Joy King Lau

The food is (has always been) good here and with multi levels you will get served relatively quickly even on a busy day. It is not the nicest looking venue and you will be squashed next to other customers, but if you can look beyond that, the food is decent. Go for a selection of dim sums as your heart desire - they are all generally good. I also went for crispy noodles with seafood which was nice.

Lovely place with wonderful service. The offered to take my coat upon arrival. It is up some stairs so be aware of this if you have any mobility issues. The food was delicious and I felt the portion sizes were good.

Our food was good, but I think we had a little bit higher expectations of the dim sum in London’s Chinatown. Maybe we just did not pick the right restaurant, overall the food was not bad. Just not as exciting as we had hoped for.

DIM SUM here is great! Lots of classic selections and they were really yumz! I particularly like their prawns cheong fun, lao sha bao and cha siu bao. Environment is alright, good services! Staffs were really friendly. Also I like its location as they are not right smack in the middle of main street meaning they are not only good for tourists.

Overpriced & disappointing. The building is quite old, cluttered and not well kept. There was no atmosphere. But the restaurant was really busy and we had to wait over 30 minutes for a Table. The staff were so ignorant and dismissive. They avoided any eye contact, had no manners and just pointed at us. It took a further 30minutes to get our order in and drinks, as they were just swishing past us and ignoring any “excuse me” and indication we gave. At this point, if we hadn’t already been there for an hour and it wasn’t buy London, I really wanted to leave and give them the middle finger. The table cloth was dirty and they just laid a piece of paper on top to soak the sauces. The plates, bowls & cutlery was really old & used, to the point it was chipped & dangerous and the white colour had turned off blue-grey. The food finally arrived after a further 30minutes wait, the waiters just chucked it onto the table and just didn’t care. The food was ok, average at best, but the bill to over £60 for 1 main and 4 dim sums and tea. I’ve had better dim sum previously and they had the nerve to charge 10% service. The food wasn’t awful, but based on the customer service, the waiting experience, the state of the cutlery, I really would not recommend and wouldn’t come back if you paid me. It’s called Joy King Lau for a reason, it really is a joking la!

Great dim sum in London’s Chinatown. Prices are 5-6£ per dish, but the portions were nice and large. Authentic food, inauthentic (translation: good) customer experience. Lobogao was flavourful and soft, not the crispy kind. Siu mai, pai kuat, and laosabao were amazing.

Personally, the food tasted decent, the service was decent and the atmosphere was fine. But the portions however were a bit small for the prices they charged. They offer a wide variety of dishes which makes it a great place for larger parties for sure. The service was pretty slow, it took approximately an hour before we were served the first dishes. The plating and presentation were not as good as a lot of other places, since the plates were so much bigger than the food contained inside. So even though the portions could have been decent, it still didn't look so. The flavours were decent. The shrimps were however too salty and the vegetables were too bland but the overall tasted decent.

I cannot thank the restaurant staff enough for their exceptional service at our event. From the servers to the chefs, everyone went above and beyond to ensure that our guests were well taken care of. The food was delicious, the ambiance was perfect, and the staff was so friendly and accommodating. We are truly grateful for the amazing experience.

It's a small Chinese restaurant with outdoor seating. Food was good. Chicken feet were little tougher. Vermicelli was good but portions were small. Other than that it was good Chinese food

Chinese restaurants are not known for their service especially busy ones like this. The dim sum is quite alright but I have tried a few dim sum places in Chinatown and they all tastes alright so don't bother queuing up for it if there's a huge queue, anyone in Chinatown would do tbh. Highlight was their wine. It wasn't bad at all and it was a good pour - they charged around 6 quid for it which is very surprising. Other than that, nothing really special. We ordered not too much but end up paying around 23 pp so not the cheapest.

Worst Chinese food I have ever had. Ordered the Kung Pao Chicken. It was not Kung Pao. It was gritty. The egg fried rice was ok, until I crunched on an eggshell. The service was rude....even by London standards. From the greeter that didn't greet, just shouted "how many?!" To the waitress who didn't crack a smile. The prices are almost as disgusting as the food and service. I do not like to write bad reviews but I felt completely misled by the 4star rating on this app. Something's fishy and I wanted to warn others not to waste their money here.

