Review Big Thumb - Wellington

Had a fantastic yum cha this morning. Staff are excellent very attentive and friendly. Food was top notch. Would highly recommend.

Amazing food. Sunday Yum Cha delicious. Good selection and you can make special orders. Loved the new dish, orange beef. Friendly, helpful staff who serve very well. Will definitely be back.

Absolutely delightful yummy Yum Cha lunch experience. We celebrated a 60th birthday... so a good amount of us. We tried soooo many dishes, my favourites were Harm-Su-Gok(pork wrapped in a sticky rice, oval shaped morsel. Also the Vegetarian Rice Rolls (I ordered 6 more plates to takeaway). They also make other varieties of Rice Rolls, eg. Roast pork, Beef, and Prawn...we tried them all. The fried Taro Balls are fluffy and light looking, but are deliciously dense. So many yummy dishes were eaten. We saved some room for dessert, but we didn't have any of the restaurants offers. We had 2 birthday cakes to get through. We all had a fabulous time, food and company. The owners, and waiting staff were very friendly, and helpful. The restaurant was beautifully decorated with Chinese decor, love the massive lantern shaped lights. We definitely will be going there again. I'm sure I'll be ordering another lot of Vegetarian Rice Rolls to takeaway again... love love love them!!! Cheers 😍

Loved all the food that were served for today's yum cha. Very tasty and delicious. It's hard picking a standout dish from today but definitely recommend the orange beef, pork buns, dimsums and sesame mochi red bean balls. Not giving 5 stars just because there were times when we ordered/requested some food items but they either didn't arrive or we had to follow up on the item a couple of times.

Found my new favorite place for yumcha. Booked a table of 2 for lunch on a Saturday. We got too excited that we didn't think of taking pictures at all. The food was amazing. There were staff pushing trolleys with different dishes around, and they also gave us menu to order what we want. The staff also noticed when we had enough food so they stopped offering and let us enjoy our meal uninterrupted.

We had a nice dinner here however there were a coupple things which threw me off here. The second I walked in (with a mask may i note) i noticed a pungent smell of cigarettes. The later once we got our meal I found a hair in it. Not a huge deal as these things happen, but just something to think about. Otherwise the food was wonderfull.

Had yum cha there 3 times in a row over 1 month (all weekends). That tells you how much my family enjoyed the food there. Food is really good/fresh and for now (not sure how long it will last) yum cha dishes are around the $6.50 range from about $9.50 so good food at good prices makes it worth a visit! They will run out of food so go earlier and order more as around the 1.30 pm mark on a Sunday, they are completely sold out of yum cha food. I bring my own favourite tea (Feijoa & green tea, or Iron Goddess of Mercy) there and just ask for hot water so I can enjoy my favourite tea with the yummy food as the tea they serve there is not to my liking.

Such a amazing place, everything I ate full of flavour. Service was fast and above and beyond, so friendly. Must have the orange beef!!!

Had dinner here and the food was great! Loads of fresh vegetables, beef was really tender and all the meals were packed with flavour. Good service as well. Would definitely eat here again.

Loved the restraunt, decent portion sizes Ordered kung pao chicken and hot pepper chicken tasted amazing. Service was great too Big Thumbs UP 👍👍

Lovely night out at Big Thumb, always a favourite. Love the food and service.

Very nice yum cha, everything was nice and fresh 😋

We did Yum Cha on a sunday. Food was fantastic! Service nice and friendly. Really appreciated the menu with pictures of the good. Pricing ok. Orange beef and squid was fantastic, and they had the ability to order specific dishes from the menu.

Love the Peking duck! Had a lovely dinner with family and the menu has so much variety. The owners were attentive and friendly.

Had Yum Cha here. Food was nice, service was good although there were very few diners. Like many restaurants the toilets let them down.

We went for a meal last night. Unfortunately wasn’t pleased with how it tasted. Ordered Singaporean noodles and honey soy chicken. Both the dishes didn’t taste like how they should have. <br/>Restaurant itself is quite big however doesn’t have the right feel to it. Wouldn’t recommend.

Came for YumCha on a Saturday. No booking and was given a table immediately.<br/><br/>Pro: friendly and prompt service without being intrusive - some yum cha places are famous for pushing food onto your table. Food portions are good and tasty without being too oily. Good variety of yum cha options and I quiet like ordering from the menu as well as waiting for the food to come round via the servers.<br/><br/>Con: Hard to find free parking.

