Tiger Chinese Restaurant Takeaways & Deliveries

A repost over from yelp: I had never heard of the place before despite being a Wellingtonian, was recommended by my two asian mentees so I had to try it out!
Tiger can be a bit of a confusing restaurant because there's actually 2 restaurants! There hasn't been anywhere that clarifies well what the difference between the two restaurants are, so thought I'd give my two cents for each - especially since I'm guessing a lot of people who hear about Tiger want to go for the hotpot!

I went to both restaurants in February 2020 with a fortnight in between the two visits:

* The Tiger restaurant on the left has warm meals you can order from a menu and also offers karaoke (however my party of people and I didn't do that so I can't say what the quality of it is in comparison to other karaoke bars in Wellington). If you need to book beforehand, you can just give them a ring.
* The Tiger restaurant on the right does bubble tea and the current replacement for the hotpot. Unfortunately as of late 2019/2020 they no longer do hotpots, however they now do a 'make your own' noodle soup with toppings you choose from the 'ingredient buffet' - a lot like genghis khan on Majoribanks Street. They don't offer anything else besides the 'make your own' noodle soup and bubble tea. You don't need to order, you just walk in, take a table and start grabbing your ingredients.

Food (4.5/5)
I really enjoyed the meals on both restaurants!
I went with two friends to the left restaurant after work and we ordered a few plates to share instead of individual meals. We ordered dumplings, a sizzling beef plate, sweet and sour pork and some congee / egg porridge which all tasted really great. Portions were huge (especially the congee!). Splitting the bill in three got the total up to about $23 which was really worth it! If you go to the first restaurant, I'd definitely by a couple of meals to share and split the bill rather than each buying individual meals!

The second restaurant on the right I had a late lunch with a different friend. Making your own soup was quite simple and straightforward, but could be better directed (refer to service below). I crafted myself a simple seafood noodle soup with ramen, crab sticks, prawn, shrimp, bok choy and spinach, weighed it on the scale and passed it to the cook on the other side of the window (he asks you how spicy you want it!) . The cook spent about 10-15 minutes cooking it up before it was brought over to our table. It's important to note that for every 100, the price of your soup is $3.80. Mine came up to $18 (and I was worried I'd placed to much), but the end result was much bigger than I had expected - very worth it! The friend I was with didn't like his as much but it was due to the combo of ingredients he chose.

Atmosphere (3.5/5)
Unfortunately can't judge this the restaurants' atmospheres well as both times I visited were not busy. The first restaurant, while we came starting 5:30-6, it was Tuesday and rather quiet. Only other party came to have dinner and a few took food away, but overall it was quite cozy and a few cute decorations.

I preferred the second restaurant much more. Wide open windows and space with cute furniture. Much more casual and a good place to meetup with friends!

Service (2.5/5)
I feel this is where for previous reviewers on other sites that Tiger was let a bit down. The service for both restaurant sides felt a little slow and ... awkward so to say.

It could also get a little hard to talk to the staff as well. Sometimes we couldn't catch their attention to order because they were in the kitchen most of the time, or watching the Chinese drama on the tv.

The second restaurant also felt a little awkward. It wasn't quite clear if you were supposed to sit down first, go to the counter, talk to the staff? It's a place that really needs instructions for newcomers as the server wasn't clear enough when explaining and would wait a little bit too long before he decides to help us. That being said, he did help us when he believed that we were putting too much of an ingredient on the plate e.g noodles.

It was quite obvious seeing other people who had obviously been here before that they new to just grab a table and go straight to the ingredient buffet. Think they just need to improve the experience fore new customers who don't know what they're doing.

Overall, I enjoyed the food and experience dining at Tiger and would definitely go for a round two!!

My favorite Chinese restaurant in Wellington. Service can be slow at dinner times but the taste is perfect. Try spicy shrimps ! Totally recommended

Tiger seems to have a rather low score overall but I must say I had quite a pleasant time here. It worked really well having a table of 4 and just sharing the plates. If you like spicy food one dish you must try is the Chongqing spicy chicken! I also really loved the tofu with spicy salt (and usually I'm not a tofu eater). I wasn't as much of a fan of the pork and rice dishes that we ordered but that was more because they seemed to have needed to have been cooked a little more.

I will also add that the young woman who served us was a fantastic waitress; knowledgable and very welcoming. So all in all Tiger gave us a pleasant and bubbly dining experience and we intend to return.

