Review Forbidden City Restaurant - Lower Hutt

Anyone who asks for the best Peking duck in Wellington, this is where you come! They have the best chef from Beijing and you get so much meat! You can choose "one way", 2 ways (Peking duck with noodle stir fry) or 3 ways (duck bone soup) basically just use the rest of the duck and not wasting them. We got the 3 ways and the soup is nice and refreshing, noodles we could live without but it's fine. Bonus is their cold dish mung bean noodles is the best I've ever had and love their stir fried eggplant with mince stuffing.

My favorite Chinese restaurant which is halal! It’s not the easy to find a halal Chinese restaurant in Wellington and the surrounding areas so this one instantly become my fave! My family and I love the duck menu, be it crispy roast duck as well as pecking duck. We usually order the fish, sweet and sour or steam one, as well as the soup as appetizers. My fave is chicken and corn as well as hot and sour soups. Don’t forget to try the braised eggplants and crispy fried tofu, as well as dumplings and chicken wings. The fried rice is also lovely. The portions are big enough to share for 2-3 people. The price is moderate, might be a bit higher than other Chinese restaurant but this one is halal, so it’s a big advantage for us Muslims. The service is fast. Some staff are friendly, some are less friendly, but they are very efficient. Parking spots are available but it can easily be filled up during rush hours. Check out the opening hours as they are close for lunch on Monday, but open for dinner if not mistaken. Happy to be back here again.

This was my first time to visit this restaurant and I loved it 😊 Although the food is a bit pricey, the test is great and they have a massive number of options to select from. I really liked how fast they cleaned the tables once the customer left and made it ready for the subsequent customer. I'll definitely return to try more dishes 😋

We all enjoyed sharing a banquet meal together. The food was superb! Great service. What a problem to have: a noisy, packed full restaurant, with everyone enjoying themselves! Would reccomend to all

The eggplant dish and the double cooked lamb were just amazing! The fish was humongous. Very speedy service, but it felt like the people serving were not interested in serving. But the food made up for it. To my surprise, they are one of the few good Halal certified restaurants.

Quaint traditional Chinese restaurant. A cosy warm environment with decent food and friendly efficient service. The Peking Duck is very generous in size along with all the bells and whistles that come with it. A worthwhile visit.

Decent place. Plus halal. Food was tasty. Some dishes were expensive but the. This is nz.. Certainly recommended..

Many impressive points. Very fast service, food prepared lightning fast, meal a massive portion, delicious and a very affordable price. They were happy to modify my meal to make it vegan friendly. Excited to try out more from Forbidden City.

I have been coming to this place for the past year, love the food and service every time! Also halal friendly!

Excellent authentic choices, lovely staff and central location. Moreover a rare halal Chinese restaurant in New Zealand

Amazing food, good service, and reasonably priced. We were a group of eight on a Saturday night. The restaurant was full, but the service was swift and friendly.

North China Style restaurant. One of the best in WGTN area. We always love to go there & very reasonable price too.

Ate here for first time last Saturday for lunch. Very impressed with the efficient time with serving of our meals. Yes the staff are a bit reserved and we weren't given soya sauce which apparently is around the corner on a cabinet from where we were sitting, but I just asked and was told where it was and will know for next visit. The lemon chicken was amazing. I felt the seafood mee goreng could have had more than 4 prawns but it was still delicious. Will definitely be back!

Great food, friendly service and lovely music, well be back for sure, thank you!

Many impressive points. Very fast service, food prepared lightning fast, meal a massive portion, delicious and a very affordable price. They were happy to modify my meal to make it vegan friendly. Excited to try out more.

Went there for a family get-together and had a delicious meal. We pre-ordered the roast duck, which was well worth it. We ordered so many different dishes and managed to get through them all. My favourite was the Shredded Beef with Beijing Sweet Bean Sauce and pancakes. I had no idea what it would be like, and loved it. I particularly liked the crispy fried shredded taro?/potato? that added a lovely crunch to the pancake. Service was good, especially considering how busy it was (Saturday night) - we wouldn't have got a table if we hadn't booked, so keep that in mind for popular nights.

Strongly not recommended. Got diarrhea afterwards. It was was good about 2 and 3 years ago. Now it’s really corner-cutting. Extremely poor service as well.

Well I had a group of 13 friends who came to my 40th party this was the first time I had been to this place and I was not inpressed with the service. Also all of my friends and who attended got sick all of them either vomiting or diarrhea.<br/>Yes they gave me a refund but I will never be going back.

My friend treated me to this jewel in lower hutt. As a muslim, its a hassle to find halal chinese food in Wellington. Until they find this place. We ordered many food, from fried rice, fried noodles, prawn, to roast duck. The roast duck is amazing. My kids eat them like crazy! Love it... I ordered dim sum but they forgot to bring it... Thats ok..

I would rate this zero if that were possible at all -- all because of their rude service.  I recently moved to Hutt Central and was keen to try the restaurants around. Having found this on google with quite high ratings, I decided to try it today.  I came in at 5:12pm and the sign outside said "Closed" but there was already a Chinese family seated in one table. I entered and the Chinese guy pointed me to a seat near a corner. I told him with a smile that their sign still said they were closed and he did not get what I meant until I pointed it to him. He turned it around but shook his head, obviously annoyed at my comment. He gave me the menu, and after a while another waiting staff approached me to say that "You have to leave at 5:50 because we are fully booked." I said, "Really? Why did you not tell me right away or have a sign outside saying that?"  She said, "You can still order but leave at 5:50pm"  I said "Really?? I do not want to feel rushed as I eat, so, forget it. I'm leaving".<br/><br/>Having said that. no amount of positive reviews would make any difference to their rude service, telling customers to leave in about 30 minutes! Who eats dinner for 30 minutes?? Add to that the waiting time for the food to be served.<br/><br/>So yeah, FORBIDDEN is the right name for them -- I will NEVER come back to this restaurant!