Very nice yum cha<br/>We had takeout this time and it was ready in 20 minutes <br/>Friendly staff and the person on the telephone remembered everything

It used to be my favorite Chinese restaurant before, but now it was down to hill, we were large group to have dinner here. Food was good, but unfortunately we waited for long time to get our food, we asked our waitress what happened to our food, she told us coming soon. So one hour later, our food still on the way

Came here on a very quiet Monday lunchtime. We were the only diners, so we got the owners' full attention and VIP treatment.<br/><br/>Food was all satisfactory, albeit their menu was missing some of the staple yum cha dishes that we order by default (i.e. tofu jelly and chicken feet). The wonton noodle soup was bland, though.<br/><br/>Price was reasonable. Ambience was great and we loved the spacious and odour-free environment.

The food was good but due to my experience I will not be attending this restaurant again. I had booked this restaurant for my birthday dinner weeks in advance since they could set and serve my large group of just over 20 people, though it seemed like this large group would seem like no problem to accommodate when I make the booking and exchanged emails and even a confirmation phone call, when the night of the dinner came they weren't prepared when I came and didnt know where to sit us and moved us twice. As we sat at a large table I was hoping they would move two tables together like they had promised sooner since people of my group kept entering at different times, they kept telling us they would wait until my full party had arrived so when my party had finally arrived it was awkward at first since they didnt know where to sit and had to be seated at another table away from us. Finally when tables were joined the issue didnt stop there since they make everyone order big expensive meals and even brought out not fully cooked chicken which they had to take back to the kitchen. The food is overall delicious but sadly it doesnt overtake the fact that it was poor service and a bit disappointing. I'm hoping they learn from their mistakes because this really can be a great restaurant if they want to be.

I really loved the ambience of the place from the lights, seating and music. I was expecting a lot since someone had referred me to try them out. <br/><br/>We had ordered the dumplings, fried rice, mushroom soup and other things. The fried rice was amazing, just the right amount of seasonings.<br/><br/>Unfortunately the mushroom soup was very bland, almost little to no flavour. The dumplings and others were okay.<br/><br/>We finished up the fried rice pretty fast since there wasn’t really a lot of it in the first place, so we ordered another one. Of course we would assume that the second batch of fried rice would be at at least close to the same as the first but we were wrong. The fried rice was over cooked (burnt) when fried and very bland, almost as if it wasn’t seasoned at all. <br/><br/>Overall, the food was very underwhelming. Although you have to give the dorian mochi things (forgot the name), they were quite tasty.

Sweet and sour chicken wasn't too bad, pretty average. The unfortunate thing here was the price, $20ish for something you could get at your local fish and chip shop is ridiculous. Lucky the boss was paying!!

Food was delicious however the older staff definitely down graded the experience. They took all our wine and opened every bottle (however we didn't end up drinking it all so wasted bottles) and then made us all buy large meals to match the amount of alcohol we bought. They opened every bottle as soon as we sat down and didn't let us finish one before opening another. Wouldn't come back based on this experience.

This is a favourite place for yum cha for my partner and I. The food is good, especially the orange beef which is delicious. The younger staff are very friendly with good service - however one of the woman in charge is quite rude and tries to pressure you to buy the more expensive items like roast pork and roast duck. Food is a bit pricey as it is. Jake Elsmore

The food is average, slightly over priced, cooked okay very western Asian cuisine. Staff the younger staff members are always so friendly but when you go in at night without a booking the duty managers or older staff look very displeased for the customers to be there. But it also might be a slight language barrier. Would recommend if all other places are closed and last resort would go there.

Went here for yum cha as part of a big group. Really refreshing to see the staff smiling and pleasant to deal with during yum cha. Was also nice that we were not jammed in together, with elbows almost touching the neighbouring table, much more pleasant dining experience. Food was good, all fresh and tasted as expected.

