Chillicool Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Delicious authentic Sichuan food. Very tasty and good value for money."
• "Their Szuechuan dishes are delicious, try the beef for a quick hit of the spicy cool sensation."
• "Legit Szechuan food. Delish and full of prickly ash."
• "The Tofu was really nice, thinly sliced but wide, chewy on the outside soft in the middle, which makes me think they must marinate then dry it, but whatever they did it was great."
• "The Sichuan dishes are the most authentic in London!"
• "The food is consistently tasty, and the variety impressive."
• "Their dry fried chili chicken and dan dan mien are so good I absolutely crave the food from this place."

Cons:

• "The Kung pao chicken and peanuts had no peanuts. And next to no chillis."
• "The beef in spicy broth was the worst I've ever tried – that kind of weird chemically softened beef you get on Chinese takeaway."
• "The quality of the food has seriously gone downhill from a couple of years ago."
• "Food used to be really nice. Now is very average at best."
• "Dishes okay but excessively bulked up with chillis, rice not very good."
• "The food here is of a mediocre quality."
• "Bad dishes. Truly NOT authentic."

Service

Pros:

• "Great service (Sunday lunch time)."
• "Would definitely visit again with my friends ! Highly recommended!! Forgot to mention nice ambience too.."
• "The staff are friendly."
• "Staff friendly and service good."
• "The staff is very nice and always happy to help."
• "The team were friendly and service was great!"
• "The staff is very fast and polite."

Cons:

• "The wait and the lack of service were the issues."
• "The waitress was quite impolite and very impatient (like slightly throwing the menu at the table/coming at my table for THREE times to ask if we were ready to make an order within FIVE minutes)."
• "Really bad service. Had hotpot there, when we ask for more meat, they look really unhappy and refuse to give them more."
• "The waiter could not understand our request for steam rice nor fork, it took ages to actually order the food and even longer to receive the cutlery."
• "They could have been more generous with the Szechuan pepper, and the service was actually quite poor - slow and inattentive."
• "WORST SERVICE EVER!!!!! Literally got kicked out by the waiter saying that 'can’t you hurry up, there are many customers waiting for the table' when we are about to pay our bill."
• "Really poor costumer service. Left for ages to wait when I had finished my food, had to take my own plate up to the till to ask if I could takeaway and ask for the bill."

Price and Value

Pros:

• "Prices are reasonable."
• "Affordable prices as well, all the food you see on the video is £24pp!"
• "A lot of students come here for reasonably priced food like they would get at home in China."
• "The prices are very reasonable, portions are great and the staff go out of their way to steer you towards something you would enjoy."
• "Really good value for money, very authentic as well."
• "Overall, the food is enjoyable and good value for money."
• "They have a set menu which includes many of the small dishes at a reasonable price."

Cons:

• "Plus really expensive for what you get."
• "Excellent food - although £8 a bit steep for some fried noodles."
• "Some items on the menu are quite overpriced."
• "I think it’s way too expensive for the location in a neighbourhood."
• "The pricing you see online is not the same as the catalogue they give you inside. Add a £1 or £1.50 on all dishes when you check the online menu."
• "The dish with rice was £11 on the dot... places like this need your support as they're little gems in London."
• "Everything is warmed up in the microwave, much too salty, and not better than animal food... that you can only pay cash although everywhere is written we accept all kinds of debit and credit cards."

Ambience and Cleanliness

Pros:

• "Chillicool - does really have a lovely ambience with a nice nook at the back for a relaxed lunch below their airy sky light."
• "A popular restaurant amongst local Chinese who fancy a bit of spice."
• "The atmosphere seemed really chilled & nice."
• "They have opened up a back garden for outdoor dining which is great in the warm summer months."
• "Fantastic little restaurant, just tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Kings Cross."
• "The place was very clean, staff very welcome."
• "A true Chinese gem in the middle of London."

Cons:

• "Ambience is not inviting, ho-hum service, and you hope the kitchen hygiene is superior to that of the lavatories."
• "However I noticed that sometimes the dishes (oil or lipsticks from previous customers, I just asked to change and use hot water to clean thru before using) were not thoroughly cleaned and this should be noticed to improve."
• "The lower rating relates the downstairs toilet areas. Disgusting carpet at bottom of stairs and corridor to toilet area was run down and not hygienic looking."
• "The hygiene level is really low, dirty dish and plate with hair in it, as well as dirty toilet."
• "Do not go there for the hotpot, they do not care about hygiene."
• "Visited yesterday again. The indoors look tired. It would really make a difference if they spend some money making it more cosy. Anyway food remains tasty and arrived quickly but not very spicy anymore."
• "Having picked up a friend from King's Cross station last Friday night, we were looking for a quick bite before heading home. We arrived 1 hour before their closing time and they refused to give us a seat."