Multi-level restaurant in Chinatown/Leicester Square. They were somewhat busy for dinner on a weekend. A good extensive menu. We ordered white rice, Asian veggie, brisket pot, and salt and pepper porkchop. Food came out at a good place. Servers were really nice and spoke English, Cantonese, and Chinese Mandarin. Food was really good, slightly on the pricier side compare to USA.

The Chinatown in London is so lit! Many places had long lines. Luckily this place didn't so we stopped by for a light dinner. We ordered the Cantonese style duck and a vegetable dish. The duck was quite tasty with lots of fatty skin, but the pieces didn't have much meat on them. The veggies were nice and garlicky. Huge portion of veggies. Food came super quick.

Mapo tofu is good. The clay pot chicken is bad. It is not even in the clay pot. There is almost no service, but they charge default high tips. Crazy expensive. 6＋pounds for each bowl of rice.

We were working in Leicester Square and had a craving for an easy lunch that wasn't going to weigh us down. The reviews looked great for Joy King Lau and I'm glad we stumbled across it. It was still busy for a Thursday at 2pm, but there was additional seating upstairs we were able to be seated at. The restaurant was buzzing, but I could tell from the decor and table settings we were in for a for a good meal. The service was quick and you select your dishes on a piece of paper. We went with a variety of steamed dumplings, a chicken noodle dish and a vegetables with garlic / oyster sauce. Everything came out quickly, piping hot and delicious. If you're looking for a quick and delicious meal slightly away from the tourist trappings of Leicester Square this is the spot.

I have a friend who is even more obsessed with dumplings, including dim sum, then I am, so we were excited to get together to eat some! The food came out a little erratically but generally was enjoyable - the classic har gau, siu mai, cheong fun, char sui buns etc were all good, although I think some of their cooking is a bit sloppy (possibly also they are cooking from frozen). I didn't like the turnip cake but I guess that's probably personal taste. Price is fine. Overall I don't think you'll do much better in Chinatown for dim sum. It's interesting to see from other reviews how mixed the experiences are though. They seemed really keen for us to leave even though no one was waiting for a table - at least you know you won't be waiting for the bill!

We stayed at the W London and so this was right around the corner from us. It is steps off the beaten path but well worth it for the adventurer. We arrived soon after opening and were seated right away. I advise getting there early as they have a very small number of tables, which filled up quickly. I grew up on and looove Dim Sum. It is the Chinese answer to brunch with a nice full hot pot of tea. We order the Bolay or Pu-Erh tea for its health benefits because this is what my YengYeng (grandmother in my father's side) would order. I like drinking this tea because I feel it helps cut through any fatty/greasy/ fried food. On the white tablecloth, there is a typical menu along with a checklist for Dim Sum, where you mark the items you would like. On average, around €5.50 per dish. The staff quickly provided the hot tea and were eager to take our checklist of goodies. The first item to arrive was our egg custard tart. This arrived warm which was nice. This had a nice flaky crust (my favorite) with a not too sweet custard. You do have to ask for any condiments and I always have hot chili oil and soy sauce with my Dim Sum. The next dish to arrive is my husband's favorite, which is the Pan Fried Turnip Paste with pork and shrimp (The English description is not very appetizing but is similar to potato latkes, I think). The edges were very crispy and nicely browned with the inside being very creamy. The cooking technique was perfect. My only minor disappointment for this dish was the lack of dried shrimp and sausage bits that I normally would find in this dish. Otherwise, still delicious when dipped into the hot chili oil mixed with soy sauce. The deep fried Savory Pork and Shrimp Croquettes for €5 was perfectly cooked as well. If you like the texture of mochi, this may be the dish for you. The outside was light and crispy from being deep fried. The chewy white ground rice enveloped a minced pork and shrimp filling. Lovely. I have eaten many a steamed or baked BBQ pork bao. However, not having Dim Sum for several years, my expectations were very high. As soon as I picked up the steaming hot bao, I knew it was going to be good. Why? Because, the texture of the bao was so light and fluffy not only in my hand, but in my mouth as well. An epic BBQ pork bao! The tables were clean with white tablecloths. The walls were painted a nice soft color accented by large Asian art on the walls that created a lovely and appropriate environment for their very authentic food. You could feel the satisfaction of everyone eating in the room, including me and hubby. Enjoy.

