I hadn't been to this branch for over a year, and I'm sad to say that it's still a pretty poor example of a Ping Pong. While the food is on point (try the new pork soup steamed dumplings - I can't spell it but you'll see it on the menu), the ambience is rather lost when you have to sit outside because they still have those awful eight people tables in the main dining area. But at least we managed to avoid those again. Instead we ended up on a rather small two person table outside - which was made better once the nearby heat lamp was turned off as suddenly it felt like we weren't being cooked. Food was fine but the manager who took the order slip from us didn't notice we had ordered two portions of the pork buns. So once our waiter realised it was rectified but came a while after everything else. read more

If I were to rate Ping Pong on their interior design I'd be giving them a 5 but I'm sorry to say their food is overpriced for what it is. This restaurant is beautiful and the drinks are fantastic which brought my rating from a 2 to a 3 star. The service I received at the restaurant was ok, and the food was adequate. In the past year they have changed their menu, and to be honest their old menu was better. Our food arrived quickly and it all tasted good, their dessert menu isn't fantastic, so you might have to follow on somewhere else afterwards :) It is quite expensive considering you may not leave full. In my opinion there are much better Dim Sum places in China town. read more

Best dim sum I've ever had? No, probably not. Fun and enjoyable afternoon with good company and tasty food? Yes, definitely! On arrival at Ping Pong, I was nervous that the table that I'd booked for 10 people late last night online via the Ping Pong web site would not be available since I didn't receive an email confirmation. But I need not have worried since as soon as I arrived and asked about "my reservation for 10 people", we were whisked upstairs to the lounge/bar/dining area. I have been to this branch of Ping Pong once before, but hadn't realised that there was an upstairs area. However, I was very pleased by this as a) there was only one other group upstairs besides us; b) it was much quieter which allowed us to chat to our hearts' content; and c) the sofas were much more comfortable than the benches downstairs albeit slightly lower. At this point, a big tick for Ping Pong's technological advances and wise decision about seating allocations. We ordered our drinks (all choosing fancy teas of varying fanciness - my favourite of the ones I tried was the lychee and ginger iced tea cooler, which was very refreshing) and settled in to analyse the menu. Another tick for Ping Pong on a special occasion for the wide range of teas that we don't normally have when we go for a traditional dim sum meal. The girls chose a selection of dim sum for the group, which the boys promptly tripled... The food arrived quickly and was served hot and fresh. The flavour complemented each other well - I love Ping Pong for the variety of unusual combinations (like black prawn dumplings). My only criticism is that the steamed dim sum were a bit too sticky, which meant the skins broke and the contents spilled out. We were also slightly disappointed that they did not have cheung fun on the menu. But decent quality food all in all. We also had desserts - the Ping Pong sampler, which I won't describe in detail as it would spoil the surprise - but each mouthful was was delicious and only made you want more. I'm glad I managed to squeeze in dessert! Overall, we had a great afternoon - great company and lots of food. However, I think it is over priced (in my opinion, you can get much better traditional dim sum at a very reasonable price), but you do get the more unusual/fusion combinations (like scallop and shitake dumplings, duck spring rolls or seafood pastries). That said, we got what we paid for - a slightly different, very relaxed lunchtime gathering of friends. read more

This is a decently trendy place, a while back at another branch a waiter told me that the owner hired the same interior designer who did mega trendy and expensive Nobu's interior and Ping Pong's is almost copy. However here they seem to have refreshed from then and the concept and the design has moved on since then to keep it current. The main waiter was great, making sure we had everything we needed and really attentive. Although the other staff were nice, they did have that disturbance of feeling a bit rushed. The dim sum is superb, this is a chain though so the food does feel a bit like it is made to a formula, but is good. It is starts at about £26-£30 because will need to order a lot as it is a few dim sum with each order. A good dim sum place that will not dissapoint. read more