Great to find a yum cha place with nice food and with low or no MSG, been to lots of other places, but most of them make me thirsty all the time.

fantastic yum cha, great variety, reasonable prices, and friendly service... great to go with a group and order a large selection for sharing

I went there with my friends for dinner. The waitress there toss the plates at us again and again. It was not a pleasant feeling. As we went there to have fun, and not receiving attitude. Disappointment

Well the night started off with a lovely long black hair in our noodles.... We are both blonde... Then we put that bit aside gagging while waiters walked past...not a word from them. We then had a bite of the small portion of noodles the hair didn't touch, we wish we hadn't!!!! It was the driest and most peppery noodles I've had. We drunk our wine to swallow it down. We were ignored while trying to flag down the waiter to let them know about hair and horrible taste. However with no luck we went onto the entree platter, don't get me wrong out of the 5 different options only one was ok the others were worse than store bought....Needless to say we left after that. Not a smile or ask if why we left the food sitting there. We will not be back.period.

Went there with a large group of people and they could accommodate which was great. The service was quite reliable and attentive, I guess they have improved since the latest ratings on zomato. The selection Is quite wide and dishes arrive really quickly after ordering.<br/>Wasn't that hungry so just got some entrées. The bbq pork buns were quite tasty actually and the fried dumplings without being sensational were decent. Everybody around the table seemed happy with their meals. Point is it's not the greatest food you'll get but for that price it does the trick.

Bad service but yummy cheap food, found the customer service rude to young people but better for adults. Good for yum cha! Haven't tried the normal Chinese menu yet. They also tried to over charge us and wouldn't let us pay on separate cards.

A good but not amazing place to get Yum Char, the fact they do it all week is great and they have a decent specials board for lunch. The service is very pleasant but can can sometimes lack attention. Though it was nice of them to notice I was struggling with the Chop Sticks and politely gave me a fork without hurting my pride haha. <br/><br/>Food was good, squid and pork buns are as good as any I've had. There can be a tendency to over order like I did, so keep an eye on what you put down on your preferred list as well as what you accept from the food cart because you will be getting both 😂. Would return if the feeling arose.<br/><br/>If your looking for Value/quantity then you'd be hard pressed to find a better Yum Char place - very reasonable on the wallet.

I love their deep fried squid, custard buns and egg tarts! The staffs were friendly to me. The food doesnt take ages to come out. Would go there again for lunch :)

Been here yesterday for lunch, we didn't go with our usual yum char, decided to order some traditional Chinese dishes from their menu. All the dishes were delicious, we ordered chicken, prawn, tofu and pork dishes, size was good enough, worth for the money, will back again....

I do not usually come here, but thought I would give this another try seen my mum was in town to help translate some of the Chinese menu.<br/><br/>Am always skeptical coming here, as there is always very few people dining here, and the lack of Chinese patrons worries me.<br/><br/>We ordered from the Chinese menu which has not been translated to English, which was more or less seasonal and recommended by the restaurant owner.<br/><br/>The food we ordered was good, however do not expect cheap eats.  We were taken back how expensive our bill came to when we paid.  It was in excess of $120.  Which is very pricey for for dishes.  I now know why there are a lack of Chinese people dining here, and it could be the price that is keeping them away.<br/><br/>If you do get a chance to try this place, I would recommend you try their tofu, as it is made inhouse which has a custard like texture, which I quite enjoy.

Best cha in Wellington! Love it! My partner and I went there twice in two days! Good quality food, service was great! Love it! If you haven't tried it, go! Will pop in next time I am in Wellington.

This place has issues but I think the food is actually quite decent. <br/><br/>I am a big sucker for beef and black bean sauce ho fun and it's definitely the best I have had in Wellington. The flavour of the food in general is satisfactory it's just such a shame that the service is lacking at times. The waiting times for food can be pushing it as well, seemingly backed up by some of the comments here.<br/><br/>I would just finish by saying if you want a cheap eat look elsewhere as its on the higher end of the scale price wise.

Do not go to this Restaurant they seriously will over charge you. The food is below average. we went there for Dinner and ordered 6 dishes just the normal fried stuff and the bill was 200.