Food was a solid 3.5 stars. The crispy beef is one of my favorite Chinese dishes. Asked for dishes that had no shrimp in them due to someone being allergic. Fried rice came with shrimp when I had asked twice for no shrimp. The attitude was just eat around it. If you have severe food allergies I don't recommend this restaurant.

EXCELLENT! ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT! Four of us went to celebrate lunar new year and could not have asked for a better experience. We were seated very quickly despite our mid/large party. We were expecting to wait a while due to the holiday and we're pleasantly surprised when the wait was so short. We ordered Set menu B, a bottle of sake for the table and a small order of assorted dim sum. Everything we ate was INCREDIBLE. If I could give six stars I would. The courses were very well paced and the staff was kind and respectful. We couldn't be more happy and are excited to return soon.

We came here for dim sum since I haven't had dim sum in forever. I thought the service was fine (but then again, I spoke Chinese to them so I think that helped). We got the following dishes for 2 adults and 2 kids: Choi Sum with Garlic - Good Plain Porridge - Good. They don't add salt, so add as you please Har Gow & Siu Mai - Good. Family approved. Shanghai dumplings - Good. They were pretty big, moist with the soup and tasty Steamed pork buns - Good. We ordered 3 of these bc the kids loved them Egg tart - You get 2 of them, but it was perfect amount for the kids I'd like to try other dishes so we may be back!

Great dim sum and reasonably priced. Very casual environment and small interior, so it may be difficult to fit large groups. Steamed pork buns were my favorite!

Whenever we travel to London, a meal at Joy King Lau is mandatory! We were afraid it had closed but disclovered last week that it is OPEN. As always, everything was fresh and delicious. Our favorite dishes are the salt and pepper prawns, aubergine with garlic sauce and the 3 meat roast. The roasts are pork belly, char sui and duck...so flavorful and moist. We will be back in December!!!!

Joy King Lau is located on Leicester St (China town) London. It has 3 floor Chinese restaurant and pretty old fashioned dim sim. We came here for lunch to meet my old friend in London. I couldn't compare the size, taste and price with other Chinese restaurant in London coz this is the first Chinese dim sim restaurant we visited. The deep fired taro cake so crispy and tasty. The sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf pretty wet (mushy) but still tasty. The shrimp dumping just mediocre. Overall, the dim sims were good but not great. I start missing HK and Vancouver's dim sim restaurants.

The service here was helpful and welcoming and the dim sum was just as I'd expect at a good restaurant. The roasted pork bao was probably my favorite. Second to that was the yam croquettes. Also wouldnt kick the prawn d dumplings or garlic prawn eggrolls out of bed. We also tried the seafood noodle soup which was a generous portion. Would have liked more depth of flavor in the broth but it was good. A nice little spot in Chinatown for anyone looking for dim sum. I'd go again!

Had dinner here with my family and the food was very good. I can't remember everything we ordered, but we had Cashew Chicken, Salt and Pepper Prawns, Chicken Fried Rice, and a couple other dishes and all were very good. Servers aren't overly friendly, but they are very efficient and quick.

I was discriminated by my own kind! =O The moment you walk in, I feel like they vet who stays on the main floor and who they send upstairs to the second floor. I noticed if you're coloured, you're on the second floor. I had the equivalent of what is considered Cantonese fried noodles. It was unimpressive. The meat was cheaper, like fish balls, cut in half. There was 1 shrimp. The portion wasn't a lot. Maybe I'm used to the Toronto standard (i.e. Congee Queen)? They also charge for tea!!! £2.10 per person. It's hot water with a few tea leaves. Come to Toronto. Chinese food and dim sum is much better and cheaper.

Excellent Cantonese style food! Try the Braised Fish with Bittermelon in Black Bean sauce is sooo good! The crab soup for a starter was tasty. Definitely would come back if I didn't live in Texas.