Never in the history of Dim Sum have such small parcels of food been so expensive to eat for so many. I made the mistake of going here with the family on a Friday evening with no reservation. They found us a table quickly to their credit as the place was rammed. The service, despite the pace of the place was commendable. Fast, friendly with no fuss. My biggest complaint was the food: way too expensive for what it was. As a steamed dumpling fiend, the chicken Shu Mai hit the stomach in the right place and in truth, there's something here for all tastes. Thing is, though there's lot of different things to eat, there isn't a lot to eat. Call me old school but i like to have a lot of Dim Sum on a few plates, rather than half a dozen platters holding three so-so parcels each. You'll eat but you won't be getting satisfied any time this side of the Rapture. Ping Pong's all a bit too sanitised and lacks surprise. As for the drinks make sure you actually receive liquid rather than a tumbler full of ice. Considering that there was no alcohol involved, the best part of one hundred pounds for a meal, after which i felt hungry again wasn't a good advert for the popular chain. The saving grace i guess was the location, on London's perennially busy South Bank but you can't eat a view can you? read more

Its a shame to give Ping Pong only 2 stars but its not for the dim sum, its for this branch. There are not enough staff, and the staff that eventually do server you are incompetent. The service is really slow and they never have anything left to serve you from the menu. There are better branches around london to experience the tastiness of Ping Pong's dim sum. I would recommend the branch at St. Katherine's Dock - It is quieter and overlooks the dock at Tower Bridge - Romantic! Dishes to try, are everything! Ha ha! To be honest, you are really spoilt for choice, however, I would recommend: Har Gau Fish Dumpling Spicy Braised Beef Coconut Rice Clay Pot Crispy Hoi Sin duck roll Spicy Seaweed Prawn Crackers Vegetable Won ton soup... ... and NOT forgetting Hot Sake. Don't let the crappy service and experience at this branch put you off of going back to Ping Pong in the future. As a general improvement, I would like to see more staff and better opening hours for all Ping Pong branches as the opening hours vary due to the location. read more

Good food, terrible service. Sat and no one even spoke to us for 15 minutes. Had to ask a busboy for water. Food (eventually) arrived, all at once instead of spaced out over time. The food, when we got it, was fairly tasty - what wasn't lukewarm. At one point they set a plate down for us, and then a minute later came and said it was a mistake and took it back. Speaking of being back, I won't be. read more

Just before hitting an event at the Hide&Seek Party event at the Old Vic Tunnels... thought it was a good idea to get some food in my belly as I didn't want a repeat of my over imbibing session a few days earlier so food was a must! I like the modern look of the place. It's not traditional dim sum or atmosphere, still a nice venue and menu. So we stuffed our faces till our bellies were full. Job well done. read more

One of my favourite places to eat, they really are little parcels of heaven! They have great set menus to help you choose but my personal favourite is the all you can eat sumdays (on a Sunday) all you can eat bar the specials and desserts. I have been known to graze for hours on. Lovely Sunday afternoon and the south bank branch has a little outdoor seating area which is great for people watching. Highly recommend! Oh and if you love it get a loyalty card, I've had many a free lunch of the lazy sumday points! read more

I am torn. My Chinese half says: "WAY OVER PRICED!" Literally double the price of eating at some places in Chinatown London. And more like 2.5X the price of dim sum in LA/Boston/San Francisco/NYC. This same half of me, usually hates nice, pricey Asian places on principal and prefers hole in the wall cheap stuff with good food over good/cool/any discernible attempts at atmosphere. My white side says: "But, but... its pretty! And there are no chicken feet or weird innards to order around!" Plus, my non-ethnic eating/vegetarian friends might actually try this. Did I mention that this side of me is also a HUGE sucker for anything chic Asian fusion-y? Plus they DO have some interesting, non-traditional dumplings to try... Ok? Apparently my less practical side wins on this one. FINE. I'll pay double for your cool atmosphere, Ping Pong. But I won't like it! read more