Went here just last night for dinner...the whole experience was a nightmare. We waiting 45 min for our entree, then waiting over another 45 min for our main. I called the waiter over and explained to him we had been in the restaurant with our 7 year old for 1hr and 30min and hadn't seen our mains...at this point, others around us started to leave without getting their mains as they had waited just as long. One the mains arrived I demanded the desserts immediately as it was getting too late and we needed to get our daughter home. They brought out 1 dessert, while we were eating our mains, then another 20mins later they brought out another...at that point I requested the waiter walk back in there and don't come out until he has my daughters dessert...he brought that to the table about 2 mins later. There only apology was to say that the chef stuffed up the orders and that was it, there was no sincerity in it. I made it quite clear that I was not happy, she said it won't happen again, and I said "I know, because I will never come here again" to which she replied she was sorry and I replied, don't be sorry, it's your problem not mine. The food itself I found totally delicious and the only fault I found was the sweet sour pork was probably deep fried for slightly too long (slightly so a minor). Hubby's beef was delicious! Desserts were delicious. Pekking duck was so tender. Shame about the overall experience!

Dodgiest restaurant in Wellington. Always trying to overcharge and terrible, confrontational service. Seriously dishonest people. It is no wonder they are in liquidation. You get what you give. Also, bought a deal voucher and no where on the voucher did it say no takeouts but they refused to let us. Never, ever going back to this establishment again. I would give negative stars if I could.

I appreciate the décor, ambience, and friendly demeanour of the staff at Big Thumb. However, I must say I was a bit disappointed with the food. The combined fried rice I had was unevenly heated; lukewarm in some parts and hot in others. I also tried some of my friends' dishes, and I can't say they were that tasty. On the whole the experience was ok, but just ok.

I can not agree more to MATT who put his comments under mine. This place is the only Wellington restaurant on my blacklist.<br/>They advertise 4 bucks for all things, but they did try to overcharge me. When I talked to the boss, he was really angry with me. I think the boss really needs to learn how to do business from his elder brother at KC.

Beware of Big Thumb! They advertise $4 dishes for all items at lunch yum cha during the week. They are not!!! When asked directly whether the dishes were in fact $4 the server lied to my face and said everything is $4. Later when the bill was presented to me several of the dishes were priced at $10 or $6. Of course an argument ensued.<br/><br/>This restaurant actually called the POLICE to accuse my wife of trespassing when trying to resolve this issue.<br/><br/> Perhaps a better name for the place is Big Thumb in the Eye, Or Big Thumb Up the Bum<br/><br/>Stay Away!!!

Yeah - good yum cha!<br/><br/>Went two days in a row. What more can I say?

Went here with my partner for lunch. Very nice food and great service. Very warm waiters. They all seem to be honestly interested in satisfying our needs. Had some tender beef tripe that I was craving for, amongst other deliciousnesses. Amazing!

For traditional oriental dishes there are better places in Welly with more developed and refined recipes than big thumb. In saying that though the steamed vegetables were nice and fresh with adequate garlic and seasoning and the pork pot wasn't bad. The salted steam chicken was very good in fact too.

Love this place. Their dim sums have improved so much over the past months and they do taste like those you have in HK now. Well done for trying so hard for improvements. I go there for dinners too, love the steamed fish, tofu dish and the sweet/sour pork with sesame seeds on top. Food is delicious and service is good. They are not pushy and not trying to sell you the most expensive dish.

I have been here for yum cha a few times and was ok, the last time I went there, I made a booking for yum cha the day before, when I turned up on time we were told that they had no booking, there were others waiting around who also had the same thing happen to them. I never went back there as there are plenty of other yum cha restaurants around the area that are better quality and price.<br/>I went there again recently for a friends birthday dinner. Food was overpriced, didn't taste that good, have found better quality Chinese food at smorgas board foodcourt eats.<br/>And service was pretty bad, it seemed they were trying to hurry our large group out of the restaurant.

Reminds me of a cricket analogy: can't bat, can't bowl, can't field. Went to a BYO here organised by a friend for her birthday. Wasn't expecting the world just cheap Asian food. The food isn't good, lemon chicken seems to be deep friend battered fillets that were pre-frozen, with overly sweet sauce lathered over it to compensate. Kung-Pow chicken was overly spicy with little other flavour, whole chickens were overcooked/dry and poor quality meat. The venue was tacky but clean. Booking was made for 10, but table barely sat 8 and when last two arrived instead of moving us to a bigger (available) table they just jammed two more chairs in, which meant half of us couldn't actually sit near the table because the chairs took up too much room. My main issue with all of this is the price. $18-28 for a meal here is just too pricey - I could overlook most of the shortcomings if this place was priced according to the venue and quality of food - but $50-60 for a meal for two should be a much nicer experience; they also tried to charge us for corkage for both guests when I had order a beer and partner was driving. In a competitive restaurant market like the Wellington CBD it is surprising that this business is still operating.