Dim sum is good. Pretty authentic and tasty but service is curt and just not friendly.

Joy King Lay is one of the staple dim sum restaurants in Chinatown (and all of London), and it does not disappoint. It's stacked four stories high and still has a hole-in-the-wall vibe despite having obviously grown to accommodate quite a number of customers! The fare was all excellent, including great siu mai, har gow, meatballs, bao, and more. We came with quite a big group of around 15, and we were able to get seated at two adjacent tables (we had a reservation of course). So whether you're a big ensemble or just a couple (though you need at least ~3 people to really make dim sum work!), come eat here.

Simple authentic and tasty. The turnip cake with shrimp and pork suggested that we were in for some fun. The curry octopus? Wow. So delicious and tender and not your Indian style of curry. The bao, steamed bbq pork buns, were a little too much thickened sauce and not enough pork, but very tasty. Luck of the draw. We had a pork shrimp and scallion with coriander dumpling that was delicious. We finished with egg custard tarts that were warm, light, and flaky wonders. The menu has a lot of variety. A lot of Asian patrons on our floor were eating beautiful greens and a congee or two that looked great. The restaurant has rooms up three stories of the building. They have a lift as well as stairs. Service was very good. The gentleman who served us was very pleasant and checked on us. Excellent food and great prices for theatre-adjacent Chinatown!

The dim sum was five stars! Even though I've had good dimsum before it wasn't this fresh and juicy tasting. We got the grilled chive cake, scallops and prawn dumpling, pork ribs, stuffed bean curd, and pork and prawn siu Mai. I would recommend sticking with the small dim sum tapas because they are only around 4 pounds. We also got a sautéed vegetable which turned out to be 11 pounds. The service was a three star. When we first came in they asked what tea we wanted and we just said no tea just water. They brought out hot water and when we got the bill it was 2 pounds. Just specify that you want tap water if you don't want to get charged.

I went to Joy King Lau today and it was absolutely delicious I highly recommend coming here with friends and family and the service and environment is absolutely amazing. The egg tarts are extremely good and addictive.

If you're in Chinatown, I highly recommend Joy King Lau. I was very impressed with how fast food comes out of the kitchen. We ordered and began eating within a few minutes - SO speedy. They have a lot of menu options and big portions. Their staff are efficient and the operations seem to run smoothly. The seating is a little cramped and is kind of wheelchair accessible.

I ate here because the view from my hotel room was this place. I didn't know what exactly they had, but after seeing a picture list of dim sum from a distance I said why not. They didn't have the carts rolling around, but they had an extensive dim sum menu. I walked in about 5 minutes before they were going to stop serving dim sum and I was able to get a few items. I tried the shu mai, bbq pork bun, beef meatballs, and black bean pork ribs. This was some of the best dim sum I've ever had, and for about 15 pounds. Everything seemed like they made it fresh in house, and the portions were slightly larger than what i'm used to.

This is my first time eating here and in the UK. My wife and I after a long trip wanted a bite to eat and Yelp said this spot was good! The Yelpers hit a home run. We had the lemon chicken, crabmeat soup, spring rolls, and dumplings. Everything was fresh and hot! A must do if your Around the Piccadilly Circus area. The cost was $$. In the USA this would've cost $$$ easily! We will return!!