A run of the mill 3* from me for Ping Pong Southbank. Last night was my second visit to this particular dim sum establishment. We had to wait 30 minutes but we cracked open a bottle of wine upstairs in the cocktail bar so that was fine. Our waiter was really lovely and friendly, but a bit useless (ie lots of running around and flapping but not much actual doing). That said, I don't really mind crap service when someone is as nice a fella as this dude was, he made us laugh a few times and that's worth its weight in gold (we're cold as ice Kent girls). The food was good, no complaints, nothing super special I'll warrant though. They forgot a few dishes which we had to nudge them about. I know it's a really lame thing to say but I'm not really into the sharing tables The tables and benches are rounded, and ideal for a group of 8 or so. But for the 3 musketeers alone, nay so good. With 3 or 4 groups ordering food and wine, there was no space for anything. The chairs don't have backs, which means if you chilling out for the long haul (we were there like 3 hours gossiping away) you're potentially going to be doing a lot of hunching over your table and my back was creaking by the end (I need posture lessons, must Yelp that next). In short, I would go back if someone else really wanted to go. Else, I probably wouldn't. read more

I went to Ping Pong last Sunday with an open mind and bear in mind I've had Dim Sum only once in Chinatown as a reference. Ping Pong from the outside looks nice and impressive. Equally the décor seemed okay inside. Being two of us they did ask if we wanted to sit immediately if we didn't mind being in the sun. It was absolutely fine I add. We considered the Unlimited menu but wondered whether we'd really eat that much bearing in mind the price of £18.79(?) does not cover drinks and some items of the menu. Ping Pong do Dim Sum and they do it well. The two most memorable ones were the Black Prawn steamed dumplings and the one with Turmeric. I notice they sell them as three's so one each and then you have to split the third? It's not all perfect: I found a piece of clear plastic in my mouthful from one of the Claypot selections. I knew I had to highlight this and the waitress quickly said she would get the Manager who apologised and offered us a couple of glasses of wine on the house. Prior to this episode, the first steamed Broccoli that was delivered to the table was like mush and was sent back. The second one that came was exactly the same. More about this later. We hadn't had breakfast and ate quite a lot, more than we needed to. If we had gone for the Unlimited, we'd have made a small saving each - say the equivalent of one dish so be certain you are going to eat a lot. I thought the set menus looked good and took a lot of hassle out of what to order. Any feedback from others on their value? Back to Broccoli: When it came to paying I pointed out to the Waitress that the Broccoli had been mush. She just said sorry. Then whilst waiting for the other half near the exit the Manager came over to say goodbye and we had a little cordial chat. He asked me if everything else was okay and I asked how the broccoli should have been served. Apparently crispy (with a bite). I told him about mine and in reply he told me how hard it was to monitor so much being steamed especially on a Sunday. Is that a reasonable excuse? I don't think so. I rarely have fault to complain so never too sure what to expect when I do - not that I was on the Broccoli - I was giving feedback though I should have mentioned that £3.79 for a tiny portion of steamed Broccoli is a rip-off. Will I go again? I think I'll give it a miss and find that place in Chinatown. read more

Want Chinese food that's half the quality and twice the price? Well look no further because this is your joint. As an added bonus, the waitstaff will stay as far away from you as possible to ensure your privacy is maintained throughout the meal. Who wants people bothering them with food orders or cluttering your table with food and drinks? Seriously, if you're jonesing for Chinese food and your in Southbank then I suppose this place will do. It's good for groups because it's huge and they serve something that resembles Chinese food. But you can really do a lot better in the area. read more

Food fab. Relaxed atmosphere. It has always been very busy whenever I have been and we can wait a while for a table. The tables are some what squashed in but in this atmosphere i didn't really mind. The toilets are clean and was fascinated to be able to see the men washing thier hands at the sinks! Value for money. Very yummy and will return time and time again. read more

Ping Pong's dim sum just isn't very good quality or tasty. It's also too expensive. However, it's a nice looking restaurant in a convenient location on the South Bank so you're probably going to end up in here eventually. There's not much more to say really. If you want dim sum in Central London, I'd suggest New World in Chinatown. read more

