Review Chinatown Restaurant - Palmerston North

Went for an impromptu Sunday lunch for 4 adults. Expected to have smorgasbord but had yum cha. Great variety and great flavours. Particular favourite was the BBQ pork and the mango pudding. Definitely value for money. Very good dining experience.

It provides very affordable Buffet Lunch, which is only $20. If you compare to the Asian Cafe in the Plaza, it's the same price to get only one plate of food. The buffet provides good enough variety, salad and cake, coffee, and tea, all included.

Best yum cha around this city, delicious. Wontons are the standout dish here will be my go to from now on. Pork ribs are very tender, but missing the fresh red chili on top. Prawn dumplings and pork dumplings I could not fault . Chicken and glutinous rice was lacking Chinese sausage and a delicious kick. Still very happy with service and food.

We had the buffet. Food was pretty good however some dishes were a little cold. $23 a head was good value for money. They need the heating on though, as the place was colder inside than outside. Friendly service.

Steamed pork with Taro Sizzling beef Crushed Cucumber Buffet I'm so glad we chose this restaurant to dine at last night, I was so impressed with the quality of service and especially the dishes. So much wonderful tasty food and we had leftovers. Loved it!

Food was wonderful. Service very efficent and wide variety of flavours.

Best Chinese Yum Cha in town. Good atmosphere and fresh food. Have to wait for seats, but can be booked over the phone. Friendly staff and efficient services.

Fast, friendly service, served hot and Freshly cooked to our table. We had the banquet for 7

Food is so flavoursome! So many dishes to choose from,never short of choice as the menu is very l

Throughly enjoyed the food, fried rice was one huge highlight for me. Waiters very respectful to other customers. I would recommend very much.

Food was ok, had a booking for 14 but wasn't alot of food to choose from. And by the time we got to desert there was only ive cream and it didn't look like they were going to re stock. Wasn't really value for money. Nice and tidy though.

I want to say that it is the best buffet in Palmy. There are deserts, coffee……option is various! Especially, tasting is not bad. The only thing I am disappointed with is that launch is only available Tuesday to Friday hehe

Great Chinese food, good recommendations and the active staff that answered all our questions.

Everything was great. We were there for Yum Cha and it was very nice. Should have waited a bit before pigging out though as the fried goodies came out a bit later. We went at 11am.

We travel from Napier once a month to eat yum cha and its a very busy restaurant. We love the staff they are very kind and service is quick.

Pretty good place to hang out and have a decent feed. The service was excellent.

Recommend this place for a dinning experience of different types of food, loved it and will be back there when next in town

Quite good service and friendly staff but the food is very average. The flavours are bland and food does not taste fresh. We ordered a fried taro dumpling (not sure what it's called) and the batter was not nice, way too crumbly and stale. Another dish had a weird sour taste to it. However, it is the better place to have yumcha in Palmerston North so I go back time to time.

Great place, really good food. Large variety too. It's good because you can get up and get as many portions as you like. Very family friendly and good staff and service!

Been here twice food is okay apart from the bits and pieces that taste a bit funny :/ but tonight found hair in two of my dishes and me and my boyfriend both left feeling sick and then we both vomited on the way home. Definitely not happy with that idk if maybe we just got a bad batch of food but otherwise service was good

The yum cha is excellent quality and good value for money. Yum cha carts only do the rounds during the day, otherwise the evening menu has a wide variety of tasty dumplings to choose from. The Crispy Roasted Pork and Roast Duck dish is a great favourite.<br/><br/>The fixed-price evening buffet is popular with locals, offering good variety and value for those with a big appetite, however desserts can be a little flavourless. As we tend to be big dumpling fans, we prefer to order from the menu.<br/><br/>Chinatown offers exactly what you would expect from a good Chinese restaurant. The chairs are comfortable, the tables are a good size, sturdy, have good linen coverings, and there is plenty of room between them. The staff are always friendly.<br/><br/>Consistent quality at good prices. This is the best place in Palmy to get your yum cha fix.

Came to Palmy for daughters dance competition. I visited this place with friends before and had buffet dinner. Way better than I thought. This time took my family there and this time tried dishes from menu. We had prawn dish (hot but manageable. Nicely cooked veggies and peanut but felt a bit salty) & yellow noodle with veggies (wok fire favour - Great But needed more favour), won ton soup (great flavor with generous partition and good soup). Generally great and was very busy on Sat Saturday. They open at 5pm and had already three tables sitter at 5pm. With attentive staff, good location and nice food, highly recommended.

Sunday Yumcha lunch. Good atmosphere with plenty of Chinese and non Chinese customers. Staff friendly and competent. Food met all my expectations. Location and parking was great.

It was by far the worst meal I have had in a long time! I don't know how you even managed to make pumpkin soup taste that bad? Sadly the best thing I ate were the hot chips.. The pudding was disgusting also, the pavlova had gone fully soggy and the cream looked like it was really old. I left feeling really ill even though I didn't eat much. My partner and I both agreed that we'll never be back.

Very popular over weekends for yum char..... for good reason - the food is excellent. <br/><br/>In the evenings, the restaurant seems to be popular for its buffet-style dining. However, ordering from the menu is available. <br/><br/>Food from the menu is excellent and up to the standard of Chinese restaurants from NZ's big cities, e.g. Wellington or Auckland, for its authenticity and quality. Very tasty.

Yum Cha is pretty good, and the menu is fine also, I've done a few set menus and they were just fine. Look, it's not a flash place and for the price it's perfectly fine. <br/><br/>I've been back at least 4 times over the past year or so, usually with friends for Yum Cha, which is always fun.<br/><br/>I'm giving this place a 4.5 because it does everything it says it will on the packet and to be frank the food is very good!