AT LAST. A five-star dim sum place. I was beginning to wonder if they existed after being in Seattle so long. (No offense, Sea-Town, I got nothin' but love for ya, baby.) A local friend of ours recommended Joy King Lau and he did not lead us wrong. I had planned on going to Yuatcha, but its format of serving dim sum sounded... un dim sum-like. I wanted a huge variety of well-executed dishes to choose from. Price, location, or the level of service made no difference to me. Outside their door, I read the stickers plastered all over the window, 'Best of this' and 'Best of that.' Upon entry inside, the door is opened for us. And... and... they SMILED at us. What kind of dim sum parallel universe have I fallen into?? I touch my chest and legs to make sure I'm not dead. We are the first people in the restaurant, and promptly served Oolong tea. The menu is so expansive, I forgot what I read by the time I got to the end of the menu. You'll want to write your choices down; trust me. - Rice noodle roll filled with shrimp covered in fried bean curd sheet. PERFECT. - Roast duck with bok choy served over rice. Standard dish and solid here - Tong Choi - stir fried greens in garlic. They did an awesome job of cooking these; they weren't slimy from overcooking and had the right amount of salt and broth - Curry octopus: the octopus are so teeny and adorable you may feel bad about eating them. But then you take a bite of the tender body and all bets are off - Sticky glutinous rice - my date loves this dish. Sticky rice steamed in leaves; I don't think he counts it as dim sum unless he orders this. What was DIFFERENT about this one was the filling. Huge chunks of meats are inside! One inch+ chunks of pork, fat cuts of Chinese sausages (not the teensy eensy cubes) Dishes are cleared quickly, without feeling like they're rushing you. Teacups are continuously topped off, and all around, the service was far above what I'm used to. All these dishes were under 38.00 GBP. Wicked deal plus the quality (and service!) means I'll be heading back here.

I take back what I said before, I love this place! You just need to come for the dim sum, forget the rest of the menu (which I reviewed with just two stars). I think dim sum is served until 5pm and it is served steaming hot and delicious. The prawn dumpling is my favourite but the prawn cheung fun is also really good and very satisfying. This place is seriously yummy in my tummy and is my go-to spot for good dim sum in London. The room is a nice place to sit down and I like going upstairs here to enjoy a leisurely weekend afternoon of dim sum in a spacious room with endless refills of hot tea and good company. The service is good and I would say this is my favourite place in Chinatown.

This place is hands down the worst Chinese food I have ever had! If I could submit a letter to the city asking them to condemn the restaurant I would but nothing would come of it. The chicken with chili peanut sauce tastes like cough syrup and ketchup. The hot and sour soup might as well be motor oil.... Oh and the dim sum, more like dumb summed because they were over cooked and stuck to the paper. Expect zero flavor from all dishes except for the cough syrup ketchup with peanuts sauce! That sauce is going to have you screaming "don't give me more!".

If you took Windsor Dim Sum Café in Boston and duplicated it over four or five storeys, you'd pretty much end up with Joy King Lau. Same delicious food, same brusque and business-like service, and shockingly... Cantonese-speaking staff. I was particularly impressed with the perfect consistency and crispiness of the luo buo gao. Their do miu ended up being just the tops of the more mature plants - I draw this conclusion from the fact that there were no stems, and the leaves were much heartier (yet still tender) than the veggies I'm used to. Pass on their Shanghai xiao long bao. Whilst they're satisfying and have the right taste, -none- of the dumplings that came out in our steamer tray had the 'soup' part of 'soup dumplings' going on. Disappointing. As far as the food goes, Joy King Lau probably ranks at the top of my list for London dim sum. There's still plenty to explore, but I'd be totally willing to come back here for another round.

The following conversation took place before we went to have dim sum at Joy King Lau: Me: Let's go for dim sum today, shall we? I've found this place on Yelp called Joy King Lau and their reviews are really promising?! A: Oh no, let's go to our usual place (New World), at least we know that it's good... Me: Oh come on, let's give it a try...we should broaden our horizon and try out new places...here, read these wonderful reviews... A: Mmm...only one Chinese person has reviewed this place...I don't know...plus they don't have the push carts, and I really prefer dimsum places where they serve the food on trolleys...it's so much more authentic! Me: Let's at least have a look, shall we? We can always go to New World, but let's at least have a look from the outside...ok? A: Mmm...if you really want to...but... In any case, as you might have guessed, we ended up having dim sum at Joy King Lau and believe it or not but even A ended up liking the food very much: A: Yummy...their food is really tasty! And even the chicken feet, which are my ultimate test for a place, are delicious! So, even though I'm yet another Caucasian reviewing this place, I was accompanied by two very picky Taiwanese friends and they both have approved of this place! By the way, as for ordering dim sum, I particularly liked the BBQ pork buns, the sticky rice in lotus leaves, the tarot croquette and the meatballs. As for dessert, I can highly recommend the taro-tapioca soup (aka Cold Yum Pudding)...that was absolutely delicious!