In a word: YUM!!! I came here last week with some friends and we loved this place! The overall vibe is trendy, modern, and just generally cool. We arrived at around 8:15pm on a Tuesday night and the place was packed! With the promise of being seated in 15 minutes, we put our names on the list, took a buzzer, and decided to get a drink in the lounge upstairs. The lounge is outfitted with plush seating and sleek wooden tables. While the space looks pretty, it's a bit impractical. The seats are quite low and packed closely together, which is inconvenient for my fellow members of Team Long Legs. Also, the lounge features table service, but there was no clear host/hostess on the night that I visited. I think my friends and I caused a bit of a kerfuffle amongst the staff when we 1) seated ourselves and 2) ordered drinks from someone who wasn't assigned to our table. Welp I don't feel bad because better service procedures would have avoided the confusion. When our buzzer finally rang 30 minutes later (!!), we returned downstairs to one of the circular family-style tables. Our waitress recommended that each person order five dishes. I'm not entirely sure how ravenous one would have to be to order that much food, but I was very hungry and very satisfied with two dim sum dishes, one rice pot, and a lite bite. All my items were delicious, filling, and well worth the money! The one other issue that I had with Ping Pong was our waitress. Le sigh, here comes the classic "bad British service" complaint. But seriously, our waitress rolled her eyes at my friend when she asked for a different liquor in her cocktail, which the lounge hostess upstairs specifically told us was an acceptable request. Then when we asked to split the bill, our waitress handed us a pencil and told us to split it ourselves. I personally didn't have a problem with that because I assumed that doing the math ourselves ensured that everyone paid for their own items. After our waitress took the divided dim sum sheet from us, she returned with receipts that did not match the sums that we calculated for her. On top of that, she added 12.5% gratuity. I did not recall seeing a note about automatic gratuity on the menu. I would certainly expect that for a party of 6+, but not for 3 people! And certainly not for such mediocre service. We all paid it anyways because we didn't want to cause a scene. I think I'd return to Ping Pong for the food and the atmosphere, but I'd just avoid that particularly rubbish waitress. read more

Ping Pong - 1) Lychee & grapes cocktail // 2) Jasmine, guava, lime martini // 3) Champagne - Dim Sum Near Me - London, XGL

For the longest time, I was very anti-Ping Pong. I've been here a couple of times before and never felt very keen to come back but have to say my view (or taste buds) have changed for this place. I came here for lunch recently and ordered the Super 8 lunch special which I thought was pretty good. For the group, we had the pork puff pastries and spare ribs. Everything was actually quite good and would consider coming back. I think it's a good alternative - also they have a lot of good veggie options. I do like the modern look and feel of the place and such a good location. read more

Ehhhh..... This is my first time getting Dim Sum anywhere. I live near Boston and Chinatown has its fair share of dim sum but i've never been brave enough to order. Colleagues highly recommended Ping Pong (which I kept calling Polka dot all day.. but that's neither here nor there). I went here with high expectations and left somewhat disappointed.. and 50.00 poorer.. and kind of hungry still. Hubby and I shared 8 plates and each got soup. My soup was the best part of the meal. I got the hot & Sour soup- flavorful and spicy and very good. For food we got the mushroom oyster (not great), the spicy pork dumplings (decent but really mushy), black bean pastry things (awful, tasted like burnt pie crust), black seafood dumplings (extremely good, but small- order a few!), prawns wrapped in shrimp (ok, but lacking much flavor), sticky rice wrapped in some kind of tough leaves (not very good), Crunchy spring rolls (good, but standard fried food) and squid cakes (just ok, nothing to write home about). Each plate was somewhere between 3-4GBP. altogether we spent almost 50.00 and i left still pretty hungry but not wanting to spend anymore money on food there! Atmosphere was nice. Probably wouldn't go back though. read more