This is my favorite Chinese restaurant in Wellington. I am not a fan of the yum cha in the daytime (but this is due to my personal tastes rather than a fault of the restaurant) but their evening food is fantastic.<br/><br/>The orange beef and stirfry dishes taste amazing. There are a few dishes that are on the slightly salty side but they are few and far between.<br/><br/>The staff are consistently friendly and the food comes out quickly, which is great. <br/><br/>There is never any real need to book unless you have a large group as the place is massive and has always been able to cater to my family of four.<br/><br/>Dishes are around the $20-25 range - highish for asian food but the meals are large and great to share so worth the price.<br/><br/>I would recommend dinner here!

Big thumbs down! <br/><br/>Okay to clarify, attentive staff and the food was fine, however was overshadowed by how we were treated:<br/><br/>After eating at another restaurant we popped in for some deep fried ice cream (as you do). In an empty restaurant, after already starting to eat, the manager informed us there was a $20 minimum per person...? Not written anywhere upon the entrance or the menus. We resorted to buying take-away beer in disgust to make the difference from our desert.

Had a good time during the first time ate here for lunch. Perfect ambiance and dimsum to die for, chicken feet, seaweed salad,crispy chicken wings,pork bun, to name a few. however on the second time around the waitresses were so busy to attend to our needs especially prioritizing the bigger family with small kids.we had to await for half an hour to be served with the rice when we almost finished half of our food.the place is also kinda dark. needs more lighting.and the number of orders they're writing on your piece of paper on the table is on Chinese character which even makes it difficult to decipher upon payment.overall, it's mind blowing. Will go back there not in the next few months , though.

We have been eating yum cha here every Sunday for well over a year, and will continue to do so. <br/>The service is friendly, helpful and respectful. Staff always take the time to explain what is in the food, with a smile.<br/>The food is fantastic, always hot and tasty and they keep adding new food to the menu.<br/>The management is always interested and makes the time for a chat.<br/>Prices are very reasonable and we have recommended it to every one we know.<br/>The best yum cha in Wellington.<br/>Mr William

These guys are really dishonest. They overcharged us a lot and if you see the reviews below you will see it is a recurring thing. I would steer clear based on this information alone. The food is not ideal and over-priced for what it is. Terrible business strategy, sure, you make a quick buck, but the reputation of the place is ruined. If you take this all into account, you will understand why the place is usually empty.

My husband and I love eating out and were suggested to try Big Thumb by a group of friends. Wow! We started with the big thumb platter which was very tasty. The service was very good with the waitress polite and friendly. following the entree the mains came out accompanied with the rice. ( the kitchen is super quick) the mains were wonderfully hot and full of flavour. the orange beef was beautiful, the best I have had in a long time. My husbands pork cutlets were divine! a little tangy and a little spicy. At the end of the meal the lady (guessing it was the owner) was super friendly, she came by to check that everything was ok and even though it was busy, made the time to talk to all the tables around us. Absolutely wonderful hospitality. Will definately be back! Thanks for a wonderful evening!

Went to Big Thumb for Yum Char on the weekend, we got there quite late and we actually got a seat straight away which surprised me given how busy they normally are. Because of the time we got a couple of dishes offered to us which were really tasty after the food seemed to have stopped being bought around automatically the host came and gave us a menu and we got to pick whatever we wanted from that. Was great. I hear that this is how they work during the weekdays - will be returning for sure although you do miss the fan fare of seeing all of the different types of food being bought around etc. Reasonable price - good for a lazy weekend meal.

