The River Garden

We’ve not long moved to Belper, and with a Chinese takeaway meal being a regular choice for us, we were keen to find somewhere good. This more than delivered. All of the dishes were fresh hot, and perfectly seasoned. We ordered the soft noodles (plain chow mein), chicken chow mein, shredded chicken in garlic and chilli, and banana fritters. All exceptional, incredibly fresh and delicious. We ordered on a Friday night - online form said 45 minutes. It arrived a little later than predicted, but I called the restaurant and the person who answered the phone was lovely and kept me updated. She also called me back when the food left for delivery, which was a really nice touch and much appreciated. Overall a fantastic meal, amazing service and two very happy and full bellies. Thanks so much. We’ll definitely be back soon :)

So first of all the food was amazing, one of the best Chinese I have had in a long time. However though, it’s an all you can eat buffet, but the table services was shocking towards the end of my night I was left waiting for quite a while. The staff kept coming to the tables near us but never further down to the last two tables. In the end I had to go up and ask someone to come and take our order.

If I could leave no stars I really would. What a absolute awful experience, First of all, the blonde hair girl in there, couldn’t be any Ruder if she tried, ordered the dumplings and they came out cold in the middle and soggy/ wet on the bottom. Had the vegetarian spring rolls which had nothing inside them at all. Then ordered ribs which were cold and pink in the middle. At this point we said we didn’t want to order any mains as nothing was properly cooked and we were told that the pink / red colour inside the ribs was just fat. So all in all we got charged £25 for 1 coke, some uncooked dumplings, half cooked ribs and 6 chicken wings. Definitely wouldn’t recommend or come back. Editing our review for the response, Judging your customers when they come in is clearly something you do. The squash? I ordered a water and added a drop of squash which the lady who come over was aware of due to me having a problem with my stomach, and having certain allergies, but I made you aware of this since no one asked if we had any allergens. As for the cctv, I wouldn’t want to come back if I’m being watched on cctv constantly. We was very fair and asked to pay half for the starters rather than just walking out because I know businesses do suffer these days with the price rise so we was fair. But from your response to not only mine but other peoples reviews I wouldn’t want to come back to the restaurant,

Been coming here for years but can really tell that this place isnt as popular as it used to be, no atmosphere and dining room empty, and for a friday evening. They had alot of takeaway orders which I think is whats keeping them in business. Cant really fault the food was all hot and edible, we paid upfront which is a new thing but made no odds to us either way. Only charged us for 1 child as we had 2 under 5s so that was good they did that. Im not sure I would come back or not 🤷‍♀️