Ah, Ping Pong. I want to love you. I really, really do. Lots of the food is yummy and while it's a bit expensive, we can still usually get out for around £30 for 2 (no alcohol). Unfortunately I'm not a big fan of this branch. It's big and loud and we're almost always put at a table for 8, all scrunched around with strangers and no room. I get that it's how it is there but it's not really my thing. We went last week with another couple, and were at a nice table for 4. The service is usually quite good but on this occasion, our waiter just could not be bothered. Since we wanted separate bills, each couple did their own ticking off on separate papers. The waiter insisted that he had to combine them and that he couldn't bring us each our own bill. After much arguing, he eventually relented but it set a sour tone for the evening, and our service was pretty awful all night. Luckily we had decent food in good company and it didn't ruin our night! (On a side note, the other couple's bill was over twice what ours was - it would have been quite a pain to try to figure it out on our own, especially after a few drinks!) read more

I have been on a Ping Pong hiatus for about two years, but was recently in need of a quick bite before a show at the Southbank in December 2014 and decided to revisit. I was craving steamed buns, so we were determined to get in despite the queue that was trailing outside of the restaurant. We barely managed to get food, however, and our experience was utterly tainted by overburdened staff and misinformation- I can confidently say we will continue to avoid Ping Pong for future as a potential dining venue. In particular, we were told that the waiting time for a two person table would be 20 minutes, but it was at least a 40 minute wait before anyone made any effort to seat us. Only after we complained were we directed to a communal table, so we put our foot down and demanded a two person arrangement as we had originally requested. To our astonishment, we were then swiftly seated. We nearly had to physically grab a server because we were having difficulties getting anyone's attention and were forced to order all of our food in a frenzy while stressing that we only had 20 minutes to dine. The server attempted to be congenial and arrange for our bill to be presented immediately to help speed things up, but was still very slow in manifesting this and to take payment. We had no sauces on our table and asked another passing server for these, but they never arrived and we ended up sharing with our neighbours. Our table was literally so close to both adjacent tables that we were pinned to the wall as well- it was the most stressful and uncomfortable meal I have experienced in recent memory. It must be acknowledged that they did honour an NUS discount and that I have previously eaten at other, smaller and speedier branches of Ping Pong in the past, but the Southbank branch is best avoided if you wish to enjoy a relaxing meal. I can barely recall the quality of the food because we were so dissatisfied with the visit and were forced to voraciously stuff everything in our faces, but I recall that the steamed buns that I did order would have otherwise proved satisfactory as they are a specialty of the chain. read more

My boyfriend and I had a pretty rubbish experience at this branch of Ping Pong. I'd eaten at another one of the chain's restaurants and had a really nice meal (although expensive for what it is). On this occasion we arrived around 5pm for an early dinner and everything seemed to go wrong, from terrible service, wrong drinks orders, waiting 20 minutes for the bill and having to endure staff arguing very loudly for all to hear. I took the feedback card home only to discover you have to hand it to your waiter... disappointed. Won't be going back to this particular restaurant although I am a Dim Sum fan. Food is lovely but just that bit too expensive to make it a favourite. Hopefully others haven't had the same problem with service that I had. read more

They made us wait 20 minutes and said the food is no longer available. So we changed our order and after 20 minutes they came back saying sorry your food is not available and served us the bill. Really really unacceptable and rude service read more

I've tried the lazy sumdays menu and was quite full after. Unfortunately, the quality of some of the food was not that great. However, I'd recommend the rice bowls and thai soups though. The xiao long bao and shu mai's weren't really that great compared to China Town. read more

Went to Ping Pong last night with a couple of friends. I'm quite a fan but they've certainly gone down hill recently. Now we hadn't booked a table and I do have to commend them on getting us seated pretty quickly on a busy night. However, we were told to go upstairs to the bar where we then had to queue for a table. Being in a queue because we're already in another queue really isn't great. We were called pretty quickly but were unfortunately sat outside on one of the coldest nights of the summer so far. They wouldn't switch the outdoor heaters on so we spent a good part of the evening shivering. The food we chose wasn't bad at all but nowhere near as good as what I'd had before. The pork buns were a delight as usual but the rest wasn't much to write home (or a review) about. Much of it was fairly tasteless and much of it all tasted the same. Was it chicken, prawn or something entirely different? It leaves you wondering whether they've labelled the boxes not because people don't know what each piece should look like but because people need help identifying it when they've got it in their mouth. Due to the cold we all drank tea to try and warm ourselves up and I had to admit that the lychee tea is rather lovely. The cocktails did look lovely and most are priced around the £6 mark so definitely worth a shot if you're sat out not in sub-arctic conditions. The bill came to £45 between three of us which wasn't too awful although I did have to buy a bag of crisps on my way home to keep my stomach quiet. read more