Went here last night for my birthday with a group of 17. The service was good and the meals came out in good time and were really nice..... HOWEVER..... the guy came and said there were 2 mains a starter and 1 corkage left to pay so my brother gave him $50 and the waiter went away then 10 Min's later he came up to me and said there was the same stuff left to pay so me being drunk went and paid $67 for 2 mains a starter and 1 corkage which shouldve been no more than $55 and had actually already been paid for. so I assume the guy pocketed the $50 and new I was abit drunk so made me pay again. Needless to say I wont be going back there as they obviously cant keep track of the meals as they are paid off or they just blatantly RIPPED ME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Came here last night for a BYO.<br/><br/>Ordered beef with flat noodles, sprouts and a soya bean sauce. It was really horrible, oily and had no flavour. The beef was so chewy and difficult to eat. Had spring rolls as an entree which were much better, wish I had just ordered those! ended up paying $28 for a meal I hardly touched.<br/><br/>Everyone else who I was with had the same impression - mostly bland food with cheap meat.<br/><br/>Staff were nice and friendly and it's fun for BYO but I won't be going back for food!

I came here with a group for a BYO night. <br/>Great choice on the menu - servings are very generous so we shared five dishes between six people, and we still didn't get through it all. I chose the Black Bean Beef which was great - evidently everyone else thought so too as that was the first plate we finished off.<br/>It was quite loud in the restaurant, as it's quite large and there were quite a few people there. Didn't mind the noise so much, but perhaps not the best place for a quiet dinner. Corkage was $5 for BYO.

We"re a regular at this restuarant on weekdays for yum char because all dishes are $3.50 each. This is a good deal. However, you got to watch the boss lady and tally up how much your meal cost before you give her your account, because she always overcharge us. Since we tally up before we go to the counter to pay, we know exactly how much it cost. We always dispute the final account, because she always overcharge. When she is caught out, her excuse is that her calculator is faulty. Well, if that is the case, get a new one. A number of my friends who goes there also says she overcharge. Is this her way of trying to pull a fast buck without the customers knowing. I know many kiwis just pay whatever the bill is. I guest kiwis are not so bright that they get ripped off without knowing.<br/><br/>Anywhere, we"re sick and tired of disputing the account with her everytime we dine there. So we're not going there anymore. <br/><br/>Thats 1 group of regulars this restuarant has lost. SHAME ON YOU, lady boss for ripping off your regulars.<br/><br/>There are many other good quality yum char restuarant in wellington.<br/><br/>We tend to go to The Regal chinese Restuarant now. Their yum char is good and reasonably priced.

Had lunch here Christmas day, food is average.<br/>Had to ask for beef and chicken wontons, seemed strange that a chinese restaurant only had prawn wontons. Also had to ask for chillies in the orange beef, I found the Orange too sweet, but the beef was nice and crispy, still didnt get to taste that kick of chillies. I score a 5 for service,staff friendly, and at the end of the day we had a good feed, went home satisfied.

Big thumb looks amazing the staff are usually very friendly and the food is yummy!<br/><br/>i would go to big thumb for dinner in a heart beat BUT yum char on the weekend is a little bit of a let down. Theres less choich and sometimes it gets a bit cold in saying this the yum char through out the week is scrummy as they make the dishes you want.

Very good food and very good service.

We had a large group Xmas function here with 60 people and it was amazing. The people were so friendly and helpful, and the food was devine! Am just in the process of booking a large birthday grouping now

BIG THUMB Restaurant is Surprisingly GOOD!!! I went there today for a Sunday Yum Char lunch with my wife. The food was all so surprisingly YUMMY!! The new decor with its nice new comfortable chairs and BIG pretty red and white lantern styled lights is GREAT!! The service is terrific!! And the prices are most reasonable!! I will have no hesitation in returning again!!

POV - This is the best Asian in the region it has the authentic taste. Great atomosphere and located in the heart of it all. <br/><br/>Cost/Quality/Size is Excellent. <br/><br/>A great meal gauranteed.

I have not dined here for sometime, but have good memories of the food here, both at lunch and dinner.<br/><br/>My memory is of satisfactory food and good pricing. The lunch in a bowl dishes were, I recall, always good.<br/><br/>Parking can sometimes be a problem in the street.<br/><br/>The Sichuan dishes warrant investigation, especially on wintry Wellington days particularly if an icy Southerly is blowing.

Good basic westernised Chinese food if that's all you want. Dig a bit deeper however and you'll find some Szechuan gold in their menu. Also their pan-fried dumplings are sublime. Combined with a cold Tsing Tsao beer there is a lot to like about the big thumb, especially now that they have a hot pot night too for die hard Szechuan addicts