The Crown Inn

It’s a Chinese restaurant that caters mainly to Chinese people. The food is good, fresh and tasty. Yes there’s offal on the menu but you don’t have to have it. And the plastic on the tables didn’t make the food taste worse.

What a terrible place this is to eat. Rude manager talking down to us as customers. Food was possibly worst ever food ever tasted. Sauces were very runny and watery. It’s only got one star because I can’t give it none

Rui, the restaurant at the Crown, is an authentic Northern Chinese restaurant. Almost all the clientele are Chinese, whether British or Chinese: and that speaks volumes about the restaurant, as do the Chinese reviews.

Staff polite on arrival (about 20:30), shown to a seat of our choice (there was only one other table occupied). Menu, bowl of prawn crackers. Good so far. Then sorry, cash only usually alarm bells at that point but a visit to the local late night store cash point resulted in some crisp £20 notes. Nobody asked if we wanted a drink. Staff just watched from a distance, disinterested. Then those plastic table cloths covered in what can only be described as cling film. Yuck. 15 minutes studying the menu, still no offer of drinks or are you ready to order? , we decided to take our crispy notes elsewhere. The menu comprises mostly of pages and pages of pictures and prices. Interesting selection, it has to be said, but very expensive, unless you stick to plain rice and traditional standard food. Staff did not seem to mind us leaving, even refusing my offer to pay for the prawn crackers. Looks like a struggling business and they seem to have no desire to make an effort. Shame, good venue but...sort out the customer service.

This was our second visit. Last time we had mixed opinions about the food, this time we really did not like it. Pork was very fat, fish not good either, out noodles average. The paper tablecloth dirty, and our food was served in less than 5 minutes (I do not think it was freshly cooked). Not cheap either. Not for us.