Bad service and food! If you want real dim sum, just go into Chinatown instead. We went for a friend's birthday on a Saturday afternoon. The manager was really rude to our party and did not seem to want to help. The food is presented nicely but is nothing special. Very unlikely to ever go again. read more

Now I was EXCITED for this, more than normal when going to try a restaurant! Why, I hear you exclaim? Well I'll tell oh reader (channeling Miranda a little bit there). My FAVOURITE kind of food ever is Dim Sum. Little parcels of heaven, often washed down with a fragrant smelling tea. I and do LOVE tea. So Ping Pong, known in my circle of friends as the upmarket chain dim sum restaurant of choice in London (we are working on a catchier title trust me!). This one is in prime location, South Bank. Also nice decoration and always busy, even upstairs at the bar. That tells me that Ping Pong is doing something right. So I went in with high expectations. A fragrant cocktail at a very reasonable price (hibiscus mojito, why yes I'll have more please) started the evening well. Then we attempted the dim sum. Drum roll please. Well, in my head anyway. The Dim Sum was nice, good selection and tasty indeed. I felt slightly overpriced for what you were getting, especially considering Chinatown isn't a million miles away and hidden in there are some SUPERB cheaper places (if you know where to look). Don't get me wrong, a wonderful evening - don't go for a cheap meal (don't get dim sum if you want a cheap meal to be honest) but I would go again. Mainly for the cocktails, but considering this is my favourite kind of cuisine EVER I was satisfied. Yes readers, that is Daniel P and his high standards... ;) read more

I had no idea that this was a chain (you'll see my other experiences with London chains soon - ugh) when my Aussie pal brought me here fo cocktails and endless rounds of dim sum. Being from Vancouver, where Chinese food is practically the local cuisine, I have high standards for my dim sum, and I (mostly) wasn't disappointed! The decor and menu were interesting, and we ordered round after round of the yummy dim sum - 10 orders and prawn chips between 3 of us. Favourites included the crispy prawn balls (we ordered a second round of these) and the shu mai. The crab spring roll, shrimp har gow and prawn and shitake dumplings were also delicious. For me, the only miss was the veggie steambuns- wayyyy too sweet for my taste. The cocktail list was fresh and inventive - I tried a fennel and apple martini, a basil, lemon and black pepper martini and a vanilla vodka lemonade that tasted like Lucky Charms. Yum! Just one question - when we order mixed fancy fruity cocktails here in Vancouver, they are generally made with 2 ounces of liquor, but I am sure that these were just made with one. I noticed this a few other places in London - is this standard? The service really petered off by the end of the night - in order to make this a five star experience the wait staff really needs to keep the standards high thoughout the whole night. On the whole, give it a try! read more

I was in London town recently and concluding a lovely early evening stroll along the Thames we decided to try out Ping pong. I desperately wanted this to be good, with a quirky name and an inviting seating area outside, we decided to give it a go. The result was a very uncomfortable hour after which we were left with nothing but a bill, regret and a stomach asking why oh why did you put me through that. The food simply wasn't up to it. It lacked taste. The steamed rice might as well have been from Tesco's or Asda. I was left not just disappointed but slightly angry at the cheek of serving such mediocre food. Luckily London saves the day. The day was so enjoyable this mishap didn't make too much of a dint on the old mood. read more

How can I not love this place?!!!! It's the fusion Chinese restaurant with unique style. I love the bar while you are waiting for your seat. The dim sum here are delicious. Worth the wait. read more

