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2018-12-21
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When you first enter this restaurant, it is clear that it wants to be in the company of Central's high end Chinese food competition (Mott 32, Duddells, China Tang, even the China Club.). Unfortunately, The Chinese Library falls short of its mark.The room looks very classy. As one would expect from an Aqua Group restaurant, it is a visual stunner. However, the food (I had the Deluxe Set Menu lunch), the service, and the value for money are just "ok".First, the service. While my experience wa
The room looks very classy. As one would expect from an Aqua Group restaurant, it is a visual stunner. However, the food (I had the Deluxe Set Menu lunch), the service, and the value for money are just "ok".
First, the service. While my experience was not as bad as it was for some of the other folks who have posted reviews, it wasn't great either. My biggest gripe is that the service was extremely uneven, ranging from obsequious to non-existent in the course of a 90 minute lunch. Upon arrival, there was a flurry of activity but as my lunch wore on, the service became less and less. The staff seemed very inexperienced and the service was, generally, hesitant. At one point, a diner at the table next to me spilled a glass of wine onto the floor. Immediately, 5 wait staff sprang to action to clean it up. No problem with that - but unfortunately, for the next 10 minutes, there were no wait people doing anything else but trying to clean up the spilled wine. Trying to get anyone's attention to ask for the bill was futile. The only bright spot in the service was Nina. I asked her if she was the head waitress, because she was the only one who moved with confidence, was just the right amount of attentive, knew what she was doing, etc. She told me she was the most junior person. In this case, Aqua Group - please give Nina a promotion - she needs to train the other staff in your restaurant.
The food was fine. A bit bland overall - nothing to get excited about. For the set lunch, the only standouts were the groupa and the tofu panne cotta. Everything else was underseasoned or unwhelming. Like the service, the food was not horrible, but it wasn't excellent either. The portion size was ok. Again, everything was just "ok".
My bill for three people including tea and service was $1,208. This is also ok. Not overly expensive for what I got, but not a bargain either.
Basically, the Chinese Library is an average restaurant in a beautiful venue. For the moment, it will fill it's tables with tourists and visitors to Tai Kwun. However, it is unlikely to get a lot of repeat business given that it's location is slightly out of the way for business folks from Central and it faces a lot of competition from the hundreds of other restaurants around SOHO once the novelty of Tai Kwun wears off. For a restaurant like this to thrive, it needs to be spectacular. Unfortunately, The Chinese Library is very, very average.
张贴