I'm surprised that this place doesn't have more reviews. Anyway, I got introduced to this place because a friend showed me it after a Chinese girl showed him it (her and her Chinese friends go here often for Karaoke etc), so it's safe to say that it's pretty authentic. I digress and we'll leave the baseless assumptions where they belong, the opening paragraph.

Firstly, I'll say that this place was busy, even during the week - so much so that we were seated in the larger open plan place next door that shares a kitchen (and is more set-up for yum-cha etc). This initially felt strange - it's hard to describe but I'll try. It felt like we (2) were sitting alone in a larger open plan place. This may of been awkward if I weren't such a smooth talker.

After umming and erring over the menu we soon settled on two dishes. One was sea-food based and the other was a bit of everything really. Both were reasonably spicy and tasty - as outlined in their descriptions - but mine more so than hers because I'd ordered a spicier dish. Not because I was trying to impress her or something, but because I like spicy food. It took us a while to eat the food because the serving sizes are generous (on these dishes anyway). I don't know what it was called but it had crystal noodles in it, so that was pretty cool. Price was reasonable as well!

Anyway, long story short it was a pleasant overall experience. I'm definitely going to go back. Billion/10 would go back again, going on a date here undoubtedly sewed the seeds to a wonderful relationship. Go here with your friends, show your mates you aren't uncultured. 

P.s. I don't know if they take bookings, but it's worth a shot so that you can get a seat in the bustling part.

So I'd heard about Tiger Restaurant and their Northern Cuisine restaurant and last week we decided to give it a go. I think it's super important to say that the yum cha restaurant is next door to the northern cuisine restaurant. The décor is clean and fresh and most tables have a view into the kitchen with delish smells wafting out. I have to say that this is the best northern Chinese food I've had in Wellington. Far better than my experience at Red Hill. We were served quickly, the portions are generous and the food was simply delish. Best thing of all is that the prices are really reasonable too.

Fantastic tasting Sichuan food at a good price and in good sized portions. If you like food with heat, this is definitely the place for you! We found the service to be very good - our meals were served in really good time and the staff were incredibly friendly. Will definitely visit again.

Great place to go during winter season! You choose what you want to put on your pot; varieties of veggies, seafood, meats, and noodles. Weigh your pot in the counter (your paying for the weight), choose spicy & numbness level. Get your peanut sauce (mix little bit of black vinegar, salt, pepper, chili sauce). While waiting for your bowl (10mins average, can be longer if busy time) order milk tea. Your order will come in a big bowl with their signature broth (Malatang). Mix your peanut sauce into the broth to make it richer & creamy. Notes/tips for you: * 7pm-8pm is busy/peak time. You won’t be able to get a table even if you call for reservation; so come in before or after peak period * be mindful on what you put on your pot, as you pay what is weighed on the counter. * spicy/numb level: take medium spicy-medium numbness (this is average); or very spicy-medium numbness (for a real spice 🔥) * servers seems to have attitude as per other reviews, but i think it’s because of language barrier (and this is not a fine dining restaurant, so better put your expectations down) * if you think you ordered too much and can’t finish your meal, you can ask for takeaway container (50 cents); don’t bring your bowl to them as you will transfer it on your own.

Absolutely delicious. If you're white you might wanna get the mild or no spice. Otherwise get medium or higher. I've only tried the medium and it's just right, can't imagine what mad man would go higher. All of the food is Absolutely delicious and you can pick whatever you want. The tea is also very nice too. Very out of the way so quiet and peaceful while you eat

The broth was delicious!!! I got very spicy and very numb totalled around $20 for my bowel but I definitely took a little bit too much. I loved the selection of seafood, mushrooms, noodles, meats and veges and tofu. Also I had heard that bubble tea here was good and I think it is now my ultimate favourite bubble tea shop. I would say their spice levels are on the milder side, the very spicy was more of what I would expect medium spice to be and the very spicy which my partner got was more what I expect very spicy to be.

The food is pretty nice. Concept is you pick your ingredients and then weigh it and charged. The restaurant will cook the food that comes in a large soupy bowl

Really enjoyed the experience of selecting exactly what I wanted to have in my Ma La Tang. But, it was a bit shocking not knowing the price until you’ve picked everything and can’t put it back… but I was happy to pay! Our dishes were $24 and $28 — vegetarian produce only. The Dry Vegan option was so delicious! I thought I’d miss the broth but I didn’t. It was so much food. As a lover of spice I thoroughly enjoyed picking the level of heat and level of numbing myself. If you love the numb of Sichuan Pepper I highly recommend Very Numbing. But I don’t recommend pairing it with Very Hot… Hot or Medium would be just as good because the numbing gives so much to the eating experience by itself.