Second time at ping pong, first time in the one in the southbank centre... second time is a charm because I have just found out they do a all you can eat dim sum sunday menu for around £20!! the first time I didnt like it because I spent to much money and left hungry, but now im in love with this place and their extensive menu! cant wait for next sunday! loved the drinks... I had some non alcoholic drinks ie.. the Lemon and Lychee, and iced teas such as the lemongrass and passion fruit and lime... I loved them all. The lemongrass was amazing because it wasn't overly sweet and quenched my thirst and felt less sugar infused. All the dim sums where amazing im getting hungry just writing this. read more

I went with one of my friends when visiting the South Bank Christmas market and was pleasantly surprised by Ping Pong. This is certainly a chain that I'd visit again - the food is fine and I especially love that you can mix and match - and share - different dishes. We went for steamed buns with vegetables, dumplings with shrimps and chive, dumplings with shrimps and coriander, dumplings with vegetables, spring rolls with vegetables, sticky rice with vegetables, and shrimp crackers. The concept is that you fill out on the order card with all your favourites, hand it to the waiter so he can pass your order to the kitchen. Then the waiter returns with your order form, and as the food is prepared and arrives steaming hot to your table, he crosses the dishes out one by one from the list. It's a great flexible system that can accommodate both snacky and havn't-eaten-in-days customers with the same ease as you basically tailormake your own menu. I love it so of course I'll come back! read more

The Ping Pong menu is a stylised and sterilised form of a dimsum portfolio. So much so that it loses the dimsum edge. Dimsum is a Chinatown thing and should just stay that way. The Southbank Ping Pong is definitely one of the better ones, not just because it looks and feels like cool dining, but also because of the efficient and friendly service level. There's a chance you order might be delayed on busy occasions, but overall, I've never had a bad experience here. read more

I know some people are ehh about chains, but i really really like Ping Pong. I miss good dim sum, and honestly this is a good place to take a bunch of people with a decent atmosphere with good food. Its not super greasy like the hole in the wall places in San Francisco but not as pricey as the fancy ones I have been to in SF either. For three of us with plenty of dim sum, wine and tea, it came out to £55 in total, which I actualy think is great. I am going to come back for sure and especially this one because its in the southbank area (one of the best areas in London in my opinion). read more

Quality dim sum, affordable prices, good service. The dishes are creative and they have either set menus or a la carte. Really nice concept for a restaurant which we'd eat at often if it were close to home. Definitely would stop back again and again! Delicious food and a decent atmosphere. I'd recommend. read more

This is a good option for groups consisting of people with different dietery needs. Dishes are marked gf and vegetarian, and upon request they will bring you a list of what's currently vegan. The location is nice too, and I can it's imagine gorgeous in the summer to sit outside! read more

Ping Pong - Dim Sum Near Me - London, XGL

This is my second visit to a Ping Pong and I'm glad to say that the food was as good as I remember. The dim sum, while not matching up to what I had in Shanghai, is reliable and the restaurant itself seemed easy enough to just rock up and get a table. In the evenings the staff seem pretty rushed off their feet so you really have to be patient when vying for their attention! read more