Great food ,flavor and value...excellent staff and service...definitely the place to try something new on their extensive menu... you may need to book....enjoy<br/>

Great customer service from almost all staff. The food is very nice and tasty. The service is quite fast, which is very pleasant. Definitely recommend this place

Our favourite restaurant in Wellington! food is relatively quick to arrived, crispy duck is awesome! orange chicken wee bit too sweet even for us who enjoy sweet dishes but other chicken and beef menu is fantastic!

Firstly I want to start with the positive, because I did leave feeling very satisfied - the beef fried dumplings were awesome, the roast duck was delicious and the steamed dim sums were pretty on point. <br/><br/>Sadly the chicken and corn soup was a bit bland, and the won tons pretty empty - but hey for $4 I’m not really complaining. <br/><br/>Unfortunately the let down was that we were immediately told upon arrival that they were closing in 45 mins so we would have to leave by then... while I understand this and certainly don’t want to make anyone stay at work late on my behalf, it really could have been said in a much nicer way. Then the service continued to feel a bit cold the rest of our time there (we even had to ask for chop sticks), however the food was served extremely quickly!<br/><br/>All in all food is great for the price, however service was a let down this time... will go back at an earlier time and see whether this is improved when we’re not threatening they’re closing time.<br/><br/>Edit - upgraded my review to a 4 as we went back at an earlier time and the service was better, still not great but the food was great again and good enough to merit an overall 4 for me 🥟🤤

Some of the food really hit the spot but a few is mediocre. I LOVE THEIR DUCK and their black pepper beef was delicious! Since I'm a seafood person, I was really looking forward to their crab dishes. However, upon tasting their hot spicy crab, I was saddened by the fact that it was NOT fresh. You could taste that it had been in refrigerated and it had developed the 'fridge' taste. I would recommend staying away from their crab and order anything else on the menu.

Worst service ever! My partner and I went for dinner as soon as we got there the waiter lady was rude we sat down ordered our meals only to see people who arrived after us were getting there meals before us. In the end after waiting over 50mins we left

We went there looking for crab dish. Because the isn't many restaurants in Wellington sells crab dish. The restaurant was clean and tidy with friendly and helpful staff. We ordered crabs, sweet sour fish and deep fried tofu. It was delicious and we didn't wait to long. The price is reasonable. Was hoping they have Singapore style chilli crab but it will do.

Had the Peking Duck, crispy fried tofu with spicy salt, seafood dumplings, Beijing noodles and spicy jelly noodles. Overall above average. Price wise was fair, costs us just under $130 for three adult and a child and we had takeaways but no drinks. Will visit again. One con to mention, dishes that are supposed to be spicy wasn't very spicy at all not sure if it's dimmed down for the kiwi taste.

Our favourite Chinese restaurant in the greater Wellington region. Try the more authentic dishes like the chicken with dry chillies or the spicy beef soup. Excellent dumplings as well.

Pretty authentic Asian cuisine, my partner and I eat here regularly when we want some good Chinese takeaway never disappointed and very well priced!

I had takeaway steamed dumplings.  When I went to order from the takeaway menu (ordering 2 servings as on this menu they only came in 5's) they suggested I look at the main menu as it came in 15's.  I ordered and it took less than 10 minutes to be prepared and come back to me.  The dumplings were delicious and totally worth it :)  My only complaint is I was unable to order over the phone.

Got a takeaway from here tonight (long weekend) and gave it a 2 because it was open but the food was weird. Some problems may be because it was busy but the orange beef is not orange beef, it is some odd BBQ sauce with a squishy floury meat substance. The fried rice is wet and flavourless. The crispy king prawns were frozen mushy and...yuck. I wouldn't normally write a review but seeing all the top ratings for this is quite misleading.

Best Northern Chinese cuisines in Wellington!! Very authentic and friendly service!! Reservation highly recommended to avoid disappointment, as the restaurant has a very good reputation and often fills up quickly!! <br/><br/>Must visit for Chinese cuisines lovers : )

Yesterday I've had a takeway from this place and boy it was good!<br/><br/>I may officially nominate this restaurant one of my favourite chinese cousine place in the wellington region.

Excellent and yes the best Chinese my wife and I have had for a very long time .<br/>We had takeout.The service  was friendly , helpful and cooked in no time .<br/><br/>We will definitely be going back

Really amazing food with grate advise. Food took a bit long to come out but when it did it was worth the wait. Love will definitely go back again

It was excellent. Very unassuming place. Humble owner operators. Food was delicious. Had Cumin lamb, braised eggplant, crispy chicken wings and tofu with fish. All dishes were yum. Will be back one day.

Quite simply the best Chinese food I've eaten in New Zealand (with apologies to my previous favourite, The Asian Restaurant in Moray Place, Dunedin). The food is exceptional. Family run and amazing homemade sauces. Carefully selected quality ingredients and dishes I've never seen on New Zealand menus before. Very reasonable prices. Please go. Your puku will thank you and this business deserves to succeed.