This place does GREAT Yum Cha! I'm from Sydney & have been to a lot of Yum Cha places, but I always enjoy coming here when I visit NZ. <br/><br/>Get here early because Yum Cha is deservedly popular. The usual suspects are all good - BBQ pork buns, prawn dumplings, vege dumplings, egg tarts - but my favorites are:<br/><br/> - stuffed capsicum & stuffed eggplant, in black bean sauce<br/><br/> - rice noodle rolls<br/><br/> - for dessert the durian mochi are just amazing, just a definite hint of durian flavour in fresh cream, eat them while they're still cold. if you like durian you really have to try these, they deserve to be a cult favorite<br/><br/>The staff are generally efficient & the owners are friendly. It's no frills decor & surroundings - if you want a flashy self-conscious restaurant this isn't for you, but for Yum Cha fans Chinatown PN is unpretentious, good food & good value.

When I entered the establishment I couldn't help but notice an employee that was around the age of 18-19 kept staring at me as I tried to enjoy my yum cha.  I asked the manager what her name was. The name of the creepy server was "Ashleigh"unless you want to be perved on by hormonal,  k-pop loving  woman and possible Soju addict, then i would not advise going to this establishment. Nah but seriously, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEIGH!!!!I wish you all the best for your 19th birthday and that you have an amazing day today! I am so glad i meet you as you have greatly improved the quality of life for me with your kindness, beautiful personally and your amazing taste in K-pop.I wish you were here in Auckland so we can have more of those little Soju dates (pretty much an excuse to get shitfaced in a korean setting).looking forward to seeing you again!loads of love Joe! :D EK OH EK OH b3b3

I have been to this restaurant many time as it is popular for birthdays and gathering.<br/>My all time favorite dish would be the marinaded duck followed by the crispy pork mains and last the dumpling which is entrée.<br/><br/>Excellent place for gatherings such as a family get together.<br/>Kind fast service with wonderful food.

Great for yum cha, but I don't recommend it for the evening banquets.  The food is decidely average - usual quality of takeaway food.  The decor needs freshening up - there were holes and stains in the ceiling.

Buffet meal. Main hot dishes were lovely. Fresh vegs. Egg Foo Yong was very disappointing under cook &amp; uneatable. Service good. Pudding section terrible. Not that keen to return.

Love this place for yum char - its one of the best for the yum char dishes I have been to around the country. We first came here in the past for buffet meals because it was so lovely and good value for money. The meals from the menu are amazing too. Although the decor inside may need a make over. The staff are friendly and efficient too.

We have been meaning to dine here for quite some time, and on Waitangi day, we decided to go for Yum Char. We were pleasantly surprised by the clean restaurant, polite service and awesome food.<br/><br/>Even though the outside of the restaurant leaves a lot to be desired, it looks really nice inside. The tables are well set out, and there is plenty of room for groups of 10+ people, whilst still allowing for the intimacy of just a couple.<br/><br/>We enjoyed the a la carte menu service, which let us pre-order our dishes. Everything that came out was delicious and prompt. The only let down would have been the prawn toast.

We ordered the sweet and sour pork with pineapple and received just one piece of pineapple, when questioned as to why the waitresses gave pathetic excuses.<br/>Beef and seasonal vegetables was misleading as the vegetables were carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. At this time of the year there are plenty of beans, snow peas and courgettes..very disappointing.<br/>Overall dining experience was absolutely terrible.

Went there for dinner, got server a really bad fish still frozen inside. Later we been told the fish was defrosted and refrozen the day before. Still got charged for full price...<br/><br/>This place has gone down hill when the boss start getting greedy and cut prices

Our party of 10 dined here on the 10th for birthday celebrations. Excellent meal and the staff was friendly and most welcoming. Highly recommend the salt and pepper prawns and chicken and cashew nuts in a basket.

Affordable yum char restaurant with a rather wide selection of dishes. Though it is not as good as those in other cities like Hamilton in terms of quality, the food can still satisfy me as a Chinese. I specifically like their durian mochi. The durian taste is not too strong for those who doesn't like the fruit itself and the sweetness is just right. I like the way it melts in my mouth. yummy. Book your place on Sunday, it will be full house at lunch time.

great place to eat if you have children great food and many great selections and the chicken and corn soup was yuuumy went while on holiday enjoyed so much went back next night will be going again next time down there.<br/> Brenda

Do not pay for buffet menu. It might look good at first but the food is not fresh and look old. I recommend order from dinner menu, it much more better. Dimsum at lunch time is not too bad either.

Great and authentic food, one of the only 2 places in Palmy where one can get decent Yum Cha. It gets really crowded on the weekends, especially on a Sunday. So it pays to make a reservation. <br/>Most of the staff are quite young and that does affect the service and any feedback given is ignored. Disappointing.

Palmerston North's best kept secret on a Sunday - Yum Cha is a definite dining experience and well worth getting out of bed for but book a table, the place gets packed! Their yum cha has all the normal offerings, very tasty, hot and portioned well. Roast duck, pork dumplings, spareribs and deep fried squid definite favourites. Lots of staff, quick and copious refills of green tea, it's now a firm Sunday occasion with quite a group of us getting together to make it a regular weekly meeting.<br/>During the week, Chinatown offer a buffet lunch and dinner (all you can eat) or normal menu service. The standard of food is such you can recommend without embarrassment to others - a well deserved full five star rating.