Ping Pong opened the last year I was with my old company, and we had our departmental Christmas dinner at the original branch opposite the London Palladium. It was packed solid, and I remember it was difficult to get a booking. I had the day off due to moving into my new home that day and met my shortly to be ex-colleagues for what was a very fun evening, with delicious, madly affordable food served in a gorgeous setting. My boss managed to give me no sign I was to be fired right after Christmas. My fondness for Ping Pong survived this incident and I went back with my now ex-colleagues (minus the boss) for a catch-up about 6 months later, after the legal wrangling was completed. Again, it was fun. And I've been back subsequently with very different crowds once with my houseguests in the summer, after a performance of The Sound of Music at the Palladium, and last week with my brother and the niece and nephew after our Royal Society lecture. Both visits were great. I think my older guests enjoyed themselves the Jasmine tea is always a show-stopper and they are the type of older visitors who appreciate an experience of 'trendy' London. The dim sum were duly demolished while friendly banter was exchanged with a couple down from the North at our communal table. Some critics have sniffily compared Ping Pong to Hakkasan and Yauatcha. I think the Ping Pong dim sum stand up very well, considering Ping Pong is aiming at a completely different market: mostly the post work crowd; with the dim sum hoovering up alcohol consumption. The trip to the new branch at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank was a wonderful half-term family treat. We arrived just after 8pm, me thinking innocently that there would be a lull as punters left for performances at the Hall. Ha ha ha. The place was hopping, with a queue snaking out the door. We were told we had a half-hour wait but would shortly be moved into a bar area. I asked if the kids could have a snack while they waited, and my brother started complaining we couldn't wait 30 minutes with the children 'at this hour'. I mentioned there was an EAT around the corner but my nephew bridled at this (EAT is clearly their default pit stop in Cambridge). Also, he had spotted the Chinese script on the ceiling and wanted more. We were asked to hang on for 5 minutes and a table was magicked up for us. I was really impressed they even bothered, considering they had flocks of people to spare. Service was brilliant and slick, and the dim sum arrived smartly. Stand-outs were the Har Gau and the squid in satay sauce. The Jasmine tea blew the children away my little nephew thought it was an alien pod hatching. The dim sum are keenly priced for such a glam atmosphere the most expensive item is £3.99: each menu item comes with 3 portions, allowing easy sharing. My nephew had a series of lemonades with fruit 'shooters' these were as phenomenally beautiful as the jasmine tea. My brother and I stuck to G&Ts quite fabulously delicious. These were Tanqueray but on a completely different plane to others I have had recently. 3 G&Ts = half the bill for 4 (12 courses) : £67 including service. read more

This is the kind of place where I believe timing is essential to your experience. To me, it was busy and loud in all the wrong ways. Coming in on a Thursday night at 7:30PM, I immediately thought to myself that the noise level was way out of hand. Even though we were just three people at the start of the evening, I could not make out what the other two were talking about, even though they were sitting next to me. My grumpy mood might have been affected by my hunger, because it was soon forgotten as the food and drinks finally arrived. In short, the dim sum was all in all pretty good. Not mind-blowingly good, but for the price I was more than satisfied. The dim sums are a bit "fusion" - far from any classic dim sum restaurant in Chinatown, but they cater well to a Western palate with safe choices like honey glazed ribs and the like. No boiled hen feet on this menu ... Although you can't go wrong with the beers they serve, we definitely went wrong with the drinks. The mojito they serve, of which two of us ordered, was the worst I have had. 90% ice, very bitter, and not a hint of any booze in there at all. We ended up returning ours. We had a couple of others that seemed alright, among those a passion fruit drink. All in all I just think drinks are not their forte. read more

Went there after riding the London eye...mediocre food and drinks. Great environment though. But other than that everything was pretty run-of-the-mill... read more

Ping Pong is a themed chain of restaurants that sell modern Asian food, in particular dim-sum. They are usually well decorated and usually quite busy. At the Waterloo branch you sit as in most of the locations around small tables, asian style. Let me start in a rather petty way by saying they're uncomfortable little things and don't lend themselves to long stay. Staying at a place for a reasonable length of time is something that high prices should allow but in the case of Ping-Pong it's not always the case. Foodwise, they have a great little menu that's got a lot of lovely items on. There's seafood dim-sum, which appears to be a speciality as well as the usual assorted steamed and fried dishes. Since it's somewhat Western in influence these aren't as authentic as a Chinatown place, but it's a good start. The dishes though are expensive, as another reviewer pointed out this is quite shocking considered the very small portions. In addition when I visited it was very easy for the server to seem to get confused and bring us the dishes for the other tables. As an example of the price comparison, the 'special' flower tea they sell can be found for 1/10th the price in supermarkets There's a lot of mark-up on the 'exotic' nature of the products they are selling, so you need to be aware of this. So, overall on the food It's good, tasty and varied, but oh-so-small portions and so expensive. Very much a 3 star if you're with a group, or on a business lunch. However I actually only rate it a 2 once you factor in that you can't really justify the prices if it's only two of you dining. read more