I really like this place. I was in London for almost two weeks and ate here three nights while I was there. I'm hoping that next time I'm in London I'll have a chance to try their dim sum. On a regular night it's not too busy, and their staff is very quick. But you have to understand that you're going to an authentic Chinese place, the service is not going to be super friendly. Since it was cold all the nights I visited, I kept ordering different versions of their rice noodle soup. And that's the best thing about this place, you can kind of create your own dish with all the broth flavors and noodle options that they give you. The one night that I ordered to-go the waiter was rude and lied to me, telling me that they didn't give out to-go chopsticks when a few nights before I was given a set of chopsticks with my leftovers. I didn't let that bother me, even though it was a to-go (takeaway) order, they warmed it up well that I was still able to enjoy hot soup back at my hotel. This place is good, the service is what it is, I would ignore it for good Chinese food.

We were looking for decent Chinese in London and we found it here. Took a while to sit down due to the how busy the restaurant was, but the food was pretty quick. The service wasn't too great, but didn't expect much from a restaurant that aims to seat so many. The dumplings stuck to the paper, making them fall apart when trying to even pick them up. I had a duck dish and fried rice that was good, but I've had better.

The only dim sum spot I went to in London. Not bad. There are there levels of seating and u order from the waitstaff who brings the food over (vs the push cart). The dishes were flavorful

Authentic Cantonese cuisine! Quick, efficient, competent service. Went for dim sum and a separate time for dinner and was pleased with food overall. Excellent taste akin to what I get back home in NYC. I ordered a whole steamed fish as one of the dinner courses - very surprised and impressed to see that that they deboned the fish. I was impressed with the authenticity of taste. Everything was spot on except for the fried crullers I ordered with the congee (they were crispy throughout and very oily) - that's the only thing I'd avoid. I'd definitely return again.

We really enjoyed Joy King Lau. It was as authentic as you could get. The restaurant occupies to what seems like 3 floors of dining. It was packed for lunch, but they got me in pretty quickly due to the size of the restaurant. All of the food looked and tasted excellent. I ordered a duck noodle soup. The duck was excellent. They didn't remove the bones or cartilage, so don't order if you can't handle that. The beef brisket soup was quite good as well. They had a large dim sum collection which was extremely popular with the other diners. For an authentic China Town lunch this is a great place.

This is a great Chinese restaurant in the heart of Chinatown. Closed on Christmas Day as we sadly found out when trying to snag dinner! We stuck with veggie options--dumplings, green vegetables with garlic, spicy eggplant, and spicy tofu (though the tofu did seem to have some meat in it, so keep that in mind if you're truly vegetarian!). Everything was delicious and piping hot. It was so good, we came back twice and had the same exact order. Remember--steamed rice costs extra and needs to be ordered separately!

Typical dim sum restaurant, this place is one of the closest to Chinese restaurant which is in mainland China. In particular beef brisket noodle soup was excellent, soup was deeply and nicely tasted, really impressive one.

I've heard frequently that Joy King Lau has the BEST dim sum in Chinatown. This is not true. They do decent dim sum that is better than a lot of Chinatown, but still not the best. Where Joy King Lau really shines is the cooked noodles/rice dishes they do, which have a great fresh flavour, aren't too oily and are good sized portions for the price. We came here as a large group and booked a table which was a pleasant surprise in itself, and were pleased with not only how quickly the food came, but how polite the service is. Friendly waiters are not generally the main aim for when you go to Chinatown, but it's good to know that it isn't entirely gone from the restaurants here! I'll definitely be coming back here as the food is pretty good and cheap, plus the service + reservations means extra high points from me. It's not my first choice for dim sum in Chinatown, but the chefs change regularly at all the establishments so it's hard to keep up!

A few years back, the dim sum was so-so and I thought I'd give the place another chance. Again, it was average. Nothing horribly wrong but no standouts either. The har gow were overcooked and the wrappers fell apart when you took them out of the steamer basket. These are always the benchmark for any dim sum restaurant and they could have been better. Everything else was decent enough but overall, a pretty average experience. There are better dim sum places in Chinatown so I would go elsewhere before coming back here again.

