Century Palace Chinese Restaurant

Went for dinner last night - the food was decent for the price, but the service wasn't good. They gave us an average sized table for thirteen people, so it was very cramped. We waited around thirty minutes for each dish and even dessert took a good twenty-five minutes. The waitresses would stand in a group talking to each other when there were things that could be done at each table, and the restaurant wasn't really that busy on that night. Everyone had dirty plates that needed to be swapped, but the waitress just decided to take everyone's plates and scrape the excess bones and waste onto a plate we finished. The waitresses seemed very unhappy to be there and would not look us in the eyes when being spoken to. This is my third time being here for dinner at the restaurant, not all of the servers are bad but the majority of them seem to be.
7 years ago (12-02-2018)

The restaurant is massive and can be sectioned off into three separate sections via sliding walls. My sister's wedding banquet was done here back in 2012 and we booked the two thirds of the restaurant (600+). We had a 12 course meal including three whole roasted pigs, and more than 60 platters of Peking Duck. Their normal seating table capacity is 4-8 per table but for us, they broke out the seven foot diameter extension tops which increased the capacity to 12 guests per table. They have a dance floor with an accompanying stage, disco ball and overhead club lighting and spots for each section. The back stage change room is basically a tiny closet but it was barely adequate to get in and out of a wedding dress. My sister changed three times. First the traditional white wedding dress that she arrived in and after the toasts and speeches is when she changed into a traditional Chinese wedding dress (red silk with gold thread - it was my mum's). Later in the evening, she changed to a 3rd time... But I'm told the room is barely big enough for one. Since that day, each year that she's been back, we all go to Dim Sum or for dinner here at least once. Dim Sum isn't top notch luxurious but it's the typical loud and somewhat noisy environment. The coiffured and tray ceiling are 12-14 feet in height; so plenty of space for noise to travel. They also have a semi decent sound board and club speaker system that the hostess kept fidgeting with while we ate here three days ago (Tuesday Dec 19). The bad sounds of crackling as she didn't understand how to adjust the volume and kept using the wrong sliders. Even during Christmas time, it isn't typical for a Chinese restaurant to be blaring old age traditional Christmas carols at 120+ decibels while we ate. In summary, things tasted like they were suppose to taste. In some cases a new variation of an old favourite. I only wished it were a bit cleaner as broken and chipped dishes and bent and food stained cutlery were brought to the table. Even trying to flag someone down to refill the teapot or bring us some hot sauce seemed to fall on deaf ears. Even when it came down to trying to get their attention as we waved the bill in their faces as if they were blind took a ridiculous amount of time. Tipping isn't a city in China... they follow the minimum 15% rule here. Dropping $5 on a $40 and expect to walkout is discouraged. Cart servers during Dim Sum follow the old tradition where they get paid per cart they sell. Which is why they seem to loud and in-your-face during Dim Sum. The cranky ones are those who are given a cart with an unpopular or hard to sell items or wrong hour. Typically Dim Sum is pretty much a set meal plan of starches, savoury, spicy, then sweets. Trying to sell a sweet too early when people are just sitting down to eat is like you're not expecting them to stay which is why some of the ladies seem mean, but they don't mean to. Chalk it up to a poor meal planner. The one who decides when to push which dishes during which rushes to control the amount of people in and out of the restaurant. I worked in the food industry as a chef for a once large Chinese owned banquet hotel out by the airport but it doesn't exist anymore (Regal Constellation) so I know food and food service.
7 years ago (21-12-2017)

An antiquated restaurant. Decent food, but staff can sometimes come off as disrespectful.
7 years ago (12-03-2018)

I came here with my family for dim sum and the food is served by traditional food cart ladies. The food was good and some of the ladies were pretty friendly with the exception of one rude lady that seemed to hate her job. I was least impressed with the man that brought us our bill at the end of the meal. He insisted that I give him more tips. He stood by our table as we paid, then counted the money before asking for more tipping. He was rude and unprofessional. He raised his voice to attract attention and made us feel as we owed money. I told him that with his attitude I should not be obligated to tip and that I would not be returning to the restaurant in the furture. He seemed unfazed and told us he didn't care if we came back. I was appalled and left me feeling really angry. As we left the restaurant he was still ranting therefore I will not be returning to this restaurant again.
8 years ago (03-12-2017)

I am Chinese and this is one of the best places to have dim sum. Very cheap prices but good quality food. I always travel around to find the best dim sum. Authentic. Great service too.
8 years ago (31-08-2017)