The Real China

I've been to a few all you can eats, but unbelievably, up to this point never a chinese one. Perhaps it's because I'm of Chinese heritage myself, perhaps it's because I wonder how bad the food must to in order to hit the price point AND make the company profit. Step in £3.50 Groupon, and things/thoughts change. Fast. And I STILL don't understand how these places make money...

The decor is good. It's trying to replicate a chinese wood hut, which is does nicely in a tacky sort of way. The place is very clean and the staff extremely presentable with uniforms as if they were working in the lobby of a hotel or bar/restaurant.

The service is good. Tap water was brought in a jug and there was no pressure to buy drinks. Sometimes on these Groupon deals, the restaurant tries their best to get you to buy still water or alcohol. Whilst I understand it (it's possibly how this place makes money) it's unpleasant nonetheless.

The food itself isn't amazing, but if you're looking for cheap, tasty, meaty, large portions of food, this place won't disappoint. Even at full price, around £6 for lunch, you'll definitely get your monies worth. The selection is not all-encompassing, as shown on their site, but it's noted that the menu is constantly changing and a lot of the main things were represented. Like duck with pancakes (surprisingly good quality shredded duck) with all the frills including hoi sin sauce, cucumber sticks, spring onion thinly sliced. Plus an array of fried things like prawn toast, chicken balls etc...

The soups were AWFUL. I would avoid those. Pretty much water, salt and lots of cornstarch. However the mains were wonderful. Lots of veg, brocolli, noodles, sweet and sour chicken, black bean beef, chicken in oyster sauce, spare ribs (which were excellent), plus a few more dishes. I had two helpings and was stuffed.

Onto dessert.

I ate my lunch constantly looking at all the chocolate gateau being eaten by a guy to my left. So imagine my surprise when I went to get dessert only to find some cut oranges, fruit cocktail and ice-cream. I begrudgingly ate the ice cream, then decided to ask about the chocolate cake. The staff kindly informed me she would bring some out shortly. Well that came out, and there was a mad rush for it! It's only standard choc gateau, but it rounded off a very nice lunch.

If you like cheap, and you like guilty chinese buffets, this is one of the better ones owing to the addition of a limited bar too and actual table service.

Eat well and prosper!

This may be the worst buffet I have ever had. We wanted to buy a pint of heinken (as in the menu) but they then said that they didnt have any taps. We ordered two other beers but only one of them was beer, one was cider.

The buffet has many different choices but almost everything was uneatable. They have "dumplings" but its a fried bun. I asked if this really is dumplings and the servant said yes.

We paid 31 pounds for this + 1 beer and 1 cider. Good price if it haden't been so bad food.

When we paid we also saw several taps with beer so I don't know why they said that they didn't have it.

I won't ever eat here again.

The Real China is a chinese buffet all-you-can-eat in the upstairs of the Whiteleys Shopping Centre in Bayswater. I was there for the 12.95 dinner with some desperately hungry friends. I am glad they were desperately hungry, otherwise they might have not have eaten much of the extremely mediocre quality buffet served here. The phrase "All-you-can-eat" has never been synonymous with quality so I didn't really expect much too much. It was all forgettable, but if you are very very hungry and don't want to spend much, you could be alright here.

Only been for the buffet lunch - £5.95 for all you can eat. The food was good, and there was a pretty big selection. Vegetarian options were a little limited though (we went with a veggie)

I really enjoyed Chinese buffet. The restaurant has a good decor. I like vegetables and luckily, they serve very tasty vegetables there. My favourite is the salt and pepper shrimp, it's so crisp and you can even eat the shell. I'm now missing the restaurant and can't wait for my second visit!

I visited The Real China in Bayswater, London and I will never go there again. The customer service was terrible, there was next to no food or desserts available and all the food was cold and runny (watery rice and chow mein). Additionally non of the food was tasty either. I also found two hairs in my food. It was so bad that I saw some customers leave without paying. The meal in total cost me £14. I really do not recommend this restaurant to anybody. Such a waste of money and a waste of space in your stomach. I am sure that place will close down soon. Just horrible.