Decent place for dim sum. They offer most of the traditional dim sum dishes. Prices aren't too bad either. They also have picture menu which make ordering dim sum easy.

Food is just so so. Terrible service. The dining experience here makes me regret every penny I spend at this restaurant. The noise of several waitresses in the restaurant is comparable to that of a small farm. I will never recommend this restaurant. Thanks god I have more authentic Chinese restaurants to choose from.

So good my friends said they would eat the exact same meal tomorrow! Dumplings, egg rolls, quarter of aromatic crispy duck, followed by salt and chili squid, Szechuan king prawns, and glazed char siu (pork)...mouth watering right now to go back tonight!

I had to dim-sum when I was visiting London, since there are a lot of them at china town I had a hard time picking one. But fortunately I picked the right one! They have everything you want when it comes to dim-sum. The menu is both in Chinese and English, the staff also spoke those languages (Cantonese). The food was delicious and nothing really to complain about. The restaurant might seem small but there is a second floor, so don't be intimidated if it looks full. The interior is generic Chinese restaurant, a little bit dirty and rusty. The only bad thing really is that the restaurant is very tight, you don't have any privacy and people will bump your shoulders many time if you don't face your back against a wall. If you are in London and looking for dim-sum then this is the place!

We only stopped here for a quick, light and cheap dinner. As we stepped in the front door, the aroma of food just reminds me of home and comfort food. Everyone seems to be feasting on hotpot and I didn't want a big and elaborous meal. I was surpised that the place seemed to be smaller than it looks. We just had a portion of dumplings and noodles to share. The dumplings, I was not so keen on but those noodles in broth was irresistible. I could not stop myself from having more. The sweetness, spicy, tangy and saltyness were very well balanced. It was definitely my favourite hot and sour noodles in town. Highly recommended! it was cheap, light but not as quick as I thought. It was not necessary a bad thing, just expected a quicker service.

Hands down the worst service I have received in London. The staff was surly and rude. The waitress began clearing plates while we were still eating. The food was average, but oily and overpriced. We opted to order a la carte rather than the set menu options and purposefully chose the chefs recommended dishes which were disappointing. I would not recommend this restaurant.

Best dimsum I have ever had so far (Compared to all the dimsum places I've tried in Boston and NYC). The two staples of dimsum, har gao and shu mai, are amazing and made with the freshest ingredients. The har gao had "real shrimp" taste, not like the frozen shrimp used in the states. The shu mai was completely different (a much better different) than anything I've ever had. I'm not sure if it was made with pork but it was perfectly flavored and had great elasticity (many people don't get what I mean by that). But the most breathtaking item on the menu had to be the DEEP FRIED CUSTARD BUNS. These custard buns went from 0-100 real quick in the fryer. The outside layer was a beautiful golden brown and it was the perfect toasted crunchiness achievable on a bun. Definitely making the trip back here when I visit London again!

A great spot for dim sum in Chinatown! I was in Leicester Square with a friend on a Saturday afternoon and came here for dim sum after a quick search on Yelp. Most dim sum restaurants had lines but we were seated almost immediately at Joy King Lau. The restaurant is multi-storied and we were directed to the second floor upon entering. Menus were already at our tables when we sat down. You'll see two menus - the dim sum one is laminated and has pictures of all the dim sum they serve, making it really easy to order. If you wanted other Chinese food, you could also refer to the full menu. My friend and I ended up getting thai style chicken feet (cold), shu mai, dough stick cheung fun (jar luen), yam croquette, char siu croquette, and preserved egg and pork congee. The food came shortly after we ordered, and they were delicious and in my opinion, closer to HK standards compared to other dim sum I've had. The yam croquette and char siu croquette are fried dim sum but they were not greasy at all. The shu mai and jar luen were flavorful! Overall, Joy King Lau is a fantastic place for delicious dim sum. Everything came out to be under £15 per person too, which makes it pretty affordable. I highly recommend getting your dim sum fix here!