day... Crispy Duck breaks a newcomer into the ways of Chinese food easily, with their tasty and varied range of treats. I'm not sure if I ordered their Turnip Cake or their Chicken-with-Cashew-Nuts that day. But rest assured I have ordered it many times since. Crispy Duck ; you'll always be my first experience of Chinese food (albeit Anglicised Chinese food, like the rest of your China Town neighbours). And to you I will always return. Great service, fair prices, quality food, spacious atmosphere ; you offer everything I want in a Chinese restaurant. read more

Every time I am in london I try to go there, to get the Crispy Duck with pancakes... LOVELY!! But I have always had the duck, so I cannot say about other dishes. The plus is that like most of Chinna town restaurant they let you come in very late, which is very practical when you have early theater seats. read more

The best Chinese in Chinatown! I tried the place next door to the 'Crispy Duck' on Chinese New Year - the food was severely disappointing. By comparison, the 'Crispy Duck' provided a great range of dim sum and main dishes. During my visit I had my usual, which was the Cantonese roast duck, pork buns and prawn dumplings. All of these dishes were very authentic. The only con is that the restaurant is so far away from where I live! But if your in the area this is one of best places for Cantonese roast duck. You may find that many people highly recommend the Aromatic Crispy Duck. However I don't - as I don't like how the duck is deep fried. Furthermore you also miss out on the lovely flavors Cantonese duck has to offer. In other words it just tastes deep fried! Try the Cantonese Roast duck for change. Overall I give this restaurant 5 stars! This was mainly because of its excellent food. However, I would also like to note that the service needs a little improvement in relation to the the waiters manner and behavior - i.e. they seem very grumpy. Overall you can't give this restaurant a miss! read more

This is a great place for a quick meal as you get no fuss from the staff there and they seat you as quickly as they can. It's also a place that does nice Congee (Chinese porridge) if you fancy something light and not too heavy. Water Dumplings with noodles is not bad too... This is a great place for after clubbing too if you fancy some food as they open until around 4am. But be warned that you may have to queue depending on how busy it is since there are not many restaurants around the west end that open until 4am. It's a place I used to go to in my clubbing days.. read more

Authentic feeling crispy duck restaurant in the heart of Chinatown. Brightly lit with ducks hanging in the window and Tsingtao poured from cans wirh the old style ring pulls. Signature dish was very good, as was the black bean chicken. Other dishes were decidely mediocore. I'd come back. read more

They do THE BEST dim sum hear, and serve it from 11.00 instead of 12.00 like most places. The staff are friendly and efficient, and there is always a great atmosphere. The only trouble is, I love the food so much, I always leave barely able to walk because I'm so full! read more

Oder one of the set menus with crispy duck. Lots of tasty treats before and after that main course.

very cheep, but very good food. go for the aromatic duck and order some mixed greens with it. Place does not come across as clean, but you don't come for the admosphaere but the food. read more

Ran in here in a rush from the rain without checking yelp reviews earlier- poor move, I should know better! The window was filled with crispy duck that looked super inviting, so we headed in. I was feeling a little delicate admitted a stressful move, so plumped for a less adventurous option which is unusual for me, but I struggle massively with odd textures if I feel a little off, so I decided to avoid the frogs legs, bitter melon and pig organ. There's a huge choice in the menu, we sat on the second floor, the decor is plain, and the staff were friendly, though occasionally a little stand offish. For what you received, it seemed rather overpriced, which I wasn't entirely impressed by. My chap's dish was fantastic, he went for one of the hotpot dishes with yam, reasonable portion and filling, but I was a little disappointed with mine. I ordered the noodle soup with crispy duck and crispy belly pork. My order arrived, and it was ten minutes before my partner's came to the table. The crispy belly pork was fantastic, but the duck for all but two pieces, was chunks of fat on bone. I understand that duck is fatty, but when it's something proudly displayed in the window, I do expect more than a quarter of my meat to be meat. Because of this, it did take a while to eat, and I'm self conscious enough as it is without waiters hovering behind me to take my plate on the last mouthful. If you go, go with a full wallet, don't get the duck and know you'll be paying 2.60 for a can of "not to be sold separately" pop- you will probably lovely time on knowing that! read more

Excellent China Town spot for dim sum. Good price, a lot of options, and very fresh food. Friendly staff and nice atmosphere.

We had the set dinner. Great value at 13 pounds each